Street and water system improvements in Brookfield will begin within two weeks now that the village has sold a total of $7.5 million in bonds to finance improvements that will take place over the next three years. On June 12, the Village of Brookfield completed two separate bond sales?”one for streets and one for water system improvements. The bonds will be repaid over a 20-year period.
There will be no property tax increase as a result of the bond sale. Instead, the $4.48 million bond issue for the street improvements will be paid for through a 1-percent local sales tax approved by voters in March. According to Philip McKenna of Kane, McKenna Capital Inc., the village’s bond counsel, the new sales tax will be more than enough to cover the cost of the bonds. The $3.08 million in bonds sold for water system improvements will be paid for through water revenues of the village.
At Monday night’s meeting of the village board, trustees voted to accept two construction bids. The village will expend some $1.75 million on roadway improvements this summer, in addition to a separately funded improvement project already underway on Prairie Avenue between 31st Street and Washington Avenue.
The village unanimously voted to hire J. Nardulli Concrete to do the work, although its bid was actually the second lowest of three submitted. After trustees agreed that the low bid from Alamp Concrete was not acceptable after examination of the firm’s financial records, the board voted to reject all three bids and then hire J. Nardulli after waiving competitive bidding.
The new project, to be paid for with bond proceeds, will include improvements to Elm and Park avenues between Ogden and Southview avenues and Oak and Sunnyside avenues between Ogden and Burlington avenues. The bid also includes $230,000 for reconfiguring Rockefeller Avenue between Golf Road and Hollywood Avenue into a parking lot for Riverside-Brookfield High School.
According to Derek Treichel, the village’s engineer, work on the road improvements will begin in mid-July and end in October. However, there is still some uncertainty regarding the timing of the Rockefeller Avenue project, since the village has not yet approved an agreement with the high school district, which will reimburse Brookfield for the cost of the parking lot improvement.
Brookfield trustees also approved a $1.74 million contract for ongoing replacement of all the village’s old 4-inch water mains in various spots throughout the village. The old mains, some of which are decades old, will be replaced with new 8-inch mains. That work is also expected to begin in mid-July and wrap up in late October.
Trustees unanimously voted to accept the low bid for the work from Di Paolo Construction Company.
In addition, Treichel said the village will bid out a second water main replacement project this summer. That work will begin in mid-August.
The Village of Brookfield closes the bond sale, officially, today.
