Cheshire Town Council Weighs Police Facility Overhaul and Schools Capital Budget Priorities

Town Council · Meeting of June 17, 2024

CT CHESHIRE — Cheshire Town Council debated scope and cost of a $1.975 million police detention facility overhaul without reaching a vote Monday. An architectural consultant named Brian — representing the firm advising the town — told the nine-member council that reducing the proposed seven-cell renovation would likely raise, not lower, costs, because only three national specialty contractors are willing to bid the work and small projects fail to attract their interest; individual cell fronts start at roughly $75,000 each and carry a six-month supply-chain lead time. Chair Peter Talbot said the council must give the Public Building Commission clear direction before the project can go to bid, and member Don Walsh pressed back on the scale, noting the facility has never held more than three detainees at once.

In a separate presentation, Cheshire Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Solon and facilities director Vin Macciana announced the district had trimmed its year-one capital wish list from $5.1 million to $2.7 million in high-priority items, with another $1.875 million deferred to year two, and identified $1,031,912 in completed capital accounts eligible for closure.

In the full story:

• The complete report — 1,054 words

Source: the Town Council meeting of June 17, 2024, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

CHESHIRE — June 17, 2024 — The Cheshire Town Council spent the better part of Monday's meeting grappling with two major capital spending questions: how many cells to renovate at the police department's detention facility, and how to prioritize a multi-million-dollar school improvement list that had been trimmed from $5.1 million to $2.7 million in urgent first-year requests.

No formal votes were taken at the meeting, but the council received detailed presentations from the town's architectural consultant on the $1.975 million police facility renovation and from school district officials on a tiered capital plan totaling $15.509 million in gross first-year requests before offsets. Several members pressed for a smaller scope on the jail cells, while others cautioned against false economies that could increase costs or expose the town to liability.

The Full Story

The evening's first and longest presentation concerned the Cheshire Police Department's aging detention facility, which an architectural consultant named Brian — no surname was captured in the transcript — described as a 25-year-old installation that no longer meets current accreditation standards. Brian, identified as representing the firm that has been managing the project, outlined a plan to reduce the facility from 11 cells to seven, create three sight-and-sound-separated containment areas required under state statute, renovate two booking stations, and add a secure corridor to allow officers to transit the building without passing through the prisoner processing area while armed.

The consultant explained that the project's specialized nature — requiring cell fronts fabricated by one of only three companies nationally, two based in Baltimore and one in Ohio — made contractor interest a central concern. He noted that he had recently been forced to combine the projects of Berlin and Orange into a single bid to attract those contractors, and that reducing Cheshire's project from seven to three cells risked the same problem.

"I think Seven Cells is a project that they will participate in. But I can't guarantee these pricing, the bids, when they come in." — Brian, architectural consultant

Several council members pushed back. Member Don Walsh questioned whether building seven cells was appropriate when the maximum number of detainees ever held simultaneously at the facility was three. Member Patricia Cramer asked whether the town currently faced any code violations or liability claims arising from the existing cells — the consultant confirmed it did not, but noted that municipalities across the state were upgrading facilities against potential future liability, not existing claims. Member A. Fiona Pearson suggested exploring whether Cheshire could piggyback on another town's project as Berlin and Orange had done.

Chair Peter Talbot steered the discussion toward providing the consulting team with clear direction. He asked that the council deliberate further before sending specific instructions back to the Public Building Commission, which had developed the seven-cell plan after being directed to reduce the original 11-cell scope. Jim McKenney, identified as Chairman of the Public Building Commission and a long-time Cheshire resident, urged the council to trust the process and cited the town pool bubble project as an example of cutting costs upfront that resulted in far greater expense later.

"A liability of one liability here could pay for this project. A lawsuit at one point." — Jim McKenney, Chairman of the Public Building Commission

The consultant noted the project budget currently stands at $1.975 million and that individual cell fronts start at approximately $75,000 each. He offered to structure the bid with deduct alternates, allowing the council to see market pricing on three and four cells before making a final decision on scope. Overall project timeline, he said, would run approximately 10 months, with the facility offline for roughly four months, primarily driven by a six-month supply-chain lead time for the cell fronts.

The council then turned to Cheshire Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Solon and facilities director Vin Macciana, who presented a tiered reprioritization of year-one school capital requests. The original $5.1 million year-one proposal had been reorganized into $2.7 million in high-priority items, $1.875 million in medium-priority items deferred to year two, and $525,000 in lower-priority items deferred to year three.

"We didn't remove anything from the list. We looked at the highest priorities. We're recommending stay in year one, which is the $2.7 million." — Vin Macciana, school facilities director

Solon and Macciana also presented a review of active capital accounts that could be closed, totaling $1,031,912 across completed projects including underground oil tank removals, the Norton School cafeteria (superseded by new school construction), a boiler replacement at Doolittle School, and Highland School lighting upgrades. A separate $500,000 appropriation for Cheshire High School science lab improvements was flagged as potentially closeable, though Solon noted it might be better to retain it and supplement it later as part of a broader school modernization effort. The council was also briefed on a $250,000 technology reserve request for school wireless infrastructure and a $110,000 school security camera and door-access upgrade.

Town staff member Andrew Martelli presented the final first-year capital item, a $150,000 placeholder for engineering, soil sampling, and permitting work on dredging a section of the West Main Street canal. Council members questioned whether $150,000 was necessary at this stage; Vice Chair Jim Jinks suggested $100,000 would be sufficient. Martelli acknowledged the figure was preliminary and that no consultant had yet been engaged to refine the estimate. He noted that a round of brownfield remediation grant funding from the state would open in February and could potentially offset future construction costs.

Why It Matters

The police facility decision has direct financial consequences: at an estimated $75,000 per cell front alone, the difference between four and seven cells represents roughly $225,000 before installation and supporting infrastructure costs. The council has not yet voted on a final scope. Until direction is given to the Public Building Commission, the project cannot go to bid, and the specialized contractors the town needs will not engage. Meanwhile, the school district's capital plan, gross total $15.509 million before grants and cash offsets, will net approximately $14.155 million in bonding. The council's next meeting is scheduled for June 25, at which staff plan to deliver an updated consolidated first-year project list reflecting the Board of Education reprioritization and other modifications discussed Monday.

Key Motions & Votes

No formal votes were taken at this meeting.

Source

Cheshire's community access TV: Town Council meeting, June 17, 2024