In roughly two to four weeks, the folks at the Fayetteville Police Department are expected to move into their new $4 million facility on Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard and Bradley Drive.

The facility, which will be paid for through the Georgia Municipal Association's Certificates of Participation or COPs program, will be larger to accommodate the police department's needs for the next 30 years, boasted Don Easterbrook, the city's engineer.

Once the facility is open, other city departments will be shifted around to new locations. The Municipal Court will move to the Jimmie Mayfield facility. The Fayetteville Fire Department will expand at their current location on Johnson Avenue, and the Building Department will move into the fire department's building.

The Municipal Court move will alleviate headaches that have become synonymous with court day, Easterbrook indicated. The new courtroom will be comparable to the size of the meeting room they use now at City Hall, but there will be a lot more parking, Easterbrook said.

"It's a mess around here. Between the parking and people don't have a good place to wait, so they end up hanging out in the middle of City Hall," he said referring to the days when court is in session. "It's distracting to people. From a security standpoint, this building isn't made for that kind of use."

City Manager Joe Morton said the building will be paid for through the COPs program, which is ultimately a bond issuance program.

He said he didn't have to go to the taxpayers and get a referendum passed before moving forward with the new project. The city also did not have to put up any matching funds for the loan, Morton indicated.

"It will be paid back over 15 years," he said. "It's basically like a mortgage."

Morton said the low interest rate he received through the GMA COPs program is what piqued his interest.

"We got a 4 1/2 percent interest rate, so that's a pretty good rate," Morton said.