Lockport Township residents protest move to bigger government building

LOCKPORT TOWNSHIP – Lockport Township officials celebrated the move to a bigger building on Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

But a group of disgruntled residents was not celebrating. They were protesting nearby.

Concerned Citizens of Lockport Township allege that Lockport Township Supervisor Ron Alberico and other elected officials have not been transparent in the process of acquiring a bigger township hall.

Township officials recently moved into the former Parkview Christian Church at 1463 S. Farrell Road in Lockport. The move gives township government 25,000 square feet of space on the eastern border of the township, up from 8,000 square feet at 222 E. 9th St. in downtown Lockport.

Alberico attests that the former township hall was overcrowded, with records of the Township Assessor’s Office taking up a large amount of storage.

Alberico said Thursday that after voters overwhelmingly turned down in 2015 the construction of a new $6 million-plus building that would have required the borrowing of $2.5 to $3 million, voters felt the township would be better off repurposing a building or remodeling the downtown office to find more space. Remodeling the former building would have cost $2.5 million, he said, and only gained 1,000 square feet.

“We had to do something,” Alberico said.

Township resident Pete DeLaney said that voters did not express a desire to do either of those things, and if anything, they expressed at the township's annual 2015 town hall meeting to not move at all.

DeLaney has suggested having the Illinois Secretary of State's Office digitize records to save space. Alberico has said that digitizing is cost-prohibitive. DeLaney said it's free by the Illinois Secretary of State's Office.

DeLaney and the dissenting group feel that their input was not taken into consideration. Township trustees approved the $1.1 million purchase of the former church and about $900,000 in remodeling work.

DeLaney said the township didn’t do enough to notify residents this was a possibility.

Because the purchase used cash reserves, it did not require a resident vote, DeLaney said.

“We’re upset with Alberico because he’s not transparent,” DeLaney said. “In 2015, in record number, voters said they don’t want any new building. Then they bought a building. He doesn’t listen.”

DeLaney said he and other residents are concerned that, although taxes may not be raised, more money will be dumped into the large facility and perhaps one day the next generation will be left to pick up the tab.

Alberico said he’s “amazed at how wonderful the building is turning out.”

He has touted the 3,000-square-foot community room and possibilities of plays and post-Friday-night-football-game gatherings to keep kids off the streets, as well as locating an area food pantry there.

DeLaney said voters have made it clear they want a limited township government, possibly none at all.

He said now that Alberico has led the acquisition of the large building, Alberico is trying to justify it by finding ways to make use of the extra space.

Alberico said he doesn’t want to get political, but he and other Democrats are up for election in April. DeLaney is not running for office.

“The slate going against us is doing anything they can to say that we overspent or that we did it wrong,” Alberico said. “If you look at the facts, we’ve got 7 acres and a beautiful building for less than half the price of building a new building on 5 acres. We had the money in hand, and we’ve lowered the tax rate the last two years.”

DeLaney also said he knows Alberico, called him “sincere” and said he likes him as a person.

But DeLaney also said that Alberico is “sincerely wrong.”

As for the ribbon-cutting itself, Alberico thanked: the Lockport VFW Post for providing a POW flag; state Sen. Pat McGuire, D-Joliet, who presented the township with a state flag; Will County Executive Larry Walsh, Sr., who presented the township with a county flag; and staff of Congressman Dan Lipinski, D-Western Springs, who presented an American Flag from Washington D.C.

DeLaney said he and another veteran were asked to remain respectful of the flag during the ceremony, to which one of them replied that they didn’t need to be told how to respect the flag, citing their military service.

“We have a right to protest and a right to dissent,” DeLaney said. “They were so afraid we were gonna cause a commotion. We just wanted to show it’s not all peaches and people disagree with them spending money and not being transparent.”