Water plant vote nears; officials say no
recent talks with CWLP
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
As the time to vote on whether to proceed with a new water plant nears, Village of Chatham officials
say there have been no recent talks with folks from Springfield CWLP, and none are planned.
Trustees and Mayor Tom Gray made several comments on the matter at Tuesday's regular board
meeting. Bids for the water plant have come in to officials from the South Sangamon Water
Commission, and most have been under the engineer's estimate, save for the installation of the
transmission line.
The vote on whether to proceed with the now-estimated $22 million-plus project could come as
soon as the March 23 meeting, or after the Commission is able to present a firm cost per 1,000
gallons of water that it could sell to the two municipalities involved - Chatham and New Berlin.
Regardless, a decision on whether to proceed with the project is imminent.
Trustee Matt Mau talked Tuesday night of inviting officials from CWLP to a committee meeting to
hear what their latest offer may be. Chatham's current water contract with CWLP expires in 2013, and
trustee Chuck Herr expressed optimism that the new water plant could be up and functioning by that
time.
"Why?" asked Gray. "We need a full blown contract with contract terms. We've heard
presentations. Until they get us a written offer with all the details involved, I don't see the point of
inviting them down."
"They won't come and give us a firm offer," trustee Jeanne Boyle added. "They've been playing this
dance for years."
By next year, Chatham is expected to be paying $4.65 per 1,000 gallons of water to CWLP. That
cost is expected to rise to the neighborhood of $5.05 by 2013.
By contrast, village officials are hopeful that the SSWC will be able to initially charge in the
$4.65-$4.75 range per 1,000 gallons when that plant comes online. And other municipalities and
customers can be added, and future costs will be more controllable, officials added.
"There's a lot of profit in that rate for Springfield," Gray stated. "We're subsidizing their water
department."
"We should be paying a wholesale rate plus a reasonable cost for production," Herr added. "We're
paying a retail rate with profit tacked on top of it. We're at a whim of annual 3-6 percent rate increases."
As for the water plant bids, most came in near or under estimates, except for the water plant
installation ($5.47 million actual vs. 11.23 million estimated) and transmission main installation ($8.5
million actual vs. $4.5 million estimated).
And on that front, Herr said the SSWC and engineers will look at alternative ways to install the
transmission line, with one option being having the Commission hire an operator, engineer and
small crew to put the line in themselves. Doing the process that way should bring the cost down
closer to the engineer's estimate, Herr said.
The water plant and well sites would be located east of Rochester, near Buckhart. Local officials
have been working on this proposed project for over 12 years.
•In other news, the board agreed to a four-year contract with its IBEW Local 51 workers, which
include the linemen in the electric department. The deal includes average salary increases of just
over three percent and the addition of one personal day.
•Though the Ball-Chatham School District has passed its portion of the Intergovernmental
Agreement with the Village (see related story), village officials again tabled the issue Tuesday.
Trustees have not yet seen the final version, but officials said all terms of the agreement had been
agreed to.
•In Intergovernmental Agreement with Chatham Township was tabled again as well. That
agreement involves having village officials take over payroll duties for the Township.
•An ordinance dealing with sump pump discharge onto village streets and into storm sewers was
also tabled to allow for a compliance clause to be included. There have been issues in town with ice
build-up on some streets from sump pump water discharge.
Village officials reiterated that they will work with local homeowners on a case-by-case basis to
help find a place to discharge their water. The clause will allow six months for homeowners to come
into compliance with the new law.
•Representatives from BLH Computers of Springfield addressed board members at a recent
committee meeting, offering local residents a chance to recycle their old computers or televisions at a
reduced cost. BLH would charge the Village 20 cents per resident, per year, using the 2000 census
count (about $2,000 annually), for a proposed three-year contract.
There was no talk about the issue at Tuesday's village board meeting. It will continue to be
discussed at the committee level, but Herr said there could be a law coming on the books soon
dealing with items such as computers and televisions no longer being allowed in landfills. If that
comes about, all electronic dealers would have to have some sort of recycling plan in place.
•There has been talk of a proposed ice cream shop/mini golf facility on the west side of the village
square. Rhett Mays and Bob Masten appeared at a committee meeting last week to pitch their
proposal, which included a request for TIF funds for a wooden privacy fence. The business would be
called "Funilla Ice."
The developers are working with TIF coordinator Chad Dierking on a proposal. Talks will continue.
•Representatives from the University of Illinois-Springfield have contacted the Village about
possibly using the Community Park baseball field for practices and games for the new UIS baseball
team. Conversations will continue along those lines.
