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Bartlett trustees eager to get police station study done

Several budgeted expenses related to the Bartlett police station have provoked debate among village officials, who await the findings of a study into the space needs of the department.

Several village officials, including Village President Kevin Wallace, agree with the police department that the present station is too small. The building is 21 years old, but officials say there are code violations, the pistol range needs to be replaced and there are issues with the heating and ventilating.

Trustees have adopted the $61.8 million village budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year starting May 1. The spending blueprint calls for transferring about $3 million from the village's general fund reserves to the municipal building fund.

Before the transfer, reserves stood at about $12.4 million, or 55 percent of the village's operational costs. With the shift, reserves will drop to about 35 percent.

Village President Kevin Wallace and several trustees say the money hasn't been earmarked for any particular project. But the move comes as the village expects the findings of the police station analysis this July. The study is expected to help the board decide whether to build a new police station or to invest in improvements.

The $3 million alone isn't expected to cover the cost of a new police headquarters, although the village doesn't know yet what one would cost, Bartlett Finance Director Jeff Martynowicz said. If the board does agree to replace the existing, 21,677-square-foot building, the idea is to build new on the current site next to village hall on Main Street, Martynowicz said.

Trustee Aaron Reinke, chair of the board's finance committee, said the money should remain in reserves until the space-needs study is complete in July. A firm hasn't been chosen yet to conduct the study, but police have put out a request for experts to submit their qualifications.

Wallace refused to weigh in on how the $3 million should be spent. The board's policy, he noted, is to direct excess reserves - above 35 percent of annual operating expenditures - into the building fund.

The village has built up the rainy-day fund over the years through the real estate transfer tax and building permits in the housing boom, Martynowicz said. In recent years, the village has not made a transfer of this size out of the reserve fund, Martynowicz said, because village leaders feared a double-dip recession.

Wallace said "something needs to be done" at the police station, where nearly 80 employees work in what he considers cramped quarters, but he stopped short of endorsing a new one.

"It's important that we give them a working environment that is suitable," he said.

The budget also calls for about $800,000 in repairs and upgrades to the police station, including replacing the pistol range, expanding the garage and installing a new heating and air conditioning system. That money won't be spent until the board decides what to do with the structure.

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