City considers new building projects

CELINA - City officials this week discussed putting up new buildings in the near future to provide more space for two departments.

Police chief Tom Wale wants to replace the city's rundown vehicle impound on North Street with a new metal building he estimates could cost up to $400,000.

Also, fire chief Doug Wolters said he's OK with the current department setup but will need additional space in the next few years.

City officials this week discussed the needs of the fire and police departments while reviewing the 2019 budget.

The police department stores impounded vehicles needed as evidence in a dilapidated, 60-foot-by-80-foot wood-frame building with a gravel floor on North Street, Wale noted.

"Part of the evidence keeping is to maintain it and preserve it and if you have a vehicle that's just over gravel or dirt, it's going to start rusting that bottom if the case goes on," mayor Jeff Hazel pointed out.

Wale agreed, saying "lot rot" can occur if vehicles have to be kept for the long haul in the impound as court cases drag on. He worries the city could be held responsible if the vehicles they eventually return to the owners are in worse shape than when they arrived.

"Whether at the end of the day this car is seized and we sell it at auction, it's going to have a lot of problems," he said. "Or if we have to return it to the guy, how liable are we for it because of the condition we stored it?"

A top-of-the-line, 100-foot-by-80-foot metal building - tall enough to drive in a semi - with concrete floor, would cost about $400,000 based on quotes from Morton Buildings, Wale said.

However, councilman Jeff Larmore said Wale may be able to obtain a lower quote from local businesses.

Wale suggested having the new building put up on the current impound site or on city property adjacent to the solar field on Meyer Road.

The police department's total proposed capital expenses for 2019 are $499,450.

Another requested big-ticket item is 18 new body cameras that Wale anticipates costing $18,000. Wale said the police department's body camera provider has offered fewer support services in recent months.

"It's at least weekly … (that) I've got guys bringing cameras in, they're not working," Wale said. "We're going to have to replace all the cameras. The support doesn't seem to be there. (The body cameras) are about four years old now."

Body-worn cameras have become a powerful tool for the department, providing video evidence of officers' encounters with the public.

In a few instances, footage has cleared officers of accusations of wrongdoing since the cameras had been introduced to the force, Wale told the newspaper earlier this year.

"You got to have the cameras because $18,000 might save $250,000 (in a) lawsuit," Larmore replied.

Hazel said the expenditure, if approved by council, would come from the city's 0.5-percent income tax for fire, police and streets.

Officials also learned the fire department could use additional space in a few years.

"The ambulances are getting bigger and then we need space for office and training and things like that," Wolters said.

Larmore noted the fire department expanded a few years ago. City officials spent nearly $75,000 to renovate the aging former Winkeljohn Printing building next door to allow for storage of department vehicles.

It entailed installing a back garage door to allow for storage of the rescue truck, pickup truck and boat. Repairs to electric heaters and gas lines were included in the project.

"That helped us, but we need, eventually, some training room and bigger squad bays because the squad barely fits in any more and then we got two of them over in the other building, the Spriggs building," Wolters replied.

The Spriggs building, located next door to the fire department, is owned by the Mercer County government. Hazel and safety service director Tom Hitchcock indicated that county commissioners want to talk to them about the future of the building.

"We've talked to the county in the past about it before, and it just seemed like timing was off so I think the county is thinking, 'you know, why do we own that?' " Hazel said.

If city officials would obtain the building, they likely would raze the structure and use the ground to extend the squad bays, Hitchcock said.

The building is used as the Mercer County Sheriff's Office impound, county commissioner Rick Muhlenkamp said. Grey went before commissioners last month, detailing the cramped conditions of the Spriggs building and asking them to consider putting up an impound structure on the north side of the county jail.

"But we've got to do something. We're towing more cars because there's more crashes," Grey had told commissioners. "In a fatal, if somebody gets sentenced, we have to hold (their vehicle) until their sentence is up, for appeals and all that kind of stuff."

The fire department's total proposed capital expenses for 2019 is $208,700. A bulk of that total, if approved by council, would go toward a new self-contained breathing apparatus that Wolters pegs at $186,500.

City council members will continue discussing the city's 2019 budget at a personnel and finance meeting set for 6 p.m. Monday in council chambers on the second floor of the city administration building.