By JODI WOLFE
Staff Writer

Several options for the future of the Allenstown police station and Allenstown schools were presented and discussed during the Wednesday, Oct. 27, Allenstown Building Space Needs Committee meeting.

Recently, the police station was evaluated by its insurance company and a liability report was presented to the committee. It cited several areas that could cost the town a lot of money if there were a lawsuit. Allenstown schools have been struggling with overcrowding for years.

AES option

The school board has been trying to alleviate the crowding issues at Armand R. Dupont School, which houses grades 5 to 8. One possibility is to build a new elementary school that would include kindergarten to fifth grade and possibly sixth grade. If school board members were to approve building a new school, they said the existing building could be used by the police, town offices and possibly the recreation department.

Renovations for the 42-yearold Allenstown Elementary School building were discussed at the meeting. Kurt Lauer of Lauer Architects and Ross Currier of Conneston Construction Inc. were present at the meeting to discuss their estimates for renovations, based on their visit to the elementary school building with Lt. Shaun Mulholland on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

To renovate the school building into a police station and town offices, which would include installing a sprinkler system, air conditioning and a sally port, Lauer and Currier estimated costs of $820,479.

A sally port would serve as a garage to park police cars in and provide a second entrance to bring the prisoners through, so they would not come through the reception area of the police station, as they do now, said Mulholland.

A benefit to using the existing building would be that the town offices could be placed in the existing elementary school administrative offices.

With an existing building, there would also be no surprises of hitting water mains or other pipes as there would be with building new building, said Mulholland.

School Board Vice Chairman Tom Irzyk reminded the committee that 60 percent of the new elementary school building would be paid for by the state and the school board has already been approved for that.

Lauer and Currier estimated a new elementary school would cost $14.1 million.

“It would benefit the kids more to have an up-to-date educational facility,” Irzyk said.

Overcrowding issues

The school board had planned to put an addition on the elementary school building for the fifth graders out of the middle school, said Irzyk.

Currently two fifth-grade classes are in modular buildings outside the middle school.

The addition failed on the March 2003 ballot by nine votes. That failure is now to the town’s benefit as the state reimbursement for new school buildings has gone up from 30 percent to 60 percent, he said.

“Then this whole issue came up and we decided to work with the town,” he said.

The Allenstown Building Space Needs Committee has until Dec. 1 to let the school board know if it is seriously considering use the current elementary school building.

However, if the school board decides not to offer the building to the committee and risk losing the 60 percent reimbursement on a new building down the road, the addition will reappear on the March 2005 ballot. The addition would cost approximately $3.5 million, Irzyk said.

Free-standing police station

Another option for the Allenstown police would be to construct a brand new freestanding building. Lauer and Currier estimate that between site improvements and building construction, costs would be $1,125,000. That does not include the cost of the land.

During the Oct. 27 meeting, Currier said it would take approximately six to nine months to construct a building of 7,800 square feet.

Lauer said a new building could be designed more efficiently since they would be starting from scratch instead of dealing with the setup of an existing building.

Combination with DPW

Another option is building a new building for both the Department of Public Works and the police station. Lauer and Currier estimate that the construction and site improvement for that building would cost $1.7 million.

A possible site for this building would be near the intersection of River and Dodge. The site is 59 acres, which is far more than they would need, Mulholland said.

Allenstown Tractor for sale

The Allenstown Tractor Company is looking to sell its building on Route 28. The building has an alarm system, but they would have to construct a booking area, said Mulholland.

“We felt there was adequate space there for our facility,” he said Mulholland.

There is a possibility the building could be leased with an option to buy.

Mulholland was informed of the possibility of buying the tractor company’s building right before the meeting, so the fair market value needs to be determined and changes would need to be made to go along with the report, he said at the meeting. Currently it is listed for sale at $495,000. The voters would have to choose either a bond or lease in March, which requires a 60 percent approval to pass. This is the only option that could go into the 2005 ballot, Mulholland said.

Mitigation plan

During the meeting, Mulholland also submitted a mitigation plan to alleviate the liability issues at the present police station that were brought to light at the Oct. 13 meeting.

“It’s far from the complete solution,” he said at the meeting. “It’s a short-term solution.”

Mulholland said he still wants to put a new building on the March 2006 ballot, by which time he believes a plan can be prepared.

There are a number of things the town can do to fix the police station temporarily, costing the town between $44,792 and $54,792, Mulholland estimated.

One item is to install a bullet-resistant glass to separate the reception area from the receptionist and the office employees, which would cost $11,500, as well as an additional $300 to expand the wall. However, the bullet-resistant window would be cost effective, as it could be brought to another facility, Mulholland said at the meeting.

Other items include renting a storage space for initial costs of $780 to $1,140, buying a locker for hazardous and flammable materials for $689 plus $137 for shipping, and constructing a new bathroom for approximately $1,500.

Currently the parking lot layout doesn’t meet standards as the parking spaces are not the current length or width, which allows for police vehicles to be blocked in, Mulholland said. There is also no entrance for emergency vehicles.

Repainting the spaces will cost $425 and three parking spaces, including one handicapped spot, would be lost, he said.

A company has already been contracted to do repaint the parking lot, said Arthur Houle, chairman of the board of selectman.

Concerns

“My concern as police chief is that we do something, and do something as soon as possible,” said Police Chief James McGonigle.

The short-term solution won’t solve the problem, he said.

“Why spend $50- to $60,000 for corrections to a building that still doesn’t work?” he said.

What happens next?

At their Monday, Nov. 1, meeting, selectmen discussed which items on the mitigation plan were feasible.

The selectmen approved the purchase of an alarm system and evidence lockers, as well as the police department bringing high-risk prisoners to the Merrimack County House of Corrections in Boscawen. In his report, Mulholland found that the transportion to Allenstown would cost $13,000.

The town is taking bids on the alarm system and evidence lockers, said Houle.

The other items on the mitigation plan will be discussed after the March 2005 vote.

“Our plan is to implement changes piece by piece,” said Selectman Peter Viar.