Village Plans Projects, Awards Contracts

The village opted to waive the bidding process as trustees signed off on two contracts Monday night. That’s because the State of Illinois already conducted the bidding for them, at least with regard to one purchase, according to Mayor John Noak.

“The state already went through the process, which saves us time and manpower,” he said.

Trustees approved spending $143,550 to use the state bid purchasing program to buy a new dump truck for the public works department. That includes $72,007 to purchase the cab and chassis from International Trucks and another $71,463 for the dump body from Monroe Trucks.

The total is less than the $145,000 earmarked for the purchase in this year’s village budget, according to Public Works Director Dan Bromberek.

The board also waived bidding and agreed to enter into a $325,000 contract with Meade Electric to provide new streetlights along Taylor Road. The bidding process was waived because Meade already has a contract with the village to repair and replace streetlights, Bromberek said.

A third contract, this time for $107,317, was also awarded to ComEd to finish relocating overhead utilities underground.

“This is to finalize the (utilities) burial we started with Veterans Parkway,” Bromberek said.

Trustees also approved a lease agreement with Hampton Park Currency exchange, which will pay $1,400 on a month-to-month basis to remain in the village-owned Spartan Square shopping center. The contract also requires the business to pay $124.31 per month for common area maintenance.

The village purchased Spartan Square in 2008, with plans to demolish the shopping plaza to make way for the eventual downtown redevelopment project.

Until then, “We’re working on moving tenants or figuring out how they will fit into the new development,” Noak said. “We’re slowly working with them as we transition that development.”

 Village supports Weber/Renwick project

Trustees also voted Monday to approve a resolution voicing the village’s support for Will County’s plans to improve the intersection of Weber and Renwick roads.

Last month, an engineer for Will County said the $11 million project could begin this year. The improvements will be an extension of earlier work that transformed Weber into a six-lane road near the Target store, Bruce Gould said.

 We'll match into that," Gould said. "It will be three lanes in each direction from Renwick to where the six lanes are at Target south of Airport Road." Renwick will become a five-lane highway, with two traffic lanes and a left-turn lane in each direction. Once property acquisition is completed to give the county all the right-of-way it needs, construction could take two seasons to complete.

 The project is critical to future developments, including the at Weber and Renwick, according to officials.

“It’s a very important project for the region,” Noak said.