SHERMAN, Texas -- Plans are being developed to give Sherman Police Department headquarters a major upgrade.

City leaders reviewed the $4.1 million renovation project at a budget meeting on Thursday.

"We're going to have a completely different look," Chief Zachary Flores said. "We're going to have a new lobby."

Plans call for closing in the front parking section and renovating the basement and first floor of the building that's been a landmark at 317 South Travis Street for more than five decades. That will give the department room for more officers and detectives.

"It's something that's really overdue," said Sherman city spokesman Nate Strauch. "As a growing city, it's something that we certainly need right now."

City officials hope the update will help the department retain valued personnel.

"A lot of departments further to the south can sometimes offer better benefits or money than we can," Strauch said. "One way we want to decrease the number of people leaving for other jobs elsewhere is providing them with facilities that they're proud to work in."

But the chief added that the professionalism of the police department is something that doesn't come with a price tag.

"We expect our officers to represent the city," Flores said. "We expect that if they look unprofessional it's because we made a mistake, not because we looked unprofessional, and we expect that same reflection in our uniforms... we expect it in our vehicles... we expect it in our facility."

The city has already started renovations to the second floor of police headquarters, but the bulk of the renovation work is scheduled to begin next spring.