St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman gave his inaugural state of the city speech on the steps of city hall on Saturday morning.

"It's a good time to be in St. Pete," said Kriseman said.

The mayor praised the city's progress on revamping the pier and the police department's efforts to gain the community's trust and reiterated his intention to build a new police station.

"I'll be asking our City Council to approve an agreement with Pinellas County that will provide the final $20 million in (Penny for Pinellas) funding needed to build in one phase a new police station," Kriseman said.

The plan is for a new, energy efficient station to replace the current outdated facility. The police department already has a new look for uniforms and vehicles on the way.

Chief Anthony Holloway says a new station is the perfect addition to their plans.

 "It's very crowded. It's just not a good working condition right now," Holloway said.

The station will be located across the street from the current one, and according to Kriseman, the new station will not cost taxpayers any additional money.

“This agreement simply reallocates money that Pinellas County had already dedicated to our city,” he said.

St. Pete City Councilman Wengay Newton says he’s looking forward to the change but says wants to take a closer look at what the mayor has in mind. 

"If they're diverting money from projects in the south side community, namely District 7, I want to know why those projects can't be funded and done," Newton said.

But for now, the city and the police department are celebrating how far they've come in the last year, in hopes of building a better future in the city they all call home.

 "Every individual will enjoy a new opportunity to be lifted into the light of our St. Petersburg sun," Kriseman said.