The Mokena Village Board on Monday approved an intergovernmental agreement with New Lenox to pay part of the engineering costs for an oversized water line that would carry Lake Michigan water from Tinley Park through Mokena into New Lenox.
Village Administrator John Downs said the engineering and design have to be ready so the project can qualify for a low-interest government loan the towns applied for earlier this year. Mokena’s costs would be $66,013, slightly more than 10 percent of the $653,000 estimated for the engineering work.
Mokena voters turned down a proposal to switch from well water to the more expensive Lake Michigan supply in a 1996 referendum, but village officials want to be able to tap the line should sentiment change.
Tinley Park and New Lenox are applying for a $8.5 million low-interest government loan for the pipeline, and Mokena is seeking $1 million to increase capacity for the village.