New Ledyard police headquarters up and running
Ledyard — The police department on Monday held its first roll call at its new headquarters next to Town Hall at 737 Colonel Ledyard Highway.
Construction started last September with the goal of opening the $6.75 million two-story building in October. The department began moving in Friday.
The new 11,300-square-foot facility allows the department to hold prisoners, something it wasn't able to do in its old 7,000-square-foot building at 11 Lorenz Industrial Parkway, which had a range of issues from cramped record storage rooms to poor drainage, to a lack of space for heating, cooling, technological and other machinery.
"The liability side of this is a huge factor," said Lt. Ken Creutz, explaining that officers will have to be brought "up to speed" and receive "the maximum amount of training" to handle this new responsibility.
The Nutmeg Companies Inc. of Norwich was the general contractor for the project, and entered into a $4.9 million contract with the town last July that gave the company 14 months to complete the work.
"It's very nice to have this facility. It's going to pay a lot of dividends to the town and make for a great center piece in the town center," said Mayor Michael Finkelstein, a former lieutenant of the Ledyard department.
The Town Council last April unanimously voted to combine the town-owned properties at 737 and 741 Colonel Ledyard Highway to create a municipal government campus featuring landscaping, a parking lot and other improvements.
Voters approved the police facility project by a vote of 413 to 374 in May 2013, but a number of factors held up construction.
Because the site is small and next to Town Hall, some time was spent figuring out how to accommodate both buildings operating at the same time.
Workers also discovered the town was losing thousands of gallons of water a month in part because of a convoluted water system.
The department and town officials are planning an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for next month, when the public will have the opportunity to tour the new facility.
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