The City of Winchester is hoping to take care of a years long problem for a local business that’s been in town for over 70 years.
Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative has had trouble with a storm sewer in the city backing up into the basement of their building, which has caused some issues with the foundation of the building.
Mayor Rex McIntire said that the city had to do some research about who owned the pipe: “It’s a storm sewer line. It’s a small line that runs under the sidewalk on the north side of Illinois Rural Electric’s building. It’s about 300 feet long and it runs from the corner on Main Street to the corner on Hill Street. It’s just a shallow sewer and it’s an old line. The problem was that we weren’t sure if it belong to the city or if it belonged to the state because it’s runs right along the state highway, Route 106.”
McIntire said he was glad that IREC Operations Manager Randy Long came to speak with the council about keeping the building in Winchester. IREC originally started in Winchester in the 1930s. McIntire says the project will be taken care of out of their TIF District funds and will also take care of another issue along the street: “We put some numbers together and got some quotes on materials. I think it’s going to cost right around $30,000-$35,000 to replace it, but the good things about it are: 1. We can help stabilize the foundation of their building there, which is what they are really concerned about, and 2. We need a new sidewalk along that side of their building anyway. The council concurred and we all agreed. We also have enough money in the TIF fund to be able to handle the cost.”
The project is expected to begin as soon as possible. The Winchester City Council agreed to the project as long as costs do not exceed $50,000.