At Monday’s town council meeting, the Council voted unanimously to accept The Peoples Bank terms for a $490,000 mortgage loan to the municipality for purchasing the building at 601 High St. to be used as the future location of the Chestertown Police Station.
The building formerly served as offices for Shared Opportunity Service, Inc. (SOS), a counseling and social services resource, since 2003.
Out of five bank proposals submitted to the municipality to underwrite the purchase, Town Manager Bill Ingersoll recommended The Peoples Bank at a 15-year 2.9% rate. Ingersoll pointed out that the interest rate would be fixed for the duration of the 15-year period and that there were no prepayment penalties. The Council agreed and moved to accept the terms. The purchase of the building will be completed on January 9, 2015.
Addressing transition issues for moving the police station to the new High Street location, Chief Adrian Baker reiterated that that he was working with the day care center currently occupying some of the offices in the building.
“We understand that changes like this are difficult, and we are working on a plan so that both the police station and the day care center can coexist until July 1. To that end, we will create two separate spaces with walls and entrances.”
Suggestions about a longer-term co-occupancy between the two entities have been dismissed as unrealistic.
“There are safety issues to consider in situations like this and we’ve concluded that a police station doesn’t offer the right kind of the environment for a day care center. Of course, we will make it work for everyone as best we can as they transition out,” he said.
Baker looks at early Spring as the target date for a move-in and looks forward to updating the infrastructure. “We have to look at parking needs, phone systems, new door lock systems, that sort of thing.”
“There’s a lot to like about this location,” he says. “It’s more central than other proposals we considered and I think it will invite people to come by to discuss any issues they might have. There’s also an area that could be used as a public conference room, and that kind of interaction is healthy for our community,” Baker added.
The current police station on Cross St dates from the late 1800s and was once a horse stable. It was suggested in previous council meetings that selling the old site could be used to help defer from the cost of the High Street building.
Billie Beck says
I’ve always thought the present Police Station building was originally what we called the Little Courthouse. It sat right next to what use to be the jail back when Bartus Vickers was the Sheriff , it was also the Vickers family’s home. There was a bit of a wide driveway between the jail and this little court house. Guess you gotta sorta be a homegrown Chestertownian to recall that. At least that building should be considered “Historical” in my opinion.