River Forest’s village board is expected to vote Monday evening to take over ownership and control of the River Forest Civic Center building at 8020 Madison St. On Aug. 4 the River Forest Civic Center Authority Board of Managers, which has owned the building since around 1990 and by law has consisted of the members of the River Forest Township board, voted unanimously to dissolve the Civic Center Authority and turn over ownership of Civic Center to the Village of River Forest on Sept. 29.
The vote of the village board on Sept. 28, like the vote of the Civic Center Board of Authority on Aug. 4, is coming without much public discussion. That has drawn the ire of at least one close observer of River Forest government. River Forest resident Margie Cekander, who called on the village board to slow down in a public comment Cekander made at the Sept. 14 village board meeting.
“On Aug. 4 the Civic Center Authority voted to transfer assets to the village,” Cekander said. “The vote was buried in a link in the agenda under new business, not old business as is commonly done, giving residents no advance notice. The vote was to transfer assets from a non-taxing body in order to use village tax dollars of Madison Street TIF tax dollars. The vote was rushed, held on a special meeting date without resident notice and should have gone to referendum.”
Cekander called on the village board to slow down the process and she decried what she said seems like a done deal among insiders.
“Sounds like the takeover is already decided,” Cekander said. “I urge you to stop and include community input.”
Some in the large audience, who were mostly there to discuss the proposed O’Hare Flyer project, applauded Cekander’s remarks.
Typically, governmental bodies discuss an item as old business at one meeting and then vote on the matter as new business in a subsequent meeting although there is no legal requirement that they do that. The Civic Center Authority Board of Managers voted to dissolve itself at an Aug. 4 special meeting and the River Forest Village Board will likely vote Monday without having previously discussed the matter in open session. In June two members of the Civic Center Authority Board of Managers, John Becvar and Keith Strom, met with the River Forest Village Board in closed session, presumably to discuss the transfer of ownership of the Civic Center to the village.
The Civic Center Authority Board of Managers say the village is best positioned to pay for necessary repairs to the aging Civic Center building, which was built as an office building in 1955, because the Civic Center Authority, which was created in 1984, has no independent taxing authority and has reserves of only around $150,000. An architectural firm hired by the Civic Center Authority, FGMA, estimated that the building needs between $4.4 and $4.9 million of upgrades, including a new roof, in the next couple of years. FGMA estimated that a full renovation of the building would cost between $25.6 million and $28.4 million. Cekander believes that estimate is overstated.
The Civic Center is the home of the River Forest Community Center which runs a childcare program in the building. Until last year The Community Center, which is the largest tenant in the building, essentially managed the building and sublet some space there. But in 2025 then River Forest Township Supervisor Becvar led a contentious but ultimately successful effort to wrest control of the management of the Civic Center from the Community Center.
The current leadership of the Community Center, now led by new executive director Jonathan Livingston, has been supportive of the village taking over the building though some old timers have expressed reservations.