North Cook News

The Roselle Board of Trustees received a proposal for a lead service line replacement in the village to comply with an Illinois law passed in 2021 requiring municipalities statewide to replace all lead service lines within their service area.

Council learned during its Feb. 27 meeting, streamed on YouTube, that the requirements are gradually phased in, with a specified percentage of pipes required to be replaced by 2024 provided the village is coming up with an inventory of pipes and has a plan in place for replacement. However, village officials said that one issue with replacing the lead lines in the village is that many lead pipes in use are service lines from the main line to individual homes and most fall under the residents’ responsibility, leaving many cities to come up with plans to share the cost. Mayor David Pileski said there are three options.

“You either go with the village and have our contractor do the work and you're paying for it in some method, you're hiring your own contractor to do the work, or you're signing an EPA waiver,” he said during the meeting. “There are only three options. You cannot ignore us.”

It was noted during the meeting that the village is reaching out to Maple Avenue residents, where the first work to replace lead lines impacting residents is planned. Most have responded that they are willing to work with the village, but want to know the cost before committing to anything.

The board also learned the village conducted surveys and found that 10 of 24 residents in the area likely have copper service lines and would not need to make any changes.

The village, the board learned, will put bids out for the work in March and will share price estimates with residents who had lead service lines by the end of April or early May, and work could begin in June.

Public Works Director Karen Young told council that there were some cost-sharing options that residents could weigh, including a fee waiver, a 12-month zero interest plan, deferred payments through the village or seeking funding through a private bank.

The board also debated the chance of securing grants to fund the project for lower-income residents and other options, including a zero-interest loan, with funding decisions and other methods to be discussed at a future meeting.