LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport is hoping to soon complete its purchase of a new home for the Lakeport Police Department.
The 90-day escrow is expected to close mid-February for the former Social Security building located at 2025 S. Main St.
The Lakeport Police Department has been at its current location, 916 N. Forbes St., since July 1999, according to Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Prior to that, the agency had been at 445 S. Main St., which is now home to the Lakeport Fire station.
The 2025 S. Main St. property, located next to Kmart, has been listed at $1,150,000.
However, the city is purchasing it for $875,000, said City Manager Margaret Silveira.
The council held a closed session to discuss the property purchase at its Nov. 4 meeting, according to city records.
On Nov. 10 the city submitted an offer for $825,000. That offer proposed the seller – Jean Howe of Santa Rosa – make a $700,000 loan, according to the purchase documents.
Howe made the counter offer of $875,000, which Silveira signed on Nov. 18. Howe signed the document the following day.
At its meeting Tuesday, the Lakeport City Council held a public hearing and adopted a resolution that will allow the city to use $200,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding toward the 2025 S. Main St. purchase.
In addition to that funding – which still requires state approval and an environmental review – the city is considering leasing out the police department's current location for office space, Silveira said.
“That would offset the payment,” she said.
Lakeport’s police force had 10 sworn officer positions going into the 2014-15 budget, with a police restructuring request that the council approved in December granting Rasmussen another full-time detective position.
The agency also has nonsworn dispatch staff and a number of volunteers.
Exploring options for police headquarters
Built in 2002, the 4,396-square-foot building at 2025 S. Main St. is located on 0.53 acres, according to its listing.
Lakeport Police's current headquarters building is about 3,000 square feet, said Rasmussen.
The Forbes Street location is in need of major upgrades. Over the past several years the city has been exploring upgrades for the existing building, as well as the alternative of locating elsewhere, said Rasmussen.
Several years ago, the Lakeport Police Department and the Lakeport Fire Protection District had discussed the possibility of building a public safety facility on Larrecou Lane that would be the headquarters for both agencies, said Rasmussen.
Then-Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells had sought federal funding for the project, but the agency's grant application wasn't selected.
“It was a great concept,” said Rasmussen. “It was going to be a really nice facility.”
With that option off the table, the city began looking at upgrading the Forbes Street building, which Silveira said is city-owned.
Rasmussen said the city had planned for capital expenditures to upgrade the building.
However, the renovation costs were going to be high, said Silveira, with the building needing many updates.
Added Rasmussen, “It makes a lot more sense, and it’s more cost effective, to transition to this new station.”
A more modern facility
The move to consider the former Social Security building started late last summer, Rasmussen said.
He said the Social Security Administration had been the building's only tenant.
Silveira said the building is move-in ready, and perfect for the police department's needs, with more modern infrastructure, wiring, security equipment, training facilities and other amenities.
Rasmussen said some minor upgrades will be needed. “We're in the process of discussing those,” he said.
“There's a lot of planning that needs to be considered as far as moving our computer network and our phone system,” he said, however, overall, “It’s going to be fairly easy to get our phone system and network transferred over there.”
The city also will need to install a fencing structure behind the building to secure police vehicles. “It's got plenty of room to do that,” said Rasmussen.
All of the agency's officers live within the authorized distance to take their vehicles home, so Rasmussen said the police vehicles wouldn't all be there at once.
That leaves the front parking lot on the building's north side wide open for the public. There also is a smaller parking area on the west side of the building, adjacent to S. Main Street, he said.
“It has quite a bit more parking than we have here,” he said.
As far as how the move to a new location may impact officers responding to incidents, Rasmussen said, “We don't have any belief that it’s going to change any of our response times to any areas of the city.”
He said most responses come from officers already in the field.
The department’s average response time for priority one calls – which are 911 emergencies – is just over three minutes, said Rasmussen, while the average nonpriority call is about nine minutes. The combined average of all calls also is about nine minutes.
Perhaps one of the biggest pluses, in Rasmussen's estimation, is the high visibility of the S. Main Street location.
“I think that's a great benefit,” he said.
Not only is is located on a main arterial street, but it's easy for the public to access and is more inviting to the community, he said.
“It also presents a strong image of the police department,” he said, noting the more modern, attractive building.
Rasmussen said his employees are very excited about the prospect of a more functional, secure and safer facility.
He added, “It's going to have a big impact on the morale of our staff.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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