The Rochelle City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Monday for its intent to borrow funds from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to drill a new well, build a new well house and construct approximately 7,400 feet of water main.
The loan will be for no more than $12 million. Rochelle Municipal Utilities Superintendent of Water/Water Reclamation Adam Lanning said the actual estimated loan amount is about $6.7 million. Last year, the council approved a resolution designating a parcel for the future drilling and development of the new water well (Well 13) and a $356,000 engineering agreement with Willett, Hofmann & Associates for the project.
Well 13 will be located on Technology Parkway north of the Petro Travel Plaza. The 2-acre parcel is currently owned by the city and has been sitting vacant for approximately 15 years. The location was chosen to allow for future development and to mitigate pressure issues from dead-end water mains in the area.
The loan will come back before the council for a vote with an exact amount. The new well is being drilled to meet peak demand, increase redundancy and relieve other well pumps and equipment, Lanning said. The city drilled its last new well, Well 12, in 2013.
The water main portion of the project is involved in the state’s future reconstruction of Illinois Route 251 on the north side of town.
“We want to get ahead of the curve on this with that project coming up in a couple of years,” Interim City Manager and City Engineer Sam Tesreau said. “We want to make sure the utilities are out of the way and adjusted to facilitate those construction improvements when the time comes.”
Lead service line replacement
The council also unanimously approved an ordinance regarding its intent to borrow IEPA funds for a separate project for lead service line replacements. A recent federal program required municipalities to assess and eventually replace lead and galvanized water service lines.
RMU has entered into a professional engineering agreement with Willett, Hofmann & Associates for the project, which submitted the city’s lead service line replacement plan. RMU’s water department has submitted its final materials inventory.
The loan will not exceed $8 million, and Lanning estimates the project will cost $4.045 million. The actual loan amount will come before the council for approval in the future.
“This is not approval for a loan,” Lanning said. “This is just for the city’s intent to borrow funds in the future. I don’t intend for this project to cost more than $4-5 million. We will only borrow the amount that the project costs. The current loan conditions we’re looking at are 100 percent loan forgiveness.”
Lanning said RMU will be conducting a future impact analysis on what effect the projects and loans will have on RMU water rates.
5 Rochelle police vehicles to be sold
The council unanimously approved a vehicle sales agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management to sell five vehicles previously used by the Rochelle Police Department.
The vehicles to be sold include a 2012 Dodge Charger, a 2013 Dodge Charger, a 2016 Dodge Charger, a 2018 Dodge Charger and a 2000 Honda Accord.
Police Chief Pete Pavia said the Chargers are old squad cars that are no longer used and the agreement will yield credit toward the future purchase of new vehicles. The Honda was used for investigation purposes and will yield credit as well for future purchases.
Solar
The council heard public comments from Adam Czamanske of Geenex Power regarding Prairie Brome Solar, a proposed solar field south of Rochelle and northwest of Steward in Lee County.
The proposed project would be 180 megawatts. It has not gone in front of the Lee County Board for permit approval. The project has been in the works for two years and is estimated to be operational in 2029 at the earliest.