Palmerton Borough Councilman Cory Kepner said at Thursday’s borough council meeting that he believes council needs to explore long-term remodeling as an option going forward with the police department.

“We can look into the LSA (Local Share Assessment) grant,” Kepner said. “There are numerous federal funding options available to us.”

Kepner said he called state Rep. Doyle Heffley’s office for some guidance on the LSA program and its uses, and added it can be utilized for renovation, buying new equipment such as police vehicles, police related gear, lockers, and administrative equipment, such as computers, phone systems, etc.

“It is suggested we break up our grant requests into smaller sections, such as building renovation, radio equipment, police equipment,” he said. “Grants will need to be requested separately.”

Kepner then recommended council look into using some of the COVID relief money to deal directly with immediate needs within the building and/or department, and that police Chief Tim Kromer can better direct their specific needs.

His proposed plan:

Phase I

• Clean out the basement of the department. This includes renting a 20-yard dumpster for disposal of trash and other related items.

• Clear out the uniform room since the space is not being utilized in the way in which it should.

• Clear out the evidence room (evidence disposal form needs to be filed on closed cases and disposed of properly).

• Follow all state and federal laws regarding evidence and other sensitive items for disposal (protecting chain of custody and integrity).

Phase II

• Fix all the dangerous items listed and find other safety/code issues.

“Not putting a band-aid on the issue, but make the work environment safe for use until a plan can be implemented,” Kepner said.

Phase III

• Digitizing the department’s records, such as court information, police reports, etc.

“The goal is to remove the physical documents from the property and dispose of them,” Kepner said. “This would give us a safe and secure room for future use. This will a time-consuming effort, as we have over 100 years of records in storage.”

Phase IV

• Plan future renovations to the department, and include two holding cells; an interview room; an interrogation room; and the mayor’s office.

• Upgrade the CCTV systems.

• Install a new radio system for the department (FCC grant to upgrade antenna and transmitter repeater (Homeland Security may have funding for this as well).

• New office for the police chief, and detective, as well as a dedicated armory/walk-in safe for department equipment and high value items, and would include workspace and tools for department armorer to be able to work on police issued equipment.

• Revamp of the current evidence room to allow a new filing system for organization and up-to-code security systems. Also, the evidence room would have a secure area for drugs and other dangerous items.

• An increase of dedicated parking for police vehicles; upgrade lighting to the exterior of the building and add a light up Palmerton Police Department sign; would add security doors to the bottom floor entrances to today’s security standards; and also a potential generator system.