By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
With several options on the table, the Village of East Troy Board decided on how they intend to tackle the Mill Street project at its monthly Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night.
Keeping costs in mind and looking towards the future, the board opted with the third option before it. Option three essentially encompassed reconstructing the section of the road from Highway ES to the north side of Austin Street, replacing utilities, sewer laterals, sidewalks, the 4-inch water main, and relining the sewer at a later date.
According to Director of Public Works Mike Miller, relining the sewer at a later date will be more cost effective to do a larger project rather than just a small section.
Other options before the board included completing the entire project from Highway ES to Trent Street, a 3.5-inch overlay on the road, or to leave the road in its current state.
According to Miller, with reconstructing the road and replacing utilities in option three, the section of Mill Street completed in this phase will be set for the next 50-60 years and help spread the cost of the entire project, from ES to Trent, out over a longer period of time.
However, Miller noted completing the entire project would cost more because this first third, from ES to Austin Street, is such a significantly smaller project.
Under current ordinances, residents along Mill Street would be looking at special assessments of roughly $8,000-$10,000 to complete the project.
Trustee Dustan Stanford said with residents concerned about the dilapidated state of Mill Street, it would be wise to avoid option two and stop kicking the “can down the road,” completing sections of the road piece by piece.
“If we can get a piece of it done, and a piece of it done right…it just makes sense to get your infrastructure in order,” he said.
According to Village Board President Randy Timms, going with option three, the village is looking at spending $293,000 for this section of the road, rather than the $800,000 for the entire road.
Miller noted giving a timeframe for completion of the entire Mill Street project is difficult since how far apart each section is completed will depend on village finances. He said the last part of the project, from Austin Street on down, could be split up into potentially three phases, allowing the village to spread the cost out over several years.
However, deciding upon which option to run with Monday night was only a small part of preparing for the project, allowing the board to budget properly for the 2014 capital improvement fund and see what they can accomplish along with the Mill Street project next year.
“As to getting competitive bids, as to how we’re going to charge back and specially assess, all those are good questions, but not for tonight,” Timms said during Monday’s meeting.
The board will next meet at 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 at Village Hall, 2015 Energy Dr.
