It had all the appearances of a casual remark made at the end of the Town Council’s Jan. 24, 2022, meeting, and no one could have predicted then just how pointed, how purely intentional, Member Sharon Darnell was in the uttering of it.
“I think it’s time to look at this building,” Darnell said. “We all know that Police is sorely in need of a reorganization and that there are many other issues with this building.”
“It’s time to focus and bring this building up to the level of the rest of the town,” Darnell’s added for good measure.
Darnell, it subsequently proved, was to put her full faith and credit into the project. When it was determined that a simple rehab of the structure was impossible—no way to construct a second story without collapsing the first one—others might have been stymied but she wasn’t.
When it proved that a mix of ARPA moneys and bond revenues was insufficient to build a new police station, others might have been content to stick the plans in a bottom draw and wait for another day but she wasn’t.
And when the Urschels like knights on white horses pledged to make up the shortfall, Darnell smiled and prepared for the groundbreaking.
At 12 p.m. today, Wednesday, Oct. 9, the ribbon was cut on the new station house, 15 months and nine days after ground was broken on it.
Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann, acting as master of ceremonies, spoke first, to give credit where credit is due. To general contractor Larson-Danielson Construction, of whom, Lukmann said, “I’ve never seen so significant and intricate a construction project completed as remarkably free of friction as this one.” To engineering consultant American Structurepoint, “for designing this fine facility on such a tight schedule.” To Police Chief Tim Richardson, Town Engineer Mark O’Dell, and Assistant Town Engineer Mark Gavelek, for their “painstaking, almost daily attention and utter dedication” to the project. And to Dan Marchetti, a member of the Chesterton Advisory Plan Commission and CFO of Urschel Laboratories Inc., who conceivably put a bug in Rick and Bob Urschels’ ear about that shortfall in funding.
Of the Urschels, Lukmann spoke simply but eloquently. “Those of us fortunate to live in the Town of Chesterton have much to be grateful for, that the Urschels chose to be our neighbors and then to bestow their extraordinary beneficence on our community.”
Lukmann concluded his remarks by directing attendees’ attention across the street, to the northeast corner of Broadway and Eighth Street, where much is still left to be done. “Behind you is another work site,” he said. “It doesn’t look like much at the moment, just empty ground where the old police station once stood—dismembered as it was only days ago from the town hall—on which a public parking lot will be built. But I’m delighted to say that the Town Council has committed to a new project: A comprehensive remodel of the town hall, including a technologically updated meeting room, much needed improvements to the Chesterton Fire Department’s station house, and the construction of several community rooms. It will be a civic space we can all be proud of and will well serve the Town of Chesterton long into the 21st century.”
POLICE CHIEF TIM RICHARDSON
It was then Police Chief Tim Richardson’s turn.
“I Iike to think of this building as a symbol of our officers’ many contributions to this community, all of whom—past and present—have woven themselves into the robust fabric of a security blanket which has served so well for more than a century,” Richardson said. “More important, this building embodies our acute awareness of the officers as our most valuable asset, as it was their physical and mental health, their efficiency and comfort, which the Building Committee considered above all in the early planning stages.”
“Chesterton is a vibrant, growing, and historically safe community and this station will enable the department to grow along with it,” Richardson noted. “To forge new community- and neighborhood-based partnerships with our residents. To incorporate powerful and cutting-edge technology into our operations. And to nurture and expand this agency’s relationships with our law enforcement partners on the county, state, and federal levels.”
On behalf of the CPD, Richardson was eager to thank the folks who’ve entrusted their safety to his officers. “I want to express this department’s deep gratitude to the citizens of Chesterton themselves, whose support of this new station has meant so much to us. This agency exists to protect and serve you. We are accountable to you. And we will work very hard to earn your continued trust in us.”
Finally, Richardson expressed his own particular gratitude to the Urschel family and corporation as well. “The Urschels are a shining example of both civic-mindedness and the power of public/private partnerships. Without their great generosity, at a minimum this project would have been delayed. Worst case: It might have been derailed altogether. Yet here we are, cutting a ribbon in the sunshine. Thank you, Bob and Rick. You’re two of the good guys.”
