ROCKLAND — The City of Rockland is looking to use Congressionally-directed (CDS) spending to help fund purchase and renovation of a new police station. However, the grant that the City seeks is a matching grant, and therefore, if the CDS funds should be awarded, the match still needs to come from somewhere.

The police station continues to seek a new location for its staff and materials after a never-ending cycle of patchwork maintenance and recurring black mold in the basement condo at 1 Park Drive, aka 1 Police Plaza. Residents voted down a bond referendum during the November 2025 election that asked for $3 million (pared down from $5 million at the last minute and too late to edit the ballot) to purchase property and construct a larger facility that would accommodate current needs and meet law enforcement accreditation standards.

The CDS application submitted to Senator Angus King’s Office seeks $2,475,000 in federal funds, and would require the City to come up with $2,025,000 as a match.

“We’re trying to explain in our application that the sale proceeds from the existing building will go towards the purchase price of a new building,” said City Manager Tom Luttrell during the April 6, 2026 Agenda Setting Meeting. “And then towards the renovations, but we’re still going to need additional funding for that.”

That money, Luttrell wrote in the application, will come out of the Cranberry Isles TIF, an account that allows funds to be used for public safety buildings.

The current police station is authorized for sale at $580,000, and will be used toward a new building, according to Lutrell. However, the sale of the unit is contingent on the police having another place to go, not the other way around.

“So the Cranberry Isles TIF, that we just took $92,000 out of for something else, has $700,000 in it,” said Luttrell. “So now, $600,000. We’ll get more money every August when the commitment is done. But it will take a little while. But I tried to explain it in our application that the funding mechanism is in there and we can commit to the funds for the future years.”

In August 2025, City Council authorized #70 Reducing Captured Value – Cranberry Isles TIF, in a 3-0 vote. The Order authorized the City Manager to reduce the percentage of the captured value within the Cranberry Isles Municipal Development and Tax Increment Financing District by 50%, meaning that 50% of the TIF Revenues deposited in the City’s project cost sub account for the Cranberry Isles TIF will be deposited into the City’s general fund for the fiscal year 2026, thereby reducing the tax burden on the rest of the City’s taxpayers.

At its April 13, 2026 regular meeting, Rockland City Councilors will vote on whether to allow the City to expend up to $2,025,000 in current and future Cranberry Isle TIF funds to cover the shortfall in match of CDS. Mayor Adam Lachman stated on April 6 that he plans to recuse himself from the vote since he is involved in the CDS program, though he does not review City projects.

Professional services contract to develop an economic development plan

Immediately prior to discussing the upcoming vote to authorize TIF funds for the police station, the Council discussed details of another April 13 vote: to withdraw $92,000 from the Cranberry Isles TIF to fund a professional services contract to develop an economic development plan, consistent with City Council Order 82.

According to City Manager Tom Luttrell, a proposal from the Musson Group and Camoin Associates was selected as the winning bid out of 9 bids because of the depth of experience of economic development planning and facilitation of public processes, their understanding of economic development opportunities and challenges in Maine, and the overall quality of their proposal.

Luttrell said that all of the applicants who responded to the RFP indicated that the turnaround time was too quick to get an actual thorough job on their end. In light of this, the City is asking to extend the date on this from November to a future date.

The bidders “really felt that trying to put a [task force] group together, to gather during the summer months, was not going to be too feasible,” said Luttrell.

Therefore, the Musson Group and Camoin Associates would begin work in July, but not convene a task force until September or later.

See previous Pen Bay Pilot articles:

Potential buyer for Rockland police station; public workshop for relocation draws mixed ideas

Mold report adds urgency to relocating Police Dept.; City plans public meetings to educate, invite new ideas

UPDATE: Previous $5 million estimate for proposed Rockland police station now reduced to $3 million

Combined Public Safety Building idea tabled, Rockland continues search for new property  

UPDATE: Rockland to hear proposal to construct new fire and police building; resident tells City to stop 'Champagne Diet' spending