Photo by Howard Owens.
One could say, perhaps, that it takes a village to build a police station.
At least that's the case this fall in the Village of Corfu, where people are volunteering their time to help convert a building that was once a bar but has sat vacant for at least 20 years into a police station.
The Corfu Police Department has never had a proper police station for the past 25 years, it's operated out of what is essentially a broom closet at the Village Hall, said Deputy Mayor Michael Doktor.
"We have officers, board members, community members, volunteering (to help complete renovations)," Doktor said. "Our maintenance man is also helping."
The property, at 81 East Main St., is nearly 39 acres and contains a house and a four-bay garage.
The village purchased the property in January. Doktor said the village developed plans to replace the roof on the garage, using existing capitol improvement funds, and start parking police cars there.
Then earlier this year, David Krzemien, officer in charge for the department, stopped by the little red building while village staff was there evaluating what damage their might be to the building, Krzemien began imaging it as a police station.
He brought the plan to the village trustees.
"It was a pretty quick discussion," Doktor said. "The board pretty much agreed with the officer in charge that the officers needed a real work space and that this building would pretty much meet our needs for the time being."
On Saturday, when The Batavian happened to stop by the building, Krzemien was there, working by himself, installing new metal siding. Red, of course.
Doktor said officials are still waiting on an estimate on the cost of replacing the floor. The current one is pretty weather-damaged. But it's still expected that converting the building into a police station will cost less than $6,000.
The beautiful old wood bar inside? It stays. Repurposed into a front-office counter.
As for the house on the property? The village is collecting feedback from residents on what to do with it. It all depends on costs and what the village wants, Doktor said.
"We're looking at what’s most cost-effective and listening to everybody's input from the village," Doktor said. "Who knows how long before we come up with the final idea for it, but we want to make sure it’s justifiable."
Doktor said the village hopes the new police station will be opened by December, even if the back office space isn't completely renovated by that time.
"We think (the police station) is something that will benefit the community. The feedback has been great so far," Doktor said. "We hope it is something the community will be equally happy about."
