City to hold safety building meeting, wants public to attend

PORT WASHINGTON - The Port Washington Common Council will hold a special meeting to discuss the proposed $35 million public safety building, and officials are making a concerted effort to invite the public to the session.

The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Fire Station, with tours of both the police and fire stations held after the meeting.

The meeting is being billed as both an informational session and a work session for aldermen.

The move comes as officials try to determine what direction to take on the safety building, a project that has increased in cost and scope over the past several years.

The cost of building a joint police and fire station at the corner of highways LL and 33 on the city’s west side, in particular, has alarmed some aldermen to the point that a motion to set a maximum budget for the building failed last month.

That maximum budget of $33.5 million came after project architects said they had trimmed $1.5 million from the projected cost.

Members of the General Government and Finance Committee said late last month that they and the public deserve answers to everything from the cost of a proposed public safety building to the impact borrowing as much as $35 million would have on tax bills before the city decides whether to proceed with the building project.

Ald. Deb Postl, a member of the committee, suggested during 2025 budget deliberations that the city should “pause” the project after designs for the building are completed.

“There was so little input or knowledge shared with the council to this point. We didn’t have the opportunity to say if we felt this building is truly serving residents’ needs,” she said. “Then we suddenly had a $35 million building.”

Ald. Jonathan Pleitner, another member of the committee, said he’s concerned about the impact on taxpayers.

“That’s what scares me,” he said, adding that’s something officials need to know before deciding whether to proceed.

Postl suggested city staff members should put together a fact sheet about the project, including not just justifications for the building but also the impact of the borrowing and the cost to property owners, saying that may provide enough information for aldermen to make a decision on the project.

Before the Common Council makes a decision on the building — something that needs to be done by mid-November so it can be included in the 2025 budget if aldermen want to move ahead with the project — answers are needed, Pleitner said.

“We need to know more before we decide to move forward on this project. What will this do to property tax bills? What impact will this have on other projects? Do you postpone or delay other needed projects to buffer the impact? ” he said.

“This is a very big decision.”

The proposed 2025 capital budget includes $35 million for the public safety building, a figure Finance Director Mark Emanuelson called a placeholder since aldermen have not determined a final budget for the building.