The federal government is holding on to $384,000 of Flossmoor’s money for an infrastructure project to address flooding that has been on an unexplained administrative hold since November, according to Mayor Michelle Nelson.
The village was told it received a grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete the fourth of five phases of a multiyear project to address flooding at the downtown Flossmoor Road viaduct, Nelson said. Bid documents and design drawings were completed, she said.
“The project was ready to go out to bid,” Nelson said. “We had paid our $384,000 share at the end of October. And a few days later in early November, we got an email from the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Department that our project was put on an administrative hold.”
The purpose of the infrastructure improvements is to move stormwater from the downtown area to a detention basin at nearby Heather Hill Elementary School, Nelson said.
Calls asking for more information have not been returned, Nelson said. She also said she reached out to the offices of Illinois’ U.S. senators and to U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, none of whom were able to get any more information on the hold or how long it was expected to last.
“We are in limbo. We haven’t been told no,” Nelson said. “They have been holding on to $384,000 of our money for nine, almost nine months now, which is a significant amount of money for a small municipality.”
Flossmoor’s downtown flooded during the massive storms that swept the area over the Fourth of July weekend, causing flooding and damage across the south suburbs and filling the Thornton Composite Reservoir almost to the brim.
“Over the Fourth of July weekend, several of our businesses sustained some damage from the flooding that was present in downtown Flossmoor,” Nelson said.
Multiple cars got stuck in the flooded viaduct during the recent storms, Nelson said, with one person needing to be rescued.
“Water actually got into their car and was almost all the way up to the ceiling. We had other cars get stuck and they had to be pushed out,” Nelson said. “It’s really a life/safety issue.”
The larger project, the construction of the Heather Hill detention basin and an improved system of storm sewers, has been underway since 2020, according to Flossmoor’s website.
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The most recently completed phase, which included the installation of a large-scale storm sewer on Lawrence Crescent, was completed in October 2025, just before the news came that the funding for the next phase was on hold, according to the village website.
Flooding has “been a nightmare” in downtown Flossmoor for decades, Nelson said.
“Numerous times a year, our viaduct is shut down due to excessive flooding, and that means that emergency vehicles can’t get through,” Nelson said. “That adds a significant amount of time, response time when folks are dealing with emergencies.”
With no information forthcoming about the hold, Nelson said, there’s nothing for the village to do but wait on the federal government.
Flossmoor is looking into options to fill the gap with state funding, she said, which could possibly lead to work starting next year in 2027, but that route has its own downsides.
“That impacts other projects,” Nelson said. “There are other flood mitigation projects down the line that residents are depending on us to figure out a way how to make them happen, and we were hoping to use state money to do that. And we might have to use state money to do this project, instead.”
That’s frustrating, Nelson said, when the project should have already been fully funded.
“Help us, please,” Nelson said. “Follow through on your commitments, the commitments that were made and voted on and approved.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not respond to requests for comment.