Village moving forward with sidewalk project

MECHANICSBURG – A project to replace approximately 600 linear feet of sidewalk on South Main Street using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program funding was given the go-ahead by the village council on Monday and the Champaign County Commission on Tuesday.

As the local administrator of CDBG funding, the county commission approved a bid in the amount of $128,884.75 from J&J Schlaegel Inc. of Urbana for a combined sidewalk project involving the village and the city of Urbana.

As for Mechanicsburg’s portion of the project, which came out to $23,564.75, council agreed to pay up to $7,331.50 to cover the local match requirement.

Village Administrator April Huggins-Davis said the $7,331.50 was based on a preliminary project estimate of $36,000, so the village’s share should be less than expected.

“If we don’t have any change orders or anything, we may not have to pay the $7,000,” she said.

The approximately 600 linear feet of sidewalk to be replaced on the west side of South Main Street spans from Downing’s Hardware (29 S. Main St.) to the last residential property (95 S. Main St.) before the railroad tracks, Huggins-Davis said.

In other business:

•Stantec Consulting Services Inc. has assigned the village a new engineering consultant following the resignation of John Grosse. Huggins-Davis said the village is now working with Mary Sherrets, project engineer for Stantec.

•Council agreed to hire A-1 Able Pest Doctors to spray for mosquitoes every other Friday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. beginning May 13.

Huggins-Davis said the cost to the village is $200 per application, and the plan is to have the company spray 11 times through September.

“We just figured with this new virus (Zika) we would go ahead and spray this year,” she said.

•Village employees will flush hydrants beginning at 10 p.m. on May 11.

•The annual spring cleanup April 30 was deemed a success by village officials as residents filled four Dumpsters with nonhazardous solid waste.

•Village streets will be swept on June 2 and June 3 (if needed) with crews expected to start sweeping at 7 a.m. each morning. Residents are asked not to park on the street if at all possible during this time.

•Catch basins throughout the village will be cleaned June 6-10.

By Joshua Keeran

[email protected]

Joshua Keeran may be reached at 937-652-1331 (ext. 1774) or on Twitter @UDCKeeran.

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