Kane County Reporter

The Trustees of the Village of North Aurora have passed a resolution in support of applying for a grant to help fund a water main project in a low-to-moderate income section of the community.

Prior to agreeing to submit the application, Public Works Director John Laskowski pointed out to trustees how much money the village is saving because there's an engineer on staff.

"The engineering cost of this project without somebody on staff would be $190,000 estimated on the total project cost," Laskowski told trustees during the Dec. 5 meeting. "That cost will basically fund our village engineer and our proposed construction engineer hire for the year. If you consider that design of that project is only going to take three months and the construction will take maybe two or three, you've got all that savings that you would otherwise be spending on a consulting engineering firm, and you're doing it in-house. Not only that, but accomplishing it really quick. We don't have to wait to get in schedule, in line, on the consulting engineer schedule, so we're able to move a lot more nimbly for grants like this."

Like many communities in the state, the Village of North Aurora is working to replace lead water mains. Kane County Community Development grant funding would help pay for the project. The village has been awarded the grant for a similar project in the past, Laskowski said.

He added the estimated cost of the project would be around $1.2 million, with the village covering about $800,000. He noted funding is based on the percentage of residents in the project area who are low income.

Council passed the resolution, which allowed the grant application to be submitted and ensured the project was included in next year's budget.