Summit — The village board voted Nov. 5 to set aside $4 million to expand and renovate the village hall and approved design and construction management contracts for the project with MSI General.

By doing so, the board set aside the alternative of acquiring vacant land at Highway 67 and Delafield Road and building a new structure.

"It's not like this just came up," said village President Jack Riley. "We've been working on this for many years. Spending $4 million is not an easy decision. That's why this decision took so long."

Riley estimated the cost of land acquisition and constructing a new building at $5.5 million.

Very frugal

"We look at all every penny, every dollar we spend," he said, calling the board "very frugal."

Trustee Sue Moran said the village has been pondering the issue for seven or eight years.

"We looked at all options, (seeking) to be the most responsible fiscally," she said.

The present village hall was built in 1954, with additions in 1968 and 1985 that were mainly used by the Fire Department. A 2014 study set the village's space needs at 28,767 square feet, more than twice the 14,066 square feet in the present building.

Old and drafty

"There's a lot of space in there that's unusable," Riley said, referring to space formerly used by the Fire Department. "It's an old, drafty building that needs a lot of work."

The president listed the Police Department as possibly the top area to be improved.

"Our current Police Department is a one-car garage that was converted to office space," he said, citing an interview room, a secure-detention area and space for evidence storage and more office space as the top needs. He said the village has nine full-time officers and at least as many part-time officers.

Ryan said a new roof is needed, the heating system needs to be repaired, handicapped access must be improved and the village's staff needs more room.

Table in hall

"Our zoning administrator sets up a table in the main hall twice a week," the president said. "There's no meeting room for him."

Planning and design work will start early next year, Ryan said, adding that when construction begins could depend on how state legislation exempting local government construction projects from the state's prevailing wage law will affect construction bids. The law takes effect in 2017.

"Is it going to save us money to wait or will inflation be more" than any savings, he wondered.

Ryan invited residents to visit the village hall to see the space needs study for themselves.

"It's now our responsibility to fine tune the (addition size) based on needs, not necessarily wants, for each of our departments," Moran said.