With the exception of plywood covering up the entrance, the new Homer Township Civic Center looks ready to welcome residents inside.
The parking lot has been paved and striped and a barn-quilted sign adorns the doorway at the 10,000-square-foot red prefabricated building on the historic 33-acre Trantina Farm in Homer Glen.
Through the plywood doors is a different story, with a laundry list of items, including life safety issues, that need to be completed before an occupancy permit can be granted.
The prior Township Board under former Supervisor Steve Balich began building the civic center, 15774 151st St., in August 2024. Balich previously said the multipurpose building would be ready for use by May or June 2025. About $2.3 million has been spent on the project so far.
But the township does not have the money to finish the project, the new township administration said.
The new township board, which ousted Balich’s administration and was installed in May, said at least $550,000 to $700,000 more will need to be invested in the civic center to complete it.
To provide transparency, the current Homer Township board recently created a YouTube video tour of the building and invited residents to check out the facility on Saturday after receiving approval from its insurer and the fire department.
At present, only the six bathrooms are connected to electricity, as revealed in a tour with township Trustees Keith Gray and Christina Sievers.
However the toilets and sinks cannot be used until they are connected to a functioning septic system, which needs to be completed, they said. The proposed septic system can only handle the bathrooms but not a kitchen area, which is roughed in only, presenting another challenge.
The building still needs fire alarms and sprinkler systems.
A 10,000 gallon fire suppression tank is installed, but it needs to be connected to a well, which has been dug, but not finished, Gray said. The tank is needed because the building is not connected to a municipal water system, he said. By Homer Glen code, the building needs to be connected to a sprinkler system, which is listed in the second phase of construction work.
An exasperated Gray questioned why life safety issues would be put in the second phase of the building’s work.
“Everybody thought Phase 1 was throw the doors open and let’s have a party,” Gray said.
There is no other lighting in the rest of the open building or in its storage area and office, and none of the electrical wiring has been installed in these spaces.
“The first $2.3 million did not buy lights for anything other than the bathrooms and where they were required to … (such as) the motion detector,” Gray said.
“We walked in here on day one, the day we got sworn in, and we all walked in and were groping for a light switch that doesn’t exist,” he said. “We thought the plywood was covering up a beautiful glass door and protecting it from being damaged. We got on the inside and there’s no door at all.”
HVAC units are located outside, but the interior ductwork has not been installed, so heat and air cannot be distributed throughout the building, Gray said.
The floors are cement, similar to a garage floor, and would need to be sealed. Drywall needs to be completed. Some of the exit doors lead to a small concrete pad and are not connected to the sidewalk.
Work to finish the ceiling, drywall, windows and electric systems needs to be completed on the office space located off the main entrance.
Though the parking lot is currently paved and painted, a top layer of asphalt would have to be added. To complete this, all wheel stops and parking signs would have to be removed and reinstalled once the lot is paved, Gray said. The handicapped parking spaces and stripes would then have to be repainted, he said.
“It’s haphazard at best,” he said. “(The parking lot) makes it look like there was progress and they were about ready to open.”
An emergency access road around the sides and back of the building is made of large rocks and should be paved to make it easier for fire trucks and snow plows, Gray said.
Even after the main issues are resolved to get an occupancy permit, other expenses loom, such as those for signage and furniture as well as security, sound and telephone systems, township officials said.
“I think the Balich administration was on a hope and a prayer,” Gray said. “Was there a ball dropped? Yes, I think there was a ball dropped. And I think it was bad planning right from the get-go. They didn’t know what they were going to do with this building. They were just hell-bent to get it built.”
“The thing is built,” he said. “The Balich administration has been dealt with by the voters. We’re here now. It’s our challenge to figure out, and we’re doing the best we can right now.”
Sievers said the group campaigned against raising taxes, so the board is looking at various funding mechanisms that would not require a tax increase. As a result, it’s impossible to determine when the building could open, she said.
“We haven’t figured out our funding source,” she said.
Completion will likely take some time, the township trustees said.
“We can’t squeeze $700,000 out of a $1.3 million budget,” Gray said.
The township is in the middle of a special audit to prove federal grants they’ve received were compliant with regulations, Gray said.
Balich’s slate lost their reelection bid in the Feb. 25 Republican primary to the Homer Township Reset slate led by the now-Supervisor Sue Steilen. The Reset slate ran unopposed in the April 1 election, and they were sworn in May 19.
Balich said after his group lost the election, people pledging to sponsor the civic center canceled their support. At least two groups were pledging $25,000 to $50,000 for naming rights, and another was considering a sponsorship. Balich declined to name the people or organizations that were willing to sponsor the civic center. The center was also going to receive a $10,000 donation towards a pickleball court, he said.
He said the township was looking to deannex from the Village of Homer Glen to save about $77,000 in both engineering fees and landscaping costs associated with village requirements. Balich said the site already had dense vegetation, so it wouldn’t be prudent to spend more money on landscaping the village requested. He said he could circumvent the village’s requests by asking for the land to be unincorporated again.
The township was also looking at using about $166,000 in funds from the Homer Township Road District towards the building and using some of the parks levy as well as selling small engraved plaques to hang on the inside.
Balich said he planned to open the civic center without raising taxes and believed they had enough funds to get it open for minimal use.
He said it could provide services for seniors to play bingo or parents to homeschool their children. Children could dribble basketballs, but there wouldn’t be hoops yet.
After the election, Balich said he wanted the major decisions to be up to the next administration.
“I hope that it opens up and it does real nice,” Balich said.
The new administration has formed a committee to study the civic center and other open space properties.
Some township residents have advocated for tearing down the building, but that doesn’t make sense from a fiscal standpoint, Gray said. The board doesn’t want to throw away $2.3 million already spent plus additional funds for demolition.
He said there will no doubt be challenges ahead.
“We’ll ultimately decide how this building will be used after we get it open and we talk to the residents,” Gray said. “We’ll do more open houses … to ask people for their opinions.”
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
