Council approves vehicle purchase, public works contracts and Brownfields funding measures

The Rockford City Council on March 17 approved a package of finance and procurement measures, including a revised award for police vehicles, sidewalk and lighting contracts, a police radio purchase and acceptance of federal Brownfields funds.

Alderman Frost presented nine items that the Finance and Personnel Committee recommended for approval. Council amended the team/ vendor for the joint purchasing contract for leased police vehicles and awarded the contract to Rock River Ford of Rockford for $2,011,730, replacing an earlier recommended award to another vendor. Director Haggerty described the planned vehicle order as 46 vehicles in total, including 28 Ford patrol SUVs, 3 sergeant SUVs, 2 Ford Transit squad vans, 2 traffic SUVs, 4 administration SUVs and 6 Ford Escapes.

Other approved items included: - A Citywide sidewalk repairs contract to TCI Concrete for $189,738.75, funded by the 1% infrastructure sales tax. - A City Yards lighting retrofit at no cost to the city under the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program. - A sole-source award to Motorola for police communications radios and accessories for $938,908.28, funded by the Edward Byrne Memorial JAG grant (FY2022) and the FY2025 police operating budget. - An award of engineering supplemental work for the Ninth Street two-way conversion (supplement of $206,994) using Rebuild Illinois grant funds. - Professional services for Brownfields assessment to Fairgram for $160,000 (one-year contract) funded by the Community and Economic Development operating budget. - A supplemental appropriation of $500,000 for East State Street widening, bringing the total appropriation to $3,500,000 (MFT/Rebuild Illinois funds noted). - Acceptance of up to $1,000,000 in supplemental Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grant funding from the U.S. EPA; the grant does not require a local match and has a 60-month term.

Council approved the finance package by roll call. Item-level votes were recorded in the meeting minutes; the amended vehicle contract and the other listed procurements were approved by the council during the March 17 session.

Clerk-recorded funding sources cited during committee presentation include capital lease funds and the police department capital budget for vehicle purchases, the 1% infrastructure sales tax for sidewalks, ComEd program funds for lighting, and federal/state grants for several projects. Director Haggerty said proceeds from auctioned retired vehicles are returned to a vehicle replacement fund and used to offset annual lease payments.