Council reviews 2025 MFT oil-and-chip targets, updates on Tremont and Fifth Street projects and bond funding

City public-works staff and the Committee of the Whole reviewed targets for the mosquito-fund (Motor Fuel Tax) 2025 oil-and-chip contract, ongoing milling and overlay work, and updates on two larger reconstruction projects — Tremont Street and Fifth Street — that are delayed.

Superintendent Landers presented a planning list and an engineer cost estimate of about $343,000 for the oil-and-chip work slated for late summer or early fall. He described oil-and-chip as a maintenance sealing treatment intended to prevent further deterioration; scarification and spray-patching will be used on problem spots ahead of the oil-and-chip work. Council members pressed for consideration of higher‑quality pavement techniques such as mill-and-overlay or reconstruction, but Landers and other staff said reconstruction would require rebuilding street bases and be far more costly and cover fewer miles.

Landers also reported that a milling and resurfacing contractor (Broughton) will begin milling and paving in and around the Walmart, Mallridge, Herndon, Stewart and Taylor Court areas and then move into downtown streets including Eighth Street, Union Street, Woodlawn, McLean and portions of Wyatt; that work is expected to take several days per area. He said some streets in Ward 3 were omitted from the oil-and-chip list because Ward 3 has been receiving more mill-and-overlay work in recent years.

On Tremont Street, Landers said design and grading are ongoing and that resident agreements remain unresolved; he said the city likely will not see construction this year. On the Fifth Street reconstruction, the project remains delayed because the railroad has moved the plan to its real-estate department to prepare a construction and maintenance agreement; real-estate staffing delays at the railroad have pushed the timeline and likely removed the project from the August letting, and staff now aim for a September letting but said construction this season is unlikely. Staff said the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will pay costs initially and the city will be reimbursed; the council previously authorized up to $6 million in bond issuance to fund street projects, with the plan to issue in increments to avoid paying interest on unused proceeds.

Council placed the MFT oil-and-chip contract targets on the regular agenda for approval and asked staff to include color and scheduling information in future materials. No formal vote on larger financing or reconstruction plans occurred at the meeting.