East Lyme —To Resident State Trooper Claudia Tino-Tomassetti, one thing about the new police station on Main Street is even better than the women's locker room or her office overlooking the Niantic Bay: the conference room.
When the police department moved into the former Millstone Discovery Center Building on Main Street this week — a public ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. today — it went from 2,800 square feet to 9,500 square feet.
Now, when the 20 full-time and five part-time officers convene a meeting, they have an honest-to-goodness meeting room.
In the former police station, a cramped brick building next to Town Hall, officers would gather around the kitchen table. Some would sit on a radiator or a water cooler, or spill out into a secretary's office and down the hall.
“And then you'd ask them something and you'd hear a little peep down the other end of the hallway,” Tino-Tomassetti said. “And you'd ask, ‘Who was that?' and they'd say what officer it was and then (the message) would kind of flow down the hallway.”
The move this week is intended to be temporary, lasting about two years and giving the police department more space while the town finds a site and builds a new public safety complex.
Tino-Tomassetti has been organizing the transition plan, which she has said would cost about $60,000.
On Wednesday, while giving a tour, Tino-Tomassetti said she expects the work to come in on budget. She said the town has spent the $38,000 it budgeted for the move, and donations from local businesses have covered most of the rest.
First Selectman Wayne Fraser said the town has applied for Homeland Security grants to cover about $27,000 for a security system and generator. He said another $12,000 to update furniture and other equipment is already in this year's budget and would have been done even if the department remained at the old station.
The public areas in the new building include a spacious lobby, restrooms and the conference room. Members of the force have bigger men's and women's locker rooms, offices and storage in the back part of the building.
The former station will be used for storage until the new Board of Selectmen decides what to do with it, Fraser said.
Tino-Tomassetti said the state Department of Corrections brought inmates to build walls and paint, among other jobs, at no cost to the town. About 10 inmate workers were on site almost every day in October, she said, at an estimated savings to the town of at least $25,000.
Tino-Tomassetti said she felt no sentimentalism in leaving the former station.
“We ran out so quick when they said, ‘You can move,' ” she said, laughing.
Sgt. Michael Collins, the other resident state trooper, said he did some reminiscing.
“After you work in the same place 11 years, there is some sentimentalism,” he said. “You remember all the guys that have come and gone.”
Fraser said it's a sweet ending to his eight-year career as first selectman.
“I'm very pleased that my last day is cutting the ribbon into a wonderful station,” he said, praising Tino-Tomassetti for her work.
Tino-Tomassetti said the building would not work as a permanent station. Its proximity to the Millstone Power Station and railroad tracks, plus its vulnerability in a major storm are the three main reasons, she said.
Some have expressed their concern that the police will remain on Main Street far longer than they should.
“It's up to the townspeople and whether they want to appropriate the money,” Tino-Tomassetti said. “Hopefully, they'll back us up.”
© The Day Publishing Co., 2005
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