Roselle OKs $3.7 million in road repairs
The potholes and other damage on Foster Avenue in Roselle are set to be fixed by late fall, after a divided Roselle village board voted Monday to borrow $3.7 million for repairs.
The Foster Avenue repairs will run from Roselle Road east to Sycamore Avenue, including five cul-du-sacs adjacent to the road. The work will not only focus on the roadway, but also will include water main replacements along the entire route, said Village Administrator Jeff O'Dell.
From 11 bidders, village officials awarded the contract to the lowest, Orange Crush LLC, and the price tag for the entire project will be approximately $2.7 million, O'Dell said. He added Roselle officials initially expected the project to cost almost $4 million.
"With the economy as it is right now, competition is very tight among contractors for these projects and I think the village is very pleased we are able to be able to take advantage of these low bids," he said.
As a result of the savings, the village board also voted Monday to borrow an extra $1 million for additional road repairs throughout Roselle. Some of these repairs will focus on the area by the Ventura 21 subdivision, near Lawrence Avenue and Plum Grove Road, said officials.
Trustees Richard Rhode and Andy Maglio voted against both measures without comment, while Trustees Terrence Wittman, Barbara Hochstadt, Ron Sass and Village President Gayle Smolinski supported them. Wittman said it is wise for officials to take advantage of low bids and low interest rates while the economy is down.
"I know there was some consternation in going on this ... but this will save the village $3 million in total cost over the life of (the loan), so I think we are being good stewards of the village's money," Wittman said.
Smolinski also addressed community concerns about Roselle spending several million dollars on road repairs, after two police officers were laid off early this year due to budget constraints. Roselle also enacted furlough days for nonunion employees and negotiated pay cuts and other concessions from the police and fire unions late last year.
"We have our operating budget for day-to-day operations and our capital improvement budget for extraordinary costs like our buildings, sewer repairs and major street programs," she said. "I understand someone who doesn't work with our budget would think it all comes from one pot. But that's not the way it works with municipal government. Unfortunately, you don't bond for your everyday expenses like paying police officers. It would be nice if we could put all of our money in (the operating budget), but then sewers, buildings and roads would start deteriorating at a point that we couldn't keep up with them. There is a balance between doing infrastructure work and day-to-day operations."
The work on Foster will begin in April and continue until fall, O'Dell said.
While detours and road closing details are not complete, Public Works Director Rob Burns said officials will work to make sure routes for school buses and local traffic are taken into consideration. He expects the village to meet with contractors in about two weeks and said affected residents will receive a letter in the mail with complete lane closure details.