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Council approves lead service‑line replacement contract and hears timeline for statewide compliance
Summary
Evanston approved a contract for the 2026 lead service‑line replacement program and staff described state timelines, recent required mailings to residents, and options to mitigate a contractor cost increase, including loans and principal forgiveness.
The Evanston City Council on April 27 approved a contract with Joel Kennedy Construction for the city’s 2026 annual lead service‑line replacement project and heard staff describe state timelines that will require continued replacement work over the coming years.
City Engineer Laura Biggs told the council that bid results exceeded initial estimates by about $1.5 million. She said the city expects to mitigate much of the gap through additional loans and principal forgiveness. “We are required to replace all the lead service lines within a specific amount of time,” Biggs said, noting legal and regulatory deadlines set by state rules.
Darryl King, Water Production Bureau Chief, added that the city recently completed a materials inventory submitted to the Illinois EPA and mailed roughly 10,000 notices to addresses believed to have lead or galvanized service lines. Those notices are informational and do not require immediate action by residents, he said, but the city will need to continue outreach and replacements over the next 10–20 years depending on state implementation schedules.
Council members asked about procurement outreach and the limited pool of specialized contractors for lead work; staff said the city had advertised in the Chicago Tribune and through procurement services, invited known contractors and noted the work’s staging constraints make some firms less likely to bid. King and Biggs warned that statewide activity on lead line replacements may reduce contractor availability in coming years.
The council approved the contract and was briefed on required community notifications and the state implementation timeline for lead and copper rules.
