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By: Jeff Helfrich - Updated: 3 days ago

ROCHELLE — At its meeting Monday, the Rochelle City Council unanimously approved an ordinance waiving competitive bidding requirements for the first phase of improvements to the building it purchased last year at 1030 S. 7th St. that houses its water, water reclamation and electric departments and will soon include its engineering department.

Office space is needed to accommodate the engineering department’s current and future needs including file and plan storage, a conference room, equipment, bathroom addition, fixtures, HVAC and plumbing adjustments/extensions, exterior façade improvements and more.

The council’s Monday approval will allow City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh to enter into contract construction agreements and/or purchase materials to complete the project. City Engineer Sam Tesreau has developed cost estimates for the work at a total of $158,700 for the phase and will oversee the project, eliminating the need for an engineering contractor. 

Tesreau said the work will include a new sign out front. The city hopes to begin the work around Sept. 1 depending on the availability of materials. 

The second and final phase of the improvements to the building is planned for next year and the estimated cost for that is just under $500,000, Tesreau said. 

“The second phase is planned for more of a Rochelle Municipal Utilities project to build facilities for their crews such as bathrooms, locker rooms and a break room area,” Tesreau said. “Right now they're just meeting at tables and there aren't enough bathrooms down there. There will be a location where we can meet with other staff members and customers and developers.”

Phase two of the project will also include new fencing and automatic gates.

The council unanimously approved a proposal from Ameritrack Rail Services for at-grade replacements of two city-owned railroad crossings at a cost of $587,388. 

Railroads are responsible for maintaining and replacing at-grade crossings of public streets. The two crossings that will see improvements are at Steam Plant Road and Caron Road. The crossings were constructed in 2006 and now need replacement including ties, rail, concrete crossing panels and the adjacent roadway pavement. Three bids were received ranging in price from $587,388 to $690,966. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $564,929. The project will be funded by city railroad revenue.

City Economic Development Director Jason Anderson said the critical component to the project is that the railroad and road will have to be shut down during the work.

“It will impact every industry in the industrial park and every industry that uses our railroad,” Anderson said. “It's a big project that we will hopefully get done sometime in the next couple of months. The closure and work won’t take long. We really can't afford to have it be closed for replacement for more than a week.”

The council unanimously approved a special use and variance of code for new signage that will be put in at Acres Bistro and the Scalehouse Lounge located downtown at 407 Lincoln Highway.

The signage will include a three-dimensional, lighted roof sign on the back of the building and a three-dimensional sign on the front of the building. The City’s Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously recommended the special use and variance of code to the council at its meeting last week.

“They're getting creative with some downtown signage to bring in patrons to their businesses,” City Community Development Director Michelle Pease said. “They wanted to do something unique.”

Rochelle Municipal Utilities Water/Water Reclamation Superintendent Adam Lanning made a presentation at the meeting regarding phosphorus removal issues at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“We're getting good removal at times of the year and not good removal at other times of the year,” Lanning said. “Right now, we don't know why and we're still trying to pin that down. I'm hopeful we can get these peaks down with the system we have in place. But if we don't, the impact is going to be having to install chemical removal. That cost would be $1.1 million with a $30,000-50,000 annual operating cost.”

During the meeting, Sydney Jackson was sworn in as a Rochelle Police Department officer. In July, Jackson graduated from the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center. She's currently assigned to the patrol division, where she's in the field training program.

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