Naperville will split water main cost three ways

Naperville officials waited nearly two years to settle the debate over who should pay the $502,000 cost to relocate a 30-inch DuPage Water Commission main.

And Thursday night their patience paid off as the DuPage Water Commission became the “third leg of the stool” to approve a three-way split of the cost.

The move was part of the $26 million renovation of the intersection of 75th and Washington Streets completed late last year. And for 19 months, the city has maintained the county and commission should bear the brunt of the costs because the project was a joint project with the county and the main was relocated in the county right of way.

Meetings were held, numbers thrown out and, in February, Commission Chairman Jim Zay, who is also a member of the DuPage County Board, suggested each entity pay a third. By Thursday night, four months later, everyone had agreed to divide the cost of the $502,226.09 project.

DuPage County and the commission will now each be sending checks for $167,408.69 to Naperville, which has already paid the full $502,228.09 cost.

“There was some discussion and obviously we hope to not set a precedent at the county, but Naperville has been a very good partner on this project. They have received a lot of federal money and instead of keeping it and taking it off of their portion, they trickled it down to take it off everyone’s top numbers,” Zay said. “The county and commission think (splitting the cost) is a good working relationship thing to do.”

Reached by telephone after the meeting, Naperville Mayor George Pradel and City Manager Doug Krieger thanked the commission for suggesting and ultimately signing off on the agreement.

“We’re thrilled,” Pradel said. “It’s that kind of intergovernmental cooperation that eases up the costs for everyone else.”

Krieger agreed.

“The commission was the third leg of the stool to sign off, so we’re thankful that they did,” Krieger said. “It’s a fair agreement and we’re glad to have it behind us as we finalize that intersection project.”