Washburn: Here We Go Again — The Concord City Council's New Police Station Proposal

On November 24 the city council will be presented with the final version of a new police station and will vote to go forward with this financial travesty.

The how and why we got into this mess will make for a classic Harvard B School case study.

There is almost universal belief that we are in need of a new police station and have been so for a goodly number of years. The administration has had many years to propose building a new station on city-owned land that was not in the floodway or flood plain, but didn’t. It wasn’t until some genius in the Green Street Puzzle Place came up with the idea to buy the former Concord Group building, taking it off the property tax rolls and utilizing it as the new PD station. They never did the due diligence to determine if the conversion could be made. It can’t. The construction code for a new PD station requires it to be built to sustain hurricane damage and an earthquake. The current building is a well-built 1950s building replete with lots of environmental issues, but it can’t be brought up to code. Knowing this a host of distractions were flaunted to justify the mistake.

First to come was the $15,000 in annual rent savings by combining the PD station with the Welfare Dept. and the Prosecutors' office. While this is an eclectic mix, it doesn’t seem practical.

The final false distraction emphasized by the mayor is its location.

Given the population of Concord, all patrol assignments are data-driven and altered by manpower availability. The keystone cop’s location requirement disappeared when we no longer had foot patrols, call boxes, or the need for substations.

The construction of the new station will serve as a permanent albatross for the soon-to-be-retiring city manager. The final legacy moment will be when the new property tax assessments are completed next year.

Oh yes, did I forget about the new community meeting room to accompany the new station?

What a security nightmare. Who will be the first group to use the facility, ANTIFA?

There has always been a segment of Concord who reasonably question the wisdom of a manager form of city government, but can you envision a mayor under a strong mayor form of government proposing such foolishness? On the other hand, can you imagine a mayor allowing a subordinate to create a hostile work environment in the Planning Department, resulting in a higher-than-normal departure of planning directors, and taking no corrective action?

The administration has euchered the council into choosing between bad options. If they vote aye, they are condemning the taxpayers to financing a ridiculous project; if they vote nay, they will not get a new police station. I would hope that they realize the dilemma they are in and vote present.