The Yorkville City Council Tuesday will consider whether to begin the process to issue bonds for the acquisition of a new site for City Hall.
City Hall and the Yorkville Police Station currently share a building at 800 Game Fame Road on the city’s northwest side.
The Yorkville City Council in October voted to spend $1.9 million to purchase a commercial building at 651 Prairie Pointe Drive as a possible new site for City Hall. It is a three-level building of some 40,000 square feet with an unattached garage on approximately four acres. The city plans to close on the building in mid-December.
Yorkville aldermen also recently approved the acquisition of a vacant lot adjacent to the site to ensure there is enough parking.
City Administrator Bart Olson said the “intent to issue” bond ordinance before the City Council does two main things – it formally starts the bond process and sets a ceiling for the maximum amount of the bond sale.
Another ordinance would set a public hearing date in December on the bond issue.
“We wanted to get the draft ordinances in front of the City Council as soon as possible so that everyone has time to review them, ask questions and get comfortable with the process. The ordinances are in final form, in that the City Council could approve them if needed,” Olson said.
The City Council could approve the ordinances based on a bond value of $8.625 million. The dollar amount in the ordinance is a ceiling only, Olson said.
“The City Council could choose to delay the approval of the bond issuance ordinance until the cost estimates for the renovations are more concrete or approve the ordinances as is, conduct the public hearing with the ceiling dollar value, and choose to issue less bonds at the time of the bond sale,” he said.
The Prairie Pointe Drive building has been mostly vacant for a few years and was placed on the real estate market in recent months, city officials said.
The cost of the new building will be paid initially out of the city’s general fund and later through the issuance of bonds to be paid back over 20 years.
The city’s general fund has the cash to initially fund the acquisition. Once the bonds are issued, the city would reimburse the general fund, according to city officials.
Yorkville City Council members at their Nov. 10 meeting voted to purchase a 1.53 acre vacant lot near the 651 Prairie Pointe building. The property has been on the market for several years, Olson said.
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The city and property owner have come to an agreement for the city to purchase the property for $65,000, he said.
Ald. Chris Funkhouser questioned the need for the acquisition of the vacant lot at this time. Funkhouser was the only alderman who voted last month not to approve the purchase of the property.
“We still have other expenses,” Funkhouser said. “I am being cautious.”
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.