Bloomingdale, Illinois, embarked upon a long range plan, now 70% complete, to provide community sanitary sewers to the older section of the community. These older sections were the original Village and annexations that occurred over 25 years ago.

Utilizing the Special Service Area method of financing along with Village funds and assessing the lots on a same cost per lot basis has been very effective. This type of Special Service Area with equity based upon use is an alternate for which Bloomingdale has experienced particular success.

Our consultants for this 12 year project, Wight Consulting Engineers, Inc., 127 South Northwest Highway, Barrington, Illinois 60010, worked closely with Village Administrator Dan Wennerholm and Director of Village Services and Village Engineer Michael Marchi to design the sanitary sewer system to service 560 residences. Almost 400 have received sanitary sewers and in an area that was almost fully built up before the sewer projects.

Bloomingdale, along with Wight Consulting Engineers, Inc. devised a hot-line program that was available for 600 or 700 persons to call about project progress and/or project clean up.

The hot-line telephone service to Wight Consulting Engineers, Inc. puts the citizen in direct contact with the field responsibility of the improvement and has been an unqualified success to respond actively to the residents involved. With three projects going on almost simultaneously, communication is essential.

This project was initiated by former Mayor Sam Tenuto and involved the unanimous support of all the Trustees over the 4 year span.

The total project cost will reach $5,200,000, of which the Village of Bloomingdale will pay more than $2,500,000.

Bloomingdale Trustees made connection to the sanitary sewer collection system and the abandonment of the existing septic fields a voluntary measure, though close to 70% have proceeded expeditiously to make the connection.

The individual residents and the Bloomingdale Village Trustees have been motivated by the need to abandon septic fields and the installation of more positive and better health conditions that result from the collection system.

There are an additional one or two Special Service Areas that remain in this overall project and the Village of Bloomingdale is optimistic that a sanitary sewer collection system will be extended to the entire community within the mid-point of this decade. •

Page 20 / Illinois Municipal Review / July 1993