Proposition 1 is one of four city ballot propositions that Homer residents will see in this year’s municipal election. Prop 1 would authorize the city to borrow up to $12 million to construct a new police station.
There are three main issues in the current building: flooding, ventilation and a lack of space. Many agree that Homer needs a new police station, but not everyone agrees on the price tag.
After an overnight rainstorm, pools of water collect in the grassy area in front of the Homer Police station. And sometimes inside of it.
The building, which was constructed in 1978, faces several issues. One is frequent flooding. Lieutenant William Hutt stands in a 3-inch puddle outside the building.
“It’s covering my boot,” he says.
Piles of sandbags sit outside the back door. Hutt explains that they use them to try to keep rainwater from flooding the jail cells.
“It comes through the back door, weeps down the hallway, and goes into cell 2 and cell 1. And sometimes into our lobby,” Hutt explains.
Rainwater also seeps through cracks in the windows, says Hutt.
“Sometimes it depends on the wind and the driving rain, but it will come through that window. Actually, there’s rain in my office right now,” he says.
In Hutt’s office on the second floor, he runs his hand over the wet windowsill.
“My windowsill here is wet and dripping,” he says.
Officers on duty mop up the flood waters, if it’s not too serious. But for major flood events, they call Homer Public Works.
Based on work order records from the past 5 years, Public Works has responded to flood calls from the Homer Police Station an average of two to three times per year. As a preventative measure, a Public Works crew also digs out the ditch next to the station each year to funnel water away from the building.
Homer Public Works Director Carey Meyer estimates that the total cost to the city is between $5000 to $10,000 per year, depending on the frequency of flood events.
Proponents of Proposition 1 also point out that the police station is too small to meet growing community demand.
According to official police records, the number of arrests per year has increased from 228 in 1981 to 507 in 2015.
The jail has four cells and a total of 7 beds. Corrections officer Paul Clark says the jail often has more prisoners than beds.
“Many times, especially in the summer, we can have up to three or four people on the floor at one time, just because we don’t have bunk space,” Clark explains.
Prisoners with special needs, including juveniles, can also present a problem. State law mandates that individuals under 18 years old cannot be within sight or sound of adult prisoners. If there are adults in the jail, juveniles are held in a 3 foot by 5 foot visiting room.
“There’s no place to lie down. We have a chair and they sit in the chair,” says Clark.
The ventilation system hums in the jail’s hallway. Police Chief Mark Robl says that the system presents a health risk for staff members.
“There is no effective air handling system in the building. It was not constructed with one. Basically the air that prisoners exhale on one side of the wall in the jail is breathed in by us on the other side of the wall in our workspaces,” says Robl.
Homer City Council Member Heath Smith agrees that the current police station should be replaced.
“I believe that our police department needs a new facility. I think it’s obvious to anyone who visits that it’s not something that’s sufficient for the needs of the department or the city,” says Smith.
But Smith says that a new facility must also be affordable, especially because taxpayers will shoulder the construction cost. Under the current plan, city sales tax would increase from 4.5 percent to 5.15 percent from April through September to finance the building. The city estimates this would add up to about $43 per year for a family of four.
Smith is also concerned about the long-term costs of running a new building.
“We have to think in terms of cumulative cost. What it means not only for the construction, but then what it means for expected personnel growth, the added cost of operations and it goes on and on. There’s a lot more depth to it than just the construction of it,” says Smith.
Ken Castner is the chair of the Public Safety Building Committee. He says that the actual construction cost will be substantially lower than the $12 million cap.
“We’re already under $11 million and I think it will come in under 10,” says Castner.
After 22 years at the Homer Police Station, Lieutenant Hutt says that he’s gotten used to the building’s issues. It wasn’t until a group of engineers toured the station that he became aware the full extent of the problem.
“I never realized until he said, ‘You don’t know any different because this is all you’ve ever known, and you just made do with what we’ve had,’” says Hutt.
Voters in Homer will decide if police station staff will continue to make do with the current building or if a new station will be constructed.
If voters reject Proposition 1, plans for the new public safety building will go back to the drawing board.