December 06, 2022
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New Yorkville City Hall to include microwave antenna connection with KenCom dispatch

By Mark Foster
Prairie Point Drive is seen here on Nov. 7, 2022. City officials now expect to move into the new home for the city government and Yorkville Police Department early in 2023.

The new Yorkville City Hall building at 651 Prairie Pointe Drive is seen here on Nov. 7, 2022. City officials now expect to move into the new home for the city government and Yorkville Police Department early in 2023. (Mark Foster)

YORKVILLE – When the new Yorkville City Hall building opens early next year, the Yorkville Police Department will gain a direct, secure communications connection with KenCom, Kendall County’s police, fire and emergency dispatch center, using microwave antennas.

One of the microwave devices will be mounted atop the new city hall building, at 651 Prairie Pointe Drive on Yorkville’s far northeast side.

The other will be attached to the existing KenCom tower at the Kendall County Public Safety Center on West John Street in Yorkville.

The city’s cost will total $35,000 for the antennas, related equipment and installation of new conduit at the city hall building, City Administrator Bart Olson said.

“This network connection and system will allow the city to eliminate the use of a Comcast fiber line of lesser speed and save the city anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per month in cost,” Olson said.

Renovations are continuing to transform the three-story, 41,000-square-foot office building into the new home for the city’s administration and police force.

In October, the aldermen approved a change order for the building project to allow for conduit running from the building’s information technology room up to the roof.

At their Nov. 8 meeting, the council approved an agreement with KenCom allowing the city to install an antenna on the dispatch center’s communications tower at no cost.

The city spent $1.9 million to purchase the building, which sits on a 4-acre site and is surrounded by about 200 parking spaces.

City officials say that when complete, they will have invested about $10 million in a project that would have cost twice as much had a new building been built.

The vacant office structure on the northeast side of the city was built in 2007 and most recently was used as a COVID-19 vaccination site by the Kendall County Health Department.

The renovated facility is designed to replace the overcrowded city hall and police station at 800 Game Farm Road, across from Yorkville High School.