New Chicago town workers will be relocated when the town moves closer to the demolition of its century-old town hall and toward the construction of a new complex.
Town manager Sue Pelfrey said town and water department employees will relocate down the street to River Forest Elementary, which no longer is used as a school.
She said Monday that demolition is expected to begin in the spring of next year.
The former town hall, which originally served as a school at 122 Huber Blvd., sat vacant until it was donated to the town for its town hall decades ago.
The aging building is two stories tall but doesn’t have an elevator. The building has several leaks and its masonry is crumbling, Pelfrey said.
Pelfrey said the town is cobbling money together and working with other township officials to establish a complex at the site.
Besides a new town hall, she said there will be separate buildings for the Hobart Township trustee and the Hobart Township assessor, which will lease space from the town. The town purchased the lot adjacent to the town hall in 2000. Each one-story building will be about 2,200 to 2,400 square feet, Pelfrey said. Parking will be on the perimeter of the complex.
There will also be a separate building for the police and a police garage behind it. A meeting room, with seating for 100 people for town and community meetings, will be next to the trustee’s office. Pelfrey said community members can rent the room for parties and events.
Trustee Fred Williams said the trustee’s office at 1421 37th Ave., Hobart, is in an aging building that’s deteriorating. “We’ve been waiting for this a long time,” he said. Pelfrey said township assessor Lino Maggio wants to move his office into a less costly, more central location.
Williams said he’s hoping the construction can be completed within a year.
New Chicago, with about 2,000 residents, is about a square mile in size with its boundaries surrounded by Lake Station and Hobart.
Pelfrey said the town will use its American Rescue Plan Act funding along with the sale of revenue bonds to cover costs. Lake County Council President Charlie Brown, D-Gary, directed $200,000 of his allotment of ARPA funding earmarked for projects within each district. Lake County Commissioners also provided $200,000 for the town from ARPA funding.
Pelfrey said the town council opted to dedicate most of its $400,000 in ARPA funding for the project after completing a ventilation project required because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part of the project also includes the demolition of a 165-foot tower no longer in use by a cable company. It’s expected to be brought down Sept. 26.
Meanwhile, the town’s police department received $120,000 in funding last week from Lake County Commissioner Kyle Allen to purchase 10 new police portable radios worn by officers.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.