HILLCREST — At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the Hillcrest Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Trustees Pam Pittman and Eileen Braski and saw them sworn in. 

Both previously served on the board but did not run for reelection on April 1 due to believing they would not be able to commit to continuing to serve as trustees. Circumstances changed and they were brought up for reappointment, Village President Rick Rhoads said. Braski and Pittman will run for reelection in two years.

Braski has served as finance trustee and Pittman has served as community relations trustee in the past. The board now has a full seven trustees.

Sewer

Trustees discussed the idea of applying for an unsewered communities grant during the meeting to potentially receive money to add sewer service to portions of Hillcrest in the future. Village Engineer Kaitlin Wright of Baxter & Woodman inquired whether the board would be interested in applying for the grant, and they resolved Wednesday to move forward with the application.

Most of Hillcrest does not have sewer service and is served by septic. Trustees have looked at adding sewer service in the past but decided against it due to costs. 

Rhoads said Wednesday that the grant could provide up to $5 million in funding if Hillcrest is selected for it, and the amount would depend on the size of the project the village wants to take on. 

Rhoads said he and Wright have discussed the idea of running sewer to Hillcrest's business district on Powers Road, and that would be the likely course for a potential project.

"We should move forward with it, keeping in mind that one thing that has held us back from getting more businesses in the village is the lack of sewer going up Powers Road," Trustee Dan Potter said. "Casey's wanted to build a new location in that area and they can't because there's no sewer."

If sewer were to be run to residential homes, hookup would not be mandatory for residents until the time that their septic failed. 

Parking lot

Village trustees also discussed current and future bids for a project that will see a new parking lot in the front and back of Village Hall. The recently-completed Priority 1A water main project saw the Village Hall parking lot torn out and not completely put back into place. The village is looking at whether or not it can use motor fuel tax funds for the work. 

The village has received bids already from Elliott & Wood ($131,000), George Brothers ($86,000), and Royer Asphalt ($68,000). Elliott & Wood's bid consists of a full reconstruction of the lot, which the village does not believe is necessary and it plans to ask for a more limited bid. Rhoads said an additional bid from another company is expected and a vote will likely be taken at the June meeting.

Sirens

Rhoads said during the meeting that changes are being made to Hillcrest's siren system and sirens will now sound when Rochelle's do during storms. Ogle County is moving away from its siren system to a text system, Rhoads said. In the past, when a tornado was sighted in Ogle County, sirens across the entire county would sound. In the future, Hillcrest's sirens will only sound when Rochelle's do.