Millville police say new station needed
Chief Ronald Landry says facility is in severe disrepair
MILLVILLE — The police chief in Millville says his department needs a new police station.
Police Chief Ronald Landry told the selectmen last week that the existing station is nearly 70 years old and on its last legs. “The building has exceeded its usefulness,” Landry told the board. “I guess this is a preemptive notice that we need to look at the current condition of the station and make a decision.”
The circa-1950 block-style building on Central Street, located behind the Longfellow Municipal Building (shuttered in 2016), was built on a four-inch concrete slab. Landry says the building is showing its age and needs to either be replaced or totally remodeled.
In the meantime, repairs to the building need to be made immediately, including a new air condition system, which is currently inoperable. Landry said he recently received an estimate to replace the system at a cost of $32,000.
During the last heatwave, he said, parts of the building exceeded 91 degrees.
“I can’t expect my employees to be working in those kinds of conditions,” the chief said. “Over the years we’ve made some repairs, but the major stuff is creeping up on us.”
Landry says the building also has mold and air quality problems due to the concrete slab. Moisture is seeping through the slab, he said, which causes mold deposits on the floor tiles, and the duct work for the heating and air conditioning below the slab is rotten causing insects and mold to come through the vents.
“I’m concerned about the mold, radon gas and the quality of the air,” he told the board.
In addition, there are severe cracks in the building, rotten wood around windows and entryways and a malfunctioning generator.
Of more concern are the 12x12 floor tiles inside the building, which are likely made of asbestos.
Landry also gave the board
notice of potential liability issues at the old playground next to the station, which is overgrown and not being maintained.
The selectmen asked Landry to compile estimates for the most urgent repairs, which will be reviewed by the board and discussed with the Finance Committee. As for the future of the building itself, that remains a big question mark as the town decides what it will eventually do with the shuttered Longfellow Municipal Center on Main Street.
Last year, voters at a special town meeting authorize the Board of Selectmen to negotiate the future of the former town hall. The town is hoping to re-purpose 100-year-old building and find a new use for it by either leasing, selling or rehabilitating.
The American Legion Hall at 290 Main St. was retrofitted last year and is serving as Millville’s temporary town hall for at least the next nine years. In the meantime, the town needs to decide what it will do with the Longfellow Municipal Center, which was permanently closed in 2016 because of serious structural issues.