Will County officials reported Tuesday that efforts to consolidate county operations in owned facilities are continuing to reduce the county’s leased office space footprint, with further reductions expected when the Veterans Assistance Commission moves to its new location later this year.
During the Capital Improvements Committee meeting, county representatives highlighted ongoing consolidation efforts as part of a strategy to reduce the approximately $1.2 million the county has historically spent annually on leased space.
“With the Copperfield project, we will be consolidating even more,” Mike Mahoney from the county executive’s office told the committee. “That lease is going to be up for the VAC on Glenwood at the end of this year, so we will not be renewing that obviously and dropping our lease footprint even further.”
The county is also consolidating space at its Clinton Street location, where the land use department and public defender’s office will move from being spread across multiple floors to occupying just two floors.
“It was spread out where it was not really useful. People had to travel between floors to keep their department together,” explained Facilities Manager Bill Fern. “Now we’re going to consolidate them all in two areas.”
County officials indicated that these consolidation efforts followed earlier successes, including moving the Community Development Department into space vacated by the coroner’s office, which allowed for further lease space reductions.
“This has been a process where we moved the Community Development Department into the space vacated by the coroner’s office. We were then able to consolidate space within the building that we are leasing,” Mahoney explained. “With that, we were able to move land use from three floors down to two, which is money that comes out of our corporate account to pay for those lease spaces, so that is a significant savings to the county.”
When asked by committee member Dan Butler about the current status of the county’s leased space, which had previously been approximately 65,000 square feet at a cost of $1.2 million, Mahoney confirmed that figure has decreased, although he did not provide specific updated numbers.
Committee discussion also revealed that the county is working on updating its inventory of owned facilities. Mahoney indicated that the county owns approximately 31 buildings, including radio towers and salt domes, with 26 facilities that are actively managed by the county. An updated inventory is expected to be distributed to board members in the coming weeks.
The committee also heard that a comprehensive facility needs assessment, which recently began with surveys distributed to department heads, will help guide future decisions about space requirements and facility utilization. This assessment, along with a space needs evaluation being conducted by Wight and Company, will be combined to develop a master plan for county facilities.
Committee member Dan Butler emphasized the importance of completing the assessment before making major decisions about property. “I think it would be prudent that we push this assessment along so that it’ll be available before important financial decisions are made,” Butler said.
Mahoney agreed, noting that some agencies have “priority status” due to immediate space constraints, but that no decisions would be made until the assessment is complete and reviewed by the board.
The facility and space needs assessments are expected to be completed by the end of the year, providing the county with a comprehensive plan for future space utilization.
