Capparelli Wants John Bays' Contract Approved, Council Not Ready

Joliet IL

08 December, 2021

10:30 AM

Description

JOLIET, IL — A proposal seeking the Joliet City Council's approval to spend a total of $15,000 of taxpayer money during the next three years to lease office space from John Bays in downtown Joliet was pulled from Tuesday night's meeting agenda. Councilman Pat Mudron was the first elected official to speak up during the meeting. Mudron voiced concerns that other potential property owners had not had the opportunity to submit an alternative proposal to city officials. Mudron's suggestion garnered support from the entire Council as well as Mayor Bob O'Dekirk. The Council agreed to delay the vote on the lease agreement for two more weeks. Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli urged the Council not to delay Tuesday's vote with Bays any longer, but the Council and mayor disregarded Capparelli's suggestion and voted unanimously to delay the vote until the Dec. 21 meeting. "I would ask you to vote for it tonight," Capparelli remarked Tuesday night. He said that five different properties were considered by city economic development Derek Conley, who worked with Capparelli on addressing the space issue regarding the city utilities' staff. Capparelli's proposal calls for relocating the city's public utilities engineering staff out of City Hall and over to the Two Rialto Square Building at 118 North Chicago St. "We're planning for the future," Capparelli explained. He said the relocation would involve nine city employees and that means the need for "nine parking spots" as well. The six-story property at 118 North Chicago St. is now owned by Bays. He bought it in December 2018 after the building had fallen into major disrepair after having two successive pipe breaks that flooded several of the floors during the summer of 2018. Last week, Bays told Patch he plans to put the city engineering staff in one of his fourth floor offices. In June, at Capparelli's suggestion, Joliet sold its Scott Street Parking Deck to Bays. In December 2018, John Bays bought the Two Rialto Square Building next to the Rialto theater. John Ferak/Patch