Frankfort trustees signed off Tuesday on spending more than $600,000 to replace water mains and started the process of borrowing for a much larger sewage treatment project.
Standard & Poor’s will be paid $25,000 to rate the village’s credit ahead of a planned 20-year bond issue to finance $54 million in treatment plant upgrades.
The project, approved in early February, eventually will shutter two of three treatment plants and expand and modernize the remaining one, which is behind Lincoln-Way East High School and the village police station.
Frankfort, which expects to borrow $30 million to $40 million, typically taps reserves to finance projects.
“We’ve had minimal debt for many, many years,” Trustee Todd Morgan said. “No one knows what our rating is because it’s like never having a credit card because you always pay cash.”
The village will pay cash to cover $621,000 earmarked for Tyler Construction of Elwood to replace water mains under Cedar Lane, Elm Street and Iowa Court.
Trustees also transferred $18,324 from the police forfeiture fund to the capital development fund to cover a fence built around the police practice firing range on Center Road.
Trustees also approved an agreement between the village, McBride Engineering and Abbey Woods Development to remedy drainage problems in the townhomes development.
“About a year ago we discovered there was a flooding issue in Abbey Woods,” Trustee Dick Trevarthan said. “It’s all engineered. It’s all set to go.”
The board also approved a resolution satisfying a state mandate to update its affordable housing plan. Frankfort asserts that the goal of 10 percent affordable housing could be met by annexing the nearby Autumn Valley Lane Apartments on U.S. Route 30 and the Gateway Mobile Home Park at Steger and La Grange Roads.
Those moves are not under consideration, but the village has to offer a means to meet the state goal. Village officials said the law uses an income-based formula that pegs the price of affordable housing at about $103,000 in Frankfort, where the median home price exceeds $350,000.
Trustees also approved a $135-an-acre fee for a farm lease of 65 acres of village-owned land at 10053 W. Kuse Road and revised a lease with New Cingular Wireless. The company will pay another $235 a month to install a backup generator on water tower property in the Prestwick subdivision.
Mayor Jim Holland reminded residents that applications are being sought through March 27 to serve on village committees, and the annual village-hosted informational meeting for townhome association board members is at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in the police station basement.