Villa Grove Police Building Crumbling

Workers at the Villa Grove Police Department say their building is literally falling apart around them. The building is nearly a century old and city leaders say they want to tear it down and build a new one, but the site is listed on the state registry of historic places. Villa Grove Mayor, Ron Hunt said that makes demolishing the building a little more difficult. "If it's listed on the state registry of historical places it means we can't tear it down," said Hunt. "But I have learned through talks with Springfield that we can tear it down if we use only private money." The building housed the Comargo township library until about 15 years ago. When the library moved out, the police department moved in but the building has not stood the test of time. "It's a two story building and the wall is pulling away from the second floor which makes the back part of the building somewhat dangerous," said Hunt. Beth Elston works dispatch for the department. Most of the time she is the only one there and she said it can be scary. "I feel like if they felt like or the city felt like we were in any eminent danger then we wouldn't be here," said Elston. "It is kind of an uneasy feeling and we do have some literally crumbling going on." Mayor Hunt said there are no immediate plans to demolish the current building. He said in the short term he wants to move the police department into the city hall building. He says that will be safer and save up to $15 thousand a year in utilities and taxes.