Carpentersville police will be packing up everything from case reports to evidence to guns as they prepare to move into a temporary location before the start of a $38 million renovation and expansion of village hall.
With 62 sworn officers and 20 civilian employees, the police department is the village’s largest and will be moving into a leased building at 250 Carpenter Blvd., Deputy Chief Greg Poulos said.
The mixed-use building has sufficient office and warehouse space to accommodate the records division as well as providing offices and a large open area where police officer cubicles can be set up, Poulos said. A lobby separates the front of the building from its interior space with a glass partition.
Poulos said the only thing it lacks is an area for processing or holding for detainees.
“If we have a person remanded to a jail cell, they are going straight to the Kane County jail (in Geneva). Regular processing will happen at one of the local police stations here,” he said.
The village is negotiating an agreement with a neighboring police department where suspects can be handled, he said. Police departments often reciprocate services for each other when their facilities are down for repairs, he said.
What’s different in this arrangement is it will last a year and a half.
The police department addition is part of a larger project in which village hall is to be renovated. An additional 58,000 square feet is being added to the building rather than building a new campus, which had been considered.
In addition to providing more space for employees and equipment storage, the new police space will include a larger property evidence room, an updated shooting range and a more efficient sally port.
Officials have put a lot of effort into creating a design that improves the flow and function of department, Poulos said.
“This gives (us) the opportunity to rethink how to work efficiently,” he said. “I think (functionally) the whole thing is going to be great.”
Carrie Cichon, assistant village manager and human resources director, said village hall must be completely vacated by no later than Nov. 1. The police department will be the first to relocate in September.
Most of the furniture, equipment and fixtures will be kept for future use in the new space, Cichon said at a recent village board meeting.
The move will be done in three phases. Once the police department is in its new diges, village hall departments will relocate to the village’s public works facility at 1075 Tamarac Drive and its furniture, equipment and fixtures either moved to the temporary work locations or to storage, Cichon said.
When the new building construction is complete, the final phase will be moving everything back to the building, she said. If all goes according to plan, that will take place in January 2028.
Advantage Moving and Storage Inc. has been awarded a contract for up to $128,080 to handle the move. Monthly storage will cost $3,147 through the construction period, Cichon said.
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Because police must maintain the chain of custody for all items in evidence, the department’s evidence property manager will catalog items, oversee their move and then catalog them again when it arrives at the new location, Poulos said.
“It’s never actually leaving our custody,” he said.
Firearms, tasers and ammunition also will be moved by police officers and not the moving company, he said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.