Fate of New Township Building to be Decided by Wheatland Voters

Residents who turn out for Wheatland Township’s annual town meeting next month will give a thumbs up or down on the township's plan to . 

More than 55 Wheatland Township voters signed a petition to put the public vote on the April 12 annual town meeting agenda, said Trustee Karl Karantonis, an outspoken opponent of the new building. 

The item, “Discussion and potential action on lease or purchase of an existing building for township office space,” appears under new business in an early draft of the legal notice for the annual town meeting. State law mandates that townships post the notice by April 2. 

The town meeting is a way for the public to force a public referendum. Until March 1, any 15 or more registered voters in the township can band together to require items on the agenda. Electors who show up at the meeting can vote a measure up or down.

About a third of residents live in Wheatland Township.

Karantonis has said he would file a lawsuit if the township board proceeded with plans to build a new town hall rather than buy an existing building, lease existing office space or renovate the building in which they're currently located at 31W236 91st St. in Naperville.

“There’s no need for a lawsuit now,” Karantonis said after Thursday’s monthly township board meeting. “The remedy is that it’s on the agenda for the annual town meeting and the electors can vote on it.” 

Vote often 

It won’t be the first time the issue will be discussed at the town meeting. 

In 2004, voters approved a plan to partner with another government agency to share a building. Following that direction, the board focused on an 8,600-square-foot building it could buy for $639,000.  

At last year’s annual township meeting in April, Wheatland voters narrowly defeated a measure (19-15) to buy the existing building. Voters exercised their right to petition another special town meeting, where electors favoring the new building project won by a narrow margin.  

But Karantonis and his supporters challenge the validity of the special town meeting because the legal notice of the meeting had a misprint naming the county in which Wheatland is located as Cook, rather than Will and DuPage. 

At Thursday’s board meeting, resident Hale Landes asked trustees why they are building a new township hall instead of buying an existing property or leasing office space. 

“We were directed by the electors,” Trustee Frank King said.  

Trustee Joe Hudetz refined the position. 

“They voted not to buy an existing building we had our eyes on,” he said. 

Feet to the fire

Wheatland Township has operated out of office space created in a truck bay originally built for the township highway department. Two years ago, the highway department moved to a new facility at 4232 Tower Court in Naperville and the township is scheduled to break ground this summer on a 7,300-square-foot $1.5 million administrative office building on the same property. 

The township paid the city of Naperville $700,000 for the four-acre site near 95th Street and Route 59.

Hudetz and Karantonis peppered the board with questions Thursday night about the likelihood that it would be able to keep the new building within a $1.5 budget, which the township is paying for with cash on hand.  

“You’re saying $1.5 million for the building, the build-out, the landscaping – everything?” Karantonis asked. 

King said he is confident the project can stay within the spending limits. Engineers are about 80 percent finished with finalizing plans and costs, officials said. 

“We put the budget at $1.5 million and it’s up to us to put our feet to the fire and hold it at that,” Township Supervisor Todd Morse said. 

Firm figures

With the  township on schedule to present the plans for its new township hall to Naperville Plan Commission this spring and the hopes of getting a vote from the city council in time to start construction this summer, officials need to get firm numbers fast, building skeptics say. 

Karantonis would like to see solid numbers by the April 12 town meeting.

“Theoretically, these numbers can change every month,” he said. “I’ve got to believe that as a governmental body we have some responsibility to get the facts to the public at the town meeting.”