Swampscott board taking action on new police station, proposes articles

SWAMPSCOTT – After talking about the need for a new police station for more than a decade, town officials said it’s time to bite the bullet and build a new police station or rehab the existing facility.The Capital Improvements Committee is recommending placing two articles on the Town Meeting warrant in regards to the police station. The first article asks Town Meeting to appropriate $450,000 to hire an architect to develop site plans and architectural drawings for a new police station at 531 Humphrey St.The second article, if approved by Town Meeting, would allow the town to form a Police Station Building Committee, which would be made up of seven members appointed by the town moderator.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said a new police station on the pumping station site is expected to cost $7.2 million. He said he encourages residents to engage in a dialogue on the need for a new station, but something needs to be done.”My own take on the police station is, town-wide, it is the one building most in need of repair,” he said.”Debate is acceptable as to whether we build a new station or rehab the existing station but it is indisputable something needs to be done. What is indisputable is the building is inadequate. If we don’t build a new police station we have to invest in significant repairs to the existing police station.”Police Chief Ronald Madigan said the cells, which are located in the basement, are a huge concern.”We have several hundred detainees a year,” he said. “The cells are a big concern. The detention of prisoners exposes us to liabilities because of the building. We have to deal with combative, intoxicated and suicidal prisoners at times. The existing cells expose the police department and town to liability.”The station also has environmental problems that, if unaddressed, could pose health risks to the officers, prisoners and even the general public.Madigan pointed out the building has been leaking for years.”Some areas of the building smell moldy,” he said. “In some places the plaster is buckling out and the window frames are falling in. The roof needs to be fixed and the bulkhead needs to be fixed.””We certainly have a building that presents risks that any inadequate workplace does,” he said.Maylor said the existing facility is not handicapped accessible and lacks equal and adequate locker space for male and female staff.”We have roll call and meetings in an area that doubles as a men’s locker room,” Madigan added.Maylor said a few years ago the town had an analysis done by an architect and, at that time, it was determined it would cost $2.2 million to do the minimal amount of work necessary to rehab the station.Eleven years ago, a town committee recommended building a new police station on the pumping station site but it never materialized. In May 2003, Town Meeting authorized borrowing money to renovate the existing police station but two years later Town Meeting members voted in favor of purchasing the 3.5-acre Temple Israel property instead of renovating the existing station. Money previously authorized for the police station renovations was put toward the Temple Israel purchase.Not everyone agrees the station needs to be replaced or upgraded, however, including Attorney William DiMento.”When you’re in a hole the last thing you want to do is keep digging,” DiMento said. “That’s what Andrew (Maylor) wants to do and the selectmen should not allow him to do it. This is not the time to spend money and the whole business about spending money has to stop.”DiMento said the town should look into renting holding cells from neighboring communities instead of spending money to build a new station or constructing new holding cells in the existing facility.”The selectmen and Maylor are always talking about regionalizing,” he said. “Let’s start regionalization now.”