Cerro Gordo, Illinois

MARCH 06, 2006

A special meeting of the Board of Trustees was held on March 6 in the Municipal Building. The following members were present: Trustees Brad Williams, Lyle Shoraga, Rod Forbes, Jerry Morris, Don Ritchie, and Mike Songer. Also present was Linda Ash, Village Clerk.

The meeting was called to order by Trustee Williams. The purpose of this meeting was to meet with Steve Bainbridge of BGM to discuss grant options available for the construction of a water tower and replace water main lines.

There are three grants that the Village can apply for, a planning, design, and construction grant. Not much benefit to the planning grant.. There would be no guarantee that if a design grant was approved, that a construction grant would be approved. The total project, roughly, would be $681,000. for the construction and $73,000 to cover design, permits, etc. The grant ceiling is $350,000.

To apply for the grants, the Village will need to have everything ready. There should not be as much of a problem with the railroad in securing permission to access the railroad since this involves utilities. However, the railroad does charge accordingly. There is no way to get around going under the railroad for the water lines.

Project readiness is the key for the grant. January 2007 is the deadline for the design and construction grants and ideally should be completed before Thanksgiving.

BGM uses a grant writer. Jack Stewart is used the most. He is an independent writer and charges around $1500 to prepare a grant.

If we have money in the general fund, we will have to include an explanation as to what that money is earmarked for, such as road construction, purchase of equipment, etc. The village will also have to show where their leverage money is coming from. In other words a CDAP grant will not pay for the full project so the Village has to have all their financing in order to send with the grant application.

The tower alone would cost approximately $475,000 for a 250,000 gal tank. There would be an advantage to the Village to have two towers and it would be advantageous to put the new tower next to the old one.

Also needed would be letters of support, from our state representative, local citizens, fire chief and concerns about fire protection.

The meeting was very informative. The Village would be working with Steve as he takes care of water issues. He has known Rob and worked with the Village since 1974.

In other business, there was some discussion about the possibility of buying out the other owners along the South Street alley just to have clarity over ownership.

The lease holder of the old Vulgamott building wants time to figure out what to do. A couple of the Board members are willing to meet with him to do so..

The board members would also like to check with Onyx about the possibility of another spring clean up. Clerk Ash will call Onyx and talk to them about this.

Drainage project is waiting on the final approval of manhole covers from IDOT.

Trustee Morris and Williams met with P.C. Carter to discuss the security system for the P.D. This cost will be pushed back to be included in the next budget year. We will try to look for any grants that may be available.

Motion to adjourn at 7:05 P.M. made by Trustee Morris, second Songer, all yeas.
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Village Clerk 3/06/06