SHAWANO, WI – The Shawano Police Department has permanently closed its long-standing lobby entrance as part of a remodeling project, and all police business will now take place through the City Hall entrance, according to Chief Mike Musolff. The change happened sooner than expected after city staff became available to begin construction ahead of schedule.
Musolff said the department had already been planning the transition, but the earlier start date accelerated the move. “The remodeling started a lot sooner than we thought it was going to, just based on staff employees who were able to start doing the remodeling earlier than originally planned,” he said. “You have to go with availability of when people can do the jobs that they need to do, and yesterday worked out for that.”
The department’s shift to City Hall is permanent and was driven by a combination of staffing changes, budget limitations and the need for a more accessible public entrance. Musolff said the police department has been looking for ways to maintain full services despite retirements and tighter budgets. “We’re always trying to do more with less,” he said. “Every year it seems you have less money to do things that you’d like to do.”
A major concern was the lack of an ADA-compliant entrance at the old police lobby, which required visitors to climb two steps. City Hall, by contrast, offers accessible entry and more convenient parking. “It flows a lot better in my opinion to have it over there,” Musolff said. “You have parking there, you have an actual ADA-compliant entrance, which we did not have at the police department.”
The new City Hall entry point is already active. Police vendors completed work on the doors sooner than expected, prompting the rapid change and limiting the amount of advance notice the department could give residents. Musolff said they acted quickly to make sure the public knew where to go. “We couldn’t be as proactive with getting the information out, but we wanted to make sure the community knew the entrance would be over on the City Hall side as soon as we possibly could let them know.”
Patrons entering City Hall will now find the police intercom straight ahead, rather than tucked to the right as it was at the former police entrance. During regular business hours, residents will not need to use the intercom at all. Instead, they will check in with City Hall staff, who will contact an officer to meet with them. Musolff said plans are also underway to create a dedicated meeting room inside City Hall for private conversations and a new internal entrance down the back hallway that will connect directly to the police department.
Despite the change in access, Musolff emphasized that the public will see no reduction in police services. “Everything will continue on as is,” he said. “It’s just a change of an entry point, and it’s actually going to be easier for some people to get into the police department.”
There is currently no fixed timeline for when the remodeling project will be completed, but the department expects work to continue as staff availability allows.
Comments