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Erie council hears police facility expansion plan as chief warns response times have lengthened
Summary
Police Chief Lee Mathis told the council calls for service and crime have risen faster than population growth and that priority‑1 average response time rose from 1 minute in 2022 to 3 minutes in 2023–24. Architects presented a downsized 50,000‑square‑foot plan and staff outlined budget, schedule and funding options including COPs, a public safety tax or a ballot measure.
Erie — Police Chief Lee Mathis told the Town Council that the town’s calls for service are rising faster than population and that the police department needs both more officers and more space to keep response times low.
Mathis said the department’s calls for service rose about 20% while Erie’s population increased about 8% and reported crimes rose roughly 18%. “In 2022, we had a one‑minute response time to priority‑1 calls,” he said. “It increased to three minutes in 2023 and continues to be three minutes in 2024.” (Chief Lee Mathis)
The council heard a presentation from DTC Architects and construction manager partners laying out a two‑phase renovation and addition. The RFP called for renovating about 18,000 square feet and adding roughly 32,000 square feet; designers said they have condensed and value‑engineered some program space to stay near a 50,000‑square‑foot facility that meets operational needs without building excess capacity.
Why it matters: Mathis and the design team said the facility upgrade is intended to house more officers, provide secure patrol parking, dedicated evidence and vehicle processing space, and an Emergency Operations Center suited for incident command. The council must decide how to pay for construction: staff said issuing Certificates of Participation (COPs) would allow an aggressive schedule that could begin construction in early 2026, while a ballot measure or other funding approach would push building later and raise costs.
Key numbers and schedule: Staff presented an updated cost outlook based on a 6% annual escalation assumption (revised from earlier 10% estimates). The design team said construction documents remain underway with approximately four to five months of work before permitting and a two‑phase construction window roughly spanning 2026–2027. Town finance staff said about $3.5 million is budgeted for design in 2025 (approximately $1.3 million spent to date) and that debt payments of roughly $2.5 million were included in next year’s projections to anticipate issuing COPs; if the council proceeds with higher total project cost estimates the annual COP payment could rise to about $3 million depending on interest rates.
Council questions focused on trade‑offs between upfront electrification and lower long‑term emissions versus lower near‑term cost, whether COPs can be prepaid (staff: yes, subject to structuring and bond counsel advice), and possible impact‑fee adjustments to fund public safety infrastructure for future development.
Quotes: “We are at minimum staffing sometimes because of the amount of leave … court they have to attend,” Mathis said, describing 24‑hour minimum coverage that can leave only two officers and one sergeant on duty. Eric Combs, DTC Architects, said the team is working to meet the RFP parameters while providing operational flows for evidence and patrol functions.
What comes next: Staff described a near‑term procurement plan that would bring early‑release bid packages to council in October (amendment to the CMAR) and, later, a guaranteed maximum price in early 2026. Council members said they will discuss funding priorities at an upcoming council retreat and weigh the COPs timeline against tax or ballot alternatives. No formal funding decision was made at the meeting.
