The next major reveal of architects’ plans for a new Oak Park police station and the substantive renovation of village hall was supposed to happen before the April 1 local elections. A village board meeting was scheduled. And then it was cancelled.
The vague reason was that the plans had been delivered to village staff but that Village Manager Kevin Jackson said his staff needed more time to evaluate the plans, maybe specifically the financing options.
That was embarrassing to incumbent Village President Vicki Scaman as her reelection campaign against sitting Trustee Ravi Parakkat had come down to conflicting views on how much this project would cost.
Scaman went on to win reelection by a more than comfortable margin. And she then rightly said that the current village board, which has been debating this topic for multiple years, would get the first look at the revised and staff-vetted plan before some members left office. A special village board meeting was scheduled hard against the date that the new board would take over.
And then, last Friday as the meeting agenda was to be released publicly for the meeting scheduled for April 30, that meeting, too, was cancelled.
A press release was issued.
The manager was quoted saying, “We remain committed to ensuring that any decisions regarding the Police Department and Village Hall operations are well-informed and in the best interest of the community. We look forward to continuing this important conversation later in this summer.”
Happy that the release specified “this summer.”
President Scaman was quoted as saying, “We look forward to re-engaging the community when we have more complete information to share.” And, of course, she said it would be a “transparent and inclusive process.”
So far, this process has been both transparent and muddy. A fair amount of discussion but not much clarity in terms of priorities and costs.
The next phase under a newly constituted village board will need to be sharper if this project is ever to move forward and the hard and creative decisions necessary are to be made.
How much will this cost? How will it be paid for? Can these two projects be staggered? What does a village hall actually need to look like in the decades to come?
Interesting to hear as Scaman talked to the Journal this week that the public should expect to see three distinct proposals from the architects this summer. Three different price points ranging from $75 million to $120 million.
She said the final plan will likely blend options from all three proposals.
There is lots to be done. And the next phase needs to be more focused.