CRESTON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Creston Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a $14,404 bid from Queens Trucking & Construction for the demolition of a home in disrepair that the village acquired at 308 E. North St. 

The board also considered a bid from Bruns Construction during the meeting for $19,880. Both of the bids were considerably lower than two considered last month for $27,850 and $26,400 that it opted not to accept. The village recently spent $8,000 on asbestos removal at the property to pave the way for future demolition.

"I'd like to get this thing done," Village President Tom Byro said. "Originally we talked about this being in the $15,000 range for demolition. The Queens bid is in that range. They're not very busy right now and they could probably be here next week. We could get it done and get it down."

The village has been working for a number of months on inspection, citation and legal work to clean up multiple homes in disrepair in Creston through acquiring them for demolition or using the courts to force owners to clean them up.

The board also unanimously approved an agreement with the new owners of a home in disrepair at 123 W. North St. The new owners recently purchased the home from a bank and will be required by the agreement to bring the home up to code in the next six months. 

Storm drain

Trustees and Village Engineer Kevin Bunge discussed storm drain work in the village in the future. The first stretch of improvements would be between North Street and Cederholm Street. The work was suggested due to issues with stormwater overflow. The work will require the village to talk to property owners to get easements.

"The next phase of our work on this is 36-inch pipe from North to Cederholm," Bunge said. "It will be much better than it is now, because the overflow will happen in a different and better area than it does right now."

The North Street to Cederholm Street storm drain project would be 400 feet of 36-inch pipe, which could be in the $60,000 range, Bunge said.

The village resolved to move forward with planning and pricing for the work. It also resolved to consider a more extensive storm water project, which would run to the railroad tracks.

Water leak

Byro said the village found the source of a recent water leak at an old gas station building in Creston. The leak went on for three days and amounted to 38,000 gallons of water per day. Village Maintenance Director Curt Loyd said the leak was inside and occurred due to freezing pipes and was noticed when water started to flow underneath a garage door. 

Raffle

The board unanimously gave approval for a raffle that will be taking place at the Moose Knuckle Bar & Grill. The raffle at the facility will be carried out by the Sycamore American Legion Post 99. Back in August, the board unanimously approved an ordinance that will allow for the issuance of licenses to host charitable raffles. The ordinance allows for charitable raffles hosted by 501c3 nonprofits only and provides for fees to be paid to the village to host one and requirements on winning amounts.

Subdivision

Byro said during the meeting that the village has yet to meet with the new owner of the Creston Commons subdivision. The village has hoped in recent years to see clean up, new homes and a new agreement with the subdivision's ownership.

Byro said the new owner will have to take on some water line repair and testing work. Some cleanup and mowing work in the subdivision has already taken place.