BOSCOBEL - For years members of the Boscobel Police Department have been cramped in a little 10-by-20-foot office in the back of City Hall, but that’s about to change.

On Monday, the city signed a lease agreement with an option to purchase the former Old National Bank building at 202 W. Oak St., less than a block west of where the department is currently housed. The lease is for 10 years, but the city has no intention on waiting that long.

“At this point our intention is to purchase the building in October 2020,” said City Administrator Misty Molzof. “We need it to do it this way for budgeting purposes and in consideration of our taxpayers.”

By all measures, the city got an extremely good deal on the building and the land it sits on, which is currently assessed at approximately $250,000 and is owned by Robert Brodbeck, whose family used to own the Dick’s Supermarket chains.

“Our cost for the building will be $90,000—with Mr. Brodbeck donating the balance,” Molzof said. “It’s all set up, so the costs will be minimal.”

The building is already furnished with desks and chairs, as well as surveillance cameras, which the police department will use for recorded interrogations and interviews. The bank’s vault will serve as a secure evidence room and the department’s parking woes appear to be solved.

Although the new police department won’t be staffed, it will be wired up to city hall and the sheriff’s department in Lancaster, similar to the current situation.

No one could be more pleased with the new facility than Police Chief Jaden McCullick and his 10-officer department (six full-time, four part-time).

“It will be nice to have a community friendly working environment,” McCullick said. “There will be much more privacy. The current situation is a little disturbing for crime victims who have to walk through City Hall to report an assault or case of domestic abuse.”

McCullick estimates everything will be moved in and ready to go by November 1 in the 2,500 square-foot, handicap-accessible facility, which hopes to offer vehicle registration 24 hours a day.