Not everybody on board as Buffalo Grove moves toward closing on new village hall, police station

Buffalo Grove moved one step closer toward acquiring a building for a new village hall and police headquarters.

Trustees voted Tuesday for a $6.25 million purchase and sale agreement with Hamilton Partners. It sets the stage for the village to occupy a 96,731-square-foot building on an 8.3-acre site at 1100 W. Lake-Cook Road.

But two trustees came out strongly against the purchase, which would be funded through existing reserves.

The village is still months away from closing on the property. The agreement calls for a 90-day due diligence period to evaluate the site’s physical, structural, environmental, and operational suitability, after which the village board will decide on whether to close.

In addition, the village board voted to spend more than $140,000 on consultants during the due diligence period.

Trustees Frank Cesario, Joanne Johnson, Lester Ottenheimer III and Kevin Richards voted in favor of the purchase and sale agreement.

But Trustees Denice Bocek and David Weidenfeld voted in the minority, with Weidenfeld, the most vocal opponent, saying “not a chance.”

Weidenfeld was particularly critical of a provision in the contract that, he said, allows the seller to knowingly provide the village with untrue, inaccurate and incomplete information on the property.

He also argued improvements to water, sewer, and streets would provide more direct benefits to residents than new offices.

Bocek acknowledged the need for new facilities but said she’s not convinced this is the right site.

“We haven't provided any kind of analysis to illustrate how the property would function as a village hall and police station,” she said.

Cesario, however, said the village has been discussing facilities for a decade.

“We have looked at every building we can find in the general area,” he said. “So the choice in front of us is either to spend many, many millions of dollars on repair and maintenance work to get the exact same thing we have now, or take a shot and potentially save a lot of money,” Cesario said.

Trustee Joanne Johnson said approving the agreement does not commit the village to purchase.

“It's simply doing our homework,” she said. “Before we invest millions into repairs or consider new construction, which is going to be probably double at least the cost of adapting this building, I think we need to get solid information,” Johnson said.

“I don't think any of our residents would want to know that our village manager works in an office where we have buckets collecting water because the roof leaks,” she added.