Center Harbor voters have say on contentious police station issue

CENTER HARBOR — Recalling the Burma Shave rhymes, a string of signs along Route 25 reading "Ctr Harbor - Police - Station - Huge -$$$ - Not - A - Need - No - Art 2 - Stop" greets motorists at the town line signaling the major issue before Town Meeting tonight.

Last year voters narrowly rejected a proposal to construct a facility on land in Morrill Park, near the Municipal Building, amid claims that using the property would violate the terms on which it was originally donated to the town. When resistance to the location persisted, the selectmen searched for an alternative site and ultimately abandoned the park in favor of a lot on Route 3 just west of the village.

Despite the change of location, controversy has persisted as some claim the selectmen have misrepresented the cost of the project, others insist that the Police Department does not need additional space and still others question whether the town, with slightly more than 1,000 residents, needs a police force at all.

Police officers work in a room of less than 400-square-feet at the rear of the Municipal Building and store records, evidence and equipment in another 870-square-feet at the fire station, highway garage and two other locations. By mutual agreement, detainees are booked and evidence is processed at the Meredith Police Department, five miles away.

The station would be built on three acres, which the town has an option to purchase for $199,000. The single-story structure consists of the main building, with the primary entrance, and an attached ell, which altogether compromises 3,738-square-feet, somewhat less than the design presented a year ago.

The space is divided into three segregated and secured areas for the general public, department personnel and the processing of detainees and evidence. The front entrance leads to a secure lobby, with public restroom, beyond which a central corridor is flanked by an interview room, reception area, chief's office, lunch room, locker rooms, utility core and the squad room. The ell houses the sallyport, booking room, holding cell, interview room, armory and evidence storage. An attic of 360-square-feet above the sallyport provide addition storage space.

Police Chief Mark Chase said that the facility would enable his officers to perform all the essential functions of a Police Department under one roof within the bounds of the town, which would not only increase the efficiency of its operations but also enhance its service to the public. Apart from shuttling back and forth to Meredith, he remarked that he cannot speak privately with members of the public without taking them into the apparatus bay of the fire station.

Chase said that because he seldom publicizes the work of his department, he may have left a misleading impression of its operations. In 2010, officers answered more than 2,000 calls for service for service in this town of just over 1,000 residents, including 971 motor vehicle stops and 39 motor vehicle accidents. Officers made 82 arrests, 30 of them residents, and New Hampshire State Police made another 13. The department investigated three sexual assaults, two of them forcible rapes, along with 41 thefts and seven drug cases and responded to eight suicide attempts.

"This is a safe community," Chase said, "but we have crime and victims. We're not in a bubble."

The guaranteed maximum cost of the project is $1,275,000, which includes $996,000 for construction, $80,000 for design and engineering and $199,000 to acquire the property. However, the selectmen expect the bids to fall below the estimated cost of construction. The selectmen propose to borrow $1.2-million over 30 years with an annual principal and interest payment of $71,000, and withdraw $75,000 from the public safety capital reserve fund to fund the project. The Selectboard estimates that the project will increase the property tax rate by 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

Chase noted that a $60,000 highway bond is set to retire, which he suggested would further reduce the net effect of the additional borrowing on the town's total debt service. Moreover, he said that the 2011 budget includes only a token appropriation of $1 for the public safety capital reserve fund, which was begun in 2006.

However, Keith Markley, among the most outspoken critics of the project, estimates the project will cost more than double and perhaps almost triple what town officials claim. In a mailing to residents and letter to the press, he explained that $150,000 has already been spent designing and engineering the building, purchasing the land and removing it from the tax rolls will cost $300,000 and interest payments on the borrowing will amount to about $925,000. Together with the construction costs, Markley calculates the town will spend $2,371,000 before furnishing and equipping the station.

Meanwhile, others have challenged the need for what Markley calls a "huge" and "massive" complex. Derek Kline has said that state law requires the New Hampshire State Police to patrol towns of less than 3,000 people, but Harry Viens countered that the statute applies only to municipalities without police departments.

Jim Miller has suggested a "regional approach" to policing, without offering a specific proposal akin to the initiative taken by Barnstead, where town officials are considering contracting with the Belknap County Sheriff's Department.

Supporters of the police station stress that since 2003, when Town Meeting added a third full-time officer to the department, voters have consistently and frequently unanimously approved the police budget. They claim that the issue is not whether the town should have its own police department, but whether it should have the means necessary to do its job.

The annual meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Fire Department. Because long-term debt in involved, the polls to decide Article 2 will remain open for at least one hour.