UPDATE (10/31/2025): Since this article was posted, October 7, 2025, the proposed cost of construction for a new police department has been reduced from $5 million to $3 million, saving taxpayers an estimated $2 million dollars. This reduction is the result of a followup meeting that the City Manager and the Police Chief had with the architect.

Features eliminated through the cost reduction are the landscaping work, the structure to keep the cruisers out of the elements, and the ramp to the second garage door bay. Other savings were in downgrading quality of fixtures within the renovation, according to City Manager Tom Luttrell. 

Water, mold prioritized as argument for new Rockland police station; proposal would relocate to Pleasant Street

ROCKLAND (10/07/2025) — Rockland Police Dept. has been working out of a rainwater-saturated basement for years. Multiple patches have been attempted. Carpets have been stripped. Walls have been gutted. Yet, every time it rains, water continues to flow inward through the roof, HVAC, windows, and bricks. As a result, the black mold keeps growing. The growth of the department, in terms of both staff and professional expectations has ascended beyond the confines of the condo, and attempts to become accredited in the Maine’s LEAP program are stymied by the facilities category of the accreditation criteria.

In lieu of spending an estimated $1.2 million to repoint bricks, as well as however much to fix visible gaps in the roof, Police Chief Tim Carroll, with the City’s help, is proposing a new building at 170 Pleasant Street, which comprises a 13,421 square-foot building and 11.75 acre lot currently owned by Sierra Peaks. 

Assurances are being made by the City Manager that the bond presented to citizens will remain at or below $5 million, and, as Councilor Nate Davis said, hopefully the TIF will cover the cost of a sidewalk.

The parcel at 170 Pleasant Street is 10+ acres. Five acres will be used for the PD, some of the other land is undevelopable, according to City Manager Tom Luttrell, and the City is hoping to divide and sell the other parcels to make a true business park area.

“We’ll take the proceeds from the sale of the current police station and put that towards the renovation,” said Luttrell. “We’re looking at trying to save every where we can. But at the same time getting a police department a building they can actually breath in and operate out of.”

The biggest problems is the safety and health and wellbeing of the staff, that is housed at 1 Police Plaza, said Carroll.

“It’s concerning, the more we get into it. We did try to remediate some things. We did for a period of time. But overall we didn’t get the problem fixed. Because that takes a much bigger conversation – because of the fact that we are in a condo association. There’s two other entities that would have to help us to fix that problem.”

Carroll presented his reasons to City Council members at the Council’s agenda-setting meeting, Oct. 6, 2025.

Throwing good money away when you know you’re just going to need to repair again in six months or a year

The current building, 1 Park Drive, was sold by Charlie Cawley in 2007 and immediately turned into three condominiums and its own condo association. The three entities pay into two funds – an operating account and a capital improvement account, “but there’s never enough money in the capital improvement account to actually take care of any repairs,” said Carroll.

Though the other two entities have suffered some water damage through the years, the police station has taken the brunt, which at one point, required the chief and deputy chief to vacate to an outside trailer for three months.

The roof and the boiler system are co-owned, except for the HVAC unit pieces that are in the walls of the different facilities.

“We own those [HVAC pieces], so we have to repair those,” said Carroll. “To fix the boiler system, to fix the overall HVAC system, is going to require recruiting the other two entities to help us with that, help with cost. As you can imagine, it’s going to get expensive.”

“A flat roof, rubber membrane just isn’t the answer in a northern facility, especially in the state of Maine,” said Carroll.

There are gaps around the HVAC units. At one point last year two Public Works employees were called in.

“Basically the water was coming in to the facility, 5-gallon buckets at a time at about one every two minutes,” said Carroll. “All night they were taking the buckets of water outside, dumping them while the others were being filled.”

After the last issue, soft Sheetrock was removed and one could see the black inside. Meaning mold. The insurance person at the time advised for immediate mold remediation from a professional.

“We’re up around $40,000 just to fix that one incident that we had to pay for,” said Carroll. “Because it’s mold, you don’t pay the deductible on the insurance. That’s 100 percent at the cost of the City. The problem got patched. It didn’t get fixed. We did the mold remediation, but the water is still coming in. The last time that it rained, the water was coming in to my office, water was coming in to the detectives’ office.”

Outgrowing standards

The current building no longer fits the needs of the department and is a barrier to Maine Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (MLEAP) certification. We’re trying to get accredited and the facility itself is part of that program.

“We’ve done the work with a whole revamp of our policies and procedures to get all that,” said Carroll. “We have everything else pretty much in line to do it. But there’s also a building part that, due to the facility that we’re in, it doesn’t meet the criteria for the certification.”

Specifically, the evidence space would be updated, thereby allowing for accreditation specifications to be met.

The benefit of being MLEAP accredited is its potential reduction of insurance prices. Some police departments get 15% or 20% discounts, according to Carroll.

Staff and training requirements have also grown. The current conference room at 1 Park Drive doesn’t adequately fit all staff at once for other types of training. The fitness room, now quite small, will be bigger, and could be a training room for physical trainings and can incorporate members of other agencies. The proposed building will allow for another interview room and a more welcoming space for people to come in and talk to staff. 

Arrest methods at the jail now require that police remain with the person in custody at the jail until the arrestee is bailed out, as opposed to previously when police could drop off the arrestee and return to the patrol beat. Carroll prefers, with the new RPD building and the space available, that the arrestee be brought back to “our own office,” to wait in a holding room so that the officers can continue with work.

Efficiency and the new building

“It’s also our goal to bring the economy to Rockland, and bringing jobs to Rockland, and this is a way to do it,” said City Manager Tom Luttrell.

Though City Councilors seem to be in approval of this proposal, questions still arise. Does the police station need to be in walkable downtown? Is the proposed site too far away?

“As far as where we are at now, for the festivals and stuff, it couldn’t be more convenient for us,” said Carroll. “But otherwise, it’s sort of hidden, tucked out of the way from Main Street as it is now. Officers aren’t sitting at the desk, that’s why we have the cruisers, that’s why we have the computers. All the cruisers have the equipment, so typically they are out on the road anyway. As far as response time, I think it’s a little bit better. It’s often hard coming off Park Street onto Main Street. So we’ll be able to have a better response time throughout the city from this location.”

And, perhaps even better response with a new property with a three-bay garage and a carport to keep some of the snow and ice off of emergency vehicles. Lachman proposed another option of adding solar panels to the carport roof.

“I just think that efficiency is an opportunity here,” said Lachman, who also sees the sale of business land an opportunity to attract new tax valuations on that site.

The cost of the renovations that the City is looking at right now for the proposed building is in the $400 range, which is comparable with other communities, according to Luttrell. Interior and systems renovations run anywhere between $300 and 600 per square foot.

“We’re not to the top, we’re not at the low end,” he said. “But, we do feel, the size of the building is efficient for our size police department and for the future.”

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Watch Chief Carroll's presentation to Council at https://vimeo.com/1122206461; presentation begins approximately 47 minutes into the meeting.

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Those interested in learning more are invited to join Chief Carroll and Deputy Chief Gaylor for tours of the existing building at 1 Police Plaza on Thursday, October 16, from 5 - 7:30 p.m., or at the annual Open House on Saturday, October 18, from 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

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

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com