Village hoping for sewer work bids by end of June

Village officials are optimistic that bidding can begin within a month for a sewer project that has been in the planning stage for nearly a decade.

Village Board member Brent Kovalchik said during a recent meeting that there are only two easements left to obtain for the work.

“There were three outstanding easements, all located on East Market Street,” he said. “We have one that came to a conclusion. There’s two we’ve made offers to, and one was ... agreed to, [but] we still haven’t got a signature on an easement on that.”

Kovalchik said courts have ruled in favor of village eminent-domain proceedings for one the easements, though the property owner still can appeal the decision, while a decision is pending on the second easement.

“We do anticipate going out for bid at the end of this month,” Kovalchik said of the sewer project.

“There will be a 60-day bid period, followed by reviewing and awarding of the construction contracts,” Kovalchik said. “Once the contracts have been awarded, an 18-month construction period is anticipated. I would expect to be substantially complete by the end of December 2021 and hopefully do our final closing sometime in 2022.”

The plan calls for the sewer treatment plant at the 96-unit Red Hook Commons to serve the initial new connections while a second facility is constructed. That plant will handle the entire system, which will have 227 connections that are primarily in the village business district.

The village long has sought to have a sewer system constructed in the business district as a replacement for individual septic systems that have prevented commercial growth.

The $4.9 million project is being funding with a $1.2 million grant awarded in 2016 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and a $3.7 million loan from the federal department. The loan is to be paid back over 38 years at an interest rate of 1.88 percent.