VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
NOVEMBER 18, 2019
CALL TO ORDER
Trustee Mark Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Trustee Mark Gaffino, Mayor Berman, Trustee Mike Lowery, Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Public Works Director John Laskowski.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of the Services Committee Minutes dated October 21, 2019
Motion for approval made by Trustee Lowery and seconded by Mayor Berman. All in favor. Motion approved.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Lead Water Service Line Replacements
Public Works Director John Laskowski stated that lead service line replacement will be done on Maple and Elm Streets. When replacing watermain, the services get reconnected to the new watermain from the houses. If the Village exposes a water service and discover it is lead, the Village will replace it from the b-box to the main. The section of main from the b-box to the meter in the house is the responsibility of the homeowners to maintain. The Village did an inventory of the houses on Maple and Elm. Twenty-two of the 36 homes responded and of the 22 homes, 5 of them have lead services. The Village took an inventory throughout town and initially thought there were 700 homes with lead services. After further review, it appears to be somewhere around 200. Laskowski said that with the Maple and Elm Street project, Staff is recommending the village absorb the cost of the lead service from the b-box to the meter. The cost would be about $5,000 – $6,000 for each service.
Village Administrator Steve Bosco said there is a standing internal policy in place that any time the village opens up a parkway when doing a water replacement, if the line is lead from the main to the b-box, the village automatically replaces it. When it is from the b-box to the home, the village has not replaced it. What has changed is that the state has been working on legislation that could potentially require village’s to replace lines from the b-box to the homes. That is not official yet. Bosco said the reason this is up for discussion tonight is because Maple and Elm were due for road replacement. Staff then realized this is one of the streets that have lead service lines. Since it is an expenditure the village would not normally expend on the private side, staff is requesting the Board’s guidance.
Trustee Lowery said that his concern would be with setting a precedent and other residents then expecting the same, unless the state would provide the village with a tax incentive of some kind.
Mayor Berman said that the Village needs to know exactly what the village’s exposure is in order to get a better determination on the cost. Mayor Berman noted that houses built before the 1960s would have lead pipes.
Trustee Lowery said he didn’t see the sense of replacing half of the line when the village is going to tear up the road. Lowery suggested keeping it positive and moving forward with replacing the lead pipes in the area of Maple and Elm.
Trustee Martinez asked if the village would be able to get a grant that could be used by homeowners if they decide to switch the lines from lead.
Gaffino suggested budgeting a certain amount of money each year as a grant where residents can apply for funds.
Bosco asked for direction for this project on Maple and Elm. Bosco said that an estimate cost would be $50,000 for the homes on Maple & Elm.
The committee said it is a good idea to proceed since the village is putting the new main in. The village will move forward with the village paying for the cost of the replacement of lead pipes.
Bosco said that this will go back to the Village Board when the bids are complete. John Laskowski will give EEI direction to design the project. Mayor Berman asked what the village will be bidding. Bosco said the cost from the main to the house.
OLD BUSINESS – None
OTHER INFORMATION – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Lowery and seconded by Mayor Berman. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
