The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
City officials welcome police substation
Willoughby Hills welcomed its new police substation on the west end of the city with a ribbon-cutting event.
Willoughby Hills recently welcomed its new police substation on the west end of the city with a ribboncutting event.
Although the Aug. 8 ribbon-cutting was a public event, the substation has been functional for some time. It officially opened about two weeks ago, said Sgt. Henry Boepple, who is the officer in charge of it.
“We’ve been utilizing it, though, for about a month and a half or two months,” Boepple said. “We’ve had the computers, people in and out working on stuff.” He added that he had put in training mats about three months ago.
The substation, which is located at 27701 Chardon Road, will technically be unmanned, as Chief Christopher Collins said, but it will serve as a station for officers working on the west end of the city to perform desk work and other duties. Officers can utilize the substation without having to return to the main station.
“It’ll cut down on our time getting over here for calls for service,” Boepple said.
“We get a lot of calls here,” he said, noting that the west end of the city has more densely-populated areas. “Again, if you’re back there (at the main station) doing your paperwork, you’ve got to come all the way over here (to the west end).”
Real estate developer J. Scott Scheel is providing the facility rent-free for the city for 10 years. Mayor Robert Weger signed the lease for the facility in December. The substation facility was formerly a First Merit Bank.
“I feel personally blessed and honored to be in a position to be able to donate a facility like this to a community I care so very much about,” Scheel told visitors. In a December NewsHerald article, Scheel stated that Bishop Checkmate LLC, of which he is a managing member, will take care all the structural upkeep of the property, as well as the maintenance of the grounds.
Willoughby Hills City Councilman John Plecnik said that taxpayers will only have to cover the cost of the officers themselves and the utilities of the substation.
Plecnik and Councilman David Fiebig, chairman of the safety committee, also added that the substation will be a critical part of economic development in the city. It is situated near the Shoppes at Willoughby Hills, as well as the upcoming Aldi and Producing Packaging Inc. facilities.
“It’s a very important section of our city,” Fiebig said, adding that the substation “establishes a police presence in our community where half the population lives.”
The substation is one of the most recent developments for the west end of Willoughby Hills, along with Aldi and Produce Packaging Inc.
“The biggest part of (the substation) is that it’s propping up the western edge of Lake County and making sure that it’s secure,” Scheel had stated.
“If folks are going to visit, they are going to do so with the best attitude and the best demeanor and the best way to do that is to make sure we have law enforcement present and a good presence there to keep people acting accordingly.”