The Grand Rapids City Commission unanimously approved the construction of an all-gender locker room for the Grand Rapids Police Department at its May 12 meeting.
The final bid was awarded to JWK Construction in the amount of $149,500, with total expenditures not to exceed $262,985. The bid was the lowest of three bids submitted to the city.
Original projections estimated the project would cost $121,500. The city will pay for the construction out of the capital improvement fund.
Cindy Irving, the newly appointed city engineer, told the Community Development Committee that the project was “in support of our value of equity.”
The building, according to the meeting agenda packet, was acquired and outfitted at a time in which the all-gender bathroom was not deemed necessary.
“At the time of the acquisition and renovation, this building was designed to meet the needs of GRPD,” the packet says. “Since then, the City of Grand Rapids and GRPD have been evolving to meet the changing needs of its workforce.”
The changing needs involve moving beyond traditional male and female locker rooms to an “all-gender locker room” which will include “an individual toilet, sink, shower and changing area.”
Though no square footage estimates were included in the meeting packet, it was described during the community development meeting as a relatively small space.
The $262,985 appropriation, the packet notes, is in alignment with the city’s “Value of Equity, which is a component of the City’s Strategic Plan.”
The reference appears to be related to the Facilities and Technology section of the Strategic Plan, which emphasizes the need for gender affirmation of all government employees and people living in the City of Grand Rapids.
According to that section, one of the city’s primary facilities aims should be to “[m]ake all facilities welcoming and accessible for all customers with an emphasis on people with differing abilities, people that speak a language other than English and people that are transgender and/or non-binary.”
The City Commission approved the expense with no comment.
As of the time of publication, the city had not fulfilled The Herald’s request to review engineering drawings and plans for the locker room.
The expenditure comes at a time in which the GRPD has found itself at the center of public scrutiny.
At his final press conference earlier this year, former GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom told the media the GRPD had to fight tooth and nail to acquire basic policing equipment.
“When you politicize policing, that’s a recipe for failure,” Winstrom said. “I feel like it was a big fight to get drones, which are just a basic tool of policing now,” he added, noting that he felt that he had “to jump through so many hoops to get the community support and politician support.”
Write to jacob@grherald.com.