CLINTON — Officials in Clinton are considering a plan that would have the town build a new fire station, and then move the Police Department into the Fire Department’s current building.

The latest plan would replace an earlier idea to expand the Police Department’s space at the Town Office.

Jeffrey Pierce, chair of the town’s public safety building advisory committee, discussed the new option and timeline last week at a Board of Selectmen meeting.

“We want to make sure that we’re making an informed decision,” Pierce said. “And in a time and an economy right now, where everything is changing day to day, taking our time and letting the smoke clear and the dust settle with everything that’s going on in the world and in the state and in our town, the better off we’re going to be.”

The original plan called for the town to build an expansion onto the back of the Town Office for the Police Department, and to then build a new fire station.

Pierce said there were two main arguments for that plan:

• The Police Department had a more urgent need for more space because officers now cannot bring those who have been arrested back to the station and, instead, must take them to other towns’ police stations.

• The current fire station cannot be expanded so the town would have to build a new station. The town, however, had no viable land on which to build.

Rather than wait for property to come available, town officials decided it made sense to move forward with the police station expansion, Pierce said.

That changed last fall, however, when property at 37 Baker St., next to the Town Office, came available. Municipal officials felt it an ideal location for the new fire station and, after getting approval from voters in November, bought the property for $140,000.

After that, officials thought the best idea might be to build the new fire station and then move the Police Department into the former fire station.

At first, these seemed solid options, Pierce said. Renovating some of the space inside the fire station would likely be cheaper than building the extension onto the Town Office, especially given current fluctuations in cost of building materials.

The Police Department would only require about half the space at the fire station, leaving room if other town departments were to need space, according to Pierce.

There are also several maintenance issues with the fire station that would have to be addressed in the next year or so, Pierce said, so if the town is investing in the space, it makes sense to continue using it.

In earlier conversations, the plan was to bring the Police Department expansion proposal to voters this November, but that is no longer the case. Instead, the committee seeks to study both plans, get cost information for each and then present the proposals to the Board of Selectmen for a decision.

Officials now expect to bring the matter to voters in November 2024.

In the near term, residents can expect to see an article on the town warrant in June to move $79,000 from surplus into the reserve account for the project. The money is for engineering costs related to both plans under consideration. Selectmen must still approve the spending, which is not expected to increase the property tax rate.

“The way we’re leaning now is two plans,” Pierce said, “and to offer them to the town with dollar figures on them, and let the people in the town make the decision.”

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