Politics & Government

Mayor's Budget Asks To Move Police Department

Mayor says major renovations or relocation necessary for police.

 

The Finance Committee began hearing budget presentations from municipal departments Thursday but the seemingly simple budget appears to be a catalyst for some big changes.

"This budget started pretty reasonably," said finance committee member Sharon Wadecki.  "Thank you for a budget that isn't going to take us weeks to change."

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A question that dominated the budget presentations by the mayor, the capital improvement plan and the police department was what to do with the and dispatch.

"I think there are some hard decisions that the mayor and council need to make in the next year," said Mayor John Rodolico.

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The asks for $75,000 to move the police department to the former but no one, including the mayor, is convinced that will cover the cost of the move or that the move would be permanent.

"It's one of four or five possibilities," Rodolico said, of the option but Lt. Michael Finkelstein and Resident State Trooper Sgt. James Gilman had reservations about the location.

"Not knowing construction, I would think that there would be significant renovations needed," said Finkelstein. "There are certain security issues that would be a concern if it was left the way it is now."

Finkelstein said that sharing the building with other tenants could jeopardize confidential records and information kept by the police department.

"The easiest way is to leave them where they are and make the long term improvements we need to make," Rodolico said but the cost of renovations could be prohibitive.

Finkelstein said the police department building is falling apart and that it's not suitable for a department that has to stay open 24-7. He said the building has a lot of problems like the heating and cooling systems are inadequate, the building floods in heavy rain, there are mold issues and that the sewer has backed up a couple times.

Other suggestions were to move the department to another building in town like the old firehouse or build a new building for the police force.

"I would think you could build a pretty reasonable building for $1 million to $2 million," Rodolico. “The police need to move by the end of the year, in any case.”

One hitch in the decision process is determining what to do with the emergency dispatch center, which currently serves Ledyard and Preston. If the dispatch center could regionalize and serve one more town it would be a worthwhile investment.

Otherwise, the town could save money by contracting out the dispatch center through another town, like Groton.

"Moving dispatch would be complicated," Finkelstein said. "When we moved the first time it was $31,000 dollars." But he said the system has been upgraded and expanded since then.

"There are a number of chess pieces in this town that are moving, police being one," said Rodolico. "There are a number of things that play into this."


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