Borough moves on new police station design
Total cost estimate is $2.75M sans municipal court
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

Current police headquarters at 95 Poplar Ave., West Long Branch

WEST LONG BRANCH - The police must exit their existing headquarters for good, even if their new home lacks a municipal courtroom.

With those words, Councilwoman Bettina Munson convinced most of her colleagues on the Borough Council to authorize contracted architect Andrew Trocchia Jr. to draw up more definite plans for a 10,000-square-foot police station at 965 Broadway, next to the current borough hall.

If constructed, at the latest estimated cost of $2.75 million, the new headquarters would house the borough police department and the construction and code enforcement offices, which currently occupy the leaky and moldy former town hall at 95 Poplar Ave.

Trocchia's latest designs, which Munson said could be submitted for the council's approval by late December or early January, would not include the planned 2,600-square-foot municipal courtroom originally shown in the architect's concept plans in September.

Because Mayor Janet W. Tucci and other council members are hoping to eventually share municipal court services with neighboring Ocean Township, Munson asked Trocchia to erase the courtroom facilities from his drawings.

Omitting the courtroom trims the project's original estimated price of $5.5 million by half down to the $2.75 million or about $275 per foot for 10,000 feet to incorporate the police station and the construction and zoning offices, Munson said during the council's meeting last Thursday night, the only one scheduled for this month.

With only two more meetings to go this calendar year, the winter holidays approaching, and the police toiling in squalid conditions inside their existing headquarters, Munson pressed the Republican-led council to act immediately, not after reorganization in January.

"We need to make a decision," said Munson, who as the council's lone Democrat oversees the governing body's building and grounds committee. "We need to move on.

"I'm proposing that we don't allow discussions on the court to slow down [construction of] the police building," she continued. "What the architect told me is that we need to get the police out of the building as soon as possible."

Heeding those words, the council voted 5-0-1 to let Trocchia prepare what Munson described as the "preliminary design development" on the building.

At the suggestion of Councilman J. Thomas DeBruin, a member of Munson's sub-committee, the approved motion carried the caveat that Trocchia not design any structure that would cost more than $2.75 million.

Trocchia's latest estimate "is a far cry from $5.5 million," said DeBruin, the borough's police commissioner.

Those estimates are conservative, said Munson referring to discussions she has had with Trocchia.

Should the borough eventually desire a municipal court within its boundaries, such a facility could be constructed in a later, second phase, she went on.

If Trocchia submits his preliminary designs by late December or early January, the council could go through the bidding process from January through April, Munson said.

Should that schedule be followed, the council might be able to award a bid by June, and construction could kick off in July and continuing for the next 12 months, she went on.

"I'm told by the architect that if we delay, if we [wait] into January, we could delay the project into 2009," she said.

Aside from omitting the municipal courtroom, all of the department heads now working at 95 Poplar have downsized their requests for office space by 1,000 feet each - a factor that also helped slash the estimated price in half, Munson said.

In casting the only abstaining vote, Council President Richard F. Cooper Jr. expressed discomfort about allowing Trocchia to design the proposed, smaller building, sans a municipal courtroom and other space.

Instead, Cooper, the council's finance chairperson, asked for more guidance from Trocchia as to whether or not the structure would be functional, meet the police departments' needs without financially strapping the town's property owners.

"We all want to be comfortable that we put up a building that gives the police everything that they want, but not put up a building that will overwhelm the taxpayers," said Cooper, who is retiring from his post of more than 20 years on Dec. 31.

Though Councilman Joseph Woolley ultimately voted to permit Trocchia to design a police station without a courtroom, he appeared hesitant about moving the municipal court function out of town.

"I'd like to see [the municipal courtroom] continue here in West Long Branch," said Woolley also a member of the sub-committee with Munson and DeBruin.

The new building ought to be completely functional, yet economical "at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer," said Woolley, who works professionally in building trades.

In response to a question from Beechwood Avenue resident Geraldine Fawcett, Tucci said that so far Ocean Township officials have been open to sharing a municipal courtroom, to be based in that community, with West Long Branch.

However, that township's officials have not yet decided if they will sign onto the shared serves agreement, Cooper said.

"They're not in a position to make a decision," Cooper said.

All members of the governing body believe that the police department needs a better working environment than the leaking, decrepit building they have been working in, Tucci said after the vote.

"We need a new building in place, but we can't do it at the sacrifice of the taxpayers," Tucci said. "Some of those taxes we don't have any control over up here. [But] let's move forward."

What to do with the 95 Poplar Ave. building, which a structural engineer has found to be sound despite the presence of mold in its basement, came up as well.

After renovations to its upper floors, that building could be re-used by community groups or the adjacent borough library, Munson suggested.

Though some residents in attendance scoffed at that idea, Munson explained that the upper floors of the aging building could still be used on a limited basis by groups that, unlike the police, would not have to occupy it 24 hours a day.

In a related manner, DeBruin reported that mold found in one room at 95 Poplar Ave. had been remediated by an outside contractor and new baseboard heating has been installed.

A leak that had precipitated the latest moldy conditions was found by the contractor and patched, DeBruin went on. Subsequent testing showed the interior air quality to be within acceptable levels. he added.

A series of tests conducted by an air quality testing firm earlier this fall showed mold levels in that room were found to be slightly higher than those in other rooms, though still within approved limits, Munson has said.

The tests were conducted after a female police officer in reportedly good health, came down with asthma while working inside the building late last summer.

that community, with West Long Branch.

However, that township's officials have not yet decided if they will sign onto the shared serves agreement, Cooper said.

"They're not in a position to make a decision," Cooper said.

All members of the governing body believe that the police department needs a better working environment than the leaking, decrepit building they have been working in, Tucci said after the vote.

"We need a new building in place, but we can't do it at the sacrifice of the taxpayers," Tucci said. "Some of those taxes we don't have any control over up here. [But] let's move forward."

What to do with the 95 Poplar Ave. building, which a structural engineer has found to be sound despite the presence of mold in its basement, came up as well.

After renovations to its upper floors, that building could be re-used by community groups or the adjacent borough library, Munson suggested.

Though some residents in attendance scoffed at that idea, Munson explained that the upper floors of the aging building could still be used on a limited basis by groups that, unlike the police, would not have to occupy it 24 hours a day.

In a related manner, DeBruin reported that mold found in one room at 95 Poplar Ave. had been remediated by an outside contractor and new baseboard heating has been installed.

A leak that had precipitated the latest moldy conditions was found by the contractor and patched, DeBruin went on. Subsequent testing showed the interior air quality to be within acceptable levels. he added.

A series of tests conducted by an air quality testing firm earlier this fall showed mold levels in that room were found to be slightly higher than those in other rooms, though still within approved limits, Munson has said.

The tests were conducted after a female police officer in reportedly good health, developed asthma while working inside the building late last summer.