Crime lab to remain at site until October

Jen Lawson

Friday, May 20, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.

Metro Police's crime lab has been given the green light to remain at its current location on West Charleston Boulevard until October, averting a rapid move of sensitive forensic testing equipment that could have hampered the processing of evidence.

Undersheriff Doug Gillespie said Thursday that he worked out a lease extension with Don Romano, president of the building's owner, Executive Development Corp., which will go up for approval Monday at the department's fiscal oversight panel meeting.

"I worked very closely with Mr. Romano," Gillespie said. "He was very professional and he understood we need to keep our lab operational ... I am pleased with the agreement. It's very fair."

The department will pay the same rent, $2.51 per square foot.

Metro also agreed to pay $29,500 to restore the building after the lab moves out, Janelle Kraft, Metro's budget director, said.

The owner of the West Charleston property wanted Metro to be out by April 30 after the department agreed to a new lease in warehouse space in southwest Las Vegas on Badura Avenue, south of Interstate 215 and west of Arville Street, but it will not be ready until Oct. 31.

They worked out an arrangement that would allow the department to stay until they could move into the new space.

The lab will begin moving into the southwest Las Vegas building in mid-September, Gillespie said.

If negotiations had fallen through, the department was considering moving the lab to some temporary, smaller lab space, or going to court in an attempt to force the landlord to agree to the extension.

The homicide and career criminal sections, which are also housed in the West Charleston property, will move to a new location at Oakey and Decatur boulevards.