Village of Jackson board approves 2026 street contract, authorizes pre-sale of bonds

The Village of Jackson board on March 10 approved bids and professional contracts for the 2026 street-improvement program and authorized resolutions to proceed with pre-sale financing for both general-obligation and water-and-sewer debt.

A motion to approve the 2026 street improvement work on Eagle, Hawthorne, Aspen and Lynen drives — amended to include "alternate two" — set the full contract price at $2,717,324.31 and carried by voice vote. The board also approved a construction-engineering services agreement with Cedar Corp. not to exceed $275,000.

Why it matters: The projects will be funded through a combination of general-obligation notes for streets (including a TID 7 development-incentive payment) and separate water-and-sewer revenue bonds. Ariana Schmidt of financial advisor Ellers told the board the bids submitted were lower than the preliminary figures in the pre-sale report, so the resolution amounts use the word "approximately" and final dollar amounts will be set at sale.

"The bids have come in and they have come in lower than what we've included in the pre-sale tonight," Ariana Schmidt said, noting the board's pre-sale resolutions intentionally authorize higher amounts than the team expects to issue at the April sale.

Schmidt outlined the timetable: a Moody's rating call is scheduled for March 27, the sale is planned for April 14 and, assuming a successful sale, closing and receipt of funds are targeted around May 1. She said the GO notes will be repaid either from the levy over 20 years or from TID 7 tax-increment revenues over a term matching the tax-increment district's life; water and sewer revenue bonds would be repaid from utility revenues and will not count against the village's GO capacity.

Board members also approved a professional-services proposal from HydroCorp for villagewide commercial and industrial cross-connection inspections covering 2026–2027. The transcript lists the amount for that contract as "$31,5749"; that figure was not clarified at the meeting and is therefore not reported here as a confirmed dollar amount.

Village staff described a localized repair the board asked staff to pursue: repairing washout and heaving at the Stonewall/Eagle/Living Word Lane roundabout caused by a past water-main break. Village staff member Jack recommended a mill-and-overlay solution and provided a technical scope.

"I would recommend we mill that out approximately 3 [inches] deep and put in again approximately three inches of asphalt, an inch and a half of binder and another inch and a half of surface," Jack said, adding the board might need to patch the base in areas where the underlying structure is compromised.

The board also discussed adding capacity for street lighting on several cul-de-sacs and extending lighting approaches to the Cedar Creek bridge as potential additions to the 2026 package or separate follow-up projects.

What happened next: On voice votes the board approved the resolutions authorizing the pre-sale of approximately $3,430,000 in general-obligation promissory notes (Resolution 26-08) and approximately $3,510,000 in water and sewer system revenue bonds (Resolution 26-09). Final sale amounts and interest rates will be presented after the April 14 sale.

Several procedural motions and approvals relating to the projects and financing were recorded in the minutes; all substantive financing details are subject to change at the time of sale.