Council seeks public presentation after $44 million police‑station estimate stalls project

A Lebanon City councilmember asked the council to schedule a public presentation of a police‑station study after the project's estimated cost — roughly $44,000,000 — contributed to delays in choosing a site.

"Since we're talking public safety, it's been about 2 years ago that I think we started a study of our police department… and we have not had that report brought back to us," Councilmember Doug (last name not specified) said, urging the administration to share the study's findings and explain what the city gained from the work. "For the public to understand what we got out of that study and for them to understand the need, I think we need to have a presentation to the council," Doug said.

The mayor (name not specified) acknowledged the request and said staff will reach back out to DLZ to schedule an update presentation, likely in spring of the upcoming year. The mayor described competing capital priorities when he took office and cited inflation and project complexity as reasons the police‑station project has not moved forward. "The number we got from the study was $44,000,000," the mayor said, and added that the city has completed a space study that outlined options for larger suburban sites versus smaller downtown or multi‑story designs.

Council discussion noted tradeoffs between locating a new station in the downtown core for visibility and accessibility versus using other city‑owned parcels such as the old street garage or Lafayette Avenue. The mayor said the price of land is a relatively small portion of the total $44,000,000 estimate, and that the scale of the overall cost has been the main barrier to advancing the project. "At some level, we have to say, are we going forward with that or not before we even pick a site?" the mayor said.

No motion or funding decision was made; the mayor said he will ask DLZ for a presentation to the council on the study and next steps.