Keep Costs for Proposed Arlington Heights Police Station in Line, Resident Tells Board

Arlington Heights just wrapped up its budget process, which included setting priorities for the upcoming year. High on the list of priorities is starting the process of building a new police station.

As Arlington Heights begins planning for a new police station, resident Phil Walter recently expressed concerned about the cost of the project.

Walter has volunteered at the police station and agrees a new station is long overdue, he said during a village board meeting this week. But he wants elected officials to keep in mind one question: what is really needed?

He used village hall as an example, asking whether a pagoda that cost $300,000 was really needed. Or a balcony that overlooks the village on the east side of the building, which he said, cost $1 million. There was also the cost of relocating the village’s clock tower.

“It looks very nice but the question is, was it needed?” Walter said.

A 2009 study found the village needs a new 75,000 square foot building. The estimated cost would be $28 million plus another $10 to $12 million which would include design, engineering, potential land acquisition and other costs, according to the village.

The options are to reconstruct the building on-site, do a total rehab of the existing building or reconstruction off-site, Dixon said.

When Arlington Heights first started the process of building a new village hall, local newspapers reported the estimated cost as $22.8 million, Walter said. The final cost was $36 million, he said. Director of Finance Thomas Kuehne later clarified the figure Walter cited.

Construction of the building itself was $25.9 million with the final cost _ including extras like furniture, moving costs, was $30.9 million, Kuehne said.

There were many changes during the 22 months village hall was built, which were expensive, Walter said.

This election season is a good time for voters to ask, was everything in village hall needed, said Walter, who himself ran for village mayor in 2009.

Trustee Thomas Glasgow was not on the village board at that time, but he said the building serves a good function as a meeting place for the community. The current board has been very frugal and fiscally responsible, he said.

That fiscal responsibility will continue as the board plans for a police station, he said.

“This board has always, always tried to have full disclosure,” Mayor Arlene Mulder said. “We want the community to know we are an open book.”