Village Of Mokena Moving Forward With New Police Station

MOKENA, IL — The long awaited new police station is a step closer to becoming reality after the Mokena Village Board of Trustees at its Monday meeting unanimously approved a contract bid in the amount of $15,954,000 to build the police station.

The contract agreement is with Henry Bros. Co., based in Hickory Hills. The contract is for the construction of the building, but some hoped for additions were left out of the deal, including an enclosed garage and a gun range.

The nearly $16 million price tag for the new police station, which is to be built on 3.5-acres of land at 191st Street and 104th Avenue, is well above the Village's original estimate of $12.5 million. High inflation and supply chain issues were partly to blame for the increased cost, Village Assistant Administrator Kirk Zoellner told board members.

The Village had considered holding off and rebidding the project at a later time, but decided to go ahead and get the deal done now because there was no guarantee that there would be a significant reduction in cost in the future.

Prior to the vote, Trustee Joesph Budzyn attempted to amend the contract to include extra money for the construction of the enclosed garage. That amendment got no support from the rest of the board and failed.

Trustee George Metanias said he had recently spoken with Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer, and that Fleischer was "100 percent behind this." Metanias again filled in at Monday's meeting as Mayor pro tempore in Fleischer's absence.

Fleischer has not been present at a board meeting since falling at his residence in February and then undergoing a previously scheduled procedure.

The Mokena Police Department has been at its current facility, located at 10907 Front St., since 1995.

Construction on the new police station is scheduled to begin sometime in the summer.