Monmouth Council greenlights engineering work for $22.7M lead service program, details capital‑project funding plan

Monmouth’s City Council voted to hire engineering firm Woodard & Curran to design and oversee the city’s lead service line replacement program and to advance a larger slate of capital improvements that city officials say will be leveraged with state and federal grants.

The contract approved by council covers design, bidding and construction administration for the lead program and is priced at $274,200. Don, a city presenter, told councillors the award lines up with an IEPA allocation of about $22.74 million that the city received for service‑line replacements; staff estimated the work will identify and replace roughly 275 service lines and noted the number could rise once crews excavate unknowns.

The agreement accompanies a broader capital‑projects update from city administration and Public Works. Officials said proceeds from the recent sale of the transfer station freed local reserves that are being used as the required local match to secure further grant funds. Projects highlighted include West Harlem Road water main Phase 2, a downtown Public Square reconstruction, downtown trunk sewer repairs and CSO (combined sewer overflow) gate work intended to reduce overflow incidents.

Public Works director Braden Bledo briefed council on timelines: West Harlem Phase 2 was expected to begin soon and run into late fall; other quadrants of street work are projected through next summer. Bledo also said the wastewater plant’s UV disinfection system was nearing startup and described EPA‑funded lead‑identification work (an EPA contractor will perform outdoor excavations at no charge to homeowners to determine service‑line materials).

Lou, representing city administration, described the financing approach: sale proceeds plus a $5.35 million capital reserve will be used to provide local match and leverage nearly $9.8 million in grant dollars across multiple projects. Officials cautioned there remain unfunded items, notably an estimated $6.3 million gap against an identified $10 million of lead‑line replacement need beyond current grants.

Council approved the Woodard & Curran engineering services motion by roll call. Staff said homeowners with lead or galvanized private‑side materials would not be charged for line replacement tasks performed under the IEPA program and that the IEPA grant is structured as 100% grant funding with no payback.

Council members and staff emphasized next steps: crews will pothole at mains and curb stops to identify materials, the engineering firm will produce bid documents, and staff will return with contract timelines and project schedules. The city also committed to continued outreach to homeowners about how the program will be executed and how private‑side connections will be handled under the IEPA requirements.

The council did not set a final construction start date for all identified work but directed staff to proceed with engineering, permitting and bid phases. The engineering contract and grant award are intended to accelerate identification and replacement work while staff pursues additional funding to address the remaining unfunded lead‑line obligations.