WESTVILLE — Village trustees spent much of their monthly meeting Tuesday hearing from representatives of different businesses that want to do business with the village.

First up was Pete Altieri with IDEAL Environmental Engineering of Bloomington concerning the removal of floor tile in the council meeting room. According Altieri, the floor tile have been tested and confirmed to contain some asbestos.

However, Altieri said he believes the tiles can be removed in whole pieces, which would eliminate the need for major environmental controls in the room or the building.

No action was taken on the proposal and the matter was referred to the building and grounds committee for study.

The second presentation was from Jared McMorris with Good Energy LP of Peoria.

According to McMorris, Good Energy is an energy consulting firm that forms purchasing pools of municipalities to purchase wholesale electricity on the open market.

McMorris said his firm represents 80 percent of the Ameren-served communities south of Interstate 80.

McMorris said his firm has already formed three pools of municipalities purchasing electricity. According to McMorris, the terms of the contracts range from 24 months to 12 months. The last pool that went out for bid was able to secure a rate of .0399 cents per kilowatt hour for a period of 17 months.

McMorris said his firm is forming a fourth pool and hopes to include Bloomington and Danville in this pool pending municipal aggregation proposals on the April ballot.

McMorris urged council members to put the issue on the April consolidated ballot.

McMorris said Good Energy estimates the participating communities will save $150 million during the next 17 months. McMorris said there will be one flat rate with no summer or winter rates and the lines will still be maintained by Ameren. There also will still be one power bill from Ameren.

The third presentation was from Jon Johnston with the Farnsworth Group of Bloomington concerning the village’s CDAP grant application.

According to Johnston, his group has received 28 of the 39 income surveys sent out and has determined that 71 percent of those residents qualify under the guidelines of the CDAP grant program.

The purpose of seeking the CDAP grant is to help with the cost of a proposed installation of new water main from Illinois Route 1 to Lafferty Hill. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has identified this section of water main as needing upgrading at the earliest possible date.

Johnston said the CDAP grant would pay for 75 percent or $400,000 of the project cost, whichever is lowest.

According to Johnston, the next step is for the village to enter into a contract with Farnsworth Group to prepare the grant application and to assist in conducting a public hearing for the project. The grant application deadline is Feb. 15, so Johnston said it is necessary to get started as soon as possible.

Johnston tendered a contract to the village on behalf of the Farnsworth Group to charge from $5,500 up to $7,500 for its work in preparing the grant application and conducting the public hearing. Johnston said the final cost would be determined by how much assistance village personnel are able to give in collecting information for the grant application.

Council members approved the contract with the Farnsworth Group pending the village attorney looking over and approving the wording in the contract.

What’s next

Westville Village Council members will meet at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 in the municipal building.