The Boyertown Police Department has a spacious new headquarters thanks to the generosity of a local bank.
Representatives from the borough, the police department and National Penn gathered at 94 S. Walnut St. Tuesday to mark the occasion as the bank donated the building to the borough. By year’s end, the building will become the new Boyertown police station.
“This meets a sincere need for what I consider an essential government service,” said Boyertown Police Chief Barry Leatherman.
After the ribbon cutting, Leatherman outlined some of the reasons his department has been in desperate need of a new station. For one, there is no separate entrance or area inside the building for prisoners in custody of police.
“We have a wooden bench with handcuffs. Someone might come in to make a report, and we might have arrested someone who is bloody or drunk, and they are right there in the same hallway,” Leatherman said. “It’s really, really unsafe in that way.”
The station is currently housed in the same building as Borough Hall, where is has been since the hall was built in the 1968. The station is only two rooms, and there is no place for processing evidence or maintaining equipment.
“Right now, if we want to put some fingerprint dust down on something, we lay down newspaper at our desks,” Leatherman said. “Same goes if we get back from shooting practice and we need to clean our guns. We lay down newspaper at our desks.”
The building will have to undergo some minor renovations before the force can move in. Right now, an analysis of the building to determine how much work it will take to make it ADA complacent. Once the analysis is complete, Leatherman said, they will have a precise time frame for moving in.
The donation was about three years in the making, according to National Penn Bankshares CEO Scott Fainor.
“Donating a building is not an easy thing to do. They are on your books. They have value. But when the stars all align and the parties work together, it can be a great benefit to everyone involved,” Fainor said.
Fainor thanked Boyertown Borough Council members and Mayor Marianne Deery, along with the planning commission for being advocates for the donation.
The building, at the corner of South Walnut Street and Third Street, was once used as an office building for National Penn employees. Multiple departments such as facilities and marketing worked out of that building until the bank moved its headquarters and brought those departments under the same roof.
Fainor highlighted the history of National Penn’s role in Boyertown, calling the bank a “good corporate citizen,” one that has been part of the community since 1874.
That role was emphasized by the donation of the building Tuesday, and the ceremonial handing over of a $1 bill from borough council President Frank Deery to Fainor as the donation fee.
“On behalf of the rest of the Borough Council and of all of the residents of Boyertown, thank you very, very much for this generous donation,” Deery said.
