January 23, 2019 is a day that I will not soon forget. That evening, the East Lyme Board of Finance held a marathon five-hour meeting, discussing and deliberating a proposed $6 million Public Safety Building project.

Leading up to that meeting, finance board members attended numerous public forums and meetings to ascertain project details, such as renovation requirements, associated costs, and alternatives to the current proposal. Dissatisfied with information provided to us up to that point, the chairman tasked its members to submit questions in writing to the town’s finance director. We expected responses prior to the meeting, but none came forth.

The finance board grilled First Selectman Mark Nickerson, the finance director and a few Public Safety Building Committee members for five hours on Jan. 23. Capturing the salient points of that meeting would require a dissertation, rather than an opinion piece, but here is what you need to know regarding my opinion of the matter.

One alternative considered was a $12 million to $15 million project to build a new police station, according to committee estimates. I challenged this figure, calculating the space requirements of 20,000 square feet, at the stated cost of $450 per square foot, would yield a $9 million price tag if the facility were built on a parcel of town-owned land.

Nickerson claimed that the negotiated price of $2.8 million for the 30,000 square feet Honeywell building on 17 acres was a bargain. He assured us that two appraisals with six comparative transactions backed his claim, although no such evidence was presented. The first selectman also stated that an appropriation “up to $3.2 million” was more than enough to renovate the building to satisfy the project’s requirements, since a contingency amount had been built into estimates.

Further, the finance board was told, if the town did not need the full $3.2 million it would not bond the full amount.

I was comfortable reducing the renovation budget to $2.2 million on the premise that the holding cells/sally port would not be initially built. (We had an agreement in place to process our prisoners in Waterford.) I reasoned that the Board of Finance could appropriate additional funds for the holding cells/sally port after the building committee determined the amount of money left over from contingency funds.

The finance board was pressured by Nickerson to decide that evening on a “now or never” proposal. Many citizens had attended the public forums and meetings, and I believed they deserved the right to vote on this proposal. That is why I voted in favor of passing it to referendum. I wanted the people to decide whether this proposal was a solid choice to find a functional and permanent home for the police.

Nickerson now suggests that the $2.2 million in renovations is only a first phase, admitting the project has Phase 2 and 3 components. What assurances do we have that there won’t be Phases 4, 5 or 6?

Had I known this ill-conceived project could potentially cost $8.6 million (or more), then I never would have voted to approve it. I would have held out for an estimated $9 million project for a new building built to specifications with a lifespan of 100-plus years in a more central location.

Nickerson placed the building committee members and the architect in a difficult position, lied to the Board of Finance, generated mistrust and attracted questions from local news sources. He disappointed nearly 1,400 taxpayers who wanted to believe in this plan and voted in favor of it.

Sadly, the group most affected by this lack of leadership is the current police force and generations of officers to come.

Camille Alberti is the Democratic candidate for first selectman of East Lyme.