The Rochester Police Accountability Board is planning a move to the city-owned Loretta C. Scott Center for Human Services at 57 St. Paul St., at an estimated cost of $1,035,000.
Since 2022, the PAB's offices have been located on the first floor of the Seneca Building on East Main Street, more commonly known as the Democrat and Chronicle building. The police oversight agency has occupied the bottom floor of the Seneca Building through a sublease with the newspaper’s parent company Gannett.
The high cost of the rent at the space prompted a search for a new home for the PAB last year, which ultimately failed. The current lease on the building costs about $30,000 per month, plus utilities.
Council President Miguel Meléndez said the Loretta C. Scott Building is a better fit for the PAB for multiple reasons, including long-term cost-saving for taxpayers. He has introduced a bill that would fund the renovations and move, and City Council is set to vote on it on Dec. 17.
“There’s a sense of privacy in that space, it’s kind of hidden away from other city services, and I think that is some of the things they’re looking for,” Meléndez said. “It’s also a lot of space, and enough space to accommodate what the need is at this point.”
The Loretta C. Scott Center is across the street from the Regional Transit Service transit center, which Meléndez said makes it easily accessible to people looking to visit the PAB and file complaints of police misconduct.
The building is also home to several other city agencies. Namely, the Department of Recreation and Human Services and its subagencies, like the Crisis Intervention Services Unit.
The million-dollar price tag on the move accounts for renovations, furnishing, and moving expenses. About half of the project’s budget will be funded by a Division of Criminal Justice Services grant awarded to the city to establish "an investigatory process for civilian investigations into police misconduct.”
The city received the $500,000 grant in 2021, but the funds did not actually come through to the city until June 2024. Meléndez said that those funds were earmarked for certain expenses by the PAB in 2022 and 2023 that were ultimately covered by the city. The funding finally coming through gave extra cash to fund the move.
“We essentially in the past had to pay for those services using city funding,” Meléndez said. “So, we’re just using the unrecognized revenue from that grant back then, it’s kind of complicated, but to cover the cost of some of the revenue this year.”
The remaining half of the funding is planned to come from either the 2024 or 2025 budget of the Rochester City Council and Clerk, of which the PAB is a subagency.
The Seneca Building, the PAB’s current home, is owned by developer Andy Gallina. He said the lease he has is with Gannett itself. He said, in a phone call, that he has had no involvement in the PAB’s tenancy.
Meléndez said the final cost of the move depends on the cost of furnishing and renovations and may change. No date has been set for the PAB’s move.
