Employee parking garage set to reopen

Employees at the Lake County Building in Waukegan got reacquainted with an old friend over lunch on Thursday.

The three-story parking garage immediately north of the building was the site of a cookout lunch in celebration of its coming reopening Monday.

A maintenance project forced the closure of the garage on April 1, and employees and visitors have had to make a two-block trek from a city garage ever since.

"They did an excellent job on the repairs, and I am happy it's going to open," said Information Technologist Mary Schultz. "I will not miss making that hike twice a day."

Gary Gordon, director of finance and administration for the county, said a contractor resealed the garage and performed other general maintenance work at a cost of $418,000.

He said the contractor finished the job about a week earlier than the projected July 1 deadline, and the county made good use of the extra time.

"We took those extra days and did some repainting and power-washed the structure," Gordon said. "We just generally spruced it up a bit."

The project was the first work that has been done on the garage since it opened in 1996.

The majority of the 515-parking spaces in the garage are reserved for county employees, but there are 96 spaces on the first floor where visitors can park for an hourly charge.

County Board Chairwoman Suzi Schmidt said the Thursday picnic was a result of the job being done on time and under budget.

"We saved some money and decided to do this to thank everyone for putting up with the inconvenience," Schmidt said. "We are glad to be able to reopen the garage, both for the employees and the public."