Guns, money focus of council meeting

Cal Tatum, Herald Reporter
Posted 1/31/18

Council looks at ways to finish Roundhouse restoration

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Guns, money focus of council meeting

Posted

EVANSTON — It’s not how many things are on an agenda, it’s about what the subjects are on the agenda. The Evanston City Council only had two items to discuss at its work session Tuesday, Jan. 23: guns and money. 

The guns part was to look at offering to sell older Evanston Police Department weapons to officers. The money part was about funding for the next phase of the Roundhouse restoration project.

Every few years EPD rotates out older handguns and exchanges them for new ones. Currently, officers are using .40 caliber Glock handguns and are looking to switch over to 9-millimeter Glocks. The reason is simple, the 9-millimeter ammunition costs less and, according to police chief Jon Kirby, they hold up longer than the .40 caliber guns.

Kirby said many police agencies are switching over to 9-millimeter handguns and because of the flood on the market, the trade-in value through ProForce Law Enforcement is low.

Some of the officers have expressed a desire to purchase the handgun they have been using on the force so they could have it for personal use. Kirby said it had been done in the past. He said they can legally sell to Evanston police officers, but selling to the public would not be possible without a firearms license and numerous legal matters with which they would have to contend.

City attorney Dennis Boal said he could draft a document that would allow the sale of the used handguns to Evanston cops.

The second item on the agenda was about funding for the next phase of the Roundhouse.

With the current phase wrapping up, moving on would require significant funding. A grant was applied for to assist in the funding but it was rejected. 

An expensive item on the list is the restoration of several doors, which could cost between $260,000 to $350,000, according to Evanston City Clerk Amy Grenfell. Luckily, two private parties have stepped forward, offering significant donations to help defray the cost.

Bondurant French, who lives in Chicago but has a deep connection with Wyoming railroads, has offered $100,000 to go toward restoring the doors, and someone else has anonymously offered another $150,000 in stock for door restoration.

Other expenses include concrete aprons for the doors, stabilizing the footing of the building, pouring new floors, upgrading the windows to provide better insulation, and remediating a soil issue where there is a problem with asbestos in the soil. In all, the cost could go as high as $1.4 million.

The $250,000 from the donors helps, but without grant money, it is more difficult to come up with the funding.

Council members talked about where they could cut back and still make the property attractive to potential businesses. They agreed the doors and door aprons are a must, along with a $50,000 security camera system. They discussed waiting on pouring new concrete floors to provide more versatility for the city to meet the needs of potential occupants. The floors would still require demolition but could be temporarily filled with gravel.

These steps could reduce the cost dramatically but would still require the city to come up with about $650,000. Grenfell said there is more than $1.2 million in the Economic Development Fund, which is separate from the general fund. Taking out $650,000 would more than cut the fund in half. 

“These estimates are high,” said Grenfell. “I think everyone would be happy to see us helping ourselves, trying to fund our own project and not just looking for handouts.”

Another suggestion was to auction off what is known as the “rail site,” a property off Wasatch Road that was purchased by the Economic Development Fund as an investment because it has rail access. Each year the property costs $60,000 to maintain rail access and other expenses. Economic Development has been trying to sell the property for years with only minor interest. Grenfell said the property was appraised at more than $1 million. If sold, the funds would go directly to the Economic Development Fund.

There will continue to be discussions about how best to handle funding the next phase of the Roundhouse restoration project.