City of Palos Heights Water & Sewer Committee met Jan. 27
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
CALL TO ORDER
A meeting of the Water & Sewer Committee was scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brennan at 6:40 p.m. A quorum was not present; therefore, no official business could be conducted. In attendance were Chairman Brennan, Alderman Key, City Administrator Adam Jasinski, Public Works Director Joe Smith and Recording Secretary Jan Tomaszewski. Alderman McGrogan and Alderman Begley were absent.
Chairman Brennan will bring items requiring approval before the City Council at the next City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes for the meeting of November 25, 2025 will be approved at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Water & Sewer Committee.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Public Works Director Joe Smith presented the following reports/considerations:
• Watermain Breaks: There have been seven watermain breaks to date.
• Water Meter Replacement Program. This is the last payment to Calumet City Plumbing.
• Motion to approve payment No. 15 approval to Calumet City Plumbing for the Water Meter Replacement Program in the amount of $10,406.00.
• Touch Coupler Smart Points. Director Smith presented samples of the touch coupler smart points to the Committee. Majority of the couplers are located outside the house and the City itself we will replace 126 couplers that were installed prior to the new water meters. These new couplers will work with the Advanced Metering Infrastructure System that we hope to get in the future.
• Motion to approve the purchase of 126 Touch Coupler Smart Points from Core & Main in the amount of $19,782.00.
• Advanced Metering Infrastructure. This is the antenna system that allows us to read the water meters in the City.
City Administrator Jasinski added that the City received a $200,000.00 DCEO grant from the State of Illinois for this project. We are close to wrapping up bid documents for this project and we are hoping to post this as soon as we receive approval from City Council to go out to bid. This will allow us to take continuous meter readings and also understand our water losses and actual water usage. This system will allow us to do much more with our meters than we are currently able to do.
• Motion for authorization to issue Request for Proposals (RFP) for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) System.
• Misty Meadow 250,000 Gallon Spheroid Rehab Project. Project is complete.
• Motion to approve final payment to Era Valdivia for the Misty Meadow 250,000-Gallon Spheroid Rehabilitation Project in the amount of $39,894.87.
• 300,000 Gallon Ground Level Storage Tank. Since the previous Water & Sewer Committee was cancelled, we will process payment No. 3. Once payment No. 3 is received and we receive the required waivers, we will then process payment No. 4.
• Motion to approve payment No. 3 and No. 4 for the 300,000 Gallon Ground Level Storage Tank with Dahme Mechanical Industries, Inc. in the amount of $520,237.00.
• 131st Street Lining Project. City Administrator Jasinski provided a detailed explanation of the previously requested Change Order #1 and now, Change Order #2. Normally, we do a final balancing change order that includes multiple change orders to avoid back and forth, but because this is an EPA project, they require individual change order approval and then payment approval, both by City Council.
After this payment, we are approximately $100,000.00 below budget; however, there are numerous valves that are not holding and will need to be replaced which will take us to approximately $20,000.00 above budget.
• Motion to request approval of Change Order #2 for 131st St. Water Main Lining Project contract increase in the amount of $30,934.33.
• Motion to request payment #2 for the 131st Street Water Main Lining Project to FerPel Construction in the amount of $510,420.71, after the consent of the IEPA.
• 2025 Ford Transit Vehicle Outfit. This is the new water operator vehicle.
• Motion for approval to outfit the 2025 Ford Transit van through Regional Truck Equipment in the amount not to exceed $7,000.00.
• Parliament Drive Lift Station.
• Motion for approval for Gasvoda to replace 4 isolating plug valves and a 4” check valve at the Parliament Dr. Lift Station in the amount of $11,000.00.
• P-CAT-Nexus Pipeline Condition Assessment & Leak Services.
• Motion to approve payment to M.E Simpson Co., Inc. for conducting P-CAT-Nexus Pipeline Condition Assessment and Leak services throughout the City in the amount of $4,500.00.
Director Jasinski noted this is the assessment for the sanitary line from Oak Hills.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
• Motion to approve payment for professional engineering services with Lockwood, Andrews, and Newnam, Inc. for the Southwest Hwy Lift Station Rehabilitation rendering through November 30th, 2025 in the amount of $10,125.90.
• Motion to approve payment to Morris Engineering for engineering services for watermain replacements throughout the City in the amount of $4,733.80.
• Motion to approve payment for professional engineering services with RJN Group for the 2025 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation, 2025 On-Call services rendering through January 2nd, 2026 in the amount of $26,437.50.
• Motion to approve the 2026 On-Call Sanitary, Storm, and GIS Engineering Services with RJN group not to exceed $25,000.00.
City Administrator Jasinski explained that RJN will be working on our reporting to MWRD, such as how many sanitary lines we televise, how many we rehab, how many manholes we rehab, etc. That is a reporting that is required from us by MWRD. They also provide GIS engineering.
• Motion to approve payment for professional engineering services with Strand Associates, Inc. for the Alternative Water Supplier Analysis and 131st Street Water Main CIPP Lining rendering through December 31st, 2025 in the amount of $7,357.17.
OLD BUSINESS
City Administrator Jasinski stated that resident Jennifer Schutt, 47 Shadow Creek Drive, previously attended a Committee meeting seeking forgiveness for an unusually high water bill, with no explanation for the increase.
Jennifer had the new meter installed. Public Works has been to the residence and could not locate the potential problem. Meter readings have been normal since.
City Council passed an Ordinance to allow a $100 credit if the resident submits proof of repairs. Since there were no issues found, no repairs were made. The Committee rejected the request.
The Committee instructed City Administrator Jasinski to contact Jennifer and inform her that she will not be receiving a credit and to possibly arrange for a payment plan with the City.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 7:04 p.m.
https://palosheights.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02242026-1333
