Streetscape Bid Moves to Peotone Village Board Next

By Andrea Arens

The Peotone Downtown Ad Hoc Streetscape Committee met February 5 and agreed to recommend accepting the bid from Iroquois Paving.

Iroquois Paving was the low bid at $3,248,914.45 and will include streetscape construction and design for both Second and Main Streets. There were two additional, alternate bids, as well. One for construction, paving, and striping a parking lot area on Railroad, just south of Main Street. Iroquois also held the low bid for that additional parking area at a cost of $219,364.50. Trustee Julie Sluis was the first to suggest the village move forward with that additional expense. Trustee Shelley Marevka agreed.

That additional area currently is owned by Trustee Gary Hudson. Hudson will have to recuse himself of the vote at the meeting. Mayor March said the parcel at 112 S. Railroad Street will be split and has been offered to the village, although that process likely will take place after the bid goes to the board for approval on Monday.

An additional alternate bid for powder coating tree grates was discarded at Mayor Peter March’s recommendation. March said that in discussion he found powder coating the tree grates would only last five years, and the cost wasn’t worth the expenditure. If they had chosen to do the powder coating and utilize Iroquois, the cost would have been $186,450.

March said, “If we just let them weather (the tree grates), they’ll look like metal. Personally, I wouldn’t consider it for that cost.”

While there’s relief the bids came in within the village’s ideals, there was one hiccup. The grant money that was awarded was funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and comes with a requirement to use women and minority owned contractors and subcontractors. Engineer Troy Golem, of Robinson Engineering, said they were working on confirming if Iroquois met that requirement, and he thought they were close. If Iroquois did not meet that requirement, whatever percentage that they did not meet, that percentage would be withheld from the grant money received. For example, if they were only 27 percent women and minority, then 3 percent of the grant money would be withheld.

Another topic of discussion was how the village would be communicating streetscape updates to business owners and residents. Mayor March suggested a public relations contract with Athena Advisory, run by former Manteno Chamber of Commerce President Sarah Marion.

Marion was proposing a $10K contract in which she would meet with village leadership and develop a PR/marketing campaign that included four press releases, two Facebook posts per week for the duration of the project, and provide businesses with updates.

Trustee Julie Sluis asked if the contract included answering questions from the public and Village Administrator Aimee Ingalls and March said it did not. Sluis still confirmed she liked the idea and Marevka agreed. It was agreed to send the proposal to the village board for input and/or approval.

Resident and owner of Fedde’s Furniture and Fedde-Helfrich-Cross Funeral Home spoke to voice his concerns of the project. Cross said the village has been utilizing street parking since 1867 and shared how disrupting that street usage will affect his business and others.

Cross said, “I don’t know how I’ll be able to conduct my business while this project is happening. The businesses like Game On and Suzy’s have a million dollar back door they can use. I don’t have that.”

“My concern also is that once you start this project, once you open those streets; it’s not going to go smoothly. I don’t know if you’ve identified all the coal chutes that are through the downtown. I think we’re opening Pandora’s Box, and it makes me incredibly nervous.”

Cross asked how long the project might take from start to finish, Village Engineer Troy Golem said the village was hoping to start by March, and the contract stipulates that work be completed by the end of November. If that’s the timeline, downtown would be under construction for nine months. Golem added, though, that not all parts of downtown would be unusable the entire time. March added the village would impress upon the contractor to keep as much of the streets open as much as possible.

Cross added that communication hasn’t been great, and he’s only had contact with Mayor March.

Mandy Avis, owner of Archy’s Sweet Treats, asked if the streetscape plan on the website was updated, and the village administrator said the outdated plan is still on the website.

Avis also asked if the timeline for construction would start immediately in March, and Golem responded he wasn’t sure that construction would start immediately in March.

Avis said, “I think what’s important, and that everyone in this room understands this, is communication. I have a business, that my business runs predominantly from the summer season, and I’m not going to get that foot traffic this year, or I’m going to get limited foot traffic.”

Avis also asked what the village would be doing for signage to let the public know that downtown was open for business. She also added she didn’t have the “Million dollar back door” either. March agreed that signage was a good idea.

Avis also asked if there would be any events downtown this year. The only slated event for downtown is the car show, as the farmers market will be moving to the park district. Concerts may happen elsewhere, as well.

Avis said, “Please, anything you can do to support the downtown businesses. I’m speaking on behalf of everyone in the downtown area, we need as much support as possible from the village to help us through these next few months. I think its going to be phenomenal when it’s done, we just have to go through the painful journey this year.”