February 9, 2010

December 30th MDES submitted the necessary IEPA permits for a possible water main extension from Liberty Hill to the Fairgrounds Park North of Oregon.  The department is investigating how far the City wants to go with this grant request. January 19th the City met with Sharon Pepin of Community Funding and Planning Services and she will be writing a grant with DCEO for a watermain extension down Liberty Hill to Fairgrounds Park.  Most of the necessary applications required for the watermain can be used in the future for other projects, and should it become apparent that the City will not qualify for a grant, the project will be stopped. 

The City will be replacing one of the pumps at the 10th Street Lift Station.  Repairs for the ancient pump were $6.500 and a new more efficient pump is $8,500.  These pumps are as old as the M&M Supermarket and they need replacement after many years of service. 

January 12th the City had a review of the water and wastewater department finances and for the first time, the City of Oregon knows what it costs to operate the department.  It is going to be difficult to complete the year within the initial budget because of the start-up expense with new management and equipment replacement.

There was a meeting with the Department and MDES about the Oregon budget and to accomplish what needs to be done, the department will be seeking a possible grant for completion of the water meter installations of $200,000, installation of a SCADA system to monitor our motors, pumps and operations of $200,000 and a portable screw type sludge press to dewater the sludge purged from the new wastewater plant upgrade $200,000.  The Department requires a one-dollar per 1000-gallon increase in water rates to cover operation expenses, and I will have the increase on the agenda at the February 22 meeting for an up or down vote.   A rate increase is recommended by the IEPA, CMT and now MDES.

The City has received the check from the IEPA for engineering expense for the wastewater upgrade and it will be used to pay for the sewer line extension North of Oregon.  The money will be put in a bank money market account until it is needed to pay for the sewer line extension on Route 2 North.

January 19th there was a watermain break at 10th and Clay Street.  The Sheriffs department notified the City of the leak and Jeff Pennington was on the job a 5 am. Everything was finishing up around noon.  The watermain was completely broken and separated, which made the repair difficult.

February 4th, a broken water main was located behind the Dollar General Store off Lowden Park Road.  Over a million gallons of water was pumped into the field known as Lake Mistake before the problem was discovered.  The sandy soil made digging difficult because of cave-ins but everything is now repaired. 

January 27th, there was a bid opening for the wastewater main project North of the City and there were 9 bidders.  The lowest bid was $285,545.00 by Copenhaver Construction Inc. of Gilberts Illinois, and the highest bid was $591,469.  The bid was $55,000 over our estimate of $229,973, and it could be that none of the bidders understood the savings by coordinating the project with IDOT.  The City is investigating to see if Copenhaver Construction is qualified to do the project, and we will be meeting February 11th.

Sjolstrom and Son’s have moved their business trailer into the wastewater plant and we will be connecting them with our Internet cable.  CMT will be sharing half of the trailer during construction.  Construction is expected to begin in March. 

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