Montgomery officials break ground on $15.8 million public works facility

Montgomery Village Board members, from left, Tom Betsinger, Matt Bauman, Steve Jungermann, Village President Matt Brolley, Dan Gier, Theresa Sperling and Doug Marecek joined in the ground-breaking ceremony for the village's new public works facility on Monday, May 9, 2022, just north of Aucutt Road. (John Etheredge - jetheredge@shawmedia.com)

Montgomery village officials, public works staff members and consultants came together late Monday afternoon, May 9, to participate in a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start-up of construction on the village’s $15.8 million public works facility.

The facility will be built on a vacant parcel owned by the village located immediately south of the village’s existing public works building on Knell Road. Aucutt Road borders the building site to the south.

Village President Matt Brolley said the new facility will provide the village’s public works department with room to grow along with the village.

Referring to the public works department, Brolley said, “They don’t have enough space right now and this new facility will allow them to better serve the community.”

Brolley noted the village is using existing utility tax revenues and the proceeds from a bond sale to finance the project.

“We aren’t doing anything like raising taxes to pay for this,” he said.

According to information provided by the village, the 74,000 square foot facility will include an indoor storage area for up to 51 vehicles, a freight service elevator to serve a mezzanine level and a wash and maintenance area for the department’s vehicles.

In addition, the building will house a dedicated shop and workspace for the village’s water and sewer, building maintenance, forestry and streets divisions.

The building will also have an employee wellness area, multi-purpose room, locker rooms, administrative offices and a lobby area for the public.

The village’s water treatment operations will remain in the existing public works facility, immediately south of Knell Road.

Traffic access to the new facility will be off of Knell Road.

Village officials and their consultants had initially planned to locate a main access drive to the the facility off of Aucutt Road. However, last spring the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway turned down the village’s request for an at-grade crossing for a spur line that it owns between Aucutt Road and the facility site.

The railway’s action prompted village officials to briefly consider scrapping plans to construct the facility on the Aucutt Road site and relocate the project to another village-owned parcel next to the village police station off Civic Center Drive on the village’s far west side.

But the board unanimously agreed May 25, 2021 to a village staff recommendation to revise the traffic plan for the Aucutt Road site and to continue with the project on the property. Under the revised site plan, the main traffic access drive was relocated from Aucutt Road to Knell Road.

The new public works facility is the third major public facility construction project undertaken by the village over the past 17 years. In 2005 work was completed on a new police station off Route 30 at Griffin Drive on the village’s west side. Three years later, the village dedicated a new village hall at 200 North River St. in the village’s downtown.