In an effort to provide detailed information on the Capital Improvement Plan presented to Milford City Council in late April, Milford Times will publish a series of articles detailing projects staff has identified as important. Council will approve the CIP, which is a plan used during the budget process, in June. The first of the series will provide details on one of the items identified in a recent survey as very important, community safety, leading us to focus on projects requested by Milford Police Department
When the Milford City Council approves the CIP, they are authorizing staff to move forward in seeking funds that may cover the cost of the project, whether that be grant funding or funds within the current budget available to bring the project to fruition. According to Mark Whitfield, the plan is just that, a plan, but council is aware when they approve it that staff will move forward with projects included in the plan.
“It is not a budget. The CIP is a living, breathing document that is in constant change throughout the year, but is updated annually for Council’s review and comment. The funding for projects in the plan come about with the annual budget,” Whitfield said. “The money identified in the plan is projected costs over the life of the project. We use the plan for applying for potential grants when opportunities arise. In other words, we would not apply for a grant for a project if that project was not identified in the CIP.”
In the current CIP that council will approve, Chief Cecilia Ashe requested funding totaling $2,590,200 for projects over the next five years. $123,409 fell under prior authorization in previously approved CIPs. According to the presentation, funding for these projects would be 63 percent private and federal loan funds, while 37 percent would come from general reserves.
“A lot of these are high priority for 2026, like the body-worn cameras from Axon,” Ashe said. For those who are new to council, this was something that was approved as a five-year contract for body worn cameras for the officers to wear, as well as place in their vehicles, that contract gave us the ability to come in at five years at a substantially cheaper price than what we were actually paying prior, so these are things that were already approved by a prior council. Again, this is a requirement by law that police officers must wear body cameras.”
The next item requested as high priority by Ashe was the replacement of four bulletproof vests that had reached their five-year service life.
“To give a little historical view on this, last year, we ended up having to replace, I want to say, it was 15 vests and there was no set pattern where we were budgeting for these items,” Ashe said. “What we did last year was projections, looking at when the officer’s vests would expire, they typically last about five years, projecting those out and spreading the costs out in the capital improvements over several years rather than generating a large lump sum. These are funds that, hopefully, depending on which way the government goes with federal grants, we will be able to receive about 50 percent coverage by the feds through grants. Historically, we have been awarded that money, but this is in preparation in case the feds don’t have those grants available. Again, these are required by law.”
Additional chairs and tables for the community room were also included in the CIP, something Ashe felt was medium-low priority, but something to consider since the room was used quite often.
“Another high priority for us is to enclose a pole barn behind the police station so that we can store equipment, like motorcycles, that we are currently storing in sheds behind the old police station,” Ashe said. “As you know, the museum is taking over that property, and we need to get these items out and be sure they are properly secured behind the police department in the enclosed fencing.”
In full disclosure, Ashe stated that they had applied for bond bill funding for that project, but this was added to the CIP in an abundance of caution in case that funding does not come to fruition.
“This is extremely low priority for me, but a majority of council along the way complained about the condition of the front of the police station,” Ashe said. “You know, you spend $16 million, and the grass is brown out front, so it doesn’t look well cared for. This would be $56,700 for a new irrigation system out there. Again, this is not a heavy priority for the police department. I’ll stand out there with a hose. My yard looks beautiful, and I do it with a hose. I don’t have irrigation, so maybe a team-building day out there.”
Another medium-high request was a small tractor that would be used to clear snow and ice from the parking lot and sidewalks.
“What we are trying to do is keep the police officers on the street and reduce the likelihood of them injuring themselves shoveling,” Ashe said. “We are one of the few facilities that remain open 24/7, so not only trying to give access to the employees, but also to the citizens. We have to keep them constantly clear. This vehicle could also be used during public events after removing the plows and spreaders, allowing us to move quickly through those events when we cannot fit vehicles.”
Councilman Jason James asked if the police department had a gator and Ashe replied that they did, but they could not attach plowing or salt spreading equipment to it. James also questioned whether this should be the responsibility of public works. Ashe commended the work of public works, pointing out this was more for sidewalks and the parking lot.
“When it comes to priorities, you can’t go anywhere unless the streets are done, so the streets are at top priority,” Mark Whitfield, City Manager, said. “I used to get into this even with the fire company, you can’t go anywhere until the streets are clear. But to the chief’s point, typically, sidewalks are left until most of the streets are cleared and we have Parks and Recreation crews come in during daylight hours, so sidewalks are not a high priority. They’re done the next day, but parking lots and the streets are priority.”
Ashe pointed out that her request in no way reflected negatively on the Public Works department.
“They do a fantastic job, and when we look exactly to Mark’s point, the priority is the streets,” Ashe said. “They have to plow the streets to get to us and with the amount of snowfall we saw, it was not uncommon for us to have five or six inches in both parking lots, including the rear one where we store vehicles. Again, this is not a major priority for us, but I think we need to look at it. We don’t want officers getting injured shoveling snow.”
Ashe requested $8,500 for additional lighting in the parking lot as previous councils felt the parking lots were too dark. She felt that the dim lighting was design to make the building look attractive, but actually made the building look like it was closed when they are open 24/7. The largest request in the police CIP was for an evidence processing bay and storage building at $2.4 million, with $100,000 approved in prior CIPs.
“This is a major priority for us as it is something that we look at various crime scenes, things that sometimes involve vehicles,” Ashe said. “We don’t have an area to actually process cars, whether it is a fatality or, God forbid, a shooting, where we actually have to process evidence to maintain for long periods of time.”
Ashe pointed out that this was part of previous CIPs, even when she first took the position.
“I felt like we needed to get into the new building to see what the actual needs versus perceived needs were, and now, going into my third year, this is definitely a priority for our organization so that we can process evidence correctly,” Ashe said. “Some things have also changed with the state. Typically, Delaware State Police would have their accident reconstruction team handle vehicular fatalities or serious accidents, and that has changed. Now, it is the local municipalities.”
This meant that the police department was training officers in vehicular accident reconstruction, a tense, difficult school, making proper evidence processing even more important. James asked if the state police still had facilities that could store some of the items, although he understood there were reasons why this was turned over to the municipality.
“We do all of our own evidence processing, everything from homicides to drive-by shootings to vehicular pedestrian or vehicular homicide accidents, we’re now required to do all of that,” Ashe said.”
James commented that he thought the change was in late 2023 and that he had requested a deferment to 2026 because of the burden this would place on municipalities.
“The original amount we approved was for $1.8 million, and we deferred $100,000 of that last year for design,” James said. “Shout out to Brian Jester, who helped us find the original design maps, so that saved us significant cost. Now, I think we are working with RYJ [Richard Y. Johnson & Sons] for this as an overall cost of $2.4 million. The reality of it is, the longer we delay, the more expensive it is going to get. It’s never going to get cheaper.”
Council will vote on the CIP during the budgeting process. The next in the series will be Public Works.
