 |
|
| Parking, police content
with move |
Philip
D. Brown
Police Beat |
Josh Brown | Chief Photographer
Police Dispatcher Carolyn V.
Carpenter sits in her new office located in the Rivers Street
Parking Deck. The offices moved during fall break.
|
The Appalachian State
University Department of Parking and Traffic relocated its office
to the Rivers Street parking deck over fall break.
The offices were completed in October, after the
expected date of completion was pushed back from August.
“The move hasn’t really affected operation,”
said Barry D. Sauls, director of parking and traffic. “We are
basically doing the same things, only in a better location.”
Sauls said the new building has given the department
many advantages over their old facility. |
“[The
office] is in the same building as the police department, and it’s
near the center of campus,” Assistant Director Marlene C. Wilson
said. “I feel it’s more convenient for the faculty, students
and visitors who have business with us.”
“Also, over here we’ve got more parking,” Sauls said.
“It was often difficult coming to see us because of the parking
situation, but over here we have 50 spaces for the use of this office
and the police department.”
When visiting either parking and traffic or the police, visitors
can park their vehicles in the parking deck for free, as long as
the duration of the visit doesn’t exceed 30 minutes, said Sauls.
Parking and traffic tickets are not paid in the parking and traffic
office. The Student Accounts Office in John E. Thomas Hall will
still handle that process.
Construction on the parking deck portion of the building was fulfilled
before the beginning of the semester, but the spaces, which run
$500 a piece for a year, have still failed to sell out, Wilson said.The
Appalachian State University Police Department’s first operational
day in its new office was Oct. 21, after five years of virtual exile
at the location across town on State Farm Road.
Already the staff is taking note of several advantages the new facilities
offer.
“We have more room, for one,” administrative assistant
Kimberly M. Townsend said. “And it’s more accessible to
campus.”
Townsend said this accessibility has changed things.
“The amount of calls hasn’t increased, but we used to
always have to send out an officer to where they were. Now, more
students are coming in, and it’s [leveling] out,” she
said.
The anticipated date of the relocation was pushed back from Aug.
15, when the parking deck portion of the structure was opened. The
entire parking deck was a $12 million project.
The office building portion of the structure is 25,000 square feet
and houses the police station as well as the offices of the Appalachian
State Parking and Traffic Department. The Parking and Traffic Department
occupies half of the lower level, while the other half of the lower
level and the entire upper level houses the police department.
One significant advantage is the new dispatch room.
“We now have two complete dispatch stations,” telecommunicator
Amy W. Shelton said. This enables the department to handle a higher
volume of calls.
Other improvements include the employment of work-study receptionists,
freeing up department personnel from attending to visitors. There
is also a new camera system, which allows police to monitor the
parking deck against vandalism or theft 24-hours-a-day, said University
Police Director Gunther E. Doerr.
“We’ve done a little technical upgrading, despite the
tight budget this year,” Doerr said. “We hope to maybe
get a grant or another source of money to do more next year.” |
|
|
 |
 |
