State money gets Shiloh a step closer to building a new, modern police station

Shiloh received a big boost in its effort to build and equip a new police station that reflects the village’s growth.

State Sen. Christopher Belt (D-57th District) and State Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-113th District) advocated for Shiloh to receive about $4.75 million in state funds, with $4 million targeted for a police station. They attended a Shiloh Village Board meeting recently to give an update on the funding as city officials reiterated the town’s needs.

Mayor Robert Weilmuenster said the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity contacted the village to confirm the allocation.

While Belt acknowledged that $4 million won’t complete the new police station, it will help with costs associated with the project, he said.

Both Belt, a former police officer, and Hoffman, former director of probation and court services in the 20th Judicial Circuit Court, stressed the importance of giving police the necessary tools to do their jobs, especially as the village grows.

“With all the expansion, they need to have a good facility,” Hoffman said.

Providing a larger Shiloh Police Station has become a growing issue in the village as the population increased to 14,098 in the 2020 Census.

For the last 14 years, the village has rented a building on the Wilke Window and Door property at 3498 Lebanon Avenue for police use. The rent is $45,459 per year, and increases 2.5% annually, the mayor said.

Initial plans are under way to construct a new building on the Shiloh Mobile Home Park at 105 S. High St., which had been owned and operated by George Portz since 1988, and before that, his parents Harold and Kathaleen Portz, when they moved to Shiloh in 1964.

George Portz died at age 70 on Jan. 9, 2023, and his daughter, Kaitlin Huelsman of Freeburg, who manages the estate, has sold the property to the village.

“It’s five plus acres, centrally located and has two entrances. It’s behind Circle K and near the cemetery. It’s been in very poor shape,” Weilmuenster said, noting that clean-up has begun to remove the mobile homes with the infrastructure funds available.

Infrastructure improvements totaling $100,000 have been earmarked for roads, sewer and water improvements, and/or sidewalks, and demolition of derelict and abandoned properties.

Both Weilmuenster and Police Chief Rich Wittenauer have stressed that a good facility would help retain and attract new officers, pointing out how inadequate the building is to operate effectively in modern times.

The police department currently employs 21 police officers and two clerks.

Wittenauer, who has been with the village since 2017, said the department needs more staff and technology upgrades. He noted the lack of space for training or if the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis is called in to assist with an investigation.

The building also lacks a sally port, which is a secure and controlled entry way to escort prisoners in and out of a police station. A closet is currently being used as a holding cell.

“A new facility will help us recruit. It will help us be more efficient, and interest should increase about it being a nice place to work,” Wittenauer said. “It will be more secure for us and our visitors, and officer morale will improve.”

He gave an example of a grieving family after a tragedy having to wait in the police station lobby for interviews. A new space will provide more privacy, therefore more comfort, he noted.

“It will help us in serving people better,” he said.

Wittenauer noted that with population growth comes the need for improved public safety efforts.

Weilmuenster said city officials have been working with FMG Engineering, which specializes in municipal infrastructures, on the plans. FMG oversaw construction of Highland’s new public safety building, which opened in November 2021.

Weilmuenster said realistically, work could start this fall, with a target of spring 2025, “if all goes well.”

The balance of the state’s $4.75 million allocation will go toward improvements at the village-owned Yorktown Golf Course and related infrastructure projects. The funds are part of the state budget appropriations approved last May.