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City takes up issue of relocating the police station
Published 12:00 p.m., January 12, 2010
Could the Fergus Falls Police Department have an entirely new station near the Otter Tail County Courthouse?
That’s one proposal floated Monday night at a work session of the Fergus Falls City Council.
Council members met Monday night to address some of the concerns generated by its present police station.
The first suggestion was that the city fund the building of an entirely new police station on a stretch of property between Washington and Junius Avenues and within walking distance of the jail, city hall and the courthouse. The city would have to demolish the building currently occupying the property, but the owners of the land are amenable to a sale. The city has had its eye on the property for many years, and it was suggested at the session that the city could buy the land even if it was decided that the police station should not move there.
The second suggestion was that the police department move into and remodel the current site of the city library. This proposal would also require the construction of a garage. The library, which is currently seeking to expand its current building, would then be moved to another area, possibly the Washington/Junius Avenue site.
The third suggestion was a move into the Eisenhower school building, which will be unoccupied at the end of the current school year.
While the space needs are adequate, there is some concern that response times for police officers would be down because the building in not in a central part of town and is located by the busy Pebble Lake Road. Remodeling the school to serve as a law enforcement facility could also be a challenge.
The final suggestion was that a new station be built on the property on Stanton Avenue where an old mill now sits. The city has held some discussions on this proposal.
In 1972, the staff of the police department began sharing a space with the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department. Counting both officers and civilians, there were 19 members of the police department. The sheriff’s department had 13 employees.
By 1995, the police department had added two more employees. A study conducted by Otter Tail County deemed the space allotted to the police and sheriff’s departments to be two small. A small remodeling of the building was done, and some locations were shuffled around, with the end result being that the police department ended up being located on two different floors of the building, which is currently the case.
The problem with the move to two different floors is that it is now harder to communicate quickly and efficiently within the police department. Multiple flights of stairs separate different areas of the department from one another. The city council conducted another study in 2005 that deemed the space overcrowded. In 2007, the study was validated.
While the burden of overcrowding eased slightly in 2008 when the sheriff’s department opened a substation in Ottertail, the police department’s staff now includes 28 full-time employees. The amount of space the employees work in, however, remains the same as what they were able to work in when they first moved into the building.
The parking garage has become an obstacle course, often requiring that multiple cars be moved before one can get out. The space problems will only get worse in the near future, as the city plans on hiring more officers to reach the national standard of 1.9 police officers per 1,000 people.
On top of space considerations, the current location is old and experiences problems with air quality. Its age also makes it unable to host many of the technological developments that the police department could use to operate better.
Prior meetings between the city council and the Otter Tail County Commissioners had ruled out the courthouse as a location for the department to move into, and four possible locations were discussed at Monday’s work session.
Some council members advocated buying the Washington/Junius property before the site of the police station is set, and that proposal will be discussed further at the council’s next meeting.
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The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post. To post a comment you will need to register. Or, if you're already registered but have not included your true, verifiable identity with your registration, you will need to update your account to include your identity. Effective Dec. 1, 2009, all posts appear with the commenter's true identity, which must be verified by site staff. Those who registered prior to Dec. 1, 2009, should be aware that once you update your information with your true identity, all prior posts under your user name will also indicate your true identity. If you do not wish to link yourself to prior comments, you should register again with a different user name.Posted by PeterHaugen (Peter Haugen) on January 12, 2010 at 7:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sure lets buys something on the premise that we might or might not use it. Is it just me or does that sound completely absurd. Of course there is the fact then that they could make it into tennis courts since it is the tennis association that wants more courts now. They are the new special interst. They could fund it through the Port Authority, Wow, you know, we could build a SuperDome, fully equiped with a Dallas Cowboys style Megascreen, and they could play tennis til their hearts content. We may as well, seems like this council doesn't listen to citzens anyways.
Posted by BWD (David Adams) on January 13, 2010 at 11:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No matter where they plant the new police offices, what is going to be the real cost????
With a New Ice Arena, can they afford to PAYOUT more Taxpayer Millions for a new Police Station, Library, and new tennis courts, plus hire more Police Officers, and catch up to all of the Infrastructure needs too??? We have streets falling apart due to plain City Engineer negligence, but we can afford a new ice arena and more tennis courts. Go figure. Can't this Council just please establish some basic normal priorities? Like taking care of Taxpayer needs first, special interests later.
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