Letter: Dalton Public Safety Facility

To the Editor:

I must respond to the article: "Dalton Consultant to Assess Police Station" on 12/11/2025.

I do not know why the town has never pursued the option of renovating Town Hall to accommodate the needs of the Police Department and improve access to town offices.

There was $82,000 in ARP funds that could have already jump-started the process.

The following is my letter that iBerkshires published on 9/29/2025. This viable plan that I presented was tabled without any further discussion or consideration by the Select Board or by the Advisory Committee.

• Purchase the bank building located on the corner of Main Street and South Carson Avenue. Extend the building toward Main Street. Then build out the interior to accommodate the town offices. The offices would then be accessible to the handicapped.
• Stage the moving of the town offices to facilitate the renovation of the Town Hall for the new police facility to minimize disruption and inconvenience. I know that Hill Engineering put together a cost estimate to fix the problems in the basement of the Town Hall. I recall it was very reasonable.
• Add an elevator in the Town Hall to accommodate handicapped individuals.

I believe the above suggestions would cost considerably less than what has been proposed. If planned out properly, it would be a lot less disruptive. It would satisfy the needs for a new police facility.

I believe the next step would be to provide schematic floor plans of all floors of Town Hall and a floor plan of the bank building. Make paper dolls of all equipment and space requirements for offices, cubicles, etc., in order to produce a plan that would satisfy the town's needs.

I believe the town has an obligation to the struggling tax payers to abandon the idea of building a $10 million-plus police station. Renovating the Town Hall is a practical and cost effective way to go.

Bruce Lester
Dalton, Mass. 

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