Elmhurst police demonstrate station's deficiencies as city seeks solutions
Despite its stately brick and lush landscaping, there is nothing modern and very little efficient about the Elmhurst police station at 125 E. First St., department leaders say.
The building is cooled by a rented chiller on the ground floor outside, connected by water pipes and coils of electric cables. It has been for the past two years, since the internal system failed.
The basement shooting range is unable to accommodate rifle fire from the weapons with which officers must train to respond to an active shooter.
There is only one conference room to accommodate people on dueling sides of a dispute, meaning one side must share private details in a public lobby.
"Announcing it to the echoes of the world here is not what you want to do," Deputy Chief Michael McLean said.
The deficiencies and others are straining the work of the department, McLean said as he led tours for aldermen and city officials after the release of an analysis that pointed out the shortcomings of the 28-year-old building.
The analysis by FGM Architects of Oak Brook concluded the 31,310-square-foot space is 73 percent too small, leaving the city several options.
McLean says the council is now being asked to consider whether to fix major problems at the police station but do little else, for a cost of $3.4 million to $4.9 million, or whether to take one of two routes toward expansion.
The city could renovate and add on to the current station, which FGM's report estimates would cost $21.1 million to $22.9 million. Or officials could build anew at a different site, which is estimated to cost $28.6 million to $30.7 million.
McLean and Police Chief Michael Ruth haven't publicly stated which they prefer.
But they're not hiding their concerns about some of the safety issues in the building, such as the varying sizes of the steps in a curved central staircase that make it difficult to walk up detainees to the second level to be interviewed by detectives.
The failure of the chiller system two summers ago was the major impetus toward commissioning the space needs study, McLean said.
When the system broke, he said, the temperature reached 98 degrees on the second floor and some employees began work at 3 a.m. to avoid the worst midday heat.
"Without functioning air conditioning, this brick building with a metal roof gets very hot," he said.
Realizing the building has several mechanical systems at the end of their useful lives, McLean said police leaders wanted to be strategic about what to replace and when, and what to ignore for the time being in case an alternate solution can be found.