Who is Grant Walch? Will he be appointed to serve in Ward 1?
The Bloomington City Council meets Monday night at 6 at the Government Center Chambers and one of the first items on the agenda is Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe’s appointment of Grant Walch to fill the first district City Council seat vacated when Jamie Mathy resigned.
Also on the agenda are requests from the Public Works Department to spend $2.4 million on utility maintenance and pursue spending $8.7 million on street resurfacing.
Walch is a Technical Support Engineer at FIS. The company is involved in commercial and financial transactions serving financial institutions, securities and investment firms and insurance firms among others. Walch leads a team providing technical and applications support. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is married to his wife Karen Martin Walch.
On the consent agenda is an item to approve a Contract with George Gildner, Inc., for the FY23 Utility Maintