Carpentersville saves $239k on fueling station, salt dome

On Tuesday night, the Carpentersville village board endorsed a move to build a new fueling station near the public works building on Tamarac Drive.

The fueling station is reserved for people driving village-owned vehicles and will house gas tanks underground. With it, the village will build a salt dome. Construction on both projects is expected to get started around Mother's Day and to wrap up around July 4, Village Manager J. Mark Rooney said. Thanks to a combination of changing the size and design of the projects and reusing existing equipment, the village is saving $239,113 off the original $665,642 price tag to complete both projects.

The audit and finance commission unanimously approved recommending the fueling station to the board last month.

In a later interview, commission member Humberto Garcia, who voted for the station, said he still thought his idea of housing smaller gas tanks above ground and buying fuel at a 10 to 20 cent markup was more cost effective, and that he only voted with the majority of the commission because his proposal did not get enough support.

He wanted the money his proposal would have saved to be used to hire more police officers or to bring back the crossing guard program that the village eliminated due to budgetary concerns.

But because the village is using a portion of $20 million in bond sales reserved for public works and road projects to build the dome and fueling station, that money can't be diverted to other funds.

Moreover, village officials say the plan that ultimately got the green light would save more money than Garcia's over time and allow them to negotiate for better deals on fuel.

Trustee Doug Marks questioned the necessity of the project and was the lone trustee to vote against it on Tuesday. He said the village should keep the current practice of filling up at an older fueling station in place.

In response, Rooney said the existing tanks need to be replaced, as they are nearing 30. He added that while the dome has some years left on it, it still has structural issues.