With Eau Claire County forced back to the drawing board with its courthouse expansion plans, the Eau Claire Police Department continues to run out of space.

The deputy chief says they want to wait for the County to come up with another plan, but Brad Venaas says his officers are working in too tight of quarters to not look for other options.

Even with the plans on hold, the police station is set on moving toward the future.

"We have to continue to look forward," Venaas says. “It's a little bit unfortunate that the political process put on hold five years of studies and work and votes. We got almost to construction. It's disappointing to the department and for me."

The deputy chief says some possible sights for a new police department are city owned properties in downtown Eau Claire. But, he says the five to six million dollars the city pledged toward the courthouse expansion project wouldn't cover a stand-alone station.

The department has been dealing with its space crunch since 1991.

The training room can only hold a third of the staff. Mats are crammed in a corner. The property room is full from floor to ceiling and officers have to shuttle between the department and off site storage spaces. During a recent investigation, the department had to rent storage units.

"Is it frustrating? Yes. We don't have a lot of space," says Officer Jason Kaveney.

Venaas says the department's deadline to have more room was the end of 2011 and he says that date has not changed. But, he hopes it includes sharing space with the sheriff's department.

"As a taxpayer, you have to look at the best way to be efficient and still have a good department,” Venaas says. “Sharing includes training spaces, conference rooms, interview rooms, the lobby, heating, and air conditioning. Our hope is that we'll at least be able to do the remodeling project that allows us to share space with the county sheriff.”

He says right now the department is leasing its current space from the county on a year by year basis, but they are waiting to see what the County’s Special Committee to Resolve Jail Space and Site Needs recommends in January. That's its deadline to have a new plan.

The Special Committee is holding its next meeting at 6:30 Wednesday night at the courthouse in the county board room. Committee members are looking for public input.