Eastpointe City Council votes to move forward with new police, court building

EASTPOINTE — After months of debate, the Eastpointe City Council voted to move forward with a design for the city’s new police and district court building.

At the City Council’s May 6 meeting, council members voted 4-1 to move forward with plans. Councilman Cardi DeMonaco Jr. voted no.

The 4-1 vote allows City Engineer Ryan Kern to make a concrete plan for the building and obtain permits with a goal of accepting bids for construction in June 2026. According to a timeline Kern gave, construction would be completed in 2028.

In addition to the police and court building, a gun range was also planned for the property. However, it was put on hold while the City Council weighs the cost of constructing a range against paying for officers to train at a different facility.

While the estimated cost of building the gun range is around $900,000, Eastpointe Police Chief Corey Haines said the cost of sending officers to a different facility to train would be about $97,000 annually.

City Finance Director Randy Blum said a large part of the cost of building the gun range comes in ventilation requirements meant to control contaminants like lead and smoke.

DeMonaco said the construction of the range seemed “way too expensive.”

“I think if we were to go forward with this, we would need memos of understanding from other departments saying they would use it; otherwise, it just seems way too expensive,” he said.

Mayor Michael Klinefelt agreed, saying that it was a “hefty price tag” and that he was hesitant to agree to plans for the building.

“I don’t know if I want to pull the trigger just yet,” he said.

Councilman Rob Baker disagreed, saying he’d spoken with Eastpointe police, who said they had equipment that couldn’t be transported back and forth to an outside range.

Kern said it would be possible to move forward with the construction of the main building while the City Council decides on the gun range, as it’s planned to be in a separate building.

“With that being a separate building, a much smaller building, we still have some time. … The police and court building itself, that’s the critical part,” he said.

Kern said that going forward, the City Council would get final approval of the plans before they are put out to bid.