Yates City gets $871,310 grant for new well

By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post

YATES CITY – An answer for some of Yates City’s water woes is on the horizon, thanks in large part to grassroots work by village trustees to obtain funding.

The Village of Yates City was recently selected to receive a $871,310 Community Development Block Grant for public infrastructure. With this grant and a previously awarded forgivable loan from the Illinois EPA, Yates City has secured $1,271,310 of funding.

Money will be used for the construction of a secondary water source for the village that was mandated by the state several years ago.

“The hard work of the Village Board, especially Trustees Mark Hostetler and Matt Ehens, has saved the residents of Yates City just under $1.3 million dollars,” Board President Ken Vallas said. “This is the largest grant by far that the village has ever obtained.”

Construction on the new deep well is expected to start and be completed in 2024.

After the deep well is completed, the village will build a new ground storage tank, which will be funded by a forgivable loan of up to $400,000 from the Illinois EPA.

In order to receive the latest grant, though, the board first had to have 75 percent of village residents fill out an income survey. The Western Illinois Regional Council mailed out surveys, but response was initially poor.

As the deadline approached, Hostetler and Ehens took it upon themselves to go door-to-door to explain to residents why the survey was needed.

Results showed that the village met the threshold of 51 percent of residents having low to moderate income – a requirement for the grant and for the loan.

“If it wasn’t for Mark and Matt, we probably wouldn’t have got the grant,” Vallas said. “A lot of people didn’t want to full out the income surveys.”

The CDGB grant is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. This year, $48.5 million was awarded to 41 projects, most to non-metropolitan communities facing critical repairs to water, sewer and drainage infrastructure.

Vallas said he learned Monday that the village may also qualify for another $200,000 forgivable loan from the EPA to pay for engineering costs for the new well.

The well will be drilled about 50-60 feet from the existing well, Vallas said, and is expected to be 1,400 to 1,700 feet deep. The village’s current well is 1,500 feet deep, Vallas said.

Bids can’t be solicited until the village receives a formal grant letter, which may not be until January. But the hope is to have work on the well underway by spring of 2024, Vallas said.

At its Aug. 9 meeting, the village board approved moving forward with the well project.

The board also voted to pay water department employee Bruce Brinker $100 per week for up to 10 weeks for his time and continuing consulting. Brinker is on a leave of absence for medical reasons but has consulted frequently about water issues.

The board also heard that attorney Wayne Statham will retire in January 2024.

The board discussed possible changes to the village motor vehicle ordinance regarding access to town property and utilities and also pursuing a demolition order for the structure at 201 N. Burson St.