Hanover Park council chambers to get $250,000 in renovations
After tabling the project several years ago, Hanover Park will spend $250,000 to renovate the village board chambers and improve the room's information technology system.
The room where the village board meets, with its oak wood paneling and brick walls, once served as a Cook County courtroom, and has not seen updates or renovations since before the court cases were moved to Rolling Meadows in the early 1990s, Village President Rod Craig said.
"We put this off six or seven years ago because of the cost … so it's long overdue," Craig said.
A majority of the spending, about $133,000, will go toward information technology improvements, including four new monitors for trustees and audience members to look at during meetings.
"It's very difficult currently for board members to see the screen that is set up across the room," Craig said.
Another $70,000 in general construction will include a new table top on the dais where trustees sit during meetings and the staining of the room's oak wood that covers some of the walls.
A podium with volume controls will be installed to "allow better control of presentations by presenters." New lighting will be installed around the raised platform where village trustees sit.
Construction is slated to begin the last week in September, and is expected to be completed in six weeks. Village board meetings will be moved to the Police Department Community Room during the construction.
Hanover Park Deputy Village Manager David Webb said the village has been allocating money each year for small projects in village hall. Last year, money went toward the renovation of Room 212.
An additional $54,000 is expected to be spent on new furniture once the renovations are complete, according to village documents.
Originally budgeted at $235,000, the renovation project, as bid by Troop Contracting, came in at $250,000. A transfer of funds from other capital projects should be sufficient to cover the additional $15,000, officials said.