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Yorkville City Council OKs $1.9M contract to purchase building for new city government center

The Yorkville City Council approved a $1.9 million contract Tuesday night, Oct. 27, for the purchase of a three-story office building that officials hope to convert into a new city hall and multi-use government building.

The property, located at 651 Prarie Point Drive on the city's north side, would be financed using $325,000 general fund bonds alongside the sale of existing government properties, such as a downtown former bank building, Mayor John Purcell announced to city aldermen. Under the mayor's plan, the building would be paid off in 20 years.

"My goal is to be in there a year from Christmas," Purcell said. "During that year we'll see how everything shakes out and then see which assets we might be able to sell and which assets we'll retain."

City aldermen also speculated that the building could house almost the entirety of the Yorkville government, including police.

"The amount of floor space could fit every single desk that we have for every employee in the United City of Yorkville under one roof with multiple floors," said Ward 3 Alderman Joel Frieders. "That building is perfect in my opinion."

Frieders added that the building could also prevent the needed to construct a multi-million dollar "police palace" similar to law enforcement facilities in Oswego and Aurora.

However, Ward 3 Alderman Chris Funkhouser, the only dissenting vote for the Prarie Pointe contract, cited uncertain rennovation costs for the building that could spiral out of control and range from $2-10 million.

"We have no idea what the actual cost is going to be," Funkhouser said. "We have no idea what we're going to do with it."

"We still have a building that's severely underutilized downtown," he added, referring to the former downtown bank building which officials also once envisioned as a future city hall.

In a heated exchange between Funkhouser and Mayor Purcell, the city's top official firmly stated that he had stepped "up to the plate" and was following through on a long-awaited new city hall project.

"I'm not buying a god damn building to sit and look at it," the mayor said. "We're going to take this building and we're going to improve it - and when we come up with a plan we'll figure it out."

Acknowledging Funkhouser's concerns about rennovation costs, Ald. Frieders noted that the Prarie Pointe building has pre-existing infrastructure such as water, gas and computer server rooms.

"We have to be aware of the fact that an opportunity like this is not going to come out in front of us," Frieders said. "When you make the decision on how the remodeling goes it has to be followed in a way that's not only palatable to the budget, but, also with the understanding that we have to take a big bite first in order to be able to afford something like this, but then be able to roll out behind it to make sure we're not overspending."

Earlier in the Tuesday night meeting, Yorkville officials approved the city's application for a Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant which would help construct a new trail. While the city would cover $1 million in costs for the $3 million-project, officials suggested that the Kendall County Board might be open to financially supporting the potential trails. Yorkville will learn in spring if the state has awarded the city the grant.

Later in the meeting, city officials also green-lighted a motion to hold a public hearing on levying an additional $30,000 in taxes on new construction in the city over the past year.