In a surprising 50/50 stalemate, a Select Board motion to move forward with a study on the old police station’s potential reuse failed. 

Select Board Chair David Tatelbaum and Vice Chair Stanley Mickelson voted against the motion, while members Heidi Silva-Brooks and Shawn McDonald voted in favor. 

The study — and its $46,000 cost — was presented by Assistant Town Administrator Chris Vitale at the board’s Dec. 11 meeting. The Select Board requested in October that the town look into the study, a tentative win for the Historical Commission’s ongoing battle to reuse the building on Russells Mills Road. 

The discussion became loud and tense over a key legal dispute that affects the historical commission’s ability to prevent demolition. Christian Gwodz-Sivera, a Dartmouth-based construction project manager that has volunteered his help to the historical commission, contended that the building could not be torn down without plans for future reuse per town bylaws. 

Town Counsel Anthony Savastano said the historical commission lost its right to use the historic bylaw when it did not submit proof that the building is historic within 15 days of the demolition’s permitting. Savastano said the town did not receive the historical commission’s photos and statements until June, and the permit was submitted on April 19. 

However, Historical Commission Chair Christina Sewall contends that the permit application should not have been considered complete until late May, when final photos were attached by the town. She said this could be verified through timestamps on the submission portal. 

Savastano said he was not aware of these contentions. 

Select Board member Shawn McDonald said the legal issue should have been “the first thing that’s found out and discussed.”

In response to the news, McDonald became angry, shouting and slamming the bench at times: “This is a complete waste of time. We’re sitting here twiddling our thumbs, discussing whether or not we want to spend $46,000 or tear down the damn building because we have no goddamn idea who has jurisdiction. This is ridiculous!”

McDonald said Savastano should get the information straight and bring it back to the Select Board. 

McDonald apologized at the end of the Select Board meeting for his tone.

This debate has gone back and forth since June. 

The building was first built in 1926 and served as Dartmouth’s Town Hall.

It eventually became the town’s police station, and was left unoccupied after legionella bacteria was found in the pipes in 2014. An officer became sick that year with what was diagnosed as Legionnaires Disease, which is caused by the bacteria. The building has since been vacant. 

In 2016, an $8.5 million plan to renovate the station was rejected at Town Meeting. In 2019, a committee to look into the police station was formed, which decided that reuse was not an option. The demolition of the building has been approved at Town Meeting twice. 

Select Board Vice Chair Stanley Mickelson said he remembers visiting the police station when the legionella bacteria was found, and “saw fear in the eyes” of the men and women working there. 

“I never ever want to see that fear in anyone’s eyes again — ever again” Mickelson said. “The building needs to come down now …. Enough is enough.”

Mickelson balked at the cost of the study in the face of a potential override request to address budget shortfalls. 

He also said the newer facade on the addition in the rear of the building nullifies its historic status. 

While Tatelbaum voted against the motion too, he instead suggested putting the building up for sale for a fixed period of time, then demolishing it if no one bites. 

“Let the marketplace find out what the worth of that building is, period,” Tatelbaum said. 

The board will discuss the police station again at its Jan. 8 meeting, ideally with more information on the Historical Commission’s legal standing.