SELAH, Wash. — Selah voters are being asked to consider a proposition on the ballot that would allow the city to build a new public safety building that would house police, the municipal court and city council.
Selah Police Chief Dan Christman said all three have outgrown their current spaces and need an upgrade to be able to do their jobs more effectively.
“For us, it means a new modern police department that we can operate out of and serves our mission to keep our communities safe and secure and be able to package and process evidence more effectively and efficiently than we can here,” Christman said.
Christman said while some have suggested making some changes to their current location on South First Street at the entrance to the city and the property has served them well, he said there’s several reasons why they’re not pursuing that route.
The location of the building itself makes it difficult for police to exit to respond to calls, especially during high-traffic times of the day. According to Christman, the building was never designed to be a police station and as such, has drawbacks.
Christman said the HVAC system isn’t set up to allow them to safely do presumptive drug testing. The officers were previously conducted those tests out of a small mechanical closet, but Christman terminated any drug testing in the building.
“Imagine releasing fentanyl into the building and then having it recirculated through a common household furnace — that’s what heats and cools this building,” Christman said.
Additionally, the building is a rental, meaning they would be investing taxpayer money to make changes to a building the city didn’t own. He said that’s why they believe the city-owned property in the 300 block of Naches Avenue is the best location.
“A number of parents that I’ve talked to are very thankful that the police department may be situated closer to the schools in case there was a situation that occurred there,” Christman said.
However, Christman said there are a number of people who have expressed concerns about children walking in the crosswalk potentially being in danger of being hit by a police car leaving quickly to get to an emergency.
“But I’ve just not been able to locate any statistics or any stories about, you know, an officer who was responding to a call and struck a child in a school zone or a crosswalk,” Christman said. “So although I’m not saying it can’t happen, I just think that the likelihood of it is very, very slight, at best.”
Christman said all of the officers go through an emergency vehicle operation course every year in addition to their training at the police academy about how to safely drive their vehicles.
Additionally, he said the plans for the building include redeveloping the road beside the property to create an exit for patrol vehicles that would have them exiting away from the school.
The cost to taxpayers would be set at 53 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value. That means someone with a $100,000 home would pay $53 per year.
Christman said the property values for the average home in Selah is between $300,000 and $350,000. That means the average homeowner would be paying $159 per year.
“We’re hoping that that the citizens have done their research and I certainly have answered a lot of questions over the last few months,” Christman said. “This building is intended to to last us for 50 years or 40 years anyway, depending on how population growth occurs here in Selah.”
Christman said if people support the idea of a new public safety building, they should vote yes on the City of Selah Proposition 1 on the ballot.
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