Fillmore Street improvements out; Coles Street in

Two weeks ago, the Vandalia City Council approved the use of federal stimulus funds to build new sidewalks between Vandalia Community High School and the Kaskaskia College Vandalia Campus.

Subsequent to that April 6 meeting, city officials learned that they would have to go with its second option for the $210,978 in stimulus funds

At the April 6 meeting, aldermen received from City Administrator Jimmy Morani information on two options for the stimulus funds – sidewalks along Fillmore Street or a new concrete roadway on Coles Street between St. Louis Avenue and the bridge south of Main Street.

Morani and Scott Hunt of Hurst-Roche Engineers of Hillsboro told aldermen that they learned from Illinois Department of Transportation officials that the city would have to acquire additional right of way for new sidewalks and/or a widening of Fillmore Street.

Hunt explained that projects using federal stimulus monies have to be bid out by March 2010, and that the city would not be ready to let bids for the work on Fillmore Street by that time, due to the work in acquiring more right of way on the south side of the street.

Therefore, the city will proceed with option No. 2, which Director of Public Works John Moyer said is at the top of the city’s list of long-term goals.

The new concrete surface is needed for Coles Street, Moyer said, because of the amount of heavy-truck traffic using that street.

Also at Monday’s meeting:

• Alderman Larry Cable, chairman of the council’s water and disposal committee, asked that the city consider getting cost estimates for increasing the height of a dam in the Kaskaskia River near the city’s new raw water intake.

Cable said he believes that raising the height of the dam will help the new intake to work better.

Alderman Chad Feldpouch said he would like to also see the city consider a second, higher intake.

The city has continually had problems with the intake since it was installed several years ago. The river washes sand over the intake.

• The city agreed to have the South Central Illinois Regional Planning and Development Commission write a grant application for state Community Development Assistance Program funds that could be used for water and sewer line extensions along West Main Street.

The extensions will serve Sloan’s Implement, which plans to build a new John Deere dealership south of Wal-Mart in the city’s western Interstate 70 interchange.

• In a 4-2 vote, the council accepted the bid of Johannes Construction of Centralia for a new city cemetery building.

Johannes’s bid of $84,000 was one of seven received by the city and was the only one under the engineers’ estimate of $85,000.

In presenting the bids, Hunt told aldermen that H-R Engineers is aware that Johannes is involved in litigation related to another project in Vandalia, and that that project is behind schedule.

Aldermen Jerry Swarm and Chad Feldpouch voted against the acceptance of Johannes’s bid. Voting for the bid were Dean Black, Larry Bennett, Cable and Bret Brosman; Mike Hobler and Lisa Duggins were not present for the meeting.

“I’d like to go with the low bid,” Swarm said, “but due to the pending litigation, (I’d prefer that we didn’t).”

Hunt said that the bid from Johannes was about 15 percent below the next-lowest bid.

To that, Feldpouch said, “It’s a pretty big difference in price, but we may run into big problems.”

• The council, at the recommendation of the Illinois Municipal League, passed a resolution voicing the city’s opposition to the proposed closure of Illinois Department of Human Services offices in Vandalia and other small communities in the state.