WILMETTE – The Wilmette village board convened at the public works yard on September 12 to consider a long-term capital plan for improvements to the village’s roads and water plant. While some of the proposed projects discussed at the meeting are not slated to start for years to come, the purpose of the meeting was to educate board members in the decision-making process.
“We are trying to lay out a really informed decision for the board,” President Bob Bielinski said at the meeting.
The village has implemented a new asset management plan that assesses projects based on a risk to level of service measurement. The village’s assets were inventoried and assessed and then rated from one (lowest risk) to five (highest risk) and then prioritized accordingly.
Replacing the water plant’s two aging generators was identified as a top tier project for the village in coming years. Staff estimates the project would be approximately $7.7 million and if approved, completed in 2017 to 2019. The new generators would be diesel powered and housed in a new building to minimize the impact on neighbors and allow for easy maintenance. Compared to the current generators — which are powered by gas and over 20 years old — the new technology would allow the water plant to seamlessly switch to the back-up generators if the plant were at risk of losing power.
Another project discussed at the meeting was replacing the plant’s water intake, originally installed in 1933, and the zebra mussels control lines, installed in the 1990s. Currently, the plant has two intakes — the original 1933 intake and a second intake installed in 1971. Since the 1933 intake cannot support the demand of the water plant (it was installed when the village was much smaller), no back-up exists if the 1971 intake were to fail.
The water intake project is slated for 2023 to 2025 and would cost approximately $14 million. While a decision on this project is for another board, President Bielinski noted that it was helpful for the current board to make decisions about immediate capital projects with an eye toward future needs.
Village Finance Director Melinda Malloy proposed a couple of ways to fund these projects. Malloy explained that the village will pay down its outstanding water fund debt of $16.3 million by 2024, which allows for two financing options. The village could either refinance and extend current debt while layering on additional, or issue new debt without refinance and then determine how to manage a few years of rising debt payments before the existing $16.3 million tapers down.
Bielinski noted that while both proposals were attempts to complete the projects without raising water rates, they did not come without a cost. The village would pay additional interest if the existing debt were re-financed. “It’s not free. None of this is free,” Bielinski said.
Village engineer and public works director Brigitte Berger gave a detailed presentation on the state of the village’s roads. The village utilizes a software program called PAVER to rate the street conditions and determine where to allocate resources. Currently, the village’s streets are rated 68 on the pavement condition index (PCI), which is considered fair.
“Based on today’s conditions we are doing well,” she said. However, the village’s PCI rating is on a downward trend. In 2013 the majority of the village’s roads were in excellent or very good condition, due to work done from a $20 million bond issued in 1998. But since then the village has been diverting money from its road funds to pay for engineering projects, and the roads have begun to deteriorate.
Going forward, the village board will need to decide what its target PCI average is for the roads and whether it is willing to allocate approximately $2 million per year to maintain that target. Village manager Timothy Frenzer noted that ideally the village would adopt a stable maintenance plan, rather than the peaks-and-valleys approach.
“We don’t need an injection of cash, we need steady funding,” Berger said. According to Berger, the village currently fixes roads on a “worst-first” basis.
Malloy provided potential financial models that included issuing new debt with payments covered by an increased tax levy, or issuing new debt while refinancing and extending current debt payments.
Village Trustee Ted McKenna asked what’s wrong with poor or very poor roads — was it an issue of aesthetics or safety? Frenzer responded that poor roads damage vehicles, are difficult to use and impact cyclists. Bielinski said property values could also be hurt. “I think it is beyond ascetics. Part of our job is to protect property values,” he said.
At this point, village trustees were reluctant to weigh in on whether allocating more money to the village’s roads was a priority. Next week, on September 19, the village trustees will convene again to discuss sewers, a project that dwarfs the cost of road maintenance. While the village has no concrete numbers, they are working off a placeholder of $77 million, a number provided by consultants. Trustees said they planned to share their views on roads, once the sewer plan was examined.
“Any way you look it we are looking at big projects that need some attention,” said Trustee Julie Wolf.
To view the presentation from the September 12 meeting go to www.wilmette.com. The next capital projects meeting is scheduled for September 19 at 7 p.m. and will be held at the village hall.
