A July 23, 2025, Rockland City Council meeting is being considered to hear from the architect of a proposed new municipal public safety building to be constructed at the location of the current fire station, 118 Park Street. The new facility would be shared by both fire and police. As of the July 7, 2025 agenda-setting meeting, the City was still waiting for date confirmation from the architect.

Resident Steve Carroll, a speaker at the podium, July 7, spoke in frustration of the proposal, having read some of the details in a news article. Curtis was dismayed by the $20 million estimated price, and he specifically mentioned the plan's details of having a shared fitness center and men’s and women’s locker rooms. The plans are beautiful, he said. But...

“You’re spending money like a drunken sailor,” said Carroll to Council.

Having accepted the idea of a police station attached to the fire station, Carroll said he’d initially thought that the City would simply add an addition to the current fire station. Instead, the plan is to tear down the current structure and rebuild. He acknowledged the rising school and County budgets, the City re-eval, and the pressures burdening taxpayers at this time. The City recently approved a bond for housing, up to $10 million. Public Works is getting a new garage, supported by a bond.

“I don’t know how much we need (for the new building),” he said. “I don’t think we need to spend $20 million….I’m glad to find out that this isn’t going to be one of these things where the City goes ahead and invests all this money and then says it’s coming up for a vote, take it or leave it. We need to have less of a champagne diet and more of a beer diet to go along with our beer salary.”

Similar to other local fire and police stations, Rockland PD currently has the amenities that Steve Carroll mentioned. Other stations typically have some sort of exercise area, though some might just be a weight bench and free weights. At least at one point, Rockland FD had an exercise area. Camden FD has a fitness room that is used by both fire personnel and police. Camden PD also has men’s and women’s locker rooms.

Resident Doug Curtis Jr. also advised Council to be more scrutinizing of this proposal.

“We all have our priorities,” said Doug Curtis Jr. “The City just recently passed a bond for housing, up to $10 million. “I know that RSU 13 desperately needs to fix Wasgat Field and has some work to do on the auditorium….I think we have some other options available. I can give you a couple right now, but I think the most important thing is that you seriously look at the proposal….I want to do what’s best for both the City and also for the taxpayers in the city of Rockland.”

Carroll said he remembers that the police was once at the train station (the jail cell was in the basement). 

Should a person have access to old Courier Gazette articles from the 60s and early 70s, he or she would find articles talking about an attempt to house the police and fire stations together. It didn’t come to fruition because the police allegedly refused to share quarters with the firefighters. As a result, the fire station was built at 118 Park Street in 1971, and the Police Station found new quarters at 1 Park Drive.

In 1920s the police were stationed at City Hall on Spring Street (now Museum Street), which also housed one of the multiple fire companies in Rockland. In 1949, the fire department consolidated its houses and created a Central Fire Station at a former arcade about 50 feet west of City Hall, according to Shore Village Story, a historical reference book of Rockland.

Also during the July 23, 2025 meeting, time will be allowed for public comments regarding the McLain School TIF and consideration of the order approving the TIF.

City Manager Tom Luttrell, the finance director and the assessor met on the morning of Monday, July 7, 2025, regarding TIFs.

Luttrell told Council: “With the re-eval and what it’s doing to the TIF districts as a whole, we’re contemplating working up something to bring forward to Council July 23, to maybe not capture, next year, 100% of all the TIF districts, and lowering that a little bit, just to show more of a tax savings to the taxpayers, so it will help the taxpayers on this first year of the re-eval.”

Councilor Nate Davis has previously scheduled plans to be out of Rockland on July 23. However, all City Council meetings are recorded, so he'll be able to watch when he returns.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com