HILLCREST — At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the Hillcrest Village Board of Trustees heard an update from Village Engineer Kaitlin Wright on ongoing state-mandated water service line inventory work.

The village must check to see if water lines running into homes are possibly made of lead or galvanized pipe for future replacement. The inventory has an April 15, 2025 submission deadline to the state. 

After saying last month that 50 percent of water lines running into homes in Hillcrest were unidentified, Wright said Wednesday that significant progress has been made and the makeup of only 60 water lines remain unknown. A village representative worked on the task in the past month going door-to-door and attempting to schedule visits with homes that had not reported the material their service line is made up of.

Hillcrest's current water service line inventory now says that 326 are made of copper, 20 are galvanized pipe, 12 are plastic and 22 are unknown but lead has been ruled out due to age of construction. One lead service line has been reported, which Wright said she'd still like to verify.

The village will be submitting the inventory to the state this week along with a replacement plan. Hillcrest will fund that plan with the remainder of a $30,000 grant it received for inventory work and is eligible to apply for another grant for replacement costs. During the meeting Wright suggested hydro excavation work to determine the remaining 60 unknown water service lines.

Hydrant

Village President Rick Rhoads said during the meeting that a car-versus-fire hydrant accident that took place last month that caused a hydrant to be damaged and water service to be knocked out to the village for a short time along with a day-long boil order yielded a $15,000 cost.

"We had to empty two water towers worth of water, losing over 200,000 gallons," Rhoads said. "That's probably between $2,000-3,000 worth of water. And then the cost for the hours it took to get it all put back together and get new grass seed down."

The bill has been submitted to the driver's insurance, village officials said. The hydrant, located on Scott Avenue, had to be replaced and was part of the recently-completed Priority 1A water main project.

That project had a $1.2 million total budget and replaced mains along the full length of Scott Avenue, parts of Errett Road and Erickson Road from Scott Avenue to Jeffrey Avenue, and parts of Jeffrey Avenue from Errett Road to Erickson Road. Those streets are in the southern and oldest part of the village. The project was financed with an IEPA loan that will involve 50 percent loan forgiveness. The debt service on the project will be $35,000 per year over 20 years. The village hopes to receive its loan forgiveness funds in the next month.

Chip seal

Wright said during the meeting that the cost for chip seal work in Hillcrest in 2025 will be $38,452. The engineer's estimate for the work was $48,000. The contractor for the work will be Helm Civil.

Hillcrest's 2025 chip seal program will include Hillcrest Avenue, Jeffrey Avenue, Wayne Road from Scott Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue, Errett Road from Scott Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue, Erickson Road from Scott Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue, and Powers Road from Scott Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue.

Streets & grounds

Rhoads said during the meeting that plans are in place to install speed bumps at multiple locations in Hillcrest in coming weeks in an effort to decrease speeding vehicles. The village currently has four sets of speed bumps and is considering purchasing more to install them in more locations.

Mentioned locations Wednesday included Hillcrest Avenue, Errett Road, and in the Windover Park subdivision.

Rhoads also mentioned during his streets & grounds update that mosquito abatement spraying will be done in Hillcrest this summer.

Cleanup

The village will be hosting a clean-up day for residents on Saturday, May 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  at 422 Wayne Road. There will be a dumpster on site and accepted items will include scrap metal, yard waste, electronics (seven items per vehicle limit), and car and light truck tires ($5 disposal fee per tire). No batteries will be accepted. The event is for Hillcrest residents only and participants are asked to bring proof of address.

Egg hunt

The village will be holding its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 12. The event will be held at Flannigan Park after being held at Powers Park last year.