At last night's Village Board meeting, the staff presented a 27 million dollar plan for essentially rebuilding the entire Village Complex. I was a bit surprised at the extravagance of this plan, especially during these difficult economic times. The creation and presentation of this plan emphasizes lack of transparency and openness within our Village government. The magnitude of this plan is immense, and I believe that a plan of this size cannot be formulated without input from residents and from elected officials. Yet, last night, this plan was presented to the Board of Trustees. How can our Village propose a plan that would more than double the tax burden of our citizens over the next several decades? This plan represents a clear disconnect from the needs of our citizens and the operation of our Village Government. What other services will we be sacrificing to support this project?
This plan originated with a need to update our Police facilities, which are in desperate need of renovation. The plan creators worked directly with Police staff members, which is totally appropriate. Our officers desperately need new space, and this space should be designed to meet their needs.
My concern is that from the beginning, this process has lacked oversite by elected officials. The Village Board was not given any options on architectural firms following the RFQ process. The majority that controls the Village Board allowed the staff to select the firm. Following this, the plan migrated from a focus on the Police Department into a major redesign of the Village Complex that included a glass atrium and other ornate details.
As a Village Board, we should be presented with options for this redesign. These options should include that absolute cheapest plan that meets the minimum needs of the police officers, and it should also include incremental options for additional rennovations that may be warranted as the Police Department vacates their current space in the Village Complex. The plan we saw last night does not present options to the Village Board. It was clearly the Rolls Royce, when we are operating in an economy-car economy. Last night, the Village Board only saw one plan that was presented as a up or down vote. The presentation focused more on the redesigned Village Complex than on the Police Station. The needs of our Police need to stay at the center of this plan. We can reduce a great deal of the cost of this plan by cutting out the unneeded work on the rest of the Village Complex.
Over the last two years since my election as Village President, I have been pushing for a more open process and a more transparent government. This plan is representative of the problems that we need to correct. It is time for Progress in Hanover Park.
Friday, February 20, 2009
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11 comments:
Did they o.k. the request? Getting to meetings is difficult. It would be good for the minutes posted quicker?
As a taxpayer, I don't want to pay taxes anything we don't need. We need a new police station, but do we really need to redesign the Village Complex, what is the age of that building, what is wrong with what we have?
I think there is something this Village needs that is getting overlooked and as a taxpayer I personally wouldn't mind a little increase in my taxes to get it if it improves the community I live in. When people are looking for a new place to live, one of the things they look at the are the parks in their neighborhood . Most of our parks are very outdated and I personally thinks this looks negitivly on Hanover Park. Longmeadow Park, off of Irving Park Road is one such park. It is a park that a large amount of people drive by every day. How often do you see a child playing there, (besides when there is football practice.) I think the geese get more use out of that park than the neighborhood. My child would rather go to the Schaumburg parks than the one in her own neighborhood, this is sad.
The government needs to look at things like most Americans have been forced to do, is it something we NEED to improve our community or is it something a small percentage of the resident WANT?
The Board did not approve the request. There will still be much work to be done.
I think rather than throwing money into a whole new complex, just the Police facility should be upgraded and the rest should go towards hiring my police officers. We don't need a state of the art complex, we need more police officers.
This might be a novel idea but how about just doing what is absolutely needed by our police force. The Village Hall has been working for many years and is functioning as we speak. We still get needless notices when our trash cans are visible from the anywhere even though we all have them. We can still pay our water bills as we need. So what added daily functions will a Village Centre provide that it isn't already doing?
Why? The facilities and lott were just upgraded less than 5 years ago. I can understand a more modern police station, but a village hall for what? a few part time employees? Maybe when the economy improves, but as people are going bankrupt and jobs are fleeing the area the village needs to bring spending under control.
Work on the turbine plan, work on bringing in business, work on law enforcement and getting rid of the gang bangers. After the village is clean and funds are being brought in, then MAYBE and only Maybe should a new village hall be considered.
I have to agree about that park and others. I think they are part of the Park District though and that is something the Park District has to do.
-correct me if I am wrong-
The community must look at priorities and fiscal responsibility, just as our state and federal governments must. Most Americans are tightening their belts and looking at ways to stay solvent and honor commitments. I personally will resent a tax increase to rebuild a complex that is still in good shape. In these times, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" seems appropriate. The Village will need to look at ways to make do or to suggest responsible and affordable methods to provide our police force with what is needed to do the job. I presume there will be a vote/referendum?
I agree with all of these comments. We need to address the most vital needs, which is support for our police and providing them with the space they need. We hope to get citizen input into this plan, but the MOST IMPORTANT vote that will impact this plan will the April 7th. Vote for the Progress Team to get new leadership in our village government.
It seems that it was not long ago that the new complex was built. Was the board that shortsighted that they did not see the need 5 years hence? We need people who can anticipate the village needs for more than 5 years. Now is not the time to increase taxes. Too many foreclosures that must be dealt with.
K.D.
Hanover Park progress agrees!!!
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