The town of Cicero is in talks with the South Bay Fire Department to acquire their vacant building as a new site for the Cicero Police Department.

The CPD’s current quarters behind Town Hall are “literally falling apart,” Supervisor Jessica Zambrano said at the Aug. 26 Cicero Town Board meeting.

“The roof is rotten, the floorboards are rotting, there’s all kinds of leaks, the sanitary sewer system is failing and causing all kinds of noxious odors,” Zambrano said.

Zambrano said Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-North Syracuse) approached the town a few weeks ago, saying he would support a Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) grant for $250,000 toward the project if the town promises to contribute $50,000. DASNY is a public-benefit corporation that finances “higher education, health care, mental health, court and other public purpose facilities across New York state,” according to its website.

Zambrano said town officials have visited the SBFD’s vacant property and tentatively have deemed it “structurally safe,” but a full structural analysis needs to be done. The building will require repairs or even replacement of its roof before the CPD could move in.

The town has submitted its grant application to DASNY and expects to hear back from the authority in a few months.

“We will buy the building for a nominal cost,” Zambrano said. “We hope that sometime in early 2016 we will be able to move the police department from this rotting building to … their new building.”

The building will also house the town’s justice department, which is currently housed in the town hall.

“They are thrilled to death because they are in desperate need of some additional space,” Zambrano said.

Zambrano said the justice department is also seeking grant money for the move, but she stressed that the plan is not yet final.

“This is all in the works — nothing has been approved,” she said.

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Photo by Highway Patrol Images, licensed under CC BY 2.0.