The good news for the Village of Orland Park is that it can receive funding from the Illinois Department of Transportation Motor Fuel Tax to build a new road salt facility.
The bad news is that the two-phase project must be done by an IDOT-approved company and those companies are not jumping at the chance to work on this project.
“We’re trying to figure out why we’re not getting any bids,” Public Works Director Joel VanEssen said at the March 2 Committee of the Whole meeting. “Obviously the pre-qualified contract list is a large list. But the list has a lot of trades and not maybe larger contractors to oversee work.
“It’s reduced that list to a handful of people. Because we broke it into two phases, some of the people are saying it’s too small of a project and they are not bidding.”
VanEssen said the village consulted with IDOT and it recommended negotiating individually with the pre-approved vendors. He said the village will try to talk with Monee-based M&J Underground, Inc. for the first phase and Chicago-based F.H. Paschen for both phases.
The $5 million project is needed to replace the current salt barn, which is aging.
“There are a couple of things wrong,” VanEssen said. “The walls have pushed a little bit, and the salt is oozing through the walls.
“It has a steel structure with the roof and that’s starting to corrode. Salt and steel do not mix well. The new salt building would be all wood, which would last longer in the future.”
While some on the village board wondered if the building could be saved and used for storage, VanEssen said that it wouldn’t work because of the wear and tear already on the structure.
“We are planning on demoing that area,” he said.
Mayor James Dodge is interested in the idea of using the IDOT money for road use and to seek out a construction company not on IDOT’s list to do the job and use funds from another source.
“This could become, if we don’t get anywhere, a simple financing operation,” Dodge said. “You use the funds for roads, and you find other funds to pay for the salt barn.”
Village Manager George Koczwara said the village would like to give it one more “college try” with the companies approved by IDOT and VanEssen said that switching funds around is an option if that doesn’t work.
“That parachute is the last ripcord that I would like to pull,” VanEssen said. “That would be a last ditch, but yes, we can flip-flop.”