Norwich ― City officials might try again to win voter approval for a new police station in November, if the City Council supports a $44.75 million bond ordinance for the project.

Aldermen on Monday will be asked to schedule a public hearing in August on the proposed ordinance and refer the item to the council Public Safety Committee for a review and recommendation.

Voters in 2012 soundly rejected a $33 million plan to convert the former Sears building downtown into a police station. Three years later, city leaders rejected bids from private developers for a leased police headquarters.

Police Chief Patrick Daley said that over the past dozen years the cramped quarters and physical deficiencies of the police station at 70 Thames St. only have gotten worse. The department has no training facilities, little parking, and not enough locker room space for the increasing number of female police officers.

Daley said the deficiencies hinder recruiting and retention efforts, especially for female officers and support staff.

“We understand the financial impact, but the cost of not doing it is getting more and more each year in lost efficiency and work challenges,” Daley said. “There’s a multitude of reasons, and we can’t kick the can down the road anymore.”

The ordinance states the proposed facility would include a community room, training classrooms, emergency operations center, main desk, dispatch center, areas for the public, lockers, prisoner processing and detention, evidence processing, forensic lab, administration, conference rooms, prisoner transport facility armory, computer and technology areas, parking and electric vehicle charging stations.

The cost also includes potential demolition, environmental studies, furnishings and equipment.

The City Council is expected to refer the issue to the Public Safety Committee and the Commission on the City Plan. The council is under a tight time schedule to place the item on the Nov. 7 election ballot for referendum. Aldermen would need to approve the bond question by late August, said City Council President Pro Tempore Joseph DeLucia, who sponsored the ordinance.

Aldermen this spring approved a $6 million bond ordinance to go before voters to pave roads and improve streets and bridges.

The ordinance does not list a potential site for a new police station. A study committee had considered several sites. The top site at one point was the city-owned former Buckingham School site that borders Washington Street, Greene Avenue and Cedar Street. Other potential sites were at the edge of Mohegan Park on Mahan Drive and off John Edwards Drive.

DeLucia said he could not discuss possible sites, as they could involve the need to acquire property.

“My thought is, let the voters decide if we can have the money first, and then decide on a site,” DeLucia said.

Alderman William Nash, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he strongly supports the new police station and sending the question to voters in November.

Nash, a former city police officer, said the station was outdated when he joined the force in 1986. He said it should be up to city voters to decide whether they support a new police station.

“Voters know what is important,” Nash said. “They need to tell us if this is important. That’s what we’re doing, bringing it to the attention of the people. If they support it, I’m for it 1,000%.”

c.bessette@theday.com

Editor’s note: This version corrects the date when Alderman William Nash started working as a Norwich police officer.