Mokena Officials See Renderings Of Proposed Public Safety Facility

Mokena IL

20 December, 2021

2:05 PM

Description

By Jon DePaolis, Richard Free Press: MOKENA, Ill. — The Village of Mokena is one step closer to going out to bid on the construction of a new public safety facility. The Village Board members heard a presentation on the facility design during the Monday, Dec. 13 meeting. Assistant Village Administrator Kirk Zoellner said the project "has moved along at a very brisk pace." In terms of background, he said the process for constructing a new public safety facility began in 2006 after a 40-year plan was conducted. The plan called for the building of a 33,000-square-foot facility on 3.5 acres. "The board [at the time] did some very diligent evaluation of different possible sites … and picked out a parcel [of land] at the northeast corner of 191st Street and 104th Avenue," Zoellner said. After the land was purchased, the Village entered into a professional services agreement with StudioGC for the conceptual and schematic design of the building. But in 2008, the Great Recession led the Village Board members to shelve the project. In late 2020, the project picked back up with Mayor Frank Fleischer forming a public safety facility planning committee. The members were: then-Trustee Joseph Siwinski; Trustee Joseph Budzyn; then-interim Police Chief Tim McCarthy; former Police Chief John Keating; current interim Police Chief Brian Benton; Cmdr. Randal Stumpf; and Zoellner. Zoellner said in early 2021, the Village Board "reactivated" its agreement with StudioGC. "Since then, StudioGC has been meeting weekly with police staff and the committee to develop and refine the site plan and floor plans for this facility," Zoellner said. "Construction documents are currently being finalized, and we're thinking the project should be ready to go out to bid in the first quarter here of [2022]." Craig Meadows, of StudioGC, also presented conceptual design drawings to the Village Board members at the Dec. 13 meeting. "This was probably one of the best processes I've been through in working with these projects," he said. "I have told people many times that I would rather have groups and committees that ask lots of questions and are very involved, because the last thing we want to do is design a police station that everyone is standing around and [saying], 'Well, this is a great station, but this doesn't have anything to do with us.' We know how to design police stations, but what we need help doing is designing your police station. The group that has worked with us has done an amazing job at that." Meadows said StudioGC would be back before the Village Board in a few months to review final bid numbers and present next steps. "We're shooting for bids in late February or early March," he said. At the end of the presentation, Fleischer thanked the committee members, staff and StudioGC for moving the project along. "I'm very happy and very surprised that we are moving along as quickly as we are," Fleischer said. "Things are going very well." Richard Free Press is a one-stop destination for the news that most affects you, the southwest suburban resident. Be an informed citizen of the town you live in and love.