HILLCREST — Village Engineer Kaitlin Wright reported that Hillcrest’s water main replacement project has been completed, with a small amount of retainage remaining and loan repayments scheduled at $17,000 every six months. Trustees also reviewed options for a proposed salt shed that could save about $15,000 depending on the design. The board discussed applying for a $5 million unsewered community grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to build a sanitary sewer system connecting to Rochelle, though the grant window has been delayed by the federal government shutdown. Wright expressed concerns that the residents are not cooperating with the service line survey, and that could cost residents and the village significant expense.
“The state will be looking to the village to replace a set number every single year so it ends up being a game that the Hillcrest or the village is going to have to play because they’re on the hook for basically six a year underneath federal law the letting copper rule improvements which is you have 10 years to replace what you have in 2027,” said Wright.
Wright added that no lead lines have been found in the village’s state-mandated water service inventory, but about 60 lines remain unverified.