Libertyville, Vernon Hills and Mundelein seek roadwork bids together to save

Drivers won't notice a difference, but a big change is planned for next year's local road repairs in Libertyville, Vernon Hills and Mundelein.

Those communities have agreed to work together to produce a single bid covering all three towns' street improvement programs for 2019. They hope the maneuver will attract more competitive bids from contractors, saving taxpayer money.

"Larger quantities typically means lower unit costs and savings," said David Brown, public works director/village engineer in Vernon Hills.

The work includes resurfacing projects and related utility work, also known as roadway pavement rehabilitation or "shave and pave." Towns typically have an annual program to prolong the life of streets before they need to be rebuilt, which is much more expensive.

In this case, the idea sprung from the working relationships among the public works directors and engineers in the three towns.

"They thought, 'Why not? Let's see if there is some financial advantage to work together,'" said Mundelein Village Administrator John Lobaito. "It was as simple as that."

The joint bid package will contain one contract and each village will be responsible to pay its share of the work. All three village boards have approved an agreement outlining the parameters.

For the first year, Mundelein and Vernon Hills each will prepare and submit information about their proposed work to Libertyville, which will serve as the official coordinator of the joint program. That position will rotate in subsequent years.

In Libertyville, a voter-approved funding program to repair local streets came to an end last year.

"Because we have completed our six-year project for roads, we now have limited dedicated funding, which will make for a smaller road rehabilitation program," Village Administrator Kelly Amidei said.

"By combining with the other communities we hope to achieve economies of scale to receive competitive bid results similar to our larger projects in the past," she said.

Libertyville had been doing about $2.5 million per year in shave-and-pave projects, but that will drop to about $675,000 for 2019. Public Works Director Paul Kendzior said the three villages' programs combined next year should about equal to Libertyville's total of past years.

Finding savings is particularly important for road programs that rely on increasingly limited state motor fuel tax or general budget funds, Brown said.

In Vernon Hills, the motor fuel tax pays for only 50 percent of local road rehab needs, he said.

Kendzior said that there is an advantage for potential bidders to think about considering three towns in one bid.

Work such as curb removal and replacement, milling and resurfacing follow the same standard for all communities.

"The contractor has just one big work site and doesn't have to mobilize three times," he said.