By Alan Burke
SWAMPSCOTT — How do you fit a 2010 police force into a 1930s building?
It's not the setup to a joke. Rather, it's the grim question now nagging at the town and its officials following the defeat of a plan to build a $6.5 million facility on Humphrey Street.
"It requires us to think more about it," Town Administrator Andrew Maylor told the selectmen last Tuesday. "The conversation can't stop."
The board agreed to meet tonight at 7 in Town Hall with the Building Committee, including police Chief Ron Madigan, the group that had proposed the new station. Alternatives will be in short supply as the economic situation nationally, statewide and locally offers few sources of revenue.
Selectman Matthew Strauss suggested another vote.
"It was close," he said. "I wouldn't be opposed to putting it out there again."
That idea got no support, however. Board members acknowledged the financial stress felt by residents who already pay among the highest property taxes in the state. Some have suggested that federal or state aid could help; others have urged the sale of the town's surplus buildings.
Under present conditions, however, neither option seems viable for the short term.
The cash-strapped state government is not likely to be of any help.
"It's awful," said the town's state senator, Tommy McGee, D-Lynn, citing the staggering economy and its impact on the commonwealth's revenues. And he's not looking for it to improve anytime soon.
"We're still looking at a couple of years out," he said. "I wish it was different."
And while the federal government voted to spend close to a trillion dollars on "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects, police stations need not apply.
"There really isn't too much we can do," said Swampscott's state representative, Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead. "The (police station) project didn't fit the parameters put in by the federal government for the stimulus program."
U.S. Sen. John Kerry's office responded to questioning by e-mail, noting that in 2009 he sponsored the "Protect Those Who Serve Act," which would have provided $500 million a year for five years to renovate or build new police stations nationwide. It did not pass.
The e-mail quotes Kerry saying, "It's an insult that we've got police and law enforcement officers stuck working in temporary trailers in Ashby, shuttered dinosaur museums in Granby, working out of their cruisers on the street in Brimfield or changing in the closets in Swampscott."
Kerry pledged to try again this year, though the federal government also faces a growing deficit. Moreover, on the day the police station was voted down, Scott Brown was voted into the United States Senate on a platform that forswore new taxes. He carried Swampscott, and some believe his supporters made a difference in defeating the new police station.
A plan to use the town's surplus buildings to raise money for the police station has also been wounded by the economy. Selectman Jill Sullivan, a member of the Building Oversight Committee, notes that two of the town's saleable buildings, Temple Israel and the former middle school on Greenwood Avenue, drew little interest when they were put on the market last summer.
The school, on a hilltop with 3.2 acres and an ocean view, earned an offer of less than $1 million last August, far below what town officials think it's worth. Builders are finding it increasingly difficult to gain financing, Sullivan said.
No one bid on the temple.
"It's a matter of timing the market," Sullivan said. Looking ahead, she said, "Market indicators aren't great."
Further, the town faces problems in selling property that a business would not. For example, Swampscott can't turn the matter over to real estate professionals but must comply with state laws and issue "requests for proposals."
"With a town-owned building, you can't just hang up a real estate shingle," Sullivan told the board, adding, "I just want to make it clear that the town is not purposely sitting on properties."
Meanwhile, Madigan is looking into a temporary solution, including trailers that can be used as jail cells. The current station's basement jail cells are a security threat. Officers must escort prisoners downstairs, putting them in danger. The basement is damp and floods, endangering the prisoners.
Trailers, Madigan said, would be a stop-gap measure. "A Band-Aid. My hope is we're going to find a permanent solution."
