Troy enlists Benton Engineering to help with wastewater plant expansion
By Charles Bolinger
Editor
Looks like at least one item has started to move from Troy’s “wish list” to its “to-do list.”
On July 7’s city council agenda was a resolution for an engineering services agreement costing $100,000 with Benton Engineering, Inc. from Jacksonville to evaluate the city’s current wastewater treatment plant and offer solutions for future needs and uses as the city grows.
It passed unanimously, with councilman Nathan Henderson serving as Mayor Pro Tempore while Mayor David Nonn was absent.
The company’s first task is to provide a wastewater system facility planning update, including to evaluate feasible alternatives so that the facility meets applicable wastewater standards and goals.
The five-point plan will consist of a needs assessment; alternative options; a set of funding/financing options; master plan development and a plan to implement everything.
At a later date, still undetermined, there will be a public hearing to solicit comment on the proposed facility plan.
The cost noted above will cover the facility planning update and the funding assistance portions. Everything else listed above are not authorized by this agreement though they may be by the council in the future.
In other city news, an ordinance was voted on 8-0 to hire a new building and development director for the city, Josephine Byrd. City Administrator Jay Keeven said that position has been vacant for the past four or five years. Other new hires approved by the council on July 7 include Aubrey Parker, a new administrative clerk, and Melissa Streif, a new police department telecommunications hire.
In public works action, more projects are starting or are in the works, such as the pavement patching on Old Homestead Drive, which began July 7 and is projected to take eight weeks to complete. KRB Excavating in Trenton was the lowest bidder for the work at $403,333.
Design work has begun on the Olde Farm Road and Pinewood Drive resurfacing project.
“We cored the pavement and found that there is five inches of pavement in the middle and three inches of pavement on the edges,” City Engineer Tom Cissell told the council earlier this year. “The edges are failing. We are developing a plan for this and we started designing in June. We flew the project with a drone to obtain an aerial photograph for design.”
Cissell said the Downtown Sidewalks Phase 1 Streetscape plan bids opened May 16 and the project was awarded to DMS Contracting for $1,051,384.30. Lights will be replaced at no cost in June and July to correct some aesthetic issues like missing pole bases.
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) released a Local Project Application funding opportunity for projects that range from $10,000 to $10 million. Troy officials applied for the following projects under this program. In order of priority, they are: 1. Streetscape – $2.7 million; 2. Center Street – $2.9 million; 3. Bouse Road – $1.9 million; 4. Spring Valley Road – $1.9 million; 5. East Market Street Match – $447,000; and 6. Riggin Road Reconstruction Match – $395,000.
Finally, Troy has two new roads in the planning stages. First is Spc. Patrick McDill Road. When complete, it will be 800-feet-long and run from the intersection on the south side of US 40 at its intersection with Creekside Drive. City officials flew the site last month with a survey drone for design. They are beginning design work this week.
Second is the SrA Brad Smith Boulevard Extension Study. Troy officials are studying what would be needed to extend the boulevard from Collinsville Road south to US 40. City officials flew the project limits with a survey drone for design last month. The study includes right-of-way needs and identifies conceptual design options for the extension.
