Schaumburg hires one firm for three major capital projects
Schaumburg is taking a new approach to its infrastructure improvements this year by hiring one firm to oversee major projects involving its water utilities, street lighting and village-owned buildings.
The newly approved performance contract with Johnson Controls of Arlington Heights will cost Schaumburg nearly $7.8 million but is expected to result in efficiencies, creating significant cost savings for years to come.
For instance, officials say the project should bring $2.1 million in energy savings over a 15-year period as well as $473,000 in material and contractual savings during that time.
"They guarantee us the cost savings in energy use," said Trustee Marge Connelly, chairman of the village's engineering and public works committee. "It frees up village staff to work on other projects. And it ensures we have a high degree of reliability in things like the water system."
Specifically, the work is expected to create new operational efficiencies that free up more than 2,500 village staff hours among utilities workers and more than 500 hours among the field services workers each year.
The village plans to use these 3,000 hours - which translate to approximately $180,000 in annual salary and benefits - to address a backlog of work without increasing staffing levels.
The contract can be divided into its three component parts, with $4.9 million for the water system improvements, $1.4 million for streetlight retrofits and $1.4 million for facility upgrades, which largely involve replacement of aging heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
Taking advantage of an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity rebate program that expires May 31, the village intends to replace the inefficient and frequently replaced lights on all 2,571 residential streetlights in Schaumburg with light emitting diode, or LED, technology by then.
The rebate expected is more than $495,000.
"Once we do it, those lights will have a long life," Connelly said.
That will cover just over half the 4,957 such streetlights throughout the village, but there isn't enough time for Johnson Controls to order and install new LED lighting for all of them before the rebate program ends.
Though this single-year contract will have addressed its particular upgrades for a long time to come, the village may apply a similar comprehensive approach to different capital projects in the future, Connelly said.