Monroe Police Renovation Chairman Says Thank You

After dozens of meetings, hundreds of invoices and thousands of emails, the Town of Monroe's newly renovated police station celebrates its grand opening. Just over 2 years ago, I was honored by First Selectman Stephen Vavrek along with my colleagues on the Town Council to be appointed as a Monroe Police Renovations Committee member. Shortly after, I was elected as the Chairman of this group of dedicated volunteers and I have been very proud to be a part of a large team of individuals from Monroe and outside of Monroe who came together to make this project a true success.

Former baseball manager, Yankee Casey Stengel, once said: “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.”

This succinct quote sums up this project for me. We could have chosen the best architect, the best contractor, the best clerk, the best owners representative, the best public works staff, the best building committee; but without the proper cooperation and teamwork it would not have mattered. From the early surprises of finding debris from Town Hall's original construction all the way to the minor details still being worked out, there has been a team working together for all citizens of the Town of Monroe, to enhance and support the public safety of our great community. Together, as a unified team, we were able to improve our functionality, provide adequate locker room facilities, enhance safety by constructing a sally port and truly bring this facility into the 21st century with security and technology. The newly constructed police facility is something every Monroe resident should be proud to call their own.

I have many people to thank as a part of this journey:

Clerk of the Works Frank Bent
Interim PW Director Chris Nowacki and his staff
Director of Finance Carl Tomchik
Human Resources Director Cathy Lombardi
The Police Chief's assistant Sandy Stochmal
Lt Brian McCauley 
Fire Marshal Bill Davin, the building inspector and all of land use
The Town Council, the Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning Commission
Other Town Hall Staff including Manny Cambra and the Tax Collectors office, Liz Duffy and the Tax Assessor office, Marsha Beno and the Town Clerk office, along with any other Town Hall office that had impact on the project.
Our architect and representative to the contractor - Brian Humes of Jacunski-Humes. 
Our General Contractor - Dolphin Construction. Their hard working staff and dedicated personnel really shined during this project.

Our committee, who were never afraid to ask the difficult questions when needed:
Kathy Dilks-Anderson
Ray Giovanni
David York
Gary Scrofani
Secretary Elizabeth Ann Edgerton
Vice Chairman Ronald Villani
First Selectman Stephen Vavrek and Vida Stone, for helping where needed.
State Rep DebraLee Hovey, who fought for this project at the state level for years.
A special thank you to Chief Salvatore and Captain Flick. They were the ones to get what needed to be done completed, no questions asked.

I am very proud of this project for many reasons, the team that made it possible and one other very interesting fact. 90% of the materials for this project came from within the State of Connecticut. Further, numerous local businesses were instrumental in getting supplies and equipment for our project, including:

Wholesale Computer Exchange
Stepney Hardware
Budget Blinds
Superior Signs
Ace Hardware
Frames by Kosal 

So a special thank you to Dolphin Construction for making this project MONROE FIRST. They ensured that this Renovation project was truly for Monroe and by Monroe. Finally, I'd like to thank all of you for allowing me to serve you as the Chairman of this project.

Congratulations to the citizens on your newly renovated police facility.

JP Sredzinski
Chairman, MPD Building Committee