New Public Safety Building opens in Montville

MONTVILLE, Conn. (WTNH)-- With two snips of a big blue ribbon, the public was welcomed to the new Public Safety Building in Montville.

It's a project five years in the making. The new facility will house the town's 911 call center, the police department, and animal control.

"It's awesome. It is state of the art. It's gonna meet our needs for years to come. Hopefully, decades to come," said Mayor Ronald McDaniel.

With the population in the area growing quickly, residents say they have been waiting for this day for a long time.

"We have needed a public safety building in this town for at least 15 or 20 years," said Jim Rondeau .

The ceremony was attended by police officers, their families, town employees, and many of the people that put in long hours to make the building a reality.

"Lots of meetings, lots of planning, lots of stuff going on now to get everything ready, but glad it's finally come to fruition," said Anjie Leonard, of Uncasville.

With a top of the line call center, the hope is that this could one day serve as a regional office.

Even with state of the art facilities throughout the building, officials say one of the best things is they came in under budget and on time.

The budget was slated for $5.9 million. Officials say they came in at about $200,000 less than that.

Mayor McDaniel said, "getting, in these tough economic times, people to support spending money and bonding money is always difficult, but the residents stepped up in overwhelming support of this project because they knew it was long overdue."

The building also features a public meeting room.

"It was done under budget, on time, And you know what, it brings the community in more to be working with police and our first responders," said LT. Governor Nancy Wyman.

"I think it is absolutely gorgeous, it really is. And well deserved and I hope the officers that utilize it enjoy it to the fullest," said Rondeau