This is an open book pop quiz. The book, in PDF form, is opened by clicking here. After reading the 11-page pdf answer the following question:
C. Other Alternatives and Considerations
- The 34,500 square foot option is a building size necessary for today’s needs. The 56,000 square foot option is one where we would build for future needs, as well as present day needs.
- In lieu of water rate relief, the Council could enact other taxes/fees. An increase in the local gasoline tax has been suggested. A $0.01 per gallon increase would generate approximately $200,000 annually, an amount similar to what would be generated by a 5% increase to water rates (approximately $225,000).
- The Council could also look at some of our annual general fund revenue streams and assign some of it to pay for a portion of the debt for this police station’s construction. However, this option would decrease the current revenues in the General Fund. Other revenue enhancements should be considered to make up for the decrease to help the General Fund get to a 25% fund balance.
- INSERT YOUR OPTION HERE (via the comment box)
Full disclosure: I am a member of the Finance Advisory Committee (City of DeKalb). A special joint meeting of the City Council and the Finance Advisory is called for Monday, June 20, 2011 at 6:00 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, of the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 South 4th Street.
Please note: I will steal good ideas and questions (with hat tips of course) for use at the aforementioned meeting.
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15 Comments
I used to have an office along Normal Road and saw numerous police vehicles go over those speed bumps. A couple of them now have a little more asphalt to make them less severe. A buddy of mine saw a patrol car go airborne off one of the bumps with a pedestrian not paying attention almost get hit. No one has control of a vehicle while it is airborne.
Too bad no one is really thinking forwardly, and making an agreement with the County–build a new DeKalb Police Station in combination with a second County Jail, to put the longer term prisoners, the ones who do not need to go to the courthouse frequently for trial.
I see that the west lincoln site was selected. BAD CHOICE. I can’t believe the 3rd ward rep voted to move the station. There are some serious crime problems here. She needs 2 get her head out of fantasy land.
I think the action taken during the special joint meeting of the council and advisory committee was intended and limited to giving staff direction for moving forward. No motion was made or seconded. No formal vote was taken.
Therefore no decision was made.
The staff will take the direction from this meeting to base their recommendations for financing the construction of the police station. They must do that to make sure the item is approved as part of the FY11 budget.
I also live in the 3rd ward and think the police station should stay at its current location but that was not really the scope of the meeting.
The public has an opportunity to provide input during the public hearing and at 1st and 2nd reading of the budget. We should let our aldermen know our positions on the matter via phone, email or face-to-face meetings.
I was shocked to find out that no traffic study has been done at the Lincoln Highway site.
Some excellent ideas have been raised here, and I am glad that Mac has set up this comment page.
My concern with the west Lincoln Highway site is that there is no direct route from there to where much of the crime problem seems to be, that does not involve going either through or slightly around the University. This is going to endanger pedestrians, especially when adrenaline is flowing. As I recall, Dean Kasuba from the Engineering College was hit by a NIU squad car when it made a right turn on red there at Carrol and Lincoln Highway some years back. And this was not a hot pursuit situation.
I agree that we ought to do this right, and take a very careful look at the long term here. I also note that police departments hate to be in the same building with administration, and I am not sure why.
The city owns land north of Dresser Road, where the water tower is located. There is also a parcel of land across the road that is for sale. Both sites have ready access to Annie Glidden Road for north-south deployment. It is also adjacent to where most of the problems seem to be happening. If we are looking at the long term, why shackle ourselves to the Lincoln Highway site? That would be a much better place for commercial development than for a police station from what I can see.
As for the lack of cooperation between police departments, I am not sure how to deal with it. Most of the police departments in the County seem to be on reasonable terms with each other and with the County Sheriff. I suspect that there are personality issues involved here, and it is only to be hoped that the public interest and professionalism can surmount them.
I think that H and Mac have some good ideas on how to fund this, but some more work needs to be done on siting. We also have to beware of the edifice problem here, and get a building that is adequate but is also within our declining means.
I haven’t heard any discussion of a hotel and/or packaged liquor tax. It would be a way to keep much of the burden off taxed out residents and pass some of the burden onto out of towners.
Playing with some the options discussed here… to me it would make more sense, if the DeKalb Clinic building was acquired, for it to be used as city hall. 200 S. 4th Street would then become the police station and the annex could be demolished as it should be. Doing so would likely make the old A&P location more marketable for development.
