Darien City Council Moves Forward with High Road Ditch Repairs

The ditches along High Road in Darien will be getting a lift this autumn after all. 

After renewed discussion Monday, voted 6-1 to pursue $420,000 in ditch repairs along High Road from 67^th Street to Janet Avenue.

The ditch project will also allow the city to move forward with street repairs in 2012 along the same stretch of road. 

Two weeks ago the city council under consideration after an audit revealed city revenues more than $1 million higher than expected in fiscal year 2011. 

But after gathering a little more information, Ward 6 Alderwoman Sylvia McIvor said that she asked the city to add the High Road project—which she originally voted against—onto Monday’s agenda.

“I didn’t support all three projects but based on responses to questions on High Road, I specifically felt it was important to fix it at this time,” she said.

Some of her concerns include possible safety issues and the fact that High Road is an artery to Hinsdale South High School. 

Although he ultimately voted for the repairs, Ward 7 Alderman Halil Avci objected via speakerphone to the city moving $1 million from the general fund into the capital improvements fund.

He proposed creating a list of infrastructure improvements to pursue in future years rather than implicitly prioritizing the ditch project this year by transferring the money.

“I would prefer to leave extra money in the fund balances for the future because with the economy the way it is, up and down in wild swings, next year we might see the opposite of what we saw this year—that is, the revenue may be lower than projected,” he said.

Mayor Kathleen Weaver said the city plans its budget three years out and the council already knows it will probably have to eventually borrow money to fund capital projects.

The council voted 6-2 to amend the fiscal year 2012 budget and move the money, which City Administrator Bryon Vana said came from sources such as increased telecommunications and sales tax revenue. (A budget amendment requires a vote of two-thirds of the city’s corporate authority, which includes the mayor.)

The city also anticipates more revenue in the coming months from the sale of property to Chase Bank and , Vana said. During the city’s budget talks late last winter, Vana said the city would consider the ditch projects if those funds materialized.

After the vote on the fund transfer, Avci said he didn’t object to the High Road ditch project itself.

Ward 3 Alderman John Poteraske said that he would prefer to wait five or six months to approve the project so the city would have more flexibility as to how to spend the money. 

Robin Balster, of the 6700 block of High Road, told the council Monday that minor repairs to the ditch hadn’t done enough to alleviate problems with standing water. 

“[The project] is pretty necessary,” she said. “I have terrible standing water.”

The problems developed after DuPage County replaced a sewer line about a year and a half ago, she said.  Director Dan Gombac said that those repairs caused a series of problems that won’t be resolved until the city revamps the ditches in that area.

After the vote, High Road resident Charlene Folkens thanked the council.

“We’ve lived here for 37 years,” she said. “We’ve faced a lot of water.”

The forthcoming city-funded repairs will include the replacement of rundown culverts, removal and installation of inlets, the enclosure of some ditches and ditch re-grading along 6,900 feet of High Road, according to a city memo.

As a result of the project, storm water will flow into Dale Basin and Sawmill Creek, the memo said.

Of the $420,000 allotted to the project, the memo said $329,145 would go toward materials and services, and $90,855 to Scorpio Construction to complete the work.

Public Works is in the process of developing a that will help the city prioritize which ditches to repair in future years. New criteria for the system are scheduled to be presented at the Aug.  22 .