The basement of the old police station is so full of mold that it’s probably unusable for most practical purposes.

The Athens Police Department will no longer have to deal with mold or cramped quarters come late October when the department moves to the new Municipal Police Building on East Hobbs Street.

Police Chief Wayne Harper is proud of the new building that was a long time in the talking stages.

“The courtroom is especially nice,” said Harper, as he toured a visitor around the nearly complete building. “The City Council will meet here. It has a television monitor and pull down screen for presentations, and removable, stackable chairs in case the room needs to be used for receptions or training.”

The courtroom also has adjoining conference room and a holding cell.

“The holding cell adjacent to the courtroom will be really convenient,” said Harper. “The way it is now, when an inmate is brought to court, a guard must accompany them and sit with them out in the audience waiting for the case.”

Harper comments that each feature of the building is “nice,” and it is, especially considering the facilities in the old city hall where the police station is currently housed.

The first floor contains a court records/magistrates’ office, mechanical rooms, electronic doors, reception area with bullet-proof glass, police records room with rolling file system, communications room, roll call/training room, workout room with adjoining locker rooms, showers and restrooms, booking room with adjacent shift officer’s office, two holding cells, sally port, three lieutenants’ offices, patrol captain’s office and an interview room.

Upstairs contains a fully-equipped kitchen and break room, an “armory” for storage of heavy equipment, computer room with its own air-conditioning system, detective offices, interrogation rooms with adjoining one-way glassed walls for observation. Harper’s office and that of Administrative Captain Marty Bruce are upstairs, as well as the office of administrative assistant Debby Bowers , which has an adjoining uniform distribution room with clothes racks.

“We will also have a real good evidence room,” said Harper. “It also has a lab setup with sinks and a refrigerator, plus another large room for storage.”

The facility has just three holding cells, because the city entered a contract with Limestone County to house city inmates in the new county jail on Elm Street.

Workmen are installing floor tiles and carpeting this week and Harper said that construction seems to be on schedule for a late October move-in date.

The building was designed by Krebs and Associates architectural firm and Pearce Construction of Huntsville was the low bidder at $2.9 million.

The city has not presented a plan for space allocation in the old city hall after the police department moves out. Public works offices moved this summer to the renovated former Athens Utilities building on Elm Street.