Elmhurst Mayor Rivals Differ On Police Station

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst Mayor Scott Levin argued last week for building a police station, which would mean a property tax increase.

His opponent in the April 1 election, former longtime Alderman Mark Mulliner, is against it.

For years, Levin and other city officials have said the 35-year-old police station is in bad shape.

"Our police station is 60 percent smaller than it should be," Levin said during a League of Women Voters candidate forum. "After seven years of study, it's now clear a new facility is the best option."

Officials have generally agreed to tear down the current station and build anew on the same site. The estimated price tag is $48 million.

To help pay for the station, a City Council committee in December proposed an average annual property tax increase of $53 over two decades for a median-valued house.

The panel also called for a hike in the hotel tax and the sale of a downtown building valued at $5 million.

During the forum, Mulliner said he fully supported the police department, calling local officers "the best of the best."

But he said he did not support a new police station "at this time."

"I think there are a lot of other options that we have available to us, and I think we need to look at those," Mulliner said.

Mulliner said later in the forum that whether the city builds a new police station or train station, its problem is high taxes and fees.

"The city's doing a great job. The city's been very fiscally responsible with everything that it does," he said. "So have the parks and the schools."

But he said the three local government bodies need to meet regularly to figure out ways to become more efficient. He proposed a local government center where the city, schools and parks could base their operations.

Unlike Mulliner, all the candidates for alderman in competitive races seemed open to building a new police station.

Here are the views they expressed during the forum:

Ward 2

• Alderman Jacob Hill said the city has many reasons to build a new station, particularly because the current building is smaller than its peers in other towns. "It wasn't built with the future in mind," he said. He said the city would have to continue to review ways on how to best afford the police station, although the City Council's finance committee produced "great" recommendations.
• Kevin Kirby also favored a new station. "I think we should be embarrassed about the conditions we're asking them to work in today," he said. Elmhurst residents cherish the community's safety, he said, but that safety can go away over time. He said 11 young officers have left in the last three years because "they don't see a future in Elmhurst." He said Elmhurst needs to invest in its police department.

Ward 4

• Mike Baker said he toured the police station to observe the building's many issues. "A new building would give our department state-of-the-art facilities that officers can be proud of," he said. Such a building, he said, could help recruit officers. He said the finance committee's funding proposal is worth considering. "It minimizes the impact on our current residents," he said.
• Bobby Fontana said Elmhurst needed a new police station, given the current building's problems. Delaying the decision, he said, would just create more problems down the road.

Ward 5

• Adam Park said the current station was falling apart, which he said was unacceptable. "Any other solution than a brand-new building is only a couple of million dollars less, and it doesn't make sense to me to do anything else," he said. The finance committee, he said, has done a good job with its recommendations.
• Dan Virgil said that he was like a lot of residents when he heard about the proposal to replace the police station. "The building is not that old, and from the outside, it actually looks pretty good. But to better understand whether a replacement was warranted, I spoke to folks who worked in the building and took a tour of the police station," Virgil said. He said he concluded the city needs to replace the building.