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http://www.omniture.com --> Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Readers Photo Gallery Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Readers' Choice Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Neighborhoods Employment Guide Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend October 26, 2006 Talent police seek $800,000 bond measure By buffy pollock for the Mail Tribune TALENT — Cramped quarters have prompted the Talent Police Department to seek an $800,000 bond measure from voters in the Nov. 7 election. The funds will expand officers' work and storage space and bring the department up to federal security standards, city officials said. The department is seeking to double its 16-year-old, 2,100-square-foot facility along Talent Avenue by a combination of renovation and expansion. If the bond is approved, voters will pay 16 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Owners of a house assessed at $167,000 (the county average) would pay $26.72 a year. Assessed value is generally half market value. When the police department was constructed in 1990, it housed five staff members who responded to 843 incident reports that year. This year, the current 10-member staff is estimated to handle some 4,500 incident reports, based on department estimates. Talent's population has increased from 3,274 to more than 6,200 since 1990. Advertisement The building does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and has no public restroom. It has one multi-purpose room used for confidential work, dealing with the public and eating lunch. "When we have an investigation we're working on that requires laying out a lot of papers and charts, there's just this one big table," said Police Chief Bob Rector. "The officers use (the room) to eat lunch. They have briefings in there. They use it for everything. And the really inappropriate part about it is they use it to interview victims, witnesses and suspects. Of course, that creates the potential scenario where a victim and suspect might run into one another, which we work really hard to prevent." Joi Riley, spokeswoman for Friends of the Talent Police Department and a Planning Commission member, said the levy was carefully thought out by its proponents. "Before we decided on this plan, we really did our homework," Riley said. "When people see the $800,000 price tag, I want them to realize we really did work hard to come up with the least expensive and longest lasting building we could." If built, the expanded facility would accommodate the city's police needs for another two decades. Riley said the city was fortunate to have Rector as police chief and a department that takes a professional approach to law enforcement. "We're really lucky. We haven't always had the quality of police protection we have now," Riley said. "We're not asking for anything fancy. But I truly feel like our officers deserve to have a facility that will allow them to do their job. They support us all year long. This is a chance for us to support what they need in order to do the job." Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Would you like to respond to this story? If so Click Here to visit our forums. Advertisement Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback online casinos news Home Security Systems Online Casino Reviews Men's Clothing GMAT Prep Fundraisers UK Homeowner Loans Discount Hotel Reservations Send Flowers Casinos Canada Texas Electric Choice Compare Electric rates in Texas Windermere Van Vleet Trunks, Footlocker Online poker at AbsolutePoker.com