Mokena police will work out of a $15.9 million public safety facility in a couple years following Village Board approval this week of a new building at 191st Street and 104th Avenue.
The police station will be on a 3.5-acre lot purchased by the village in 2008. Original plans for construction were derailed due to the recession and then the more pressing need for upgrades to the village’s water treatment plant, officials said.
Construction by Henry Bros., out of Hickory Hills, should start this summer and take between 18 and 24 months to complete, officials said. Police have been working out of an old firehouse at 10907 Front St., bought by the village in 1995.
“We’ve simply outgrown this building,” police Chief Brian Benton. “There’s no storage. We’ve taken over the showers to use for equipment storage, and the jail holding area for processing suspects is not optimal for officer safety. Right now we don’t even have the capability to charge multiple body cameras at the same time.”
Benton said there are more than 40 employees in the existing 6,000-square-foot police station. The new building will be 33,000 square feet and include enhanced training rooms, technologically upgraded recording systems for interviews and a community room to host neighborhood watch group meetings. There are also plans to include a firing range for training purposes.
He said the building was designed with growth in mind for the next 50 years.
Even though the $15.9 million bid was more than the $12 million budgeted, village officials said they did not want to restart the bidding process due to uncertainties with the economy and supply chain issues.
“We thought about waiting until September and getting another round of bids, but since we don’t know what the economy may be at that time, the bids could be worse than they are now,” said Trustee George Metanias. “We need the building. We don’t want to postpone this another year.”
Village administrator John Tomasoski said Mokena will pay about $12 million of the cost in cash.
“There’s about $28 million in capital improvements between the water treatment plant and new police building, and the village would only be borrowing $5 million,” Tomasoski said. “This keeps us in a strong financial position going forward. We are borrowing the money for a five- to eight-year term, but plan to pay it in two or three years.”
Trustee Rob Dauphinais said the new building will help the village recruit the “brightest and the best” for the Mokena Police Department.
“This is a big step forward and certainly not the last,” Dauphinais said. “More steps in public safety will be taken together to support our officers and the department.”
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Village Clerk Melissa Martini said despite the economy, she was glad the project has been approved.
“Our officers and residents need this, and I’m glad we can complete this in a fiscally responsible way,” Martini said.
Hannah Kohut is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.