SARATOGA SPRINGS — Police officials have complained that on three occasions since the summer, calls made to city headquarters have failed to go through and city officials can’t pinpoint the problem.

Public Safety Commissioner Ron Kim said Tuesday that the city has had the system checked but the cause of the problem remains a mystery.

The antiquated city police headquarters is located in the basement of Saratoga Springs City Hall at Broadway and Lake Avenue.

“The phone system doesn’t go dead, [the calls] just don’t go through,” Kim said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

He said since July there have been three known instances when the police department knows calls placed to the police department’s 584-1800 number did not go through. But police do not know how many other calls night not have connected.

“We have had no problems yet in emergency situations,” Kim said.

He said Assistant Police Chief Christopher Cole has investigated replacing the current phone system. He has one proposal that would cost nothing for the new equipment and actually save the city $80 per month on its phone bill.

Mayor Scott Johnson, who took office in January, said the first he heard of the problem was at a Feb. 12 city safety committee meeting.

Johnson said he thinks the city should see what can be done now.

There is a proposal to replace the entire phone system in City Hall. But the police department and City Hall proper have different phone systems.

Johnson said he would like to have a comprehensive solution to both aging phone systems, but public safety came first. He said the police phone problem will be addressed at next week’s city safety committee meeting.

Kim said if someone has an emergency situation and calls the police department’s 584-1800 number and nobody answers after two rings, then he should call the 911 emergency number.

Kim said the 911 emergency call can be routed to city police through Saratoga County dispatch.

Kim said the problem does not affect calls going out from the police station.

The public safety commissioner said the police department has been located in City Hall’s basement since before electricity was introduced to the building.

He said there are spaghetti-like clusters of wires in the rafters of the building.

In a public safety-related issue, the City Council voted 4-to-1 to approve the borrowing of $4.7 million for capital projects in 2008.

The list of projects does not include the $8 million being earmarked for a new public safety building that would include a new police headquarters.

Kim, the only person voting against the resolution, said numerous feasibility studies and committee reports have indicated that a new public safety facility is the city’s number one capital project priority.

“The current facility is inadequate for a force of 70 uniformed officers,” Kim said.

Finance Commissioner Kenneth Ivins said he didn’t include borrowing the $8 million because the City Council does not have a specific plan in place for a new public safety building.

Kim reminded the council that the city has hired an engineering and design firm to design a public safety building that would be located in the High Rock Avenue parking lot behind City Hall.

Kim said for the council to ignore the need for a public safety building is irresponsible to the voters.

Kim, a Democrat, accused the new Republican-controlled City Council of trying to “delay and deny this critical project.”

Newly-elected Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Sicrocco said he has seen a variety of costs and proposals for a public safety building.

He said borrowing $8 million for the project with no specific design and plan is “putting the cart before the horse.”