Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Monday Village Board Meeting--Dispatch Center Funding

Interesting Village Board meeting. Money was saved from what was budgeted for installation of water along Kenosha County Bike Trail (~$14,000 that Trustee #3 suggested to credit back to Capital Fund for Roads/Snowplowing) but then when it came to the dispatch center, the costs had increased significantly from ~$57,000 to over ~$77,000 (click here). The reasons described by Assistant Chief Mogenson were typical of project cost overruns but someone seemed to miss the boat. As another meeting attendee said, "who didn't do their homework?" No Trustee or President asked any tough questions such as why were these cost overruns missed in the original bid and what can we do differently in future to prevent this type of issue? The funding for the Dispatch Center comes from Impact fees and that in itself raises some questions of how that money is being used and what is the intended use of the Impact Fees? I understand the reasons for the remodelling, and need, but I think the explanations given and the discussion that took place were definitely lacking; especially since nobody talked about the final amount until Trustee #4 provided a motion with the amount. No one in attendance without a package would have known the overage was in excess of ~$20,000 until it was voted on.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember when Impact Fees were first talked about over 2 years ago prior to the board voting 3-2 for approval of Impact Fees, which included a $6 million Impact pool fee. Anyhow, Impact Fees for Public Safety(Police) was for a "new" $15+ million police station, according to the Village Administrator and the three who voted in favor of the fees. Now the Village says the costs ($74,876) for the updated dispatch center will come from Impact Fees. Well, I guess Village Trustee's change their tune to fit their purpose.

Anonymous said...

Gee guess who "observer" is. Mr. I don't hide behind anonymous (except some times).

Village People said...

Hate to burst your buble but it's not me.

Anonymous said...

where and when is next meeting?