It was good to see that town officials in East Lyme have moved past any differences to let voters decide, once and for all, whether to move forward with the plan to convert the former Honeywell building for use as its new police station.

It has been one year and seven months since, in February 2019, voters overwhelmingly approved $5 million to convert the structure for police and other public safety uses. Since then there has been political gamesmanship, plenty of finger pointing about why the project could not be brought to fruition at that price, and some real hard work to provide a project that would meet police needs, while holding down costs.

That the town has to return to voters for more money is hardly ideal. There was skepticism from the start as to whether the $5 million price tag presented to voters would be adequate, particularly considering $2.8 million was earmarked for the purchase.

In the runup to the 2019 local elections, First Selectman Mark Nickerson had insisted the project could be brought in within the approved amount, even when preliminary architectural assessments showed it could cost considerably more. That Nickerson, a Republican, was running for reelection against an influential critic of the project, Board of Finance Chairwoman Camile Alberti, a Democrat, added to the partisanship.

Post-election the Public Safety Building Vision Committee, charged with bringing the project to fruition, recommended an additional $2.17 million would be necessary, a figure that the finance board rejected in July on a 3-3 vote, Alberti among those voting “no” to passing along the request to the voters.

This police station saga has had more twists than your typical police detective mystery.

But thanks to some federal disaster relief money, a path to bringing the project back to voters has been found. Our take all along has been to let the voters decide and that, finally, is what will happen on Oct. 1.

Voters will be asked two questions. Should the town direct $1.2 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements toward the public safety building project? Secondly, should the town borrow another $985,000 to put toward the plan?

After its earlier reluctance, the finance board last week unanimously signed off on the added board authorization. Alberti still believes a new station would be a wiser investment, but supported moving the proposal forward because “the taxpayers deserve the chance to weigh in.” That was the right call and, we’re sure, not an easy one for her.

Town police need a new home. The East Lyme Police Department leases a building on Main Street in Niantic that is woefully inadequate, leaky, moldy, too small. It has no cells, with suspects transported to Waterford. It is an intolerable situation.

There are plenty of reasons not to start the process over. The town now owns the Honeywell building. Construction of a new station would be more expensive. The resulting delays in finding a location, planning and gaining public support for such a project would leave police stuck in their current location for years. Suggestions of temporarily relocating the department are not practical.

Using the FEMA money to help fund a public safety building makes sense. The money reimburses the town for damage it suffered in Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The town also plans to use $200,000 in FEMA money for the Niantic Bay Boardwalk, which had to be rebuilt after the storms. The remaining $330,000 from FEMA would be placed in a contingency fund.

The timing is not the best, being so close to the general election. And while voters can use absentee ballots, they cannot use concerns about COVID-19 as a reason to vote absentee, the legislature having reserved that special explanation for the Nov. 3 vote. But this will be a lower-turnout vote and social distancing and mask wearing should allow for safe voting.

Voters should approve both the FEMA expenditure and the additional borrowing of $985,000 to finally get this project underway. A rejection of one or both questions would lead to more twists, which this story doesn’t need.

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.