An addition it shall be...
It's official- the charge to the committee studying the facility needs of the police department will be to solve them through the use of the current town hall with a potential addition to that structure.
The August 15th Laconia Daily Sun reports the committee has a
simple charge- determine the most cost effective way to address the space needs of the police department, with an addition to town hall given priority as the primary solution.
Selectman Dennis Doten was quoted by the Sun article stating that
"everything is on the table" with regard to the use of the current space at town hall, including moving the offices of the School District- which occupy space on the lower floor, which is accessed from the rear of the building- out.
Once more, I offer the following plan to solve the inefficiencies of the current setup:
(1) Move the SAU office out of the Town Hall building. (2) Move the Planning Department and all related persons to the vacated SAU office. The existing customer friendly entrance configuration is ideal for the form of business transactions that office handles. (3) Expand the Town Clerk / Tax Collector’s section into areas vacated by the planners. (4) Study exactly what records and evidence must be kept and perhaps classify into different levels, thereby creating a realistic storage/retrieval system. (5) Construct a multi-story addition right behind the existing sally port. (A “sally port” is a garage area where a police cruiser with a criminal can drive directly and securely into the building.) The bottom of the new addition would be the new sally port. The existing sally port can be renovated to create more efficient booking area. (6) Close off part of the existing lobby for “secure” waiting area. (7) Explore storage options. (8) Maximize efficient use of all existing areas..
The work could be done in phases through two budget years, minimizing impact on the taxpayers. By attaching a multi-story addition directly to the rear area of the present police station, work could be performed with little disruption to the daily department activities. Openings between new and existing areas would be created during the very last stages of the project.
