South Beloit council approves Geocon borings and Fairgram design contracts for 2026 street program

The South Beloit City Council on Jan. 5 approved agreements to start pavement testing and to fund design work for its 2026 street program, moving the city closer to bid‑ready plans for a mix of full‑depth reclamation and mill‑and‑overlay work.

City staff presented a resolution to award a proposal to Geocon Professional Services LLC to perform soil borings and pavement cores across several streets identified for 2026 work. Staff (Brandon) said the cores help determine asphalt and base depths so engineers can refine design and cost estimates and that Geocon expects to report results within about four weeks of authorization.

Separately, the council approved Fairgram’s contract to provide local‑funds design engineering for the neighborhood portion of the program at a design fee of $51,300 and a companion MFT‑funded design package. Staff outlined the MFT paperwork required by IDOT and provided a total project estimate for the MFT portion of $698,350, including a construction estimate of $610,000. Preliminary engineering is capped at 5% ($31,750) and construction observation at 6% ($36,600); materials testing will be billed time and materials based on need.

Council members asked whether cores were necessary in areas previously improved (for example, Misty Meadows); staff said subsurface conditions can vary and cores provide necessary certainty before final design to avoid under‑ or over‑design. Staff also explained that the city will bid the local and MFT components together to gain economies of scale and that the city would use the pavement‑core data for future projects so the testing would not need repeating unless the city later chose to re‑improve those roads.

Next steps: staff will authorize Geocon to begin borings and return with any contract details and final design documents for council consideration before construction bidding.