Wilmette trustees approved a contract for the engineering design plan that will guide the village’s $7.7 million water plant improvement project when they met for the first time this year.
The Jan. 10 approval of a $574,282 contract with Chicago-based CDM Smith Inc. for those services was part of the council’s omnibus consent agenda.
In a written report to the board, Nabil Quafisheh, the village’s director of water management, stated that the contract is almost $126,000 under what was budgeted for the work. He said CDM Smith beat out two other consultants with a bid that foresees more than 4,600 hours of work. The company’s design will cover the project’s multiple goals:
* Replacing portions of the electronics systems that run the generators that power the water plant’s electrical system, and installing major new components for two of the plant’s pumps;
* Replacing the plant’s two backup engine generators and constructing a new building to house them at the plant, which is located at the terminus of Lake Avenue adjacent to Gillson Park;
* Putting a small addition onto the existing water plant building to accommodate the rearrangement of its electrical room and installation of the new equipment.
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Village officials expect to fund the project, including its design phase, through a low-interest loan from the Illinois EPA, and work is expected to take two years, he said. The 2017 budget includes $700,000 for work; additional funds will be budgeted in 2018 and 2019, he said.
According to Quafisheh’s report, the project follows a 2015 water system assessment that identified improving the plant’s electrical system as one of the department’s top capital improvement priorities.
A follow-up conceptual design study last year identified the best options for generator placement and electrical room modifications, according to the report. That study was also done by CDM Smith, Quafisheh said.
In his report, he noted that CDM Smith has experience in performing electrical improvement designs, having done similar work for Highland Park’s and Hammond, Ind.’s, water plants.
“CDM Smith’s staff has more experience in design of these electrical improvements and performing comprehensive plans to minimize operational interruptions … this is an important aspect of this project, as the project will take two years to complete and has the potential to be very disruptive” of operations, he stated.
Trustees also approved an $86,350 contract for parkway tree planting, to be distributed among three separate tree services: Gurnee-based Mike Greco Landscaping, Inc., Arthur Weiler Nursery, Inc., of Zion, and Wauconda-based Acres Group.
In their written report to the board, Engineering and Public Works Director Brigitte Berger-Raish and Guy Lam, the department’s public works deputy director, said the village traditionally awards the contract to more than one vendor to have enough trees available each season, and to ensure a diverse menu of tree species.
According to the report, the contract’s plantings cover the replacement of parkway trees, including those lost to Emerald Ash Borer depredations, and also cover plantings in a program through which residents can share the cost of choosing and planting new parkway trees.
“On average, over the past three years, the village has planted a total of 415 parkway trees annually, of which 74 trees, or 18 percent, are cooperative plantings,” the report stated.
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