Brand-new Sandoval County Public Safety Building is open for business

A large crowd of Sandoval County, Rio Rancho and New Mexico leaders gathered Tuesday morning to celebrate the opening of the brand new Sandoval County Public Safety Building.

The event drew nearly 100 people including Sandoval County commissioners Jay Block; Katherine Bruch and Dave Heil; Rio Rancho City Councilor Nicole List; state Rep. Joshua Hernandez; Sandoval County Sheriff Jesse James Casaus; and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Sandoval County Manager Wayne Johnson, who said this project was one of his proudest accomplishments since taking the post in 2020, kicked off the ceremony by thanking the many people who helped see it through its completion and introducing the many dignitaries in attendance.

“Welcome to this great day and a great event celebrating the opening of our sheriff's office and Emergency Operations Center,” Johnson said. “This project is an amazing project that's been going on since, really, we've been trying to get this done since about 2018.”

Six years and several roadblocks later, the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office, located at 7255 Oersted Road NE, Bernalillo, has a state-of-the-art headquarters that is more than 19,000 square feet.

The construction of a new public safety facility in Sandoval County was a collaborative effort involving the owner's representative, architects, contractors and county officials. Despite initial design changes due to COVID-related funding issues, the project moved forward with a focus on security and flexibility in the facility's design.

It was also a collaborative funding effort involving contributions from the governor and federal entities. Sandoval County voters were also integral in the project, approving $3.6 million in general obligation bonds. Funding was also provided through the American Rescue Plan Act. The governor provided an additional $5.1 million in funding through capital outlay funds to complete the $12 million building.

“This building process has been long in the making and very tedious and grueling. There were many people involved in this process with very important roles, and without them this building would not be possible,” Casaus said. “We ended up with this state-of-the-art building, but initially more money was needed. That’s when the governor rose above and offered her help. I say rose above because, keep in mind this offer to help was in the midst of the Democrat party pushing the ‘defund the police’ movement while demonizing us. Our governor stood above that nonsense and did the right thing in her heart.”

Heil, chair of the Sandoval County Commission, emphasized the project's importance in addressing public safety concerns and providing state-of-the-art facilities for emergency operations and training.

“This facility has outstanding capabilities with audio and visual, video and data communications that help us communicate in times of emergency; this public safety project was carefully managed by our staff, the architect, the contractor, and of course, those from our public safety departments have provided input to the design,” Heil said. “They have dealt with the challenges of making some design changes, the influence of COVID during this whole process, the inflation in materials and labor costs and some supply chain disruptions to actually bring us to where we are today. So I want to thank you all. I want to thank the public for a great job, but I also want to thank the governor again for stepping up to help with the next step in the next phase in this process, and that's the funding of the expansion of the 13th Judicial District and magistrate court, which is now in the design phase and should be under construction sometime in the near future. So again, thank you Governor. Thank you to all the other players that made this a success, and thanks to the people of Sandoval County for helping us continue our commitment to protect and serve.”

Construction on the court is slated to begin this week, but Tuesday was all about celebrating the new Public Safety Building.

“Congratulations to Sandoval County and quite frankly, every single local elected and constituent because in fact, it does take everyone all working on the same priority,” Lujan Grisham said. “This state, in my view, does a much better job of just working together collectively to try to address both challenges and to recognize opportunities.

“Sandoval County, which is, I’m preaching to the choir, the fastest-growing county in the state. I'd also like to point out, it's also per capita the safest county in the state, and I really appreciate the role that every single person here today especially plays in making that a reality. First responders, it goes without saying, the work that you're doing every day is critical to the well-being of not just the people in New Mexico, but the whole future, certainly in my view, is at stake. I'm ready to keep investing. This is one of the most beautiful states in the nation. But it doesn't always feel like that beauty is the first thing on our minds.”

Lujan Grisham, fresh off a disappointing special session that saw lawmakers shoot down her attempt to make New Mexico safer, spoke about the need for stricter laws and improved treatment requirements to address the root causes of crime statewide. While Sandoval County is the safest per capita in New Mexico, the governor said no community is without risk and this new building will help fight that.

“These men and women who put their lives on the line, arrest the same individuals over and over and over again,” Lujan Grisham said. “I'm going to ask every New Mexican to work hard to make sure that the state policymakers do the work necessary to make us safer. That means that we change the competency laws. We change the treatment requirements so that people are being treated. It means that we increase penalty time, I think, for drug dealers, particularly fentanyl and felons in possession of a firearm.

“I'm not going to rest until New Mexico is the safest place in America.”