ROCHELLE — At its meeting Monday, the Rochelle City Council voted unanimously to reject all bids received for a utility adjustment and relocation project at the intersection of Flagg Road and 20th Street due to high prices. The city plans to rebid the project at a future date.

Last year, the city and Ogle County entered into an intergovernmental agreement to begin engineering design and eventual reconstruction for the intersection. It was determined that the new footprint of the intersection would be much larger to accommodate the new expanded transportation and pedestrian improvements. Several utilities, including Rochelle Municipal Utilities overhead electric and fiber utilities installed over 17 years ago, will need to be relocated as part of the project before any construction can begin.

The city received four bids for the project. The lowest was from Helm Electric Facility Solutions at $267,437 and the rest ranged from $528,155-$819,694. On June 10, Helm Electric withdrew its bid due to mathematical errors with bid line items. The city will reserve its right to draw upon Helm's submitted bid bond to pay any expenses associated with rebidding of the project due to the errors and withdrawal of the bid.

The next lowest bid was over 40 percent higher than the engineer's estimate on the project, which made the city choose to reject all bids. The original completion date for the utility adjustments was early September but will be extended to later in 2024.

"You never know what you're going to get with a rebid," City Engineer Sam Tesreau said. "It could be lower or higher. But I can't in good faith recommend this time going with a bid that's over 40 percent higher than the engineer's estimate."

Creston/Caron

The city unanimously approved a $1,545,544 bid from Helm Civil for a Creston Road and Caron Road pavement rehabilitation project. The city received four bids for the work and Helm Civil was the low bid and four percent lower than the engineer's estimate.

The project is being funded with approximately $1.3 million in Federal STU and COVID-19 Relief grant funds as well as available city motor fuel tax (MFT) funds administered through IDOT. The project is over two miles in length, primarily consisting of significant HMA base and surface removal and replacement along with new HMA shoulders and will extend along Creston Road from the Interstate 39 overpass to Caron Road and north along Caron Road to the 7th Avenue intersection The project is expected to begin in August and be substantially complete by the end of October.

Sealcoating

The council unanimously approved a $314,320 bid from Helm Civil for its annual seal coat work on city streets. Helm Civil was the one bid received and five percent lower than the engineer's estimate.

City Street Department crews will provide HMA pavement patching, edge repair and thin overlays, surface preparation and sweeping in advance of seal coat operations. That work will come at a cost of no more than $58,000.

Sealcoated streets this year will include stretches of North 9th Street, North 8th Street, North 6th Street, North 3rd Street, North 2nd Street, West 9th Avenue, West 8th Avenue, West 7th Avenue, West 5th Avenue, Cherry Avenue, North Main Street, Meadow Lane, Turkington Terrace, Brookside Drive, Crest Lane, Springdale Drive, Sunnymeade Drive, Short Court, Fairview Drive, and Tilton Manor Drive. 

Audit

The council heard a presentation on and approved its audit for Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2023 during the meeting. The city’s yearly audit was done by Sikich LLP and the city received a clean, unmodified opinion, the highest level possible. 

"Having 10 months worth of reserve funds on hand says a lot about everyone in our departments, our department heads, the city manager and the city council," Mayor John Bearrows said. "I think it means we're very good stewards of the money. When I first came on, it seemed like it was 2-3 months of reserves. Being at 10 now seems like a big improvement.

Swearing-in

During the meeting, a swearing-in ceremony was held for Rochelle Police Department Officer Aaron Rodabaugh, who has been promoted to patrol sergeant. RPD Detective Sgt. John Kaltenbach will soon retire and his position will be filled by Patrol Sgt. William Haan. Rodabaugh will fill Haan’s position. Rodabaugh joined the department in 2001.