Council to get building appraisal

Portland Police Department would like to make a new home in the current Jay School Corporation central office building.

Whether or not that is a possibility will come down to appraisals.

While expressing reservations, Portland City Council on Monday voted to seek appraisals on the building at 1976 W. Tyson Road, Portland, as it considers the possibility of relocating the police department.

Portland assistant police chief Erica Post and investigator Jeff Hopkins made the pitch for purchasing the building and converting it to the new home for the police department. As they did during the Portland Board of Works meeting March 4, they laid out a series of concerns about the current site at city hall. Those include a lack of adequate parking, handicapped accessibility, space for record and evidence storage, officer work areas and private interview rooms, among others.

“There’s a lack of room to grow,” said Post. “Every room is utilized. Some rooms double to meet our needs.”

In discussing the advantages of the Jay Schools administrative office, they noted plenty of parking (indoors and outdoors), handicapped accessibility that is already in place, a walk-in safe, an existing security system and additional space for offices, interview rooms, training and other uses.

“After looking at the building, seeing all the attributes that it has for a police department — it’s well-built, it’s got security, it’s got infrastructure, it has cameras, it’s wired for internet — I don’t believe that we could build a comparable building for anywhere close to (the $325,000 asking price),” said Portland Mayor John Boggs. “And I think it would be amiss of me to let the opportunity to go by without us having the opportunity to look at it.”

Council members, who ultimately will make the decision on whether or not to purchase the building, expressed a variety of concerns, including additional costs for utilities and other costs, whether other options had been researched and whether it makes sense to move the police department away from the downtown area.

“If we’re pulling out of downtown, what message does that send to the community?” asked council member Janet Powers.

Council members mentioned several other options to consider, such as joining Portland Fire Department at 1616 N. Franklin St., renovating a building in the downtown area or purchasing the building and parking lot east of city hall from owner Dru Hall. Boggs noted any of those would be likely much more expensive. (Hopkins had previously referred to the site as “basically turn-key.”)

When discussing where money for such a purchase could come from, council members Dave Golden and Don Gillespie indicated their feeling that flood mitigation should be the city’s top priority.

Council president Kent McClung noted, as a government entity, the city must follow state rules for how much it can spend when purchasing properties — it is limited to the average of two appraisals. He suggested moving forward with getting those appraisals to determine if purchasing the property is even a possibility.

Council voted 4-1 to take that step, with Mike Aker, Golden, Gillespie and McClung in favor and Powers dissenting. (Michele Brewster and Matt Goldsworthy were absent from the meeting.)

Council then scheduled an executive session for 5:30 p.m. March 30 to discuss the appraisals and whether to move forward with a final offer for the building. Jay School Board on Monday set a deadline of noon March 31 for final offers on the property (see related story).

Also Monday, Boggs told council the city is expected to see funding from the American Rescue Plan, the coronavirus relief bill approved by Congress last week and signed by President Joe Biden. The mayor said the package calls for $1.25 million in funding to be allocated to the city.

“The uses and restrictions are not clear yet, but we expect them to be similar to the CARES Act,” he said.

He added he expects funding in the package for airports will be allocated to pay for the second phase of the runway extension project at Portland Municipal Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration is already funding the entirety of the first phase of the project, which will extend the runway to 5,500 feet from the current 4,000 feet, via funds from the CARES Act.

Boggs also announced Portland City Hall will re-open to the public March 22. It has been closed since March 2020 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“The front doors will be open for the first time in a little over a year,” he said.

In other business, the council:

•Approved the Jay County multi-hazard mitigation plan. The plan, created by Jay County Emergency Management Agency with input from each community, lays out details for how emergency situations will be handled.

•Learned from Boggs that a new “Welcome to Portland” sign has been installed along U.S. 27 on the north side of the city and another will be installed along Indiana 67 on the west side of the city. Portland Redevelopment Commission paid for one of the signs and the city will pay for the other.

•Reviewed and accepted a quarterly update from Rollin J Lanes, which last year received a seven-year loan of $50,000 for the purchase of synthetic lanes, operational machines and other equipment.

•Heard Boggs note the retirement last week of long-time water department employee Deb White.