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Board Hears New Options For Old Troy Road Project

By Charles Feldman, Reporter

At the final meeting before the end of the fiscal year, the Glen Carbon Village Board heard some new options for changes to the Old Troy Road Project, bought a new police vehicle with a cage for canines and said goodbye to two of its members who are stepping down after four years of service.

The meeting was held Tuesday, April 22 at the Village Hall. It was called to order by Glen Carbon Elementary School first-grader Colin Huber, serving as Honorary Mayor of the Day. He is the son of Joe and Ashley Huber.

A two-hour public information meeting held on April 14 at Albert Cassens Elementary School in Glen Carbon had brought feedback from residents that led to the rethinking of previously approved plans for the Old Troy Road Project.           

Before the public meeting,  the plan was for the village to do Bouse Road as the next stage, then to close Old Troy Road, working from Glen Crossing south to the end. But one of the issues that came up was whether there could be another option for access to the Fairfield subdivision, according to Village Administrator Jamie Bowden.

So a presentation at the April 22 village board meeting showed two alternative plans, one of which was later announced on the village website and Facebook page at press time.

Work on Bouse Road will continue as planned, with access from a temporary rock road with a number of passing turn-outs. But work on Old Troy Road will also begin early, on the northern part from Bouse Road to Glen Crossing, allowing access from the south until that part of the project is completed. When it’s done, the finished part of the road will open and the southern part will close for construction.

“It allow Fairfield to come out and go south,” Bowden said of the plan. “And when this piece is done, they’ll be able to go on the new road and go north.”

He said funds would come from the Highway 270 street program. “We’re already making an amendment because of the change order we did. Even with a change order of $700,000, the fund balance is going to be approximately $2,000 more,” Bowden said.

Although there was a consensus to proceed with the new plan, the actual change order will not be approved until the May 14 village board meeting.

“We would not have had the same issue if there were two access points to Fairfield,” Kulick said. “So maybe that’s a lesson we’ve learned that in future subdivisions we may take that into consideration and review plans if there’s a single access point.”

Bowden said communication with the residents will be improved by creating a group listing of emails that can be used to notify them of any changes.

The village voted to purchase a 2019 Chevy Tahoe PPV Police Interceptor K-9 Vehicle from Miles Chevrolet for $38,590 and to add a canine cage insert for $3,000 for a total project cost of $41,590. This fiscal year, $80,000 was budgeted to buy two new squad cars, but the department felt a greater need to replace its aging canine vehicles instead, one this year and one during the next fiscal year.

The board passed an ordinance obligating $35,000 for the leveraged (local) funds match for its block grant application to Madison County Community Development for drainage improvements in the Cottonwood Five area. The village is obligated to pay the money should grant funding be awarded. The ordinance was required by Madison County and the federal government as part of the village’s application submittal process. The funds are budgeted in the Village Capital Improvement Plan.

The village approved non-bargaining unit base salaries effective May 1 for several full-time salaried and hourly and part-time hourly positions. These range from village administrator, police chief and street superintendent to museum director and bus drivers.

The board recognized Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Mini-Storage, a self-storage facility, as Business of the Month for April.

At the close of the meeting, the board said goodbye to Micah Summers and Steve Slemer, who each received a commemorative plaque and gave a speech. “The reason I loved it was because of a lot of the people in this room,” Summers said. “The staff that I worked with were absolutely great. The trustees that sit up here and the trustees from prior boards as well as the mayor.

“This village is in very good hands with this mayor and this board and the staff members in this room,” he said. “People work together to get things done here and there’s a lot of good that gets done here at this level.”

“It’s been interesting,” Slemer said. “I’ve learned and lot and enjoyed doing it. I appreciated the opportunity.”

The next Village Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at Village Hall. The public is welcome to attend.

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