$72K On La Grange Train Station Roof 'Wasted': Resident

LA GRANGE, IL – A La Grange resident said Monday that the village was wasting $72,000 on a new roof for the La Grange Road Metra station and its windbreak shelter.

Metra would have paid for a new asphalt roof. But La Grange is covering the cost because it chose an upgraded Spanish tile roof that the village said represents its history.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, resident Jonathan Robinson said 1926 photos show the station's roof was French tile, not Spanish. The shelter, meanwhile, has never had a special roof.

For the last two roofing cycles going back 37 years, the village has chosen asphalt roofs, Robinson said.

"Why are we spending $72,000 when we didn't care the last two times this situation has come up?" he asked.

He noted the expense was on the fast-track "consent agenda," where the trustees vote on a bundle of items without discussion.

"No one cared to comment or explain why we paid $72,000 for a voluntary application of something that did not recreate history because it never existed," said Robinson, who is running for the Village Board.

The money, he said, could have been spent on needed projects.

He then advanced his larger critique that the Village Board, in his view, approves the administration's proposals without critical thinking.

Trustee Beth Augustine disagreed.

"It's inaccurate to assert that when we don't discuss an issue, we haven't discussed an issue, that if we don't pull something off the consent agenda or ask questions about it, we are giving away our critical thinking to staff," Augustine said. "There's plenty that we discuss before the board meeting so that we come prepared. If we were concerned, we would address it."