•Village committee meetings will be held Tuesday, March 2, beginning at 6 p.m. with Administration.
recent talks with CWLP
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
As the time to vote on whether to proceed with a new water plant nears, Village of Chatham officials
say there have been no recent talks with folks from Springfield CWLP, and none are planned.
Trustees and Mayor Tom Gray made several comments on the matter at Tuesday's regular board
meeting. Bids for the water plant have come in to officials from the South Sangamon Water
Commission, and most have been under the engineer's estimate, save for the installation of the
transmission line.
The vote on whether to proceed with the now-estimated $22 million-plus project could come as
soon as the March 23 meeting, or after the Commission is able to present a firm cost per 1,000
gallons of water that it could sell to the two municipalities involved - Chatham and New Berlin.
Regardless, a decision on whether to proceed with the project is imminent.
Trustee Matt Mau talked Tuesday night of inviting officials from CWLP to a committee meeting to
hear what their latest offer may be. Chatham's current water contract with CWLP expires in 2013, and
trustee Chuck Herr expressed optimism that the new water plant could be up and functioning by that
time.
"Why?" asked Gray. "We need a full blown contract with contract terms. We've heard
presentations. Until they get us a written offer with all the details involved, I don't see the point of
inviting them down."
"They won't come and give us a firm offer," trustee Jeanne Boyle added. "They've been playing this
dance for years."
By next year, Chatham is expected to be paying $4.65 per 1,000 gallons of water to CWLP. That
cost is expected to rise to the neighborhood of $5.05 by 2013.
By contrast, village officials are hopeful that the SSWC will be able to initially charge in the
$4.65-$4.75 range per 1,000 gallons when that plant comes online. And other municipalities and
customers can be added, and future costs will be more controllable, officials added.
"There's a lot of profit in that rate for Springfield," Gray stated. "We're subsidizing their water
department."
"We should be paying a wholesale rate plus a reasonable cost for production," Herr added. "We're
paying a retail rate with profit tacked on top of it. We're at a whim of annual 3-6 percent rate increases."
As for the water plant bids, most came in near or under estimates, except for the water plant
installation ($5.47 million actual vs. 11.23 million estimated) and transmission main installation ($8.5
million actual vs. $4.5 million estimated).
And on that front, Herr said the SSWC and engineers will look at alternative ways to install the
transmission line, with one option being having the Commission hire an operator, engineer and
small crew to put the line in themselves. Doing the process that way should bring the cost down
closer to the engineer's estimate, Herr said.
The water plant and well sites would be located east of Rochester, near Buckhart. Local officials
have been working on this proposed project for over 12 years.
•In other news, the board agreed to a four-year contract with its IBEW Local 51 workers, which
include the linemen in the electric department. The deal includes average salary increases of just
over three percent and the addition of one personal day.
•Though the Ball-Chatham School District has passed its portion of the Intergovernmental
Agreement with the Village (see related story), village officials again tabled the issue Tuesday.
Trustees have not yet seen the final version, but officials said all terms of the agreement had been
agreed to.
•In Intergovernmental Agreement with Chatham Township was tabled again as well. That
agreement involves having village officials take over payroll duties for the Township.
•An ordinance dealing with sump pump discharge onto village streets and into storm sewers was
also tabled to allow for a compliance clause to be included. There have been issues in town with ice
build-up on some streets from sump pump water discharge.
Village officials reiterated that they will work with local homeowners on a case-by-case basis to
help find a place to discharge their water. The clause will allow six months for homeowners to come
into compliance with the new law.
•Representatives from BLH Computers of Springfield addressed board members at a recent
committee meeting, offering local residents a chance to recycle their old computers or televisions at a
reduced cost. BLH would charge the Village 20 cents per resident, per year, using the 2000 census
count (about $2,000 annually), for a proposed three-year contract.
There was no talk about the issue at Tuesday's village board meeting. It will continue to be
discussed at the committee level, but Herr said there could be a law coming on the books soon
dealing with items such as computers and televisions no longer being allowed in landfills. If that
comes about, all electronic dealers would have to have some sort of recycling plan in place.
•There has been talk of a proposed ice cream shop/mini golf facility on the west side of the village
square. Rhett Mays and Bob Masten appeared at a committee meeting last week to pitch their
proposal, which included a request for TIF funds for a wooden privacy fence. The business would be
called "Funilla Ice."
The developers are working with TIF coordinator Chad Dierking on a proposal. Talks will continue.
•Representatives from the University of Illinois-Springfield have contacted the Village about
possibly using the Community Park baseball field for practices and games for the new UIS baseball
team. Conversations will continue along those lines.
•Village committee meetings will be held Tuesday, March 2, beginning at 6 p.m. with Administration.
Chatham Clarion
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Issue Date: Feb. 25, 2010