Board approves SRF payment, 109-day contract extension and hears updates on major water and wastewater projects

The Crown Point Board of Public Works and Safety on June 3 approved a State Revolving Fund (SRF) disbursement request that will pay $336,530.37 to a contractor and release $17,712.13 to the retainage account for ongoing water and wastewater construction work.

Al, the board’s utility representative, told the board a pre-construction meeting is scheduled immediately after the session for a new 24-inch water line and for the southeast wastewater treatment plant, and he presented SRF payment application No. 8 (SRF disbursement No. 31) for approval. "Good news today — we have our pre-construction meeting scheduled right after this for our new 24-inch water line and our new southeast wastewater treatment plant," Al said. The board moved, seconded and approved the payment request by voice vote.

The board also authorized change order number three, a zero-dollar amendment that adds 109 days to the contractor’s schedule to allow remaining pothole-field work and line characterization to be completed before final design and replacements. Al requested the time extension to permit the contractor to use remaining funds to identify whether service lines are lead or galvanized; the board approved the time extension by voice vote.

On the lead-service-line program, Al said field inspections have allowed the city to remove about 25% of lines from the inventory of 1,600 previously listed as potential lead—reducing the number flagged for replacement— and that the city plans further replacements in a final phase targeted for summer 2027. He noted the city has realized more than $20 million in cost savings through state programs and favorable financing strategies. In response to a board question, Al said the current positive-test rate is averaging about 10% (down from roughly 15%), and he described the remaining grant balance as about $350,000 (approximate), which will be applied to further characterization work.

Al reported on the downtown interceptor project, saying phases one and six are nearly complete while work will move into phase two at Birk Street and begin down Harrington in June. He described deep, invasive excavation in some areas (about 35–40 feet in the deepest zone) and outlined lane restrictions and detours: Main Street will have lane restrictions through the end of July, Birch Street remains closed for several more weeks with resident access via a detour, and Chase Street is under interim stone base with curbing and final asphalt planned in the coming weeks.

On financing, Al said the city’s collection-system project ranked number two in the state scoring process, making it eligible for preferential 2% financing on a $20 million allocation. He described a multi-phase submission strategy that he said has yielded access to roughly $80 million at the 2% rate (noted against a typical market rate of 3.5%) and, together with loan forgiveness and county assistance, produced an estimated $40 million in cost savings across the projects.

Al also said a kickoff meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled later in the month for the Imperial Heights sewer rehabilitation project and that agreements will be submitted to the Corps for review prior to that meeting.

The board’s actions on the payment application and contract time extension were taken by voice vote; the transcript records motions, seconds and the chair’s call for the vote but does not include a roll-call tally in the record.