Bartlett public works budget: street capital, OpenGov rollout, sewer odor pilot and a shift to daily parking fees proposed

The Village of Bartlett Committee of the Whole on March 3 received a multi-department public-works budget briefing emphasizing capital investments and operational priorities for streets, water, sewer and parking.

Streets: Dan, public works staff, said the street budget shows a 21% increase driven chiefly by $5.58 million in capital projects approved earlier. Staff reported 83 in-house sidewalk repairs completed, a reduced urban-forestry trimming cycle (from eight to five years), approximately 3,500 ft of new bike path installed, and an ongoing LED street-light conversion (about 80% complete). Proposed capital items include a replacement bucket truck, a brine master blending station to allow per-storm anti-icing mixes, a 40-inch cold planer to speed pavement work, and a wing plow to widen single-pass clearing.

Water: Tyler summarized water-division work including a meter-replacement program and the My360 customer portal (roughly 230 signups so far). The board discussed lead/copper sampling requirements; staff said eliminating remaining lead services this fiscal year would reduce sampling frequency and related public-notice obligations. Tyler also asked to deploy OpenGov asset-management to water and proposed a bulk-water fill station (credit-card metered) to reduce congestion at the public-works facility and better manage tower turnover; trustees asked whether card fees would be passed to users.

Sewer: Sam described the SLRAT sewer-assessment device that surveyed roughly 500,000 ft of pipe to prioritize jetting and lining work, and said sewer lining will focus on the Apple Valley neighborhood where older clay pipe and odor complaints concentrate. Sam also described an ongoing odor-control pilot at the Brewster Creek lift station using a chemical (bioxide) to reduce hydrogen sulfide; staff said the pilot will run about 30–40 days, includes a H2S sensor to monitor levels, and that the $50,000 capital request is for equipment with annual chemical supply costs to be determined after sensor data.

Parking: Staff proposed eliminating reserved permit parking (about 290 reserved spaces with an average of ~35 quarterly permits) in favor of all daily-fee parking starting in July. Trustees raised enforcement and fairness questions and noted the parking fund remains only minimally profitable since COVID; enforcement costs (police ticketing) were discussed as borne by the police budget rather than parking operations.

Next steps: Staff will return with further details and cost breakdowns (chemical supply estimates for the odor-control system, OpenGov rollout costs per department, and a plan for the parking transition) to inform final budget decisions. The committee adjourned without additional formal votes on the budget items.