Frankfort Agrees to Selling Portion of Its Utility Systems

In a busy session, the Frankfort Village Board, at its June 20 meeting, approved an agreement in principal to sell a portion of the village’s utility systems to Aqua Illinois, Inc. The agreement covers both water and wastewater systems in Timber Ridge Estates.

On August 1, 2022, the Corporate Authorities of the Village of Frankfort passed Ordinance No. 3362, which authorized the sale of the unincorporated Timber Ridge Mobile Home Park portion of the Village’s Utility System to Aqua Illinois, Inc.

Aqua recently completed the approval process with the Illinois Commerce Commission. Prior to closing, two modifications to the original agreements are required to reflect a new sanitary sewer interconnect point along Harlem Avenue and extend the closing to December 5, 2023.

The village board also approved a multi-million dollar contract for Frankfort’s roadway maintenance program for 2023. The village’s Annual FY 2023/2024 Budget includes $7,000,000 in the General Capital Development Fund for the 2023 Roadway Maintenance Program. The village solicited competitive bids from qualified contractors for the resurfacing and maintenance of 43 street segments.

The village received five bid proposals for the project. The low bidder was P.T. Ferro Construction Co. with a bid proposal of $5,971,359.05. The low bid was approximately 6.5 percent below the estimated cost. At its June 8 meeting, the Committee of the Whole reviewed the bid proposals and forwarded a recommendation to the village board to accept the low bid and award the contract to P.T. Ferro. Staff was asked to work with the village engineer and P.T. Ferro to add additional streets to the contract. Two additional streets were added to the original bid proposal for a total of 45 street segments, and construction cost was increased to $7,100,000.

Frankfort trustees also approved the purchase of a replacement wood chipper for the village’s branch collection program from Alexander Equipment for $64,530 and the purchase of a mini-excavator for Public Works from West Side Tractor Sales for $103,245.69.

In other business, the board approved the purchase of body-cams for Frankfort Police officers. The Committee of the Whole  considered a request from Deputy Chief Kevin Keegan to enter into a five-year agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc., for the purchase of video components, which includes body worn cameras, in-car cameras, interview room cameras, and an integrated digital evidence management system. This video system will provide full integration, and Axon is considered the industry leader in this field.

These purchases will satisfy the requirements of the SAFE-T Act, which contains a provision that requires all law enforcement agencies to employ the use of officer-worn body cameras by specified dates based on municipal population. The village is required to implement body-worn cameras no later than January 1, 2025. The lead time for the delivery, training, and installation of the in-car cameras is 10-to-12 months.