Marshfield Alderman Discuss City Police Station
Wednesday, September 26th, 2018 -- 9:02 AM
(WDLB) -Marshfield aldermen are trying to decide whether a new police station is needed, or whether to add on to the existing one.The Common Council last night heard the latest on a space-needs analysis of the current police department location at First and Chestnut. Public Works Director Dan Knoeck said the current 36-year-old facility is at a point where the cost to address the deficiencies is about 50-percent of the replacement value.
"That's a ratio that's kind of a critical point of a building's life. Decisions need to be made about do we continue to invest in a building or not? Do we move on?"
Knoeck said the space-needs study suggested the current 18-thousand-600 square-foot facility needs to be upgraded to 34-thousand-500. He also said the first big question that needs answering is whether the current location is the right one. Police Chief Rick Gramza says he likes having a centralized downtown location--but recognizes the space deficiencies in the current building.
"We're challenged with our space, with our current spacial needs. We had, I believe, 33 employees back in 1982. We're now at 48. And that's without our dispatch center. Our officers are doubled up in rooms. We're not sitting on laps yet, but we haven't ruled it out."
A proposed new building for the police department was estimated at between 11-and-14-point-six million dollars. Two separate addition and renovation plans range between three-and-a-half and six-point-three million. The city began using the existing police department in 1982.
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