Mentone Town Marshal Tim Carpenter is looking for some room to grow.

Carpenter, with the town for five years, has been seeking improved facilities for the growing police department for over two years. When you see his 8- by 10-foot office, it is easy to understand why.

The Mentone Fire Board owns the building that houses MPD's office, the town council office and the EMS unit. There is just not enough space in the building for the growing offices.

There is a standing two-door locker full of forms and evidence, two file cabinets rapidly filling with forms and paper work, and a desk with a computer and a table stacked with supplies. Educational material for working with area students is stacked underneath the corner table.

MPD's evidence locker is filling up with seized evidence needed for pending cases. The locker is also used to store the department's cameras and paperwork (handgun licenses or warrants).

That paperwork is part of the reason Carpenter needs more space. Carpenter maintains that paperwork takes up 60 percent of his time.

And the one-room, one-desk office makes it hard for the marshal and Deputy Jim Eads to do their paperwork at the same time.

"Imagine that I'm working Saturday, and Jim arrests a drunk driver on Friday night, and does his paperwork on Saturday. He's trying to do his paperwork from the typewriter to the computer and I'm trying to do my work," said Carpenter. "There is hardly enough room for two guys to turn around.

"It used to be a one-man department and one guy could function in this space," he said. The MPD has added a part-time officer to help patrol the town within the past month.

At the end-of-the-year meeting Mentone Town Council approved an appraisal of East Side Service. The council was also presented with other available properties such as Broadway Tavern, property owned by Richard Dickeroff and Ed Tridle, and the Bell Memorial Public Library.

With the appraisal incomplete at the last meeting, council gave Carpenter permission to look into renting space at the station.

What the department head is looking for is a location with a separate entrance off the street, a waiting room, a secure door to the offices, a room for interviews, and a small room for evidence storage. Carpenter foresees the MPD growing and would like the new space to be able to accommodate that growth.

The town council is looking for a location for all of the town offices. While the town clerk's office is storing town records at the water plant the police records have to be stored at the station. [[In-content Ad]]