Ligonier Valley Police Commission receives proposal for new station location; anonymous donor would foot $1.8 million of the bill

The Ligonier Valley Police Commission is mulling a proposal for a new $2 million police station that apparently would be funded largely through a donation.

Ligonier Township resident Greg Sullenberger, who said he is a former state trooper, presented a general proposal for constructing a new police station near the intersection of Routes 711 and 30. Sullenberger spoke by phone during the commission’s Tuesday evening meeting, following up on a proposal included in a March 17 letter to the commission.

Sullenberger didn’t provide an exact location for the property he is suggesting for a new station site. That intersection is near the Loyalhanna Creek and Ligonier Borough’s southern border with the township.

He indicated the police commission, or a combination of the two municipalities that formed the Ligonier Valley Police Department — the township and borough — would own the station, with an estimated local contribution of $200,000 toward the project.

According to Sullenberger, the remaining cost would be covered by a donor whom he didn’t identify. The letter didn’t indicate how the project’s preliminary cost estimate was calculated.

When the township and borough departments merged five years ago, the new combined force occupied the former township police station that is part of the township office complex — with some refurbishment.

“The current police station is not as safe or professional as it should be,” Sullenberger wrote.

He added, “There is no secure area for the public to interact with the officers through a partition and bulletproof glass. This has been standard in police stations for decades.

“There is no sally port for safe transfer of prisoners from the police car to a holding cell.”

Sullenberger indicated the proposed station would be constructed to the commission’s specifications.

He described a preliminary station plan that would include such upgrades as a sally port, interior parking for police cars and a lobby where members of the public could interact with officers through a bulletproof barrier.

Ligonier Valley Police Chief Mike Matrunics said after the meeting that having the police station share the same building with other township functions, including the water authority offices, has its drawbacks.

“We’d like to be separate for the privacy of victims coming in and talking,” Matrunics said. “We don’t have that privacy now.”

He noted he hadn’t been able to review Sullenberger’s proposal.

Sullenberger maintained the proposed new station location would be better placed for serving a greater portion of the combined population in the department’s service area — about 1,500 in the borough and roughly 6,000 in the township — compared to the current station about 2 miles north of the borough.

“Approximately two-thirds to three-fourths of the (Ligonier Valley) currently requires a longer response time than they would with a more centralized police station,” Sullenberger wrote.

He added that placing the station at the borough’s southern edge would lessen the potential for police driving at a high rate of speed through borough residential areas when responding to many emergency calls.

He said it also would be closer to locations where large numbers of people are gathered, including Ligonier Valley School District buildings and the Idlewild and Soak Zone amusement park.

Steve Kozar, a former member of the five-member police commission, pointed out police still would have to travel through the borough if they had to head north from the proposed new station during an emergency response.

Matrunics said a study completed a few years ago showed that Ligonier Valley officers most frequently headed south from the current station when responding to incidents.

“What will happen to this proposed building if the two departments split back into the borough and township?” Kozar asked.

Solicitor Mark Sorice said, if the joint police commission ceased to exist, a court-appointed conservator likely would be needed to oversee the commission’s assets.

“That’s not a concern at this point,” he said.