Police Department looks to expand
Faced with space limitations in a growing department, the McMinnville Police Department has announced plans to expand further into the Blue Building, an expansion which will displace three non-profit organizations which have operated there for many years.
According to McMinnville Police Chief Joe Melton the department had simply run out of room in the portion of Blue Building they now occupy.
“Over the years the police department has gotten bigger and bigger and now we’ve outgrown the space we have,” Melton said. “We need more room.”
Specifically, Melton pointed to the cramped office of the city’s recently formed drug task force, which adjoins an overfilled evidence room.
“The evidence room is filled full, the armory is cramped and we need office room for our drug task force and investigators,” Melton said.
The planned expansion will take the department into the space which adjoins the present police headquarters to the south.
The building houses the Thrift Shop, RSVP and the food bank, all of which have been operating rent-free for many years at the location.
Melton said letters have been sent to the three non-profit organizations, telling each they have until late October to re-locate.
“We hate to have to ask them to leave, but we really have no choice,” Melton said. “It’s not anything anyone has done, it’s just that we need the space.”
Cheryl Mingle of the Senior Center said the thrift shop will relocate just down High Street, next door to J.D. Womack Paint Shop.
“I knew one day this would happen. The city has been awfully good to us,” Mingle said, noting the shop began there 18 years ago.
The thrift shop raises money to help fund the senior center which is located on Morrison Street. The center has to raise over $25,000 annually to help fund its activities, with the largest part coming from thrift shop sales. The shop is also used to help victims of house fires.
The drawback of the move, Mingle said, is the fact the shop will have to pay approximately $7,800 in rent and expenses now – a debt it did not formerly have to pay. The new rent expense means the center will have to raise more money each year to cover the impact the move will make on its budget.
As for the food bank, Goody Webb said the move should not be too hurtful. The food bank collects food and provides it for underprivileged persons in the community.
“It shouldn’t be too big of a hardship,” Webb said. “We have two or three options of what to do and we’ll probably decide where we’ll go later since we have until October.”
The Retired Senior Volunteer Program, which also holds one of the spots in the building, has reportedly targeted a move just across Colville Street.