Geneva officials’ vision for a new, 45,000-square-foot police station – the funding for which will be on the March 17 primary ballot in a $59.4 million borrowing request – is to have a facility that meets modern policing standards.

The city already owns property near Public Works, 1800 South St., and proposes to build a new facility there, if voters approve.

[ See lots more photos of the police station Geneva wants to replace ]

The ballot question seeks funding not only to build a new police station but for public safety needs at its two fire stations. If the measure is approved, officials plan to sell the current location to further reduce the cost of the bond issue.

Police Chief Eric Passarelli, Deputy Police Chief Matt Dean, City Administrator Alex Voigt and PIO Kevin Stahr took a Shaw Local reporter and photographer on an hourlong tour of the current facility.

It revealed a rabbit warren of spaces that police and staff navigate to get things done: down this hall for the social worker, down another for the roll call room, turn left or right or go straight and everything eventually leads to offices, storage, small holding cells, areas for evidence, electronics, garages – even filing cabinets are lined up in some hallways for lack of space elsewhere.

“It’s a little bit of a maze in here,” Dean said.

The tour also revealed damaged areas from aging pipes that leak, sewer backups, crowded workspaces, paper-thin walls and evidence that every possible make-do was done.

Not built for law enforcement

The current police station began life in 1915 as a car dealership.

It has also at various times housed the city hall, library, fire department and public works. A middle section was added in 1953 and another in the 1980s when the police department was moved to the first floor.

The request before voters seeks to have a modern facility specifically built for police use.

A recurring question is why the Geneva facility is going to cost so much more than the one St. Charles built for $24.6 million in 2019.

For one, it was prepandemic, and construction costs have increased. For another, Voigt said, St. Charles built on a former shopping center site that already had underground infrastructure.

Geneva proposes building on vacant land currently leased to the Geneva Park District for recreational fields, without underground infrastructure.

Not like ‘Law & Order’

Consider the interview room: small, narrow, with a desk, credenza, an office chair, a couple of other chairs.

“No, it’s not like ‘Law & Order,’” Dean said. “This room is where we would bring anybody that’s willing to file a report with us, victim of a crime. If we need to meet with somebody, we’ve had instances where we’ve given death notifications in this room – just because of lack of space.”

The interview room is near the lobby and the records division.

“These walls are paper-thin,” Dean said. “So when you’re trying to have a very sensitive conversation with somebody, it’s very difficult.”

Too close for privacy

Close quarters become a problem in offices where detectives and officers write their reports, and as phone conversations and virtual conferences overlap.

“That’s our primary interview room,” Passarelli said.

If detectives are interviewing someone in that room, and someone else comes in – perhaps to report a crime – then officers have to move them around, Passarelli said.

The design of the proposed new building would give enough space for officers to have private interview rooms for these more sensitive conversations, he said.

As part of the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force, sometimes Geneva has 10 to 12 more detectives from outside agencies and crime scene investigators in the building, Passarelli said.

The challenge is to find a place where they can all fit.

Plus, the ceiling just outside the detectives’ office is bowed inward from water damage.

Jockeying for space, function

At the end of a hallway, a door leads down three steep steps to a garage, far from the central area of the building where officers are located for roll call and report writing.

“In an emergency situation, they’re coming down those stairs through this garage to get out and get into their squad cars,” Passarelli said. “That’s not ideal.”

This is also the one space for indoor parking of squad cars – but there’s only room for three, stacked one behind the other.

If an officer’s squad is the first one in the line, the other two have to back out before he or she can drive out.

“When you’re trying to respond to an emergency call, and you’re backing up through this one garage, it certainly poses some difficulties,” Passarelli said.

Off to the side is a makeshift storage area of no-parking signs – used for various festivals and events – speed trailers and portable speed signs, gun cleaning for qualifications and training and portable detainee seats for the squad cars.

Heated garage

Another item in the proposal is a heated indoor garage for the squad cars, intended to protect the equipment as well as extend the life of the vehicles by not parking them outside, officials said.

Opening the back of squad car No. 52, Passarelli and Dean showed about $20,000 worth of electronic equipment that each squad car has in its trunk, including a StarCom21 Radio, a statewide public safety radio system. The StarCom radio is susceptible to the cold, Passarelli said.

In addition to lights, sirens and other specialized equipment, each car has an Automated External Defibrillator or AED, a portable device that delivers an electric shock to restore normal heart rhythm.

“On the AED box, it says, ‘Do not expose to cold temperatures,’” Passarelli said. “It forces us to leave the cars running outside. When we’re buying hybrid cars to try to improve the fuel efficiency of our fleet – it defeats that purpose [when] investing $100,000 into that car.”

It’s also a life-safety issue. For when a 911 call comes in, officers should not be distracted by a snow- or frost-covered car while responding, he said.

Also, when officials talk about a “heated” garage, they’re not talking about the same thing as heating a house.

“It’s heated as in not exposed to the elements [outside] as it is now,” City Administrator Alex Voigt said.

Leaks, sewers, mice

Another problem is plumbing, as tree roots grow through the pipes. No matter how many times the city has Roto-Rootered and relined them, roots keep growing and pipes keep collapsing.

The sewer backs up and there are leaks.

“For one reason or another, there’s drainage from the roof that runs through the center of the building,” Passarelli said, gesturing to a ceiling that once leaked like a waterfall. “It’s an old cast-iron pipe that’s cracked and has been problematic for years.”

Then there’s the mice.

“We pay to have an exterminator come in every other month, there’s traps everywhere,” Pasarelli said. “But it is an old building that is not very secure from the outside ... with the drop ceilings, you can just hear them running through.”

The building has 16 HVAC units scattered through the ceilings and cabinets.

“It’s not an efficient building to heat or cool,” Voigt said.

‘Not a good system’

Inside a cabinet door in the roll call room is the charging station for body-worn cameras.

Retired Sgt. Eli Rivera not only hand-built the shelves but also the podium for the roll call room, Dean said.

“One thing that the PD has done is a phenomenal job of – they work with what they’ve got,” Voigt said.

Getting the docks connected to the network was not just a matter of plugging them in but having the IT department run cables from the opposite corner of the room, up through the ceiling and then down to the docks situated on the shelves, Dean said.

“We always find a way to make things happen,” Dean said.

Voigt said the body cameras are stored throughout the building because there is no one place large enough to hold them all.

“It’s not a good system,” Voigt said. “It’s what they have to do.”

Officials are offering public tours of the building to help educate the public about the referendum. Those interested in touring the Geneva police station can register at geneva.il.us/1680/Police-Station-Tours.