By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

When Alabaster’s current City Hall and police department building was constructed off U.S. 31 in the 1950s, the city had only a handful of officers to serve a city population much smaller than what it is now.

Today, more than 80 police department employees use the same building to serve a city population exceeding 30,000.

In the next several weeks, the department, which occupies the lower floor of the building, will get some much-needed breathing room as the city’s administrative offices move to the new City Hall off 11^th Avenue.

Once the city administrative staff moves out, the police department will be able to use the entire former City Hall building to better serve the city’s residents.

“We are going to move our records department and our communication center upstairs after we do some renovations,” said Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney. “They will not be major renovations, just some things that will make the layout more conducive to the type of work we do.

“It will give us some more room, and we are pleased with that,” Rigney said. “That will especially help out (our) dispatch (center).”

Moving the police records department to the second floor also will grant easier access for residents, as the upper floor will feature a much larger lobby. The lobby also will give residents a space to meet with officers when making police reports.

The police department will continue to use the lower floor to

The Alabaster administrative offices will begin moving into the new City Hall in the next few weeks, according to Alabaster City Manager George Henry.

“There’s no rush on our end. We want to give everyone a chance to move out upstairs, and then we will conduct our renovations before we move in,” Rigney said.