Suit filed in public safety project> Presque Isle woman asks for work injunction

CARIBOU — A Presque Isle woman has asked an Aroostook County Superior Court judge for an injunction to stop work on the public safety building in Presque Isle.

The suit, filed by Gail Leong earlier this month, said police and fire officials are in the best position to decide where it should be located and what type of building should be constructed.

“A serious concern remains that no city councilor or selectman participating in the planning has the kind of training or expertise in law enforcement or with public safety issues at the level demanded and required on the part and behalf of the Presque Isle Police and Fire,” Leong’s complaint said.

Earlier this year, the building of a new public safety building was approved by residents by a vote of 666 to 422. An architect has been selected for the building, which will be constructed on North Street.

Leong, who does not have a telephone listing, declined Saturday to discuss why she filed the lawsuit when approached by a reporter at her apartment. She lives on Church Street, across the street from where the Presque Isle Police and Fire departments are located.

Efforts to reach city officials over the holiday weekend for comment on the suit were unsuccessful. The suit was filed Dec. 17 and the city has not filed its response.

According to the handwritten complaint, Leong is asking Aroostook County Superior Court Justice Paul T. Pierson to stop work on the public safety building.

In her complaint, Leong erroneously said that the city’s Police and Fire departments are located at Presque Isle’s City Hall on Second Street and that arrangements have been made to move the departments to North Street.

The injunction “would be to allow for a reassessment of data and information thus far gathered in its entirety concerning the suitability of the North Street locale, qualifications of the designers, architects, builders and planners and the appropriateness of the building’s proposed layout and implementation.”

In her complaint, Leong claims the members of the Police and Fire departments are “in the best and only position to make the ultimate authoritative decision” in regards to the public safety building.

The departments are “entitled to primary and overriding input, influence or authority and discretion as to the usage, usability, and safety of the public safety building,” the complaint said.

Officials sanctioning the construction of any building should consider the daily use of the facility by the “knowledgeable” and “experienced” members of the Fire and Police departments, the complaint said.

In addition, regional public safety officials who would utilize the facility also should have input, according to Leong’s complaint.

The opportunity to build another public safety building is rare, and it should be designed to boost morale within the two departments, the complaint says.