Lack of sufficient holding-cell space for prisoners,  insufficient space for equipment and processing evidence on the lunch counter at at public safety building cited by police and fire chiefs

By Leah Gage, Community Journalist, Granite State News Collaborative

A warrant article asking the town for $13.1 million dollars will be voted on in March for renovations to the Wolfeboro Public Safety building. Wolfeboro’s police and fire chiefs say the upgrades are long overdue and desperately needed while some residents have expressed concerns about costs.  

“The current building is far too out of date to keep up with the latest technologies,” said Police Chief Dean Rondeau, who added that he hopes voters will approve the major renovation and an addition to the current building. “Science and equipment has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. The equipment is bigger and heavier. The floors can’t handle it, the building can’t handle it. We’ve simply outgrown [the building].”

Some building insufficiencies unique to fire and police departments

The current public safety building, opened in 1974, has no sprinkler system, lacks ADA compliant bathrooms for the public and staff and has insufficient emergency lighting. But insufficiencies are also unique to each department. For the police department, Rondeau said safety and security is an issue due to inadequate holding cells. 

“I can’t secure prisoners. The holding cells we have aren’t up to current standards to hold people, even temporarily for processing,” he said, adding that when an arrest is made and a prisoner needs to be booked they are transported to Carroll County Jail. Taking people to the county jail for processing takes an officer off duty for anywhere from half an hour to two hours, he explained. “The job of my officers is to be in the community, out on the road.”

Executive Administrative Assistant to the Police Chief Sherri Moore said the police department is using the same counter space in the break room for both drug-evidence processing and food prep, adding that this can be especially dangerous due to the potential for contamination from drugs such as Fentanyl. “Obviously sharing this counter for both is not standard,” Moore said.

Problems with the building on the fire department side, Fire Chief Tom Zotti said, include a lack of proper decontamination zones, no women’s locker room or showers, the lack of separate space for equipment storage, and apparatus bays that are too small for newer equipment.

“Squeezing the apparatus in, especially the new one, is difficult, but we’re making it work,” Zotti said. “The new truck is bigger, so we had to make the building fit the truck by putting in a new, bigger door. If you look, the door to the bay is one cinder block higher than the others.” 

One of the goals with the renovation concerning the fire department, Zotti continued, is to take contaminants and toxins into account. “We’re creating proper hot, warm, and cool zones to ensure as many carcinogens and toxins as possible are removed before people enter the rest of the building after returning from a fire or other emergency,” he said, adding that the decontamination stations will have a washer, dryer, showers, and locker rooms accessible from the apparatus bay, allowing personnel to shed contaminated clothing and to shower and change without having to enter the rest of the building. The way things are now, Zotti said, “is less than ideal.”

Residents have expressed concerns about project

Wolfeboro residents have expressed concerns about the project at selectboard meetings and through petitions to Town Manager James Pineo over the past year. At a Jan. 4 selectboard meeting, Rick Skarinka spoke in favor of the project, but suggested raising more awareness. “You may want to think about putting the plan on display boards at the library and some other places in town. I think that when people understand and hear what’s already been done and the process you’ve been through (on the project) it softens the blow for most people.”

Jody Persson, a former candidate for Wolfeboro’s selectboard, expressed caution about the timing of the project. “I’m not against this project, but the way the world is and everything that’s going on right now, I feel like we do have a functioning police department, and we do have a functioning fire department right now,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know if now is the right time. “I am happy the plans went back to one building for police and fire.”

Pineo said two petitions were received in August, 2022, opposing the plan at that time to split the public safety departments by moving the police station to other areas in town. Since that time the plan has changed to keep the departments together in the current building. 

How renovations will affect tax rates

The proposed Public Safety building restorations would add $0.51 to the tax rate per $1,000 of property valuation. Wolfeboro’s tax rate in 2022 was $13.22. Other high-cost warrant articles up for vote in March include a bond of no more than $1.45 million for a renovation, restoration and addition to the Libby Museum of Natural History, a sewer extension from Forest Road to Varney Road with a cost of $1 million, and $1.69 million for water main replacement from Center Street to Smith River Bridge. 

Wolfeboro’s proposed 2023 operating budget allows $4,844,415 for the entire public safety complex, with $1,927,961 for the fire department, and $2,017,276 for police. The warrant article for renovations to the public safety building needs a three-fifths majority vote to pass.

A building for now and the future

If approved by voters the $13.1 million renovation and expansion would be completed in three phases, the first starting in July with the addition of new, taller apparatus bays off the left side of the building. Phase two would renovate and restructure the interior of the current apparatus bays and much of the building’s interior. The third and final phase would renovate the current police department section as well as the building’s road facing facade. Once started, construction is scheduled to take 18 months.

Fire and police officials, as well as the Board of Selectmen, said they have explored many options over five years of planning for how best to meet the town’s current and future needs.

“We’ve had to be somewhat prophetic in designing the building for now and for the future. That’s been the tough part, but I think we have a very good plan here,” Rondeau said.

An open house for the public to see inside the building will be held Thursday, Feb. 16, from 5 to 7 pm at the Wolfeboro Public Safety Building at 251 S. Main Street in Wolfeboro. The construction manager, architects, and others involved in the renovation plans will be on hand to answer questions.

This article was produced as part of The Community Journalism Project and is being shared with partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information on the project visit www.collaborativenh.org/community-journalism-project