The Nazareth Borough Government Center

While I missed the Council meeting this month, I was at the Thursday workshop and during that meeting Councilman Samus raised the issue of the floor plans of the new building as it related to the police department.

When the building on South Main was announced I questioned at the public meeting the security this building would feature and if it would meet the needs of the police department. I was told at the time absolutely. It was a bank and had security built in. Further, it was larger than what they could have built, so space was not an issue.

I asked because the Mayor and advocates of the new building were continually stressing that the current facility did not meet these needs and that holding cells, bathrooms, work areas, were all indicated as being inadequate. Their first proposal for Hall Park included a garage (I forget the terminology that was used) so an officer would pull in, close the door, then more safely bring the individual into the building. It had several other features such as having police isolated on the lower level separate from other borough workers, etc.

In short I wanted to be sure the new building we were purchasing could meet those needs.

Following that meeting I wrote about the building and included a scan of the floor plans (very difficult to read as it was reduced). You can read that post here.

Since then the transition committee met in private, then public, and they had made decisions related to the new building that included the floor plan usage. It was noted at the workshop that the committee was trying to do what it could with as little cost as possible to get the borough moved in and would later make more significant changes/improvements.

In looking at the most recent floor plan, there were few changes to the layout of the building (interior walls). It does appear that the police will have space on both the upstairs and downstairs, as will Borough employees and outside leasees. It seems there are going to be a lot of doors and secure doors as a result of the mixed use.

There are two stairwells one at the front and one at the back of the building. There is a main, front entrance, and two exterior doors in the downstairs. The downstairs is where the police will be primarily stationed, as will the drive-thru for the bank (that was a part of the agreement of sale). There are also areas identified as future lease area and storage area (presumably for borough as well as police records as there is no storage on upper level).

When entering the building the police will need to pass through three doors to access the holding cell area, which is also across the hall from the bank drive through. Further, the downstairs area appears to have eight secure doors as a result of the layout. It would seem we should be looking to partition the police from the leased drive through and other borough workers as best we can to reduce the number of doors that must be secured at any given time.

While the borough is trying to keep costs down by making as few changes as possible, it seems we'd be doing ourselves a disservice to not spend the money needed to set up the police as they need to be. And maybe they are, but if concerns were brought to a Council member by police officers and the plans show what may be a mixed use and significant number of doors and secure locks within a daily working environment, maybe we can take a little more time to further consult with them and do it a little better. I think this is especially important at a time when the leadership is in transition with the retirement of the Chief and interim status of Det. Koch.

What do you think? Should the presentation of the floor plans be discussed publicly? Should the police officers have a means of input on these plans? Should lease (except for that agreed to in the sale) space be on the same floor as the police, or other borough workers? Is it better to get a final layout for the police before moving in rather than getting in and modifying later?