Police station ‘operating on borrowed time’

An updated heating, ventilating and air conditioning system for the Grafton Police Station can’t wait, the Grafton Village Board said last week, opting to move that item to 2027-28 rather than waiting to do the work.

The amended five-year capital improvement plan was approved by the board on June 2.

The board made the change after Public Safety Committee Chairman Amy Luft, a former trustee, told trustees that the work — including not just the HVAC system but also the building elevator and boiler is essential and needs to be done as soon as possible.

“These items have been continually pushed back year after year and in essence is costing our village more money,” Luft said.

“We have an aging police department building. We have spent $15,000 in repairs over the last two years. If we want to accept financial implications of the ongoing repairs, then we need to understand in the very near future they’re going to fail completely. What is the plan then?
“We’re operating on borrowed time.”

Trustees agreed, saying the village needs to make necessary repairs.

“We need to make it happen,” Trustee Danielle Autotte said, saying the repairs are more important than many other capital improvements.

“I think we are cutting too much out of the public safety building, the elevator, the HVAC system,” Trustee Dave Armstrong said.

Trustee Russell MacRae cautioned that if the village keeps “kicking things down the road,” it will find itself in the same position as Port Washington, which is building a public safety building and upgrading its water plant after years of deferring the work.

Village President Dan Delorit noted that if the HVAC system fails, the village will come up with the money to fix it.

But he also noted that the capital improvement plan includes money for new carpeting at Village Hall, a project he would rather see deferred than the police station HVAC system.

Paul Styduhar, director of administrative services, told the board that he recommended deferring the HVAC repairs for a year because a study of building systems is being done this year with an eye toward helping officials prioritize projects and keep the impact of funding them consistent through the years.

The board unanimously approved the revised capital improvement plan, which Styduhar said is the first step in the budget process.

The five largest projects in the plan, which charts improvements to be done from 2027 through 2031, are:

n Water and wastewater main replacements, which total $25.6 million over the five years, as well as $15.4 million to replace village streets.

n Spending $6.6 million in 2030 to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant’s bio-solids program, a project that will increase capacity and eliminate the need to thicken sludge for long hours and on weekends.

n Developing a park in the Hawks Ridge Landing subdivision for $2.8 million, an amount that includes purchasing parkland in 2027 and developing the park in 2028.

n Spending $2.5 million to upgrade the activated sludge plant, a project to be done in 2027 and 2028 that will keep the village in compliance with state requirements for its permit.