About 18 months ago, the city of Shafter was uncertain about what to do with its defunct modified community correctional facility. Now, the city has developed a plan to begin using a portion of the building and is exploring opti ons for future expansion.The city plans to move its Information Technology team into a small section of the facility in the near future, marking the first step in repurposing the space that has sat largely unused."The short term remodel is just to kind of make this space as make this space as productive and beneficial to the IT department as possible, because right now, the space that they have is very limited, so this frees up some space where they currently operate out of, and it gives them more space," Mike James said.James, the city's assistant manager, said the hope is to have the remodel completed before the end of the year."We anticipate completing the informal bid process within the next few months and hopefully going before the council to get authorization to actually award contracts by the summer," James said.When asked if the project could be completed by year's end, James indicated it could happen much sooner.The IT department relocation will only use a small portion of the large facility, leaving significant space available. The city is also considering relocating other departments to maximize use of the building."We authorized a request for proposals to ultimately look at converting this to the police department, where we can relocate the current police department on Central Valley highway over to this location," James said.The request for proposals will involve a design-build contractor determining the feasibility of moving the police department to the facility. If possible, the consultant will outline construction costs, allowing the city council to make an informed decision about whether to pursue the relocation.While the city is not utilizing the full capacity of the former correctional facility, officials say the approach depends on what proves cost-effective for the community.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere: Download Our Free App for Apple and Android Sign Up for Our Daily E-mail Newsletter Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe to Us on YouTube ...read more read less