The Hollister Police Department will update its 25-year-old shooting range at a cost of about $152,000.
Council members Monday unanimously approved the cost, with an additional $66,000 added to an approved estimate because there aren’t city workers available to do a portion of the work as previously expected.
Councilman Marty Richman supported the project, and noted his own military training and recreational shooting.
“It’s absolutely a skill that requires training,” Richman said at the meeting. “You can’t pick it up any other way.”
The shooting range at the police department has not received an upgrade since it was built in 1994, according to the agenda.
Currently, bullets fired in the range shatter against steel panels that act as a backstop. The agenda points out the police department is limited to using only certain types of handguns, while rifle rounds can damage the steel backstop and are not used in the range.
Replacing the backstop with a new rubber media allows the department to fire all handguns types and rifles in the range.
The rubber media backstop can also reduce lead contamination by up to 90 percent, Police Chief David Westrick said.
In March, the city received two bids before a deadline. The lowest and awarded bid was from Meggitt Training Systems, Inc. for a total amount of $152,154.
