Shabbona fire station runoff remains unresolved after committee reviews intergovernmental agreement and past funding

The Infrastructure Committee returned to old business on runoff and water intrusion at the Shabbona fire station. A committee member said there is an intergovernmental agreement with the fire district to cut soil, install tile and perform directional boring to Naval Street; the fire district was present at the meeting and committee members asked whether the water intrusion issue persists.

Committee members also referenced a prior city approval of funding to address the problem that was not followed through. "They approved it, but for some reason, they just never followed through with it," the Chair said, noting the city had previously approved spending $70,000 for a repair based on an engineer's proposal. A committee member who has followed the matter for more than a year said multiple solutions were proposed and urged the parties to stop "dilly dallying" and complete the repair. The transcript records concerns that legal fees related to the issue have exceeded the cost of repair: "We paid more lawyer fees than the actual repair of the of the, problem would be," a participant said.

Members disagreed about which body bears responsibility for the work; one member said the site was not the committee's responsibility while others emphasized a two-way responsibility between the municipality and the fire district. The committee did not record a new funding authorization at this meeting and referred the matter for coordination between involved parties.