The Animal Care League (ACL) is now looking east, not up, to expand its 1013 Garfield St. facility to accommodate Oak Park’s animal control operations.
In October, the village and the nonprofit struck a deal to hand animal control operations to the ACL for a $100,000 annual fee. The village also agreed to include $466,000 in the deal for the ACL to build a second floor above its shelter.
Tom Van Winkle, ACL executive director, said he wanted to buy the property immediately east of the shelter before, but the owner had demanded too much money. The new owner, who bought the property last July, is an animal lover, Van Winkle said, and agreed to sell the building to the ACL for $465,000. Records show the owner paid $385,000.
So, the nonprofit is now asking the village board to amend its five-year contract, renewable to 10 years, to allow for the village’s capital investment to be used to buy the new property rather than build a second floor.
Most trustees supported the amendment. However, Trustee Greg Marsey asked for a more precise layout of the new building’s use to be sure the village will get as much space by going east as it would have by going up.
Trustees voted Monday night to table the matter to the board’s April 16 meeting, but said further delays should be avoided in order to get the new control facility/shelter operating as soon as possible.
“If we get the building next door, we’d be ready to take your [stray] animals by June,” Van Winkle said.
Details of the contract will remain the same, except for the placement of the expansion, in the amended contract, Van Winkle said.
Longtime critics of the ACL partnership urged the board to scrap the contract altogether.
Grants voting gets political
The board approved six retail rehab grants Monday night for more than $112,000, which will be met with nearly $300,000 of private funding for improvements to businesses within the Downtown Tax Increment Financing District.
Before voting on the first grant, Trustee Robert Milstein asked whether Trustee Ray Johnson needed to recuse himself from voting, as Johnson’s party has accepted campaign donations from the building owner where some of the improvements are planned. Milstein and Johnson are both running for re-election on April 17, along with seven challengers.
After consulting with the village attorney, Johnson said he was under no obligation to abstain from voting. The grant recipients were business owners, not building owners. All six grants were unanimously approved.
After the vote, Johnson said he takes the village’s ethics ordinance seriously, but that calling the matter into question was politically motivated.