FARMINGTON — Prior to voters being asked to approve plans for a new police station at the polls on Nov. 3, the Farmington Police Department invites the public to view the 14-member department’s current work area.

Two open houses are planned, Police Chief Richard Caton III, told two town boards last week. They are: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24; and 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 14.

A public hearing on the plan is scheduled Oct. 13.

Anyone may visit the station during regular business hours, he told the board. “A turn around of 180 degrees and you’ve seen it,” he said of the 1,500-plus square feet at the town’s Municipal Building. The four rooms set aside for the department in 1975 were intended for seven officers and one secretary. There are now 14 officers and one and a half secretaries utilizing the space.

The need for more space for the department has been apparent for years and in discussion since 1999, he said.

“This is no wish list,” he said Monday while explaining how the officers now have to interview victims and suspects in small offices shared by officers that are not private. Caton often is unable to do his work because he has to leave his office so an officer can conduct an interview. Sometimes the town’s conference room is used.

Anyone with a complaint has to explain it to the secretary in a space that can be heard by people in the Town Office.

After studying different options for the department’s needs, including renovations of existing buildings, the Police Space Needs Committee formed last fall to study the issue, recommended building a $2.75 million new police station in the town owned 1.5 acre lot between the Farmington Falls Road and High Street, the site of the former town garage.

Alterations to the original one-floor design brought the space down to about 9,000 square feet of working space, but Caton feels the new design should carry the department forward for the next 20 to 30 years, he said.

In order to hold a bond vote on Nov. 3, the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee met separately last week to make a recommendation on the vote. Selectmen chose to pass the recommendation for the plan with a vote of 4-1, after Selectmen Dennis Pike questioned endorsing it prior to the public hearing. He was not against the plan but felt the process was out of order, he said.

Action needs to be taken 45 days prior to the vote to get it on the November ballot, Town Manager Richard Davis told the board.

Based on voters borrowing the $2.75 million for 30 years at 4.5 percent interest or perhaps lower, Davis said, the impact of the project on a $100,000 property would be an extra $50 per year. When asked about the additional impact of approval of the high school renovation/addition, Davis told the committee he estimates both projects would amount to an extra $75 per $100,000 of property value.

“I’m usually pretty tight about spending money and I was really concerned with the school debt and this debt,” said Lloyd Smith, Budget Committee member. “But I feel comfortable that we can do it.”

The committee voted unanimously to recommend passage of the vote.

[email protected]

Farmington police Chief Richard Caton III often has to leave his small office in order to provide space for officers to interview victims and/or suspects, he said. The public is invited to an open house Thursday to view the space currently held by the 14-member department.

Officer Darin Gilbert of Farmington Police Department makes a call from one of the desks shared by officers on duty Monday. The department will hold an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday to give voters an opportunity to see the space now occupied at the Municipal Building by the 14-member department.