If you’re looking for a former municipal building with an attached garage large enough to house a fire department Salem Lakes may have just the thing for you.
The Village Board Tuesday decided to try to rent the former Silver Lake Village Hall and fire department building in downtown Silver Lake.
The village hall portion of the building is currently largely unused, village President Rita Bucur said Tuesday. It is has been used as a polling location in three elections and for seven meetings since the former village of of Silver Lake merged with the town of Salem to create the village of Salem Lakes in February 2017. The old Salem Town Hall serves as the Salem Lakes Village Hall.
“This building has been underutilized for many, many years,” Bucur said.
The board held a closed session to discuss the building’s fate and announced the decision to see if it could be rented after returning to open session.
While the village hall portion of the building is seldom used, the village continues to have to pay for its maintenance and utilities. Those costs — not including insurance and snow plowing — were almost $14,000 in 2024 and about $8,000 so far in 2025, Bucur said.
“This board has a fiscal responsibility,” Bucur said.
An agent that consulted with the village estimated rental income from the .8 acre property could be about $64,800, Bucur said,
Before the closed session, Bucur said the status quo and selling the building were also under consideration.
While the village hall portion of the building is not used much, the attached fire department portion of the building still functions as Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue Station No. 4. Bucur said Tuesday that the fire department operation will move to the former Silver Lake Rescue Squad building across the railroad tracks on Railroad Street.
The move to the old rescue building would place one Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue station west of the Canadian National Railway tracks. Currently the three active stations are all east of the tracks.
The relocated fire station also could host elections when necessary, Bucur said.