Everybody loves new construction but the recession proves that not everyone can afford it. And if you weren’t careful, back in the inflating housing bubble days, you’re probably overextended, underwater and thinking rent ain’t such a bad idea.
I can’t see how devoting exclusive purpose of 200 S 4th to the Police Dept wouldn’t address the separation of perps and peeps issue. The railroad obstacle issue would not be resolved by leaving the police station there. Facility location may not be the solution to that problem anyway.
To my knowledge there’s been no independent traffic study on the West Lincoln Hwy location. I think NIU was a bit wimpy (politically correct) but absolutely within their right to express their belief that a thorough analysis of traffic patterns, egress in and out of the facility and pedestrian safety be done and considered prior to final site selection.
I’ve never been comfortable with those issues at the W. Lincoln site.
This is what we’ve got. What can you build for that?
Great approach! If they wanted to give this community a project to dive into and be proud of that’s exactly how to go about it. Set an amount and with peer review invite the local commercial contractors, empowered with value engineering authority, to work with staff to build the best facility for the lowest amount of tax dollars possible.
Those who believe that can’t be done – here in DeKalb and by DeKalbians – probably support the notion that times have changed and we can’t have top talent if they have to live here.
I think the community is supportive of the city council approving the financing to address the city hall/police station issue. But if it can be addressed through TIF it should be. If it can be addressed without increased fees or taxes that community support should be so rewarded.
But IF the West Lincoln Hwy location is sited and a tax/fee increase is deemed necessary it should be gas not water that funds it. There is a correlation between gas consumption and police services. None exists between water and police.
The public library ran away from the clinic site when they discovered the problems with it, and they only wanted to demolish it and not attempt to renovate it! Even if the city could come up with the money to totally gut the building properly, is that what we really want to be spending scarce tax dollars on when an equal amount of money could be put towards a permanent structure instead of fixing up another band-aid?
Building anywhere other than the W. Lincoln site essentially wastes the tax money that has already gone into that property, like it or not. Anybody who thinks that the city can break even by selling the property in this market is not thinking clearly. This still holds if a station is built elsewhere north of the tracks, even in the TIF district.
I won’t beat the dead horse on why it should be north of the tracks for pure policing reasons, the chief has done a more than adequate job on that front. If you really, really want to pacify south siders, put the new resident officers in TIF 2 south of the tracks. We north siders who deal with the overwhelming majority of the crime in this town are not amused by this naked political obstruction.
I am worried that this conversation will start to turn from “what is the least expensive way we can build this station the right way?” and become more like “what’s the cheapest way we can build this station?”
The city already has a traffic light at the intersection where the entrance to the station would be located, which is more than the totally uncontrolled egress situation at the current location. I don’t hear people complaining about how dangerous it is to be a pedestrian walking in front of city hall since you might get run over by a cop car. Get real people.
Cop cars running code three are always going to be a traffic hazard, from wherever they originate. This is why we bother to put flashy lights and loud sirens on them. NIU’s police station is in probably the most dense pedestrian area in the county and as of yet I’ve not heard of cases where pedestrians have been hit by cop cars. On the whole, it’s better for the police to be closer to their top response area, since this reduces the amount of time in code three response, meaning less opportunity for mayhem at intersections in the path to the call.
Solving the police’s facility problems is just a baby step in trying to save this community from an ugly future. It seems like every part of the political spectrum around here is guilty of foot-dragging in some manner and at some part of the past. Now we are at a point when a decision must be made under terrible economic conditions.Anybody in the “old guard” who is now complaining that we don’t have an ideal decision to make has only themselves to blame.
Imagine if as much passion and energy was put into solving our policing woes as was put into debating the merits of “stamped concrete versus brick pavers” for the downtown renovation. It seemed like the city council spent the better part of a year’s worth of meetings stuck on that dire matter.
H… keep in mind that I am playing with some of the options discussed here, all of which is valuable discussion since its likely no public hearing specific to the police station will be conducted.
If there is no need for an independent traffic study then why insist on them for the private sector? Because they are necessary. Its not footdragging its due diligence.
I’m certainly not interested in pacifying southsiders. In fact I don’t see a north/south side division on this issue. East/West? You betcha.
This council/administration has ignored the Big Elephant in the police services room for far too long: Testosterone clashes? in police administration prevent the full professional cooperation of NIUPD and DPD that would better protect citizens/students as well as spread the burden from both pockets (state and local) of the taxpayer.
