Issue 4 puts future police station on the ballot

A vote for Issue 4 in Kent could mean a new police station for the city. TV2 reporter Bill Hughes and reporter Angel Mack each toured the jail, which is not compliant with current standards, and report the facts about the issue on the ballot.

[rpavideo caption=”In this video, TV2 reporter Bill Hughes takes a look inside the Kent police station.”]101613_policeforum_pkg_1[/rpavideo]

Kent police put levy on November ballot

by Angel Mack

KENT, OHIO — The city of Kent will vote in November on Issue 4, a temporary 0.25 percent increase to earned income tax, which would be used to pay off the construction of a new police station.

Unlike the levy the city attempted to pass last year, Issue 4 does include an ending date. City Manager Dave Ruller said, though it may seem like the issue came up suddenly, it has been discussed in the community since 1995.

[pullquote]”Unfortunately, public safety doesn’t take a week off.”

—City Manager Dave Ruller[/pullquote]

“Unfortunately, public safety doesn’t take a week off, a year off [or] a couple years off, waiting for the economy to fully come back,” Ruller said at a community meeting Tuesday.

Police Chief Michelle Lee said the building in use now was originally built to be a fire station in 1924. A new facility, she said, would make the department more efficiently equipped to serve the community.

The jail

Lt. Jim Prusha said the jail is no longer compliant with state standards, but explained that the state has “grandfathered” the station, giving Kent some leeway, since the facility was built before the new standards were in place.

“We do our best,” Prusha said. “It’s kind of getting to the point that, I’m not sure how much longer they’re going to cut us a break.”

The jail is built to hold just seven prisoners. There are three cells, each with two bunks and a toilet, and a separate room with a single bunk. The seventh bunk is reserved for a female or juvenile, since either must be kept separate from the other prisoners.

If both a woman and a juvenile are being held at the jail at the same time, Prusha explained, the juvenile will be held in an office and an officer will be taken off patrol to mind the prisoner.

On weekends, the station may arrest between 15 and 20 people. Prusha said the officers try to get paperwork done quickly so people who can be released, are released. However, not all prisoners can be released right away.

“If, at the end of the night, we have a certain number of people who can’t be released that’s more than fits in our facility, we would transport some people to the county jail, and that’s very time consuming,” Prusha said.

If the state did decide that Kent’s police department could no longer operate with the jail they have, Lee said the effect would be “devastating.” With out a jail, every prisoner would have to be transported to the county jail.

“For one prisoner, one arrest, it would take an officer about an hour and a half to get them processed, to get them transported and to come back and begin taking calls again,” Lee said.

The station

In addition to a jail that is not compliant with today’s standards, the Kent Police Department is working in a building that is poorly compliant with fire safety standards and costs what Ruller said is an estimated 12 times more to maintain than other city buildings.

“For about a couple years now, we’ve stopped doing the little, make-it-look-nice fixes around this place,” Prusha said. “We’re only doing the necessary, let’s-keep-it-standing stuff.”

Prusha said, after multiple additions to the building, utilities like electricity and plumbing have caused some problems for the department. Some exterior walls have become interior walls, and if those walls were cut through for something like a heating duct, Prusha said, the walls may not support the building as well.

“We are a safety department, and we’re not keeping our employees safe,” Lee said.

Lee and Prusha both said the police force would operate more efficiently in a new building. The locker rooms and work stations for the police are located on the second floor of the building, which cuts into response time.

The evidence room does not have enough space, so some is stored at another location, which is a burden for the evidence officer. There is also no elevator in the two story building and no public restrooms for visitors. Multiple expansions have already been added to the building, so these issues can not really be addressed in this facility.

“I think it’s something [where] we can’t kick the can down the road too much farther,” said city council member Scott Flynn.

Ruller, the city manager, said the city has spent money to make new jobs downtown, and Issue 4 would, in a way, put those new incomes to work. The city chose an earned income tax so the levy would not burden everyone, like the elderly and retirees.

If it passes, the temporary tax increase will take effect in 2014, generate approximately $1.3 million annually and expire in about 25 years, when payments are complete.