After partnering with an engineering firm in February, Brookfield is moving ahead once more with its water main improvements project this year.
At the village board’s May 13 meeting, trustees approved four contracts with two contractors to complete the improvements projects. They involve replacing the village’s oldest water mains with new ones and swapping a quarter of its water service pipes that contain lead with new copper pipes. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will provide funding for all four contracts in the form of interest-free, 30-year loans.
The first contract is with the La Grange Park-based Suburban General Construction to replace Brookfield’s oldest pipes. According to a village memo, of Brookfield’s 60 miles of water main pipe, about 31 miles are at least 100 years old. The work will involve installing about 6,000 feet of ductile iron pipe as well as replacing valves, fire hydrants and more. The contractor will also be responsible for removing and replacing sections of the curb, sidewalk and pavement, restoring any disturbed parkways, and replacing a small number of lead water service pipes.
Suburban General’s bid for the project was just shy of $5.1 million, coming in about $350,000 lower than the cost estimated by Hancock Engineering, the firm spearheading the improvements for Brookfield. Suburban General beat out three other contractors, whose bids ranged in price from $5.7 million to $6.6 million.
Brookfield awarded the three other contracts, each for one part of the village’s effort to replace its lead service pipes, to Five Star Energy Services, a construction company based in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Two other firms applied for two of the contracts while only one other applied for the third, but Five Star’s bids were the lowest in all three cases.
The three contracts are each worth different amounts between $2 million and $3 million; Brookfield will owe Five Star about $7.3 million across all three. Each of Five Star’s bids came in under the engineer’s estimated cost for that piece of the project, altogether estimated at about $10.1 million.
While it may seem strange that Brookfield and Five Star have entered into three separate contracts for what amounts to one project, Village Engineer Derek Treichel said at the village board meeting that the lead pipe replacement was split up to encourage competitive bidding.
“If we would have bid the $7.5 million project, that eliminates a lot of the smaller contractors, and we were worried that it might restrict competition. We wanted some of these local plumbing contractors that are familiar with Brookfield and its water system to be able to be competitive, and they may only be able to take one job,” said Treichel, who is also the president of Hancock Engineering.
He added that village staff staggered the three requests for bids by two days each to encourage contractors who missed out on the first or second contract to lower their subsequent bids, leading to more competition between contractors.
Replacement timeline
The statewide mandate requiring Brookfield to replace its lead pipes, known as the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act, necessitates that the village submit a “complete and final” plan to replace lead pipes by April 2027. After that, Brookfield will have 17 years to replace them all, though it will be required to replace at least 6% of the pipes each year. At the village board meeting, Treichel, who is also the president of Hancock Engineering, explained why the village is starting the project now by replacing about 23% of the villages lead pipes.
“The way we selected those streets [for lead pipe replacement] is we met with Public Works. We prepared a five-year capital improvements program, and what we’re trying to do with these lead water service replacement projects is get out in front of our street improvements project,” he said. “That way, after we pave the street, we won’t have to come back afterwards and dig up the street to make connections to the watermain, which, in most of the cases in Brookfield, is out in the street.”
Both the lead pipe replacement and street improvements projects will be completed in phases, so the first streets to get their pipes replaced will also be the first streets to be resurfaced.
But Brookfield’s upcoming street improvements aren’t the only reason the village is getting a head start on replacing these pipes — some funding from the EPA is available only this year.
“I anticipate this being the one and only year where we’re able to get a significant increase in lead service funds because a lot of the communities, the disadvantaged communities, that were awarded funds dropped out this year, because, starting next year, they may be able to get loan forgiveness,” Treichel said. “We’re able to scoop up an additional $5.5 million worth of funding this year towards lead water service replacement [for a] total of [$]7.55 million in lead service replacement.”
Brookfield is able to “scoop up” the additional funding due to its participation in the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s Surface Transportation Program, which allows communities to share excess funding for municipal improvements between them since the money has already been set aside.
While the timeline for each project and phase varies, Treichel said they are “all projected to be substantially completed by the end of the year.”
At the meeting, village board members lauded Treichel and village staff for their proactive approach to the projects.
“It is impressive, and it’s not by accidents; it’s because of the work of staff and Hancock Engineering, the planning that we’ve done and the foresight to see this,” Village President Michael Garvey said. “We’re starting a lot earlier than anyone else, or even earlier than we’re required to do, because it’s such an important issue, but by being ready and having the engineering and the foresight, we set ourselves up for this funding.”
