La Grange Village Board Approves Additional Renovations

At monday night's Village of La Grange board meeting, trustees were asked to consider adding additional work to an already approved project to renovate areas of Village Hall, the Department of Public Works and the La Grange fire station. 

Village trustees approved the plan for the renovations in March, but when bidding costs came back lower than expected and additional funds were found through various state and federal energy efficiency programs, nearly $100,000 in funds were still available.

"It makes sense to do it while the construction crews are here and things are open," said Trustee Bill Holder.

The village board approved the additional renovations, with only Trustee James Palermo voting against. Palermo said he was worried about why these additional renovations were not considered by the board when they voted to approve the project previously. Palermo said he was also concerned about the number of projects the board has previously waived competitive bidding for.

"I'm not comfortable with the dollar amount of these projects where we are waiving competitive bidding," Palermo said. "It's kind of troubling to me."

Director of Public Works Ryan Gillingham replied that bids for professional services came back lower than expected and additional money was found through grants which now allowed a wider scope for the project. Additional renovations will focus on improving energy efficiency at Village Hall.

Several trustees disagreed with Palermo, saying the opportunity to do renovations was available now and it was better to add the work onto the existing project, rather than wait and start the process over in the future.

"As a board, we should have taken care of this long ago," Trustee Mark Langen said. "All of this is long overdue."

Lagen also disagreed that going back to the bidding process would be a good idea, or cost effective for the village.

"I don't see this as excessive, I see these as needs," Trustee Jeff Nowak said in agreement with Lagen, adding that the money had already been budgeted for that purpose. 

The additional renovations call for replacing single pane windows and light fixtures on the lower level of Village Hall with more energy efficient options. The plan also calls for renovating the layout of the Administrative Department office area, the stairway leading to the second floor and renovations to a public area on the first floor.

Several trustees and village staff advocated for doing the additional work now when work was already being done, so as not to continue to disrupt village staff and operations. Several trustees and village staff also recommended waiving the competitive bidding process for the additional work, citing that contract DTS Enterprises, Inc. has already mobilized a labor force, already has an existing contract and already knew the plans and layout of Village Hall.

Trustee Holder requested the opinion of Village Architect Dorothy McCarty on how much more it would cost the village to enter a new bidding process. McCarty replied she thought it would cost an additional $6,000.

"So, we're saving money," Holder replied.

"Correct," McCarty said.