MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Council can finalize a deal making the former Defense in Depth gun range a training facility for the city’s first responders when it meets Tuesday evening.
This issue is back on council’s agenda some seven weeks after it was last taken up. City administration recommended council delay the second reading until after passage of an update to the city’s purchasing procedures aimed at, among other things, clarifying when competitive bidding is required.
Before council Tuesday will be second reading of an ordinance authorizing bill of sale, lease, promissory note and security agreement with Glenmark Holding LLC for the 19,938 square-foot facility.
Through the agreement, the city will be on the hook for $500,000 up front and a 10-year lease totaling $240,000 annually.
The city will sign a $1.5 million promissory note, and must seek up to $500,000 in additional grant dollars, which would go to the seller/lessor. However, once the initial $500,000 is paid and the lease terms are satisfied, the balance of the promissory note will be written off, grant or no.
Council voted 6-1 to approve the arrangement on Oct. 18 with Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble voting in the minority.
Pending council’s approval, Morgantown Police Chief Eric Powell said his department will likely begin using the Sabraton facility shortly after the first of the year.
According to Powell, the facility is ready for use and the department intends to move at least some of its own training equipment over to the new site, which will be the full-time home of the department’s training officer.
Additional details like city/MPD branding on the building will likely be addressed in the coming year, according to Powell.
Defense in Depth, a gun range, training center and retail space, was touted as the largest state-of-the-art facility of its kind in West Virginia during its launch in late 2017. The business closed to customers on Nov. 30.
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