ROCHELLE — At its meeting Monday, the Rochelle City Council heard a presentation on and discussed future downtown work that will take place as a result of receipt of a $1.151 million grant, including a potential new stage, bathrooms and storage structure in the former gazebo area.

The work with money from the Rebuild Illinois Downtown & Main Street Capital Grant program will also include parking lot restoration and the construction of two new parking lots. The demolition of the vacant old bank drive-thru on the corner of Lincoln Highway and Lincoln Avenue and the corner of Washington and 2nd Avenue will be the location of the new lots. Seven existing lots will be reconstructed and repaired.

The city's grant application originally called for a new public restroom structure with two separate restrooms. Following the loss of the gazebo downtown due to weather over the winter, the city shifted its plan to the stage, storage and restrooms structure in that area to serve as a gathering space. 

Other potential aspects of the structure would include a future concessions space, built-in bench seating, drinking and pet fountains, and a fireplace. The stage was covered in plans shown Monday. There would be men's, women's and a family restroom. The new structure would be located in the now most-northern parking lot in the gazebo area. The plan is for maintenance of the facility to be done by city staff. The city has had discussions with local organizations to run and book the facility, which is planned to be about 1,700 square feet. 

"I envision this as a place where we could have things like concerts and food trucks during the week for a few hours in the summertime," Mayor John Bearrows said. "People can go there and just gather. It's another way to draw people to the downtown area."

The downtown project as a whole also includes major electrical service improvements including placing all electric lines underground. At Monday's meeting, the council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the retention of BHMG Engineers to design that work. That aspect of the project will be funded through downtown and southern gateway TIF bonds.

The project will start at Lincoln Manor and end at 4th Avenue. The goal of the project is to place all existing overhead facilities underground as well as upgrade any services that are in need along the way. The expenditure for the retention of services was $110,300.

Sidewalks

The council unanimously approved a bid from AA Construction Concrete, Inc. for $658,649.55 for its yearly sidewalk/pedestrian path improvements. The council received four bids for the work. The AA Construction Concrete bid was the lowest bid and seven percent lower than the estimated cost of the project. 

The city's sidewalk improvement program is funded by its utility tax fund. Since its inception, over 1.1 million square feet of sidewalk and/or other pedestrian paths, concrete curb and gutter, and hundreds of accessibility ramps have been improved through replacement and/or new construction.

On Monday, approval was also given to City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh to negotiate further change order work not to exceed $44,000 for other improvements and upgrades to sidewalks and streets adjacent to this project if necessary with favorable prices. The work is expected to be substantially completed by the end of September. 

"Being in other communities and seeing the condition of their sidewalks, we're very blessed to have the utility tax fund," Fiegenschuh said. "Thanks to the mayor and council for supporting that and to our staff for continuing to promote the sidewalk replacement program."

Proclamations

Bearrows read a proclamation at the meeting in honor of National Lineman Appreciation Day April 18 and presented it to RMU linemen. Bearrows also read a proclamation in honor of Arbor Day April 26 and presented it to Public Works Director Tim Isley. Bearrows also read a proclamation in honor of Motorcycle Awareness Month in May. 

Award

Fiegenschuh recognized Chris Cardott and Jessica Rogers of the city's finance department for their recent receipt of a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association. The city has received the recognition for nine years in a row.