We’re glad to hear East Lyme will hold a referendum to seek voter approval to bond an added $2.17 million to properly renovate the former Honeywell building as the new home for the town's police department.

In February 2019, voters overwhelmingly approved $5 million to buy the building at 277 West Main St. and undertake the necessary renovations. A subsequent architectural assessment, however, cast serious doubts on the feasibility of getting the job done at that cost. Debate over the handling of the plan got wrapped into the 2019 election, in which Republican First Selectman Mark Nickerson was facing re-election. He won.

A town meeting could have technically sufficed to act on the additional allocation, but that is impractical given the continuing need to social distance during the ongoing pandemic. The Board of Selectmen could have used the pandemic, and the governor’s executive orders, to skip a vote altogether. But given the questions and controversies — and the importance of this project — it is only right to bring it to a town-wide vote.

Nickerson expects a vote to take place toward the end of July. Doing it safely will be a challenge. We urge the widespread use of mail-in ballots such as Secretary of the State Denise Merrill is proposing for the Aug. 11 primary and the general election.

The police station plan is still a good one, even with the added costs. The current Main Street station used by police is in deplorable condition and far below the standards expected of a modern public safety building. Building a new station could cost $12 million or more. And starting the process over would delay the opening of a new police station for years. Town discussions and debates over how to properly house their police go back to the mid-1980s.

Some of the increase in cost is due to amenities not included in the original $5 million project presented to voters and some results because the original estimate was unrealistic.

An elevator will be installed now, during renovations, which makes sense from a cost and planning perspective. That will open the second floor to other town uses, not yet defined. The renovated building will have a sally port and holding cells. To keep construction costs down, the town could keep contracting with Waterford for the use of its cells. But it makes no sense to open a new police station without a place to hold suspects, and it never did.

A Public Safety Building Vision Committee set aside politics in carefully evaluating the project and producing the recommendations for supplying a fully functional police facility and getting necessary renovations done now.

The renovated building will also house the fire marshal’s office and dispatch services.

Some skepticism among the townspeople is understandable. After all, they approved a project at one price and are now being asked to ante up more.

Nickerson only fed that skepticism in sticking to his position that the project could be built as planned, even when the architectural estimates provided after the referendum showed it could not, at least not if the town wanted to do it right.

“It will be done on budget. I’m very confident in that,” Nickerson said when asked about the potential price tag during his October debate with Democratic challenger Camille Alberti.

That was the political answer. A forthright answer would have been an assurance that the administration would do its best to stay within the amount approved by voters, while conceding that it might not be possible given updated estimates.

The first selectman’s insistence then that the project would stay within budget contributes to the bait-and-switch feeling among some townspeople.

Still, Nickerson led the effort to finally get local police a facility they deserve and, even with these additional costs, it is a fiscally sound project that voters should again back.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.