Some employees, who spend a large part of their day working at Cincinnati's Police District Five facility, will soon be relocating to temporary space.
The move comes as the city works to renovate an existing building to move entire D5 facility sometime in 2019. The current building is located 1012 Ludlow Avenue.
City manager Harry Black said in a memo Thursday that 34 employees including commanders and investigators at District Five will be moving to 1201 Stock St. in Camp Washington. That move is expected to take three to four months.
Right now 1201 Stock St. houses the police department's youth services section. Those employees will be moving to 3201 Warsaw Ave., which is vacant and used to house District Three.
Another 77 people who work at the former Spinney Field complex, which houses some police functions, will also be moving to Warsaw Avenue.
The police department said the moving expenses and site improvements for the temporary relocation could cost anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000.
Patrol officers will still use the District Five building on Ludlow, but they routinely do not spend a lot of the day at the building since they are on patrol.
The Fraternal Order of Police has been pushing the city to address concerns about District Five. That includes overcrowding and health concerns because of the aging building.
Last week, the widow of a deceased officer who spent more than12 years at District Five filed a federal lawsuit against the city alleging her husband contracted cancer because of the poor conditions at the facility.
The city has said all environmental tests, have and continue to, show the building is safe.
The city manager is asking city council to approve funds in the next two capital budgets to renovate the old Permit Central building at 3300 Central Parkway for the new District Five headquarters. But that work will likely not be completed until May 2019.
The FOP and some council members were pushing for the temporary solution, which the city is now endorsing.
