Board of Trustees Minutes

2121 West Lake Street

President Craig called the Meeting to Order at 7:32 P.M.

PRESENT: Trustees William Manton, Wesley Eby, Joseph Nicolosi, Robert Packham, Lori Kaiser, and President Rodney Craig

ABSENT: Trustee Toni Carter

He stated in 2004 a needs assessment was done for the Police facilities with an expansion for 35,000-40,000 square feed. He stated all the alternatives previously discussed were rejected. He continued different sites were looked at and a campus site was the preference. He stated there were two options that would be discussed tonight.

Option A was the alternative that included the acquisition of the property immediately to the east of the Public Works building, specifically, the Mid-America building. He stated we were in discussions with the property owner. Once acquired, we would eventually demolish the building and relocate the salt storage structure, having then a large parcel to construct a new Police building. He stated it would cost approximately $20-25 million. This would be the recommended long-term space solution.

The bond issue was questioned, using smaller amounts such as $10 million to begin the project, and add another $10 million as needed later. It was also questioned if the State had any low interest or no interest loans available and answered it was not known at this time. It was also questioned on the sunset clause in the transfer tax ordinance, if a referendum would be needed and answered no, that it could be dovetailed and layered in with alternative revenues to continue. It was also suggested if we could find other monies, it would be beneficial.

Mr. Dean Roberts of PSA Dewbery, the architect, addressed the board with the specific alternatives. He began with stating we currently had 11.8 acres and 249 parking spaces. He drew attention to the number of parking spaces because Option A increases the number of parking spaces and Option B decreases the number. He noted that the Police Department occupied 16,500 square feet of space and with off-site storage increased the square footage to 18,000. He noted the Village Hall had 34,300 square feet.

Mr. Roberts stated Option A would acquire the Mid-America land, making it contiguous with the Village property. The plan would demolish the Mid-America building, it would reposition the salt storage dome and the Butler building, and would include an additional 130 parking spaces. It would remodel the old Police Station to be used for other departments. He noted the cost for Option A was $19-27 million.

It was questioned how the new Police building compared to the Streamwood Police Department, and answered it was 40,000 square feet, approximately the same size as new Police Department.

Mr. Roberts continued that Option B would expand the Village Hall and Police Department utilizing land on the south side. He noted this would take away parking spaces from the current 249 spaces to 229 spaces. He also noted it would take a series of remodeling, moving various departments throughout the remodeling process. He stated it would cost anywhere from $18.9 million to $25.6 million.

Discussions followed regarding the breakdown of timelines, the series of remodeling, moving various departments during remodeling, soft costs, etc.

Suggestions were made regarding the addition of two-three stories, and the architect stated that could cause bigger headaches than not, making serious compromises, and not really saving any monies.

It was questioned if the remodeling meant making the facilities ADA accessible and Mr. Roberts stated we would definitely have to comply with all requirements. Other suggestions included moving the salt storage dome to a site across the railroad tracks off of Devon Avenue. It was noted the time to get trucks to load salt would go from 5 minutes to 45 minutes possibly in heavy traffic and that did not make it feasible.

It was also noted keeping the municipality in one campus seemed to be the choice rather than splitting departments to various sites throughout the village. A concurrence was taken for Option A. ALL Ayes.

Mr. Hummel stated there was a second component and that was the FY’09 budget needed to include the land acquisition and the professional services to implement Option A, that these were major capital expenditures. He also stated we needed to prepare for the issuance of two $10 million bonds. It was also noted the completion for Option A was 2012.

Mr. Roberts made the observation that we had a rare opportunity to take advantage of purchasing the property directly next to us in order to keep the campus as a whole.

Mr. Hummel continued that the interim use of the facilities was extremely problematic and there was no readily identifiable solution. He noted to use the Board Room for the Police personnel for 2-3 years was not his recommendation, as it was needed for other things, such as Board meetings, Vehicle Impoundment hearings, various Human Resource activities, etc. His concerns were the alternatives such going to the Park District, or utilizing the Fire Department facilities. He did not feel these were viable solutions but he was unable to offer alternatives, much to his dismay. It was suggested that other departments move out the municipal building or use trailers or other modules. Various discussions followed regarding security, expanding on the Public Works building, keeping the same architectural design with the new building, and beginning as soon as possible before construction costs started to skyrocket. There was no real solution identified and it was suggested that Board members and Department heads give their input to Mr. Hummel with their interim and critical needs. Comments made were that some trustees did not want relinquish to Board Room.

It was further noted that members of the Board were very happy to keep the municipal campus rather than splitting departments throughout the Village.

Sherry L. Craig