Grafton lease is up today
By AMBER KROSEL - akrosel@nwherald.com
HUNTLEY – Today, the lease expires for Grafton Township to remain in its Vine Street office location.
During several recent meetings, the township board failed to work out an agreement to temporarily stay in the building. But trustees might be exploring different options.
“We’re looking on the outside, comparing what leases are available,” Trustee Rob LaPorta said. “Whatever the least cost amount is for the taxpayers is what we’ll do.”
In planning for a new town hall project two years ago – stalled by court injunctions and a pending November 2010 referendum – the township board sold its current building to the highway department, which works off a separate budget.
But Grafton Township Highway Commissioner Jack Freund said he wouldn’t be kicking the rest of the departments out this weekend.
“We gotta just get along,” he said.
He added that he prefered the township buy back the building from him. The original cost was about $611,000, Freund said.
LaPorta said the board was considering that as an option, but the end agreement likely depends on which was the cheaper route.
“It’s going to take some time,” LaPorta said. “My goal is to get it done as soon as possible.”
In the meantime, the township might be paying its road district between $3,400 to $3,600 a month to temporarily remain on its lease, he said.
Earlier this year, the Grafton Township Board was busy making plans to construct a bigger town hall on new land it had purchased in Lake in the Hills. The project’s price tag was about $5.5 million including interest on a 20-year loan.
Opponents of the project filed a lawsuit against the township, arguing that residents were not informed well enough of the board’s actions.
A McHenry County Judge ruled in May that the board was barred from taking any more steps to acquire real estate, build a hall or incur debt to build the hall. The $3.5 million loan was returned two months later.
Since the project’s inception, the township has incurred about $500,000 in related expenses, such as legal fees and litigation, loan interest payments, and land and other costs.
LaPorta said it was in the interest of trustees to expand services to the community.
“At this stage, we have to wait until referendum to see about options for another building,” he said.
“That premise, that foundation is still there, but we have reality to work with. And the reality is, we don’t have anything at this point.”
What’s next
The Grafton Township Board will next meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Faith Community Church, 10547 Faiths Way, Huntley.
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