"Our employees' working conditions are just horrible," he said. "It's not a good environment and not conducive to work."

It's not that the building has been neglected. Rhodes said it's just that maintenance crews are not able to keep up with the demands that a 24-hour police department puts on an office building that was originally constructed in the mid-1950s.

"Your resources only stretch so far," he said.

Updating the building would cost about $6.3 million. That would pay for a new electrical system, heating, cooling and elevators.

"It wouldn't do anything to change the building," Rhodes said. "It would just bring it up to functional standards."

As part of the new plan, Burbank wants to create an emergency operations center nearby to house 911 dispatchers. They currently are in the same building, which creates a risk.

The chief said he is lobbying the City Council again to get support for a bond, which would be the largest in the city's history. Right now, police said it's difficult to determine how much it would cost — but $180 million is a ballpark figure.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com