Township Building
Most of the Township business since the April, 2011 Annual Town Meeting has been centered around a Township Building. Several residents have been asking questions about the building and what is going on. This page is meant to be a brief guide to the 10-year project. A great starting document is the Wheatland Township Building and Community Center Overview created last year. After each paragraph, the Adobe Reader icon appears. Clicking this icon will open the document to support that paragraph. (Adobe Reader required)
When did this all start? The earliest documentation at the township are meeting minutes from the December 11, 2003 Board Meeting. Discussion explained the raise in the levy, plan of the township to relocate to a more centralized location around Route 59 and 111th and providing senior/youth services. Two newspaper articles were also published.
The vote that allowed the township to purchase property and/or partner with local government and/or other entity to build a new township facility occurred at the Annual Town Meeting held on April 13, 2004.
2005
The Township explored three alternatives for relocating the township operations. In addition, a $10,000 grant from Representative Tom Cross for Senior programs in the new facility was received.
2007
At least six board meetings were held around the building. Beginning in January, the City of Naperville worked with the township to formulate an Intergovernmental Land Sales and Purchase Agreement for the township to purchase 4 acres of land (2 acres for the Township Building and 2 acres for the Highway Commissioner). The City of Naperville Memorandum contains detailed information on this purchase with a picture of the land.
2008
The Annual Town Meeting held on April 8th, allowed Dayton Jarnagin, Wheatland Township Highway Commissioner, to report on the current status of the highway building. Supervisor Biedron reported being cautious with spending.
2009
Supervisor Biedron gave a report on the status of the building at the Annual Town Meeting. At that time, a building of 12,000 sq ft was being considered. Calculations on cost to construct this building were $4,000,000.00. No plans had been developed and at that time there were no partners.
Subsequently, at a Special Town Board Meeting on October 28th, space needs were identified for the township. Some board members felt that purchasing an existing building would be more cost effective. Differing views were offered on senior services, a kitchen and multipurpose room in the new township building. A consensus was reached that township office space needs would be around 3,200 square feet.
2010
In August, an offer to purchase foreclosed property was submitted. The realtor handling that property updated the board that their offer had been accepted at the September meeting. In October, the board authorized Trustee King to obtain an initial design for the new town building from one of the five companies who submitted a statement of qualifications. A motion passed at the December meeting authorizing the expenditure of $62,800.00 for architectural services. (These meeting minutes can be located under the Meeting Minutes section of the website.)
2011
At the Annual Town Meeting the electors present voted to table the sale of the current township building. A signed petition of 17 electors requested a special meeting to consider stopping the construction of a new town hall. A second motion was made to stop all expenditures until a needs assessment could be done. This motion passed.
A Special Meeting of the Electors was held on May 23, 2011. The outcome of this meeting was that a Space Study Committee would conduct an analysis of needs, options to fulfill those needs and bring their findings back to the electors at a meeting to be held no later than August 11, 2011.
A second Special Meeting of the Electors was held on August 9th. The electors voted to sell the land all ready owned by the township and renovate the existing building with the proceeds from that sale.
What's the status of the building now?
The Board voted to sell the land owned by the Township at a market price of $395,000. The Township Budget reflects over $1.6M on hand for the new building (includes grant).
Supporting Documentation
Below is additional documentation with information on the work that has been done around the building project.
