Mayor Soto on Hainesville police issue

The new village hall is about five years old. My question is: why was there no time spent contemplating the housing and maintenance of our own police department and the future of public works?

The comprehensive plan and zoning map already displayed the old village hall site as prime commercial property. It was known to have asbestos, a leaky roof, flooding basement and no ground-level entry, making any alterations cost prohibitive.

Another key question is why did the village rush to form its own police department, even though they had no equipment or adequate facilities? Certainly a temporary contract for services could have been sought to allow time for proper planning and financial assessment.

The current squad room is located in what used to be the storage room, leaving just a coat closet and furnace room for storage. A makeshift locker area and the rest of the PD, with the exception of the chief's office, take up almost the entire garage that housed public works. In addition, we are paying $900 a month to store our public works equipment elsewhere in town.

We have just under 1,400 households to serve. That number has remained steady for several years now with no significant growth expected. With this important demographic fact available, how did we get stuck in this "chasing our tail" mentality instead of having a concise short- and long-term plan for services and facilities?

Fiscal responsibility dictates the need to build an adequate police department and cost-effective police facility that will not seriously impact or hinder other village services, projects and above all not raise taxes.

My immediate priority is to carefully study this issue, consider the input from the residents and weigh the viable alternatives. Only then will I decide to move forward with the option that is both fiscally sound and that keeps our community safe.