Board Meeting: Village Buys 4368 Hampton, Water Hardness Relief in Sept.

The Western Springs Board of Trustees passed a resolution at Monday night’s meeting to enter into contract for a $560,000 purchase of 4368 Hampton Avenue, a home on a notable ¾-acre lot that ranks as one of the two largest residential plots in the Village.

4368 Hampton is a unique residential property for Western Springs as its narrow and ultra-deep lot (405 ft. x 75 ft) extends nearly 300 feet behind the brick-and-cedar ranch house alongside the parking lot serving the and the . Currently, the yard has a shed, a vegetable garden and a smattering of trees and wildlife.

The Village plans to repurpose the extended backyard for “parking and programming” for the Rec Center, then renovate and resell the home with a truncated and normalized backyard. The expanded parking area might allow future expansion of either the Center or the Theatre.

Trustees had previously discussed the transaction in closed executive sessions. “This was of course kept confidential for obvious reasons, and we are now disclosing it publically,” said Village President Bill Rodeghier.

Softer water in September

Trustee Suzanne Glowiak, chair of the Public Works and Water Committee, announced that the Village expects to be able to provide some water softening by September, when the new iron filters are scheduled to be installed at the Water Plant.

“We won’t be able to completely able to use the [reverse-osmosis] skids, but we will be removing some of the hardness and all of the iron,” Glowiak said. “We’ll get an even bigger improvement when we start up the RO system in October.”

[EDIT: Director of Municipal Services Matt Supert has issued a clarification, saying that while the iron filters will not significantly affect water hardness, the Village expects softer water in September due to decreased or eliminated demand on Well No. 1. The RO system that will truly reduce hardness is projected to be online by late November.]

Glowiak also said that the Village will begin making determinations about fluoride levels in the water in mid-October as well.

The entire water plant reconstruction is expected to be completed in March 2013.

Well offline after electrical panels fried

The Village’s Well No. 1, the emergency backup well that has been brought online this summer to retain sufficient Village-wide water pressure in the hot months (and is notably responsible for the significant increase in hardness over the past three months) is offline this week after the electrical system powering the well “blew up” on Sunday night.

The Department of Municipal Services is in the process of organizing repairs to the well; electricians are expected to assess the situation on Tuesday. A tentative estimation is that the well will be back online by the end of the week.

Although the Department expects that the existing water supply and the other wells can hold out until the repairs are completed, the Village President does have the authority to order emergency additional watering restrictions if necessary. ()

Temperature highs are expected to reach the high 90s on Tuesday, but then drop into the mid 80s for the rest of the week.

EMS fees, waste disposal contract, misc.

The Public Health and Safety Committee has recommended a change in the way residents and non-residents are billed for emergency medical services. Fees for basic life support for non-residents would increase from $600 to $800, and an increased advanced life-support system would be established at $700 for residents and $1,000 for non-residents. EMS services would also be all-inclusive, not charged individually, i.e., $30 for oxygen. The recommendations are based on what nearby municipalities are doing; fire chief Pat Kenny said the fee structure has not been reviewed since 2008.

The General Government Committee has recommended that the Village extend its contract with Allied Waste for village garbage disposal. “There have been very few negative comments about Allied,” said Trustee Deborah Lyons. The extension would be until 2015 and include a three (3) percent fee increase each of the first two years and a 4.3 percent increase for the final year, 2015.

An ordinance passed will clear the Village to dispose of some unique surplus property: fiberglass rear prisoner transport seats, steel and plastic compartment partitions and steel bumpers for Ford Crown Victoria police cars. (It was wondered out loud just who might by such things.)

A single bid has been received for micropaving (primarily of the Springdale neighborhood) from A.C. Pavement Stripping Company of Elgin ; the Village also passed an ordinance approving a contract to the company for an amount not to exceed $150,000.