Wheaton pursuing sidewalk repair program

A new Wheaton sidewalk maintenance program will establish a database and, for the first time, most likely will be fully funded by the city two years after a voluntary cost-share program was stopped because of financial concerns.

The program also will include proactive inspection schedules rather than rely on complaints before work is done, officials said.

“I’m in favor of the program and I’m in favor of it not being cost-sharing,” Councilman Phil Suess said. “We have got all kinds of issues where we try pushing costs back on some people. I think this is an obligation the city should take on.”

The city council set aside $150,000 for sidewalk repairs in its 2011-2012 budget and asked staff members to inventory the city’s 268 miles of sidewalks.

Assistant City Manager Mike Dzugan told the council interns from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning will help collect the sidewalk data during the early summer.

“We want to get that going within the month so we can get feedback from the field and see what the extent of the work might be,” City Manager Don Rose said.

Rose said the database will help establish an annual rotation of repairs. From 1991 to 2009, the city split the cost of sidewalk repairs with adjoining property owners. In that program, the city was split into quarters with each region of the city being addressed every four years.

The program was voluntary and Councilwoman Jeanne Ives said that meant the most defective sidewalks weren’t always being addressed.

The majority of council members said the city should pick up the tab on all sidewalk repairs because it’s a core service.

“It’s something that makes Wheaton, Wheaton,” Ives said. “We have sidewalks ... We should not do cost-sharing because we won’t get the most critical sidewalks.”

“We need to go inspect them and find the ones that are worse off,” she said.