Mayor: Right now, state money to replace Washington Park building is ‘just on paper’

Washington Park Mayor Leonard Moore is pleased that the Illinois state budget includes $600,000 to help replace the building that once housed the police, fire and public works departments, but he said having the money in hand could be months away

In the meantime, plans are to tear down the remains of the building, which was destroyed in a fire last year.

“ Right now, it is just on paper… saying the money was put into the budget. Until we can apply for it or do what we need to do, we are still sitting idle,” Moore said. ``We are happy with what they put into the budget.

``But, we have to start the ball rolling to get these departments back in a building. That building is going to be torn down May 4, God willing.”

State Reps. LaToya Greenwood and Jay Hoffman and state Sen. Chris Belt said the legislators worked together to make sure the money for the village was included in the state budget signed Wednesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Now they say it is up to the village government to follow up, meet all requirements and apply for the funds.

“We have done what we, as legislators, can do,”Hoffman said.

Moore previously had been critical of the local legislators, saying he felt they were ignoring the village’s need for money to replace the building. All three legislators have said nothing could be further from the truth, and the mayor knows it.

The le

Belt also said legislators had explained the process to Moore at an earlier meeting and the mayor indicated he understood. ”The one time we spoke to him at a Zoom meeting we told him about the GATA Grants Accountability and Transparency Act,” the senator said. “You have to have a GATA number to be eligible to use grant funds from the state of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.”

Belt said it’s up to village officials to follow the act and work with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity so the state can release the funding.

Greenwood said the local legislators want Washington Park to be a community, “a place where people want to live and they feel safe living there.

“We know you have to have police and fire to be a functioning community. There is no way I would want to impede on that nor Senator Belt nor Representative Hoffman,” she said. “I hope we can move forward with the mayor and focus on delivering the services to the people of the village.”

On Oct. 26, a fire burned down a large portion of the municipal building, destroying important records and equipment. The cause of the fire is undetermined.

Village officials couldn’t do anything to rebuild because the building did not have fire insurance, Moore said. He said he didn’t know that when he took office in 2021. Why it was uninsured is anyone’s guess. The mayor said he hasn’t found anything in documents that indicates it was not insured.

The fire “set the village farther back than it was. We were already trying to dig our way out of some infrastructure and sewer issues,” Moore said.

Moore said he was elected by Washington Park citizens to get the village back up and running. And, it is his goal to make Washington Park what it once was.

“It’s not politics with me. It’s all about these citizens and what they deserve and what I was elected to do for them,”Moore said. “We are going to get Washington Park up and rolling. It’s time to roll up the sleeves and make things happen.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2022 at 8:00 AM.