APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Wisconsin Department of Transportation secretary Mark Gottlieb says his agency won’t be going in with Outagamie County on a shared building for the State Patrol’s regional headquarters and the county sheriff’s office.
In a letter to Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson Wednesday, Gottlieb wrote that the proposed location, the intersection of Casaloma Drive and Highway 15 in Grand Chute, presented too many limitations, including:
- A high-voltage transmission line that could interfere with State Patrol tower-based communications
- Direct access to the property, which is limited to one location
- Wetlands on the site limit the amount of area available for development
- Lack of space for future expansion
“More detailed analysis would be required to address these issues,” Gottlieb wrote. “However, the county’s timetable to implement its capital improvement plan combined with our limited construction funding this biennium would preclude us from moving forward on a shared law enforcement facility at this time.”
Officials in Outagamie County have been awaiting an answer from the DOT since last year. County leaders are considering moving the sheriff’s office outside of downtown Appleton to cut down on the amount of driving employees need to do in the city, which they don’t patrol.
The Wisconsin State Patrol is also interested in moving its northeast regional headquarters out of Fond du Lac, where it’s currently based.
“While we’d hoped for a different response, we’re pleased that the state gave our idea the serious consideration it merited,” Nelson said in a news release. “The fact that the state invested considerable time and resources into this process leaves us hopeful that Madison may pursue this approach to facilities planning in the future. After all, it’s a creative approach to capital investment and a cost-saving innovation.”
“It’s disappointing that the state is not in a position to move ahead with a joint facility with Outagamie County,” county board chairman Jeff Nooyen said in a news release. “The concept would have been a win for both county and state taxpayers. The county can now move forward with plans to relocate our sheriff’s law enforcement division knowing that we have done our due diligence in trying to maximize services in the most fiscally responsible manner possible.”
Last September, Nelson vetoed plans to move the sheriff’s office out of downtown Appleton.
