Get thee to the hearing

Chagrin Falls has no choice but to seek another levy and/or bond issue for a new police station on the fall ballot. Therefore, it behooves residents who rejected the May 5 ballot issues for a new station to speak up at a public hearing July 20 regarding a redesigned, less expensive proposal.

On May 5, voters said no to a $5.4 million bond issue and a .70-mill operating levy for a 16,400-square-foot station. The issues would have paid to build and run, respectively, the facility on Solon Road and to renovate the current police station at Village Hall for village offices.

Wisely, after the defeat, the village mailed a questionnaire to residents asking them if they voted in the quiet primary election, and why they voted no, if they did. Based on survey results, the village has downscaled its design in hopes of creating something more palatable to voters.

Survey results said that many voters considered the proposed station too expensive or too big, and they did not want new taxes, so the new proposal by Horne and King Architects reflects that. The price tag has been trimmed by $886,000. Gone is a community room. The renovation of the current station, 21 W. Washington St., has been cut back. The village needs to know what voters think before it votes by July 27 to place it on the ballot.

It is imperative that voters approve a new police station. The old one is cramped, aging, and increasingly unsafe. Chagrin Falls police deserve better. Building now would cost less because building and financing costs are lower in this sluggish economy. Plus, the village expects to receive a $250,000 grant for communications equipment from U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette's 2010 appropriations bill.

The new bond issue would cost the owner of a $250,000 house $138 per year, about $23 less than the May 5 issue, or bout $2 a month. That's not much of a decrease, but it's a start. Anyone who doubts the need for a new station is invited to call the police department's non-emergency number at 440-247-7321 and arrange for a tour. Seeing is believing....