Wood Dale mayor, council at odds over new Metra station

Wood Dale Mayor Ken Johnson will try tonight to convince the city council to delay approval of a $1.27 million reconstruction project for the city's Metra station.

The city council is set to vote on the issue - which a majority of aldermen favor - at 7:30 p.m. at city hall, 404 N. Wood Dale Road.

The council secured about $350,000 in 2006 from homebuilders working in the city to help fund the improvements to the station the city leases from Metra for $10 a year.

Johnson said Wood Dale taxpayers would shoulder the other $900,000, which he worries the city can't afford. He said he hopes to convince the council to delay its decision until after March 26, when the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference will make a recommendation on whether the project would be eligible for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

After March 26, the conference's recommendations must be approved by the board of directors and then its full membership. Wood Dale applied for $1.27 million in funds this month and a final decision will be announced April 15, officials said.

"As long as (Wood Dale) doesn't execute any contracts, they are still eligible for funding, " said Kama Dobbs, transportation project manager for the DuPage Mayors and Mangers conference. "If they spend a penny toward construction, however, they would become ineligible."

But Alderman John Kadala said some council members are hesitant to delay a project that has been in the works for several years, and that is part of Wood Dale's downtown revitalization plan. Kadala added that he's concerned the funding from the mayor's conference won't come through.

"It doesn't make sense to continue to delay a project that has already been voted on unanimously at a committee meeting last fall," Kadala said.

"My concern is that I don't know that there will be a final vote (by the mayors and managers group) on March 26," he said. "And whatever the funding source is, I don't know that it's been proven to me that an aesthetic project that is an impetus for our future downtown development ... would be a fit into what this funding is for."

Johnson admits Wood Dale is unlikely to get full funding for the project from the conference, but he hopes to sway the council to delay the decision and avoid using his veto power.

"Once the project is approved. we're committed whether we get the money or not," Johnson said.

If funding doesn't come through, he said, he hopes to delay the project until the economy improves. Additionally, Johnson said he is concerned the village will be liable anytime a person slips or falls and sustains an injury at the new Metra station.

"I have a hard time stomaching that," he said. "We're gifting it to Metra, it's being built on Metra's property, but Wood Dale has to be liable for all slips and falls for the next 40 years."