Arlington Heights' seat of power gets a new life

On Monday Arlene Mulder found a message on her desk that read:

"Your office furniture is going to a new school in Waukegan."

"I thought that's great; it will have a good home," said Mulder, the village president of Arlington Heights.

St. Viator boys golf coach Jack Halpin bought Mulder's old set of office furniture for his good friend the Rev. Charles Bolser for $550 via an online auction of surplus village furniture that ended Monday.

Bolser is the president of St. Martin de Porres High School in Waukegan, which serves mostly low-income students. The school opened four years ago and serves about 100 students.

"We're a new school and just getting off the ground," Bolser said. "I couldn't think of a nicer gift. I just hope it fits."

Bolser was the president of St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights from 1986 to 1998. He still lives in Arlington Heights.

Halpin said Bolser "practically saved" St. Viator. When he was hired in the late 1980s, enrollment was down to less than 100 kids per grade level.

"At the time, the future of the school didn't look good," Halpin said. Bolser "made all the tough decisions -- he made the school co-ed and he cleaned it up."

Bolder doesn't like to take quite that much credit and replies, "I don't know about that" after hearing Halpin's comments.

Mulder and other village employees will move into a new $30 million village hall in a few weeks where mostly new furniture will be awaiting them. Almost 300 pieces of old furniture were sold in a two-week-long auction, which brought in a total of about $15,000.

Mulder's last day with her old desk is Thursday. This weekend, Halpin and Bolser will rent a truck to haul the office set to Waukegan.

Mulder's office package was one of the top sellers and included her desk, chair, computer table and bookshelf.

The desk goes back more than 40 years and the chair was bought especially for Mulder when she took office 15 years ago.

"I like that there's some history behind the desk," Bolser said. "I've known Arlene forever. She's a good friend."

Village employees have been working out of a temporary village hall for about two years. The new structure at 33 S. Arlington Heights Road will open to the public Jan. 22 with $963,961 worth of new furniture.