$1.8 million for St. Charles road projects heads to full council vote

St. Charles aldermen this week approved numerous spending measures, highlighted by a list of planned road projects for 2021 that will cost roughly $1.8 million.

The work on 14 street sections across the city includes roadway resurfacing, repairs on sidewalks, utilities, curbs and gutters, and a water main replacement on South 12th Avenue between Madison and Ronzheimer avenues.

The city received six price quotes and awarded the contract to the lowest-priced bid from Aurora-based Geneva Construction, which completed the city's road projects in 2017. The bid was $600,000 less than the budgeted amount.

The work, paid for through the motor fuel tax, is scheduled to begin in May and be mostly completed in August.

After the unanimous passage in the Government Services Committee of aldermen, the measures likely will be approved in a final vote by the alderman at an upcoming city council meeting.

"We weren't sure how COVID would affect our bids," said St. Charles Public Works Manager Ken Jay. "Our asphalt price is as good as 2016 and 2017 and we're replacing a fire hydrant for what we paid in 2012. As you can see, we're quite a bit under budget and we overshot a little bit."

The committee also approved a $759,000 contract to Hoerr Construction for sanitary sewer lining, $600,000 to Hooper Corporation for overhead electric utility work, $330,000 to Archon Construction for underground electric utility work, and $150,000 to Meade Electric for streetlight maintenance.

The aldermen approved smaller contracts as well as $162,500 to replenish rock salt supplies depleted this winter. The police department's social work program with the Association for Individual Development was continued for another year at a cost of $60,000.