Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/18/2022
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Police Sgt. Joe LaFrance is a lifelong resident of West Springfield. He’s a taxpayer himself. He understands that $70 million is a lot to ask.
But he’s also a 25-year veteran of West Springfield’s Police Department, working in cramped and dated quarters on the first floor of Town Hall. Regardless of whether town councilors and voters support Mayor William Reichelt’s plan to move the Department of Public Works (DPW) to Piper Cross Road, and build a new police station at what is now the DPW’s Westfield Street yard, LaFrance said something has to change.
“It is just too small for us, we are still in Town Hall, we should have our own separate building,” he told Reminder Publishing this month. “This is not something that the mayor or other department heads do not know. It is so small and antiquated that we need our own building.”
Reichelt is proposing spending $40 million on the new DPW yard, and $30 million on a new police station. LaFrance said the amount of money it would cost to build a new police station is less than what it would take to fix the problems at the current police headquarters.
For several years, the police have not been able to use their basement storage area for records, because of air quality and mold concerns. Those records, as well as the detective bureau, have had to move to offices on other floors of Town Hall.
Police officers — particularly the women — also have to leave the station just to use the bathroom.
“We do not have restrooms, we have to use Town Hall restrooms,” LaFrance said. “There is a bathroom with a sink and a urinal, no shower. ... The female officers have nowhere to change. We have a basement locker room for the male officers, but there is nowhere to store our equipment.”
Officers can get dirty or encounter potentially dangerous fluids and chemicals while responding to emergencies, LaFrance added. Without proper locker rooms and washrooms in the police station, officers often have to go home to change into fresh gear, or into their civilian clothes at the end of a shift.
Even with the extra space upstairs, the police also suffer from a lack of storage space for evidence and files.
LaFrance said the police suite at Town Hall was designed for a much smaller force. The town now has 78 full-time officers, and more than 30 part-timers.
He said West Springfield has a reputation as a good town to work in, but old and inefficient facilities have an effect on morale.
“One of the unfortunate parts is that every year, or every other year, whenever it is offered, we normally have around 120 individuals taking he civil service exam for West Springfield,” he said. “That is not the case this year. We have around 37 in the past year. The numbers are down, and it is harder to recruit. Normally people want to come to West Springfield.”
At a public forum on April 11, many town residents acknowledged the need for new facilities, though several objected to the new DPW site, worried about adding truck traffic to Piper and Morgan roads, and potential noise and light pollution in a residential neighborhood.
Reichelt said at the time that he would continue listening to public input, and would likely not have a firm proposal for the Town Council until June.