Lanesborough Committee Invites Officers to Speak on Station Plans
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Police Station Committee invited several officers to its meeting on Thursday to share thoughts on the committee's direction and the plans for the new station.
The committee asked the officers several questions about the current station, what they think of putting the new station there and other potential locations for the building. Officer Sakan Sadowsky said having to use the current station is, at times, embarrassing.
"I have been fingerprinting people lately, and it's embarrassing to have them come in, and then when you have to wash your hands and go into our bathroom .. . The security between the front desk and where our officer's room is, it's like I could flick the wood and it would break. It's not secure whatsoever."
Officer Jason Costa said he thinks the site near Skyline Country Club would be better for the new station than the 8 Prospect St. location.
"We've been there, in this location, for obviously longer than I've been on the job. It's worked, but I've heard that the Skyline is another option and that's a much better location for a lot of reasons," he said. "There's better egress and access to it, it's more central to get to both sides of the town, the northern side and the southern side. And you don't have that hill."
Board Chair Kristen Tool said, in her mind, the site is not off the table.
"For the purposes of the committee, we were directed to assess the Prospect Street site and the building design that was planned to go there," she said. "The committee has to dig into that before we can look at anything else, but we have all discussed multiple times the very ant concerns with that location, and we are going to be compiling all that to recommend to the select board," she said.
The committee and the officers also discussed the two-floor design of the building proposed for Prospect Street. Former Chief Tim Sorrell said there are several issues with such a design, including handicapped accessibility and potential safety-related issues.
"I didn't like it because it looks like there's only one stairwell going up top," he said. "And if something bad happens, either a fire breaks out and it blocks that stairwell, or you have somebody in the lobby who somehow knows you guys are coming down and decides to open up, where's your emergency egress?"
Tool thanked the officers for their thoughts and said their feedback helps with the process.
"I have been compiling a list of all of the considerations we've been discussing and I'll add what the officers shared today," she said.
The board is still progressing with a temporary site after strongly considering a property at 545 South Main St., which only needs minor modifications to be usable. Tool said there has been some progress on this spot and hopes to present plans to the Board of Selectmen soon.
"There has been some good progress on that," she said. "I talked to the property owner and he said he is going to have his contractor do the work so it wouldn't have to be an item that the town would have to go through the bidding process for it."
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