Kane County Reporter

The city of Aurora is set to host an open house on Oct. 20, where area leaders will outline plans for a proposed new Department of Public Works facility to be stationed near the border of Kane and DuPage counties.

The two-hour event kicks off at 5 p.m. at the Aurora Customer Service Center on McCoy Drive.

The Aurora City Council has already reached agreement with two companies for design and engineering work on the facility that will cost an estimated $1.83 million. Aldermen unanimously voted 11-0 to approve contracts with Kluber Inc., of Batavia, and Kueny Architects LLC, of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

On land the city first purchased in 2018 for about $1 million, the building, estimated to come at a cost of up to $30 million, will consolidate Public Works functions now spread between three buildings.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Public Works director Ken Schroth told aldermen at a City Council meeting that the three buildings the city currently uses - one for the electrical department, one for the water and sewer department, and the central garage - need a total of about $5.3 million in repairs.

That maintenance was identified as part of a routine five-year building audit the city does, but deferred to future budget years. Most of the repairs - about $4.2 million - are needed at the central garage, which would be torn down. The roughly 7.7-acre site, which runs along the Fox River and one of its bike trails, is considered a prime development site.

Schroth said the other two buildings would be fixed and kept as extra storage sites for Public Works purposes.

The project is being scheduled over several budget years to spread the costs out. In the 2019 budget, Schroth said there is $8.7 million included for the project, none of it from general taxation. The breakdown is: $3 million from motor fuel taxes; $3.7 million from the capital improvement fund; and $2 million from the water and sewer fund.