RICK URSCHEL
Rick Urschel, president and CEO of Urschel Laboratories Inc., took the podium next.
“When Dan Marchetti presented us this opportunity, it was a pretty easy ask,” Urschel said. “With the Urschels being one of the largest employers in town, we lean on the Police Department quite a bit for assistance in all variety of activities that happen at businesses. So when given the option, it was a pretty easy meeting to decide that we wanted to help.”
“We moved to Chesterton almost 10 years ago and we knew we wanted to be helpful to the town,” Urschel recalled. “And we were excited to make this a big splash project. We appreciate the partnership we’ve forged not only with the Police Department but with the town itself. Every time I come to work, as I pull into the plant, I get excited that this is where we ended up.”
“Congratulations on this state-of-the-art facility,” Urschel concluded. “It’s an absolutely gorgeous building.”
TOWN COUNCIL MEMBER SHARON DARNELL
Of the significance of Town Council Member Sharon Darnell’s role in the project, Lukmann couldn’t have been more emphatic. “Sharon is the single person who raised her voice to address what for years had been the elephant in the room of Chesterton government,” he said. “The obsolescence of the police station, its physical and technological inability to serve a growing and diverse department, its sheer dinginess and darkness. For almost three years, Sharon chivvied this project along, every week, nearly every day, and made darn sure that all of us on the Chesterton team did our job and got this done. It wouldn’t have happened without her. it simply wouldn’t have.”
Darnell, for her part, thanked everybody else: Congress for passing the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; the Urschels for their generosity; the Town of Chesterton’s department heads and their personnel; and the legal and professional services, “both within and outside the town,” who made her strong suggestion, pronounced at the end of a meeting not quite three years earlier, altogether concrete.
Darnell, like Richardson, was warm and gracious in her gratitude to Chesterton’s residents. “Thank you to our community members who openly endorsed our town’s vision,” she said. “And thank you to the community members who were not necessarily in agreement with this but remained respectful of our need and understood it and accepted our reasons.”
“This station is open,” Darnell announced.
TOWN COUNCIL PRESIDENT JIM TON
Lukmann introduced the day’s last speaker, Town Council President Jim Ton, by noting how valuable his services have been to the project as the Town Council’s liaison to the CPD. “President Ton played a vital role in this project, kept careful tabs on the schedule and budget, and kept his colleagues on the Town Council well apprised of the progress,” he said. “He’s long been a powerful advocate of the CPD and was as well of the new police station.”
Ton ended the ceremony on a proper note of gravitas, with a dedication.
“We have come together today to dedicate the new Chesterton police station to the citizens of the Town of Chesterton,” Ton said. “We do so for our collective security and safety. In the coming years may this station serve well the loyal and deserving men and women of the Chesterton Police Department. In the coming years may this station serve well all citizens of the Town of Chesterton. This dedication being made on the 9th day of October, 2024, by the Members of the Chesterton Town Council: James G. Ton, President; Sharon Darnell, Vice-President; Dane Lafata; Jennifer Fisher; and Erin Collins.”
THE RIBBON IS CUT
Rick Urschel was given the honor of wielding the ceremonial scissors and cut the ribbon with aplomb. He was joined by Assistant Police Chief Cisco Rodriguez; Town Council Members Jim Ton, Sharon Darnell, Dane Lafata, and Jennifer Fisher; and Police Chief Richardson.
Today’s ceremony was well attended by local dignitaries: Chesterton Town Council Members Lafata and Fisher; State Reps. Pat Boy and Chuck Moseley and State Sen. Rodney Pol; Porter County Prosecuting Attorny Gary Germann and Porter County Sheriff Jeff Balon, who led the Pledge of Allegiance; representatives of the Town of Porter and City of Valparaiso PDs and of the Indiana State Police; and Todd Elliott, chief strategy officer of NorthShore Health and Porter County’s newly appointed representative on the Northwest Regional Development Authority.