Debate at police station wakes from the dead | Highlands News-Sun

A new city council, consisting of an appointed Debra Ann Worley and two elected members – Joy Eberhardt and Colleen Charles, began to question why the new police station could not be built downtown.

There are residents and business owners who want it downtown, that’s true.

Eberhardt and Charles said they heard from these residents as they fought for their seats. Worley had also advocated for the construction of the train station in the city center for years.

The reason: police presence makes people safer.

“People have the impression that the police station is there and feel safer,” Eberhardt said.

At the request of the new council, City Manager Kevin McCarthy provided data on the cost of building the police station on Hillcrest Street in the city center. The council was asked to vote on Option 1, which is to build the station at the Government Center, or Option 2, which is to build it on Hillcrest Avenue.

However, Councilor Nell Frewin-Hays urged the council not to delay the construction of the new police station any longer. Their argument: Police officers spend their time patrolling downtown streets, not in a police station.

“I don’t want to go backwards on this project,” Hays said. “I appreciate that people said they wanted to go downtown, but everything officers would do at a police station, they now do in their vehicles.”

Hays made the motion to move forward with option 1: the construction of the new police station in the government center.

“We have to move forward,” she said.

Worley, who supported Hays’ proposal, called the Hillcrest Avenue site “too narrow.”

“It’s a difficult property,” she said.

Mayor John Holbrook brought Police Chief Mark Schneider into the debate.

“They’ll be out in their cars and not spending much time at the police station?” Holbrook asked Schneider. “They’ll be downtown protecting their citizens?”

Schneider, who has witnessed the years-long debate over the new police station, agreed with Holbrook.

“Technological advances have resulted in the station being just a place where evidence is kept and our support staff simply process paperwork,” he said.

Schneider also urged the council not to delay construction of the building.

“I’ve been working here as a police officer for 26 years,” Schneider began. “I continued this debate. She circles the field like this plane that will never land. Every year we fly around this field, we increase the price of the building exponentially.”

The delay doubled the price of a new police station, the chief said.

“When we started, the estimated cost of this building was $735,000, including land, construction and design,” he said. “We’re now almost $1.5 million because we keep delaying this project to get more information or explore other options. We need to land this plane.”

The council voted unanimously to build the police station where the council ordered it last year.