Yorkville City Council votes to purchase lot, proceed with bond sale for new city hall

The Yorkville City Council approved taking the next two big steps Tuesday in their quest to move city hall to a recently acquired office building at 651 Prairie Pointe Drive.

In two separate 7-1 votes, the council purchased another acre-and-a-half lot adjacent to the office building property and expressed their intent to issue millions of dollars in municipal bonds to help finance the project.

After years of talks on where to put a new city hall, the council agreed last month to scrap previous plans to move its government offices to a former bank at Van Emmon and Bridge streets in the city's downtown. Instead, the council intends to move almost the entirety of the city government, including police, to a multi-story office building near the U.S. Post Office about one-half mile north of Route 34.

Apart from the $1.9 million acquisition cost, officials expect the structure to require undefined millions of dollars in renovations. Yet Mayor John Purcell is committed to seeing the city set up shop on Prairie Pointe Drive by Christmas 2021.

In anticipation for the move, the city council approved an additional $65,000 Tuesday night for the purchase of a small lot adjacent to the Prairie Pointe building.

"It just made sense to purchase that," Mayor John Purcell told the council, speculating that the lot could be used to expand the parking lot or add a picnic area.

The only no-vote on the purchase, Ward 3 Alderman Chris Funkhouser, who also voted against buying the Prairie Pointe building last month, questioned if the city needed the extra lot amid so many other needs. To help pay for the new city hall, officials have said they will sell other properties like the former bank building in the city's downtown. A vote on those sales has yet to be taken.

"Do we need this right now?" Funkhouser asked, referring to the lot. "I just don't want to get ahead of our skis on something right now. That's my concern."

In purcahsing the Prairie Pointe property it will use $1.9 million from the general fund, Purcell said the city would issue bonds to reimburse the fund. On Tuesday night, Purcell presented an ordinance to express the city's intent for a bond issuance. He emphasized that the ordinance merely certifies the city's intent for the bonds, and that final figures for the bonds is pending a city council vote.

Yet aldermen balked at Purcell's estimated bond total. According to city documents, the city has an $8.25 million-ceiling for the bond issuance. While aldermen said they expected a lower amount will be needed, Mayor Purcell tried to ease those anxieties. By his estimate, the final bond issuance will total approximately $6 million. While final say will rest with the city council, the mayor did not rule out bonding the full $8.25 million.

"From a cash flow perspective, this actually would help us if we bonded the full amount and used that money for the first couple years," Purcell said.

The city might not be tied to the bonds yet, but officials admitted that the bond issuance would be uncharted territory. Bonds for the city have never been used to reimburse expenditures from the general fund.

Ald. Funkhouser, again the only vote against the ordinance, said its language allows for the city to use the bonds to reimburse itself for road repairs and new police cruisers.

"I hate to say this but it seems like we're stretching for as much as we can," Funkhouser said, adding that he thought the bonds would only be used to reimburse the city for the Prairie Pointe building and its necessary renovations.

For now, the council's vote Tuesday night is a "placeholder," in the words of City Attorney Kathleen Field Orr. Yet Orr stressed that the $8.25 million estimate gives the city "flexibility to plan."

"If we don't pass this, every nickel we spend reduces the amount we can use bond proceeds to reimburse ourselves," Orr said before the vote. "All this is trying to do is give you wiggle room to decide the fate of this city financially."