Water project to be bid, Village could decide
fate in early 2010
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
The Chatham Village Board is inching closer and closer to having to make a decision on what
water supply will serve village residents in future years.
The proposed South Sangamon Water Plant, which would be built east of Rochester off Buckhart
Road, has an estimated $20 million price tag.
The villages of Chatham and New Berlin have formed the South Sangamon Water Commission,
which will be seeking bids on the project in the coming weeks. Designs for the transmission main,
equipment, treatment plant and raw water mains are ready to be bid out, officials have said.
Once the bids come in, the Commission will be able to tell the two villages much more firm figures
as to the initial cost of water per $1,000 gallons that it can sell to each municipality.
At that point, the village boards of Chatham and New Berlin will vote on whether to proceed with the
project or abandon it and stick with Springfield CWLP for their future water needs. That vote could
come as soon as February or March 2010.
In news from Tuesday's Chatham Village Board meeting:
•As part of the Village's continued administrative review process, surveys were conducted with
other local municipalities for certain administrators' salaries, and three have been adjusted
accordingly.
Bi-weekly salaries have been set for Village Manager Del McCord ($3,653,85), Chief Fiscal Officer
Sherry Dierking ($3,076.93) and Code Enforcement Officer Joe Mackay ($2,701.04).
•The board voted to annex 0.68 acres of property owned by the Yeamans, located near Community
Park and adjacent to a creek. Trustee Matt Mau voted abstained, trustees Jill Reynolds and Joe
Schatteman were absent.
•The 2009 tentative property tax levy was approved by the board. The ballooned figure of a 15.63
percent increase as passed in order for the village to capture all new tax monies to which it is
entitled. The actual levy rate is expected to be 0.465 or 0.466 per $100 EAV, McCord said, and that
rate is almost identical to the 2008 rate (0.4667).
•Village officials, including GIS Coordinator Patrick McCarthy, have been submitting information to
the U.S. Census Bureau for the upcoming 2010 Census. McCarthy said that Chatham has an
additional 156 residences from the February 2009 count, putting the overall figure at over 4,500 total
households in Chatham.
While the Census takers will use an actual count, using multipliers of 2.8 to 3.2, the expected
population in Chatham is estimated at between 13,000 and 15,000. Those figures were 8,600 in
2000 and 10,200 in a special census taking in 2005.
The largest growth in 2009 was seen in the northwest part of town in the Apartment Mart
development, as well as in the Willows and Foxx Creek subdivisions. Final new housing permit
numbers for 2008 were at 163, and the numbers are expected to be similar for 2009, village officials
said.
•Village board meetings in 2010 will continue to be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of
each month, except for December, when they will be held on the third Tuesday.
•Village committee meetings will be held Tuesday, Dec. 29, beginning at 6 p.m. with
Administration, followed by Public Works.
fate in early 2010
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
The Chatham Village Board is inching closer and closer to having to make a decision on what
water supply will serve village residents in future years.
The proposed South Sangamon Water Plant, which would be built east of Rochester off Buckhart
Road, has an estimated $20 million price tag.
The villages of Chatham and New Berlin have formed the South Sangamon Water Commission,
which will be seeking bids on the project in the coming weeks. Designs for the transmission main,
equipment, treatment plant and raw water mains are ready to be bid out, officials have said.
Once the bids come in, the Commission will be able to tell the two villages much more firm figures
as to the initial cost of water per $1,000 gallons that it can sell to each municipality.
At that point, the village boards of Chatham and New Berlin will vote on whether to proceed with the
project or abandon it and stick with Springfield CWLP for their future water needs. That vote could
come as soon as February or March 2010.
In news from Tuesday's Chatham Village Board meeting:
•As part of the Village's continued administrative review process, surveys were conducted with
other local municipalities for certain administrators' salaries, and three have been adjusted
accordingly.
Bi-weekly salaries have been set for Village Manager Del McCord ($3,653,85), Chief Fiscal Officer
Sherry Dierking ($3,076.93) and Code Enforcement Officer Joe Mackay ($2,701.04).
•The board voted to annex 0.68 acres of property owned by the Yeamans, located near Community
Park and adjacent to a creek. Trustee Matt Mau voted abstained, trustees Jill Reynolds and Joe
Schatteman were absent.
•The 2009 tentative property tax levy was approved by the board. The ballooned figure of a 15.63
percent increase as passed in order for the village to capture all new tax monies to which it is
entitled. The actual levy rate is expected to be 0.465 or 0.466 per $100 EAV, McCord said, and that
rate is almost identical to the 2008 rate (0.4667).
•Village officials, including GIS Coordinator Patrick McCarthy, have been submitting information to
the U.S. Census Bureau for the upcoming 2010 Census. McCarthy said that Chatham has an
additional 156 residences from the February 2009 count, putting the overall figure at over 4,500 total
households in Chatham.
While the Census takers will use an actual count, using multipliers of 2.8 to 3.2, the expected
population in Chatham is estimated at between 13,000 and 15,000. Those figures were 8,600 in
2000 and 10,200 in a special census taking in 2005.
The largest growth in 2009 was seen in the northwest part of town in the Apartment Mart
development, as well as in the Willows and Foxx Creek subdivisions. Final new housing permit
numbers for 2008 were at 163, and the numbers are expected to be similar for 2009, village officials
said.
•Village board meetings in 2010 will continue to be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of
each month, except for December, when they will be held on the third Tuesday.
•Village committee meetings will be held Tuesday, Dec. 29, beginning at 6 p.m. with
Administration, followed by Public Works.
Chatham Clarion
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Issue Date: Dec. 17, 2009