Chicopee council approves $1 lease for community policing substation at former Boys & Girls Club site

The Chicopee City Council voted to approve a mayoral order authorizing a lease of the former Boys and Girls Club teen center at 664 Meadow Street for use as a community policing substation by the C3 unit of the Chicopee Police Department. The lease was described by the mayor as a $1-per-year arrangement to increase neighborhood police presence near the Boys and Girls Club; the council received and passed the order on the mayor’s written recommendation.

Mayor (name not specified in the transcript) told the council the site is in “immediate proximity to the Boys and Girls Club” and called it “a wonderful opportunity” to increase police presence in the Willimette area. Chief Pat Majors of the Chicopee Police Department said, “The C3 unit does do a lot of work in that specific area,” and described plans to use the space for community-response meetings tied to CHD initiatives and the city’s situation table.

Councilors praised the idea as a way to expand community policing. Councilor Marybeth Costello thanked the department, saying the substation provides “a great permanent housing for the C3 Unit” and praised the unit’s professionalism and community engagement. The council’s roll-call vote on the lease was recorded in favor; the motion was received and passed through all stages on the mayor’s written recommendation.

The lease will give the C3 unit an additional physical presence in the Willimette neighborhood alongside another existing substation the mayor said will be retained. Councilors and department leaders said the leased space could also host meetings and situational coordination tied to public-safety initiatives already underway.