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Glen Ellyn trustees can't agree on police station budget

Glen Ellyn trustees haven't settled on a price tag for a new police station after a lengthy debate Monday on whether to spend more than the $12 million budget they set for the project over the summer.

The village has presented several alternatives that now cost between roughly $13.2 million and $15.4 million. Those estimates do not include the $600,000 the village has already spent to study the space of the current station in the Civic Center downtown and to buy and demolish homes to make way for the new headquarters along Park Boulevard.

As architects began putting pen to paper, the village got a clearer sense of the cost of the project "germane" to the site, about half of which lies in a flood plain, Village Manager Mark Franz said.

"At $12 million, I think we'd be leaving some key elements out of the budget," Franz said.

Architects and village officials have shaved about 29 percent from the footprint that consultants recommended for a department of Glen Ellyn's size in a 2012 study. As currently designed, the station would be spread across two buildings with a total of 31,500 square feet.

The main building would hold a force - both civilian employees and sworn officers - of up to 75 employees, Franz said.

Trustee Tim Elliott said he wants to stick to the $12 million budget and shrink the size more.

"I can't believe that there isn't give," Elliott said.

The footprint would more than double the 12,000 square feet of space the department of 40 sworn officers uses in the Civic Center, "shoehorned" into the first floor, Village President Alex Demos said. He said he's considering an alternative that would cost $14.5 million.

"We have to look at this as a capital investment for the long term," Demos said.

Much of the debate centered on whether to build a roughly $1.6 million shooting range in a separate, 4,000-square-foot building. Police said an on-site range would enhance training and offer more scheduling flexibility. Currently, officers use Wheaton police's "somewhat antiquated" range, typically twice a month, Chief Phil Norton said.

Glen Ellyn officers also could face a waiting list if they trained at College of DuPage's new shooting range, which has been opened to state, local and federal law enforcement, Norton said.

Demos and Trustee Peter Ladesic showed support for the range, but Trustee John Kenwood said he wanted to study the pros and cons further.

Elliott, an attorney for COD, however, opposes building the range and have suggested police book training time at the Glen Ellyn community college. Trustee Timothy O'Shea was skeptical that the case had been made to invest in the range now.

The village board agreed this summer to issue $13.43 million in bonds, about $1.5 million of which will finance a separate project to alleviate flooding when Lake Ellyn overflows. The rest of the loan was set aside for the construction of the station - currently designed as two separate buildings - on four acres of land the village owns along Park Boulevard, a few blocks south of Roosevelt Road.

Most trustees said Monday they were willing to spend other funds in addition to the bonds, but they did not pinpoint how much to earmark for the police station. They plan to revisit the scope and how to pay for it next Monday.

Those possible funding sources are:

• The police department would reimburse the village through money seized during arrests on drug charges. Officials have identified about $1.2 million that could pay for secure jail facilities, evidence storage and other costs allowed under federal law.

• The village would use as much as $350,000 in capital funds for improvements to the site that could include realigning the entrance with Wilson Avenue and relocating utilities and water and sewer infrastructure.

Capital funds also would cover the purchase of homes demolished to make way for the station. Three have been razed so far, and the village has a contract pending to buy a fourth home at 81 S. Park Ave. Leveling that property, officials say, will create a buffer for the neighborhood and better access to the police department and Panfish Park. The village owned one of the homes for decades.

Elliott expressed frustration at budget talks, saying those options weren't presented before the board took on the debt.

"This is all a discussion we should have had at the time we borrowed the money," he said.

Police now hope construction will begin in mid-June and the project will be completed in summer 2017.

Glen Ellyn working out plan for new, larger police station

Glen Ellyn weighing spending more on new police station

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