CRESTON — At Tuesday’s Creston Village Board meeting, trustees discussed potential future street improvements. 

Trustee Wayne Williams led the meeting as Village President Tom Byro was absent along with Trustees Greg Hopkins and Curt Ward. Discussion involved whether or not the village should do sealcoating to its roads this year. Creston did not sealcoat last year, but did some roads in each of the two prior years. 

“Curt has mentioned to me that he went around town and thought that the sealcoat was still looking really good,” Village Engineer Kevin Bunge said. “I think he was going to recommend that you pass on it this year like you did last year. He said it all looked really good to him. You guys are keeping up with it pretty well right now. The oldest sealcoat work was done three years ago.”

Trustees also discussed a pothole on Main Street that’s in need of attention.  

“We need to cut that out and repair it,” Trustee Mike Kerns said. “It's south of Huber Feed. It's just a great big huge hole and it keeps sinking and breaking up bigger. And the county won't fix that for us. That hole has been there for a long time. It's never been patched. We can get it on next month's agenda and have time to get someone to do that before contractors get busy.”

Grant

Bunge confirmed to trustees at the meeting that Creston’s application has officially been submitted for a Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Rebuild Illinois Main Street & Downtown grant for $780,000, $195,000 of which would be matched locally by the village if awarded.

The grant would include reconstruction of Creston’s downtown including new water mains and storm sewer, reconstruction of the street, all new sidewalks, curb and gutter, parking and more.

At previous meetings, Bunge has said the grant application process will take a year and if selected, Creston wouldn’t start construction or have to pay any costs until the latter part of 2023. 

“Everything went pretty well with it,” Bunge said. “You guys got good letters of support from impacted businesses downtown which counts for a lot. Now we're just in waiting mode. I will let you know as soon as we hear anything.”

Water mains

Bunge said he plans to bring an estimate of engineering fees and construction costs for two future water main replacement projects that the village wants to use American Rescue Plan Act funds for. 

Creston was recently awarded $89,000 in ARPA funds that it has three years to spend. Water mains are an eligible expense for that money.

Gaming

Village Attorney Russell Crull discussed the idea of the village potentially raising its rates on gaming machines in Creston if the board desired to do so. A law changed in the state that allows municipalities to now charge up to $250 per machine after it was previously $25. 

“Some towns have considered doing it since the state changed it,” Crull said. If you want to consider that in the future, we can do that. There's quite a bit of debate about it with other towns. Some people go all the way to $250 and some haven't raised it at all. It's really up to you guys. It would just be an ordinance modification.”

The Moose Knuckle has five gaming machines and they're the only ones in Creston.