Gaps in communication, confusion raised in Indio City Council meeting over proposed Police headquarters

Indio City Council received a surprise during Wednesday night's meeting regarding the planned Public Safety Campus.

In February, News Channel 3 was first to tour the completed portions of the 43,000-square-foot facility, located at 46800 Jackson Street, which is made up of a new fire station, new dispatch center, and new public safety services building. Not included in the safety campus currently is a new police administration building. 

On Wednesday, the Indio City Council voted to approve Capital Improvement Funds to begin designing and building phase 2 of the Public Safety Campus. 

"What we were surprised about is that the complete Public Safety Campus was not submitted to the Planning Commission for approval. We really don't have an explanation for that. We were never given an explanation for that and I believe thats where there may be a disconnect between staff and council," according to Indio Mayor Guadalupe Ramos Amith. She added that all of the city's staff "is fairly new, so they only know what they've read, or heard, or have been told."

While council members discussed their thoughts Wednesday on a proposed police headquarters and ways to fund that portion of the Public Safety Campus, City Manager Bryan Montgomery raised questions about how the full plan was settled on.

"It was before my time. I researched a little bit. What was the decision pattern that caused for some of them to be built and one of them not?," asked Montgomery.

Mayor Ramos Amith interjected to set the record straight and stated that city council "was never asked," and added that "it was one person that made a decision."

News Channel 3 is digging into the processes in place meant to provide a system of checks and balances to avoid future miscommunication among current and future government and staff in Indio.

Watch News Channel 3 at 5:00 p.m. tonight for the full report.