At Monday’s city council committee of the whole meeting, Public Works Director Alice Ohrtmann outlined next year’s city road projects. She said portions of West Calhoun Street and parts of Debbie Lane and adjacent streets would be microchipped and overlaid. Ohrtmann said Bayberry Lane would be redone as a concrete road, and that portions of University Drive would be changed from a concrete to an asphalt surface.
Ohrtmann keeps an ongoing list of city streets that need work. Alderman Dave Dorsett said, “We have more concerns than funds.”
The public works director said she will work with the city council next month on design work for Candy Lane, Johnson Street, Adams Street, and Harmony Lane. She said design work needs to be submitted to the Illinois Department of Transportation for grant consideration.
Council members also discussed a proposal to spend $29,500 to have TWM Engineering design a force main replacement for the Derry Lane lift station. Sewer Plant Manager Josh Peters said there have been five main breaks in the last two years. “Continued overflows could result in an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency fine,” he said. Peters said money that had been budgeted for a new truck would be used for the lift station work.
Ohrtmann said a four-inch pipe from the force main would take sewage from the lift station and pump it into a manhole behind Southern Hills Apartments. Mayor Mike Inman said design work on the force main should be done by the end of the year.
The mayor ended the committee of the whole session by telling aldermen that 130 sixth-graders toured Macomb City Hall on Monday as well as visiting other downtown buildings. “We appreciated that opportunity today,” Inman said.