Whatever is behind that obstacle must be identified, addressed or removed. DeKalb residents and NIU students really have twice as many cops on the streets as some might believe. A building will not increase cooperation unless maybe if DPD and NIUPD shared costs and facilities on the West Lincoln Hwy location.
Solving the police’s facility problems is just a baby step in trying to save this community from an ugly future. […] we are at a point when a decision must be made under terrible economic conditions.
H, if that’s your full name :-), good discussion and spot on agreement with your last paragraph. Effigy. Word.
Imagine if as much passion and energy was put into solving our policing woes as was put into debating the merits of “stamped concrete versus brick pavers” for the downtown renovation. It seemed like the city council spent the better part of a year’s worth of meetings stuck on that dire matter.
Priorities.
I don’t know if 56k sqft is “the number” but I would not want to see a 34k building since we will be back here again having this same problem in 10-15 years. Just to pull a number out of the air, what can be done with 48k sqft? Insist that the building be designed internally such that an extension can easily be built onto the back (capped pipes in the right places, etc).
Remember that if the utility charge is dropped, NIU is no longer participating. (btw, that letter on the final page was a page-long way to say “No comment”)
I’m not qualified to judge the water situation, but looking at the tables it seems like we have until at least 2016 give or take to make a decision? Why now, especially given the size of the fund’s balance?
One cent on gas seems acceptable to me, since if “the locals” are going to be pulling weight on the meters, and the students will have the NIU portion passed on to them on fees, “everybody else” will be paying for gas. Unless you guys are willing to accept a general sales tax increase…
I think that if you combine the 30yr bond with the call option, some combination of the refi money or refunded TIF, the gas tax, and only what remains going onto the meters, that should cover it.
p.s. How much less space would we need if we left the 911 dispatching to the County?
The $400,000 freed up by the debt restructuring was dangled in front of the council as money that could be used for the station. It should still be on the table. The TIF 1 surplus, for which the current plan is to drop it unencumbered into the General Fund, should also go to financing the police station. Together, that’s a million bucks or better annually — and the sales tax portion of the TIF 1 increment, which is set to expire as increment in 2013, could still be separated and dedicated to the building fund.
The bottom line here, as I see it, is that Council will have to choose between building that 25% reserve or building the police station.
My wish is for FAC to tear apart this water tax plan. Steve is right; we are already paying too much for water and it’s because Water is covering too much. The Water Division pumps $500,000 annually into the General Fund, ostensibly to pay a billing clerk or two, but that’s an awful lot for clerical help. Is the Water Division budget also still covering the compensation of an employee who actually works for the airport?
And then the irony, of course, is the year after year neglect of the water tower, which at some point is going to mean serious deterioration.
So anyway, leave Water alone for this and use the two new windfalls. And tell the planners: This is what we’ve got. What can you build for that?
More a question to Mac
.
During the initial discussions of a police station, conversions of older buildings were discussed and discounted by the chief. He argued that the design of a police station — separation of perps from witnesses; secure evidence places; holding cells etc. — was best accomplished through new construction. Does this still hold?
Second, Chief wanted station north of the tracks because of nature of service demands. Does this still hold?
What would it cost to acquire the old DeKalb Clinic property and convert at least part of it to police use? It is just sitting there, it is close to other city offices, and the city could probably get it pretty reasonably. I think it would be prudent to look into existing structures that are vacant before spending lots of money on a new building. Times are rough, and the water rates here are already ridiculous. We are already paying a lot for motor fuel, too. Most household budgets are tight at best, and many of us are dealing with significant pay cuts. Fiscal prudence in this matter is long overdue.
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This may seem a little of topic but try to see the parallels. The article below exemplifies how due diligence and proper forethought leads to success. The location of the police station shouldn’t be a matter of collective feng shui, but some concrete statistics and traffic studies. Without that, we’re throwing a dart and depending on where you live, you’re aiming for what serves you best. I get that.
I’m going to get back to this thread soon, but for the moment I just want to give this example of how the details matter. Let’s not just jump in because of emotional reactions. Let’s start with the math which rarely lies. Something has needed to be done for a long time, and I agree this is as good as any economy aside. However, I don’t grocery shop without price and location in mind for the short, or long term. Everything needs to be examined and considered. This doesn’t mean tossing an anchor out on a fast moving boat, just do the research that much quicker. The sharper pencils can to a lot with less.
http://www.jtmp.org/green/index.php?q=node/108