Committee sets special meeting to review police station design proposals after trustees seek wider vetting

Germantown — Faced with 12 proposals to design a new police station, the Public Safety Committee agreed March 16 to reconvene in a special meeting April 9 to review top candidates after several trustees pressed for broader vetting and more transparency.

The police team said it received 12 design proposals on Feb. 20 and that a five‑member review team (including police staff, public works and finance) had shortlisted candidates and scheduled interviews; staff planned to recommend a single top candidate to the village board. “We received 12 proposals for design on February 20. We've gone through the proposals. We have two interviews set up for Wednesday,” the chief said.

Several trustees objected to forwarding one recommended firm to the full village board without giving the committee or the public a chance to see more proposals. Trustee Bomb said committee members lacked background to evaluate architectural qualifications without seeing all submissions and suggested involving a local architect to review the packets. Other trustees asked that the top three proposals and the scoring rubrics be provided to the committee and that summaries or slide decks be prepared if firms could not attend.

Committee members discussed timing concerns: staff wants to bring a recommendation to the March 16 village board meeting for schedule reasons, while trustees said that the committee’s role is to vet and recommend candidates before a village decision. To balance speed and scrutiny, the committee voted to hold a special public safety meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9, to review the top candidates and review the proposals and scorecards in advance.

The committee asked staff to circulate all RFP responses and the review team’s scoring breakdowns so trustees can review materials before the April 9 meeting; staff also noted the village attorney will still need time to review any draft contract prior to a board vote.