New Ti police station progressing on schedule

TICONDEROGA | In a month's time, a lot has happened at 102 Racetrack Road, otherwise known as the soon-to-be new home of the Ticonderoga Police Department. When the Municipal Committee met at the end of September, the construction phase had just begun. At the end of October, the interior of the former Eye Care Associates/Hudson Headwaters building is a far cry from the austere and somber shell Town officials and police officers last saw when they laid eyes upon it. "It's coming alive," said an enthusiastic Police Chief Adam Hurlburt. Purchased from Hudson Headwaters last year for $350,000, once completed, the upgraded 6,000 square foot building will rival any modern police facility built from the ground up, but comes with a far lower price tag than a new build, a fact that Tom Thatcher, Councilman and Municipal Committee member, is particularly proud of. "I'm so glad to see this reaching the finish line. I'm excited to say the least. It's hard to do something with taxpayers' money at the same cost you could do it to your home," Thatcher admitted. According to Thatcher, he tried to do as much up-front work as possible himself to avoid incurring unnecessary and exorbitant construction charges in the design phase. Performing the workup of all the work needs in the rooms, he then had consultant and licensed Professional Engineer John Cheslik review the plan and update it to fit state requirements. "It isn't rocket science," Thatcher said. "We weren't going to pay an engineering firm $100,000 to do this," he noted of the building's layout that the committee and the police force came up with on their own, designed and tailored specifically to how the building will function and serve Ticonderoga best. Thatcher said just the demolition cost of the building was estimated to be $1 million, to which he called a time out, believing it would be wise to salvage and retain as much of the current structure as possible, another money-saving maneuver. "I said let's figure out what we can use, what we don't have to use, and what we have to change," he said. "We got it done for a lot less, our demo cost was $17,500, and we did it completely legally; a lawyer OKed everything. We went out to bid; it was a good deal." By Thatcher's rough estimate, the total cost put into the new police station is under $1 million, a far cry from the multiple millions estimated it would have been to build new, which the committee was told would be cheaper. "And it was all done with money we had, that's the big thing," said Town Council member Heath Towne. The general contractor for the project is Gallo Construct Corp. out of Watervliet, NY. Local sub-contractors are Hour Electric (Simeon Hunsdon) and Lakeside Plumbing & Heating (Alex Bosarge). The conceived layout has not been changed or altered, all plans are still a go. New safety features will also offer more safety for community members paying a visit to the station. After being buzzed into the Racetrack Road (under full surveillance), the public will only be allowed into the entry lounge and perhaps interview room if needed, the remainder of the facility accessible only to officers and staff, an upgrade from the current layout of the dilapidated Burgoyne Road station. All furniture for the new station was collected thanks to community and local business donations. The infrastructure, radios, telephones, and cameras will be installed as soon as the new flooring's installation is completed this week. Long term, the intention for the Racetrack Road building is to eventually move the town courts to the upstairs of the building. At the next Municipal Committee meeting in November, Thatcher would like to head upstairs and get a handle on the situation and begin working on another layout sketch. "Until we get that, I can't imagine involving an engineering group that will charge $750 an hour," he said matter-of-factly. Work has progressed so rapidly and on schedule that Thatcher is optimistic an official ribbon cutting for the new station will be held in December, and would like to see it happen before current Town Supervisor Mark Wright, who was instrumental in bringing the new station to life, leaves office on Dec. 31. "As a resident of the town, I appreciate everything Tom has done," expressed Laura Wright, Ti Police Records Clerk. "The amount of hours he and Dave Woods have put in here as volunteers is really appreciated as a taxpayer. The cost of a consultant would have been astronomical."

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New Ti police station progressing on schedule

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