Elk Grove mayor breaks tie to approve District 59 administration building

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson broke a tie vote Tuesday to approve Elk Grove Township School District 59's proposal to build an administration building and commissary near village hall and the park district pavilion.

The plan is to build the facility on school district property at 1001 Leicester Ave., despite pushback by neighbors who cited concerns about increased traffic, loss of green space, smells from school lunches being prepared and even the possibility the commissary would attract rats.

Other residents expressed surprise because plans did not initially include a commissary, which will add some semitrailer and box-truck traffic in the area.

In the end - after several hours of listening to residents - the village board approved the 40,000-square-foot facility.

Johnson argued the village will benefit from having the administration building and its employees.

"I want Elk Grove influencing them," he said.

Most of the schools and students in the district live in the village, not Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect or Des Plaines, he said.

Meanwhile, the school district has been criticized as costs have increased to $17.1 million, about 25 percent more than originally proposed.

Last week, the school district started the process for issuing $15 million in bonds to help pay for the building and other construction projects. The school district initially planned to pay for the building with reserve funds and the $5 million sale of its administration building in Arlington Heights.

Plans for a commissary were added after the school district's food service contractor, Sodexo, threatened to stop serving lunches before the end of the school year in early 2016. The contractor estimated it lost $1 million over two years because the district did not have an on-site kitchen.

Just before the vote, the village board considered whether to approve every part of the project except the commissary, because Superintendent Art Fessler said the district has been exploring eliminating it at the request of school board members.

However, the board approved the entire project, prompting crowd members to yell "Shame on you!" as they left the room.

Trustees Nancy Czarnik, Jeff Franke and James Petri approved the measure. Trustees Sam Lissner, Christine Prochno and Pat Feichter opposed it.