The Bloomington City Council voted Monday to invest more than $18 million in the final phases of the Locust/Colton sewer improvement project.
The city will borrow the money from public loan programs, and pay Champaign-based Clark Dietz up to $2 million for engineering designs.
“We’re very excited tonight,” said Kevin Kothe, Bloomington's operations and engineering services director. “We can see the finish line is getting closer, and we’re very excited to bring this to you,”
He said the nearly $42 million, nine-phase project was scheduled to be finished in 2030, but now is expected to be completed three years ahead of schedule — thanks to an injection of federal COVID-relief funding, and the council’s redirection after June 2021 flooding to prioritize the Locust/Colton project.
Also at the meeting, the council OK’d spending nearly $6.5 million on the first phase of the city's annual asphalt and concrete programs, including general street resurfacing, and sidewalk, curb and gutter replacements.
Locust/Colton sewer, main improvements
The Locust/Colton combined sewer overflow (CSO) separation work is a multiyear project to update older sewer lines and water mains in the area near Bloomington junior and senior high schools, stretching southeast to Oakland and Mercer avenues.
The designs for phases 8 and 9 will be done this fall, said Kothe. Construction should begin in 2025 and wrap up in 2027.
“We’ll end up closing Locust CSO and the Colton CSO and that will eliminate the overflows into Sugar Creek,” he said, noting completion of the project will result in separation of the sewers, reducing the potential for sewer backups into residences after storm-related flooding.
The combined sewer system (CSS) is older, and has proven problematic during storm flooding because storm water can mix with sewage and cause backups.
In this project, the lines are separated and water mains are updated. Designs for the project date back to 2007, said Kothe, adding while the more than $40 million investment represents significant spending, it’s been for the public good.
Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe shared Kothe’s excitement about the project entering the final phases.
“I can’t believe the end of the tunnel is near. For as long as I’ve been on the council we’ve been talking about Locust/Colton. It definitely shows great commitment by the various councils, but also by staff, to see this project to its end,” said Mwilambwe.
City manager spending authority expanded again
In a separate vote, the council OK’d renewing a policy to broaden the city manager’s spending authority for such work. It’s now in place until April 30.
A similar policy was established after the June 2021 floods, but that expired this spring.
The policy authorizes the mayor and city manager to expedite agreements related to water, sewer, and storm water infrastructure projects by bumping up the city manager’s regular $50,000 spending authority and requiring only the mayor’s OK. It’s limited to the current fiscal year’s budgeted projects. The areas covered include construction, design, land acquisition, and more.
Instead of requiring council approval, the policy allows for the city manager to report such contact agreements to the council at its next meeting.
According to council materials, this ordinance will shave off about a month of the administrative process, and allow vendors to work more quickly on high-priority infrastructure projects.
Council OKs spending for resurfacing, sidewalk contracts
The council also awarded two Bloomington-based companies major contracts for fiscal 2024 work.
More than $4 million will go to Rowe Construction for Phase 1 of the city’s annual general resurfacing program, while $2.4 million goes to George Gildner Inc. for the city’s annual sidewalk, curb and gutter replacement program.
Kothe shared a presentation offering details on both programs, and encouraged the community to visit the city’s streets website for more information.
In other business, the council:
- Learned city council meetings will return to their normal location on the fourth floor of the downtown Government Center. That space had been undergoing a renovation.
- Extended the One Main Plaza economic incentive agreement with Red Raccoon Games’ owners Jamie and Kelly Mathy. The agreement requires the Mathys’ Forgetful Friends company to recruit other businesses to One Main Plaza, in exchange for tax breaks. This is the second such 6-month extension granted.
- OK’d several appointments to boards and commissions, including seven inaugural members of the city commission focused on gun violence that was created in June.
- OK’d spending about $200,000 with CDM Smith for the state and federally required lead service line inventory and replacement plan.
