Council discusses ICIP priorities: fire-station repairs, regional training and long-term bioreactor study

Council and staff reviewed the village’s Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP) lists and discussed priorities for public safety and water resilience.

Chief Martinez said village-wide fire-suppression remains the top priority but acknowledged funding will likely come in pieces; he described an array of needed equipment and station maintenance and said remodeling Fire Station 1 would require roughly $175,000 for items such as stucco, paint and flooring. "We have the money in the LGIP," one councilor urged, encouraging council to fund the $175,000 in the upcoming budget rather than wait years for state capital outlay. Chief Martinez also described recruiting and a planned physical fitness testing schedule for applicants.

On long-term water and wastewater planning, staff reminded council a $50,000 capital outlay grant will fund a feasibility study for a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system that, if implemented at full scale, had been estimated on the ICIP list at about $6 million; staff framed the project as a study-first approach to assess whether treated effluent could be recycled for non-potable uses such as road watering and potentially augmenting fire-suppression supplies.

Councilors asked for clearer project timelines and urged staff to identify which ICIP items should receive priority funding and whether smaller, immediate projects (for example, the $175,000 station remodel) could be addressed from existing village funds. Staff asked council members to rank items and return their sheets by May 20; the council will revisit the prioritized list on May 26 and consider a resolution adopting the ICIP on June 9.

No formal funding commitments were made at the April 28 meeting; the budget discussion and any authorizations will occur at future meetings.