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Campton Hills trustees decline $47,000 chip-seal bid for Connors Road; ask staff to price gravel option
Summary
Trustees rejected a motion to approve a $47,000 two-course chip-seal for Connors Road after residents and staff debated durability, horse-trailer use and costs; board asked staff to obtain quotes to return the half-mile stretch to minimum-maintenance gravel.
Trustees in Campton Hills on an unspecified date declined to approve a $47,000 bid to put a two-course chip seal on Connors Road and instead asked staff to provide quotes to return the half-mile stretch to minimum-maintenance gravel.
Highway district staff told the board that when chip seal had been used previously in the village it lasted "13 years" in some places and that a properly applied two-course chip seal could, in their view, last at least eight years. Staff also said the $47,000 bid was from the low bidder; another company had bid "starting from scratch at a 114,000," and the low bidder proposed prep work and two chip-seal courses to extend life.
Residents and trustees debated who uses Connors Road. Highway staff said local drivers and some horse trailers use the route; a resident challenged that, saying they "have never ever seen a horse trailer turn on to Connors Road" and called the claim of significant horse-trailer traffic a "fantasy." The discrepancy was a central point in deciding whether more durable pavement was justified.
Board discussion also covered cost comparisons: the length of the section was described as "approximately a half a mile," and staff gave a general per-mile ballpark for mill-and-replace work as "between 250 and 300" (thousand dollars per mile). Trustees noted chip seal is cheaper than full reconstruction but questioned whether the expected lifespan and risk of damage (for example, by farm equipment) justified the expenditure.
When the chair put the recommendation to confirm the $47,000 chip-seal contract, several trustees voted no. Trustee Bennett responded, "No." Trustee Wagner responded, "No." Trustee Burton responded, "No." Trustee Hopkinsberger said, "I'm gonna say no, but only to, get more information." With the recorded responses, the board did not move forward with the $47,000 recommendation.
After the vote, the board asked staff to obtain estimates for returning the road to minimum maintenance (gravel) and to notify contractors to provide quotes.
The board moved on to other agenda business, including a separate discussion of a developer donation agreement tied to a potential TIF (tax increment financing) and school-district impact fees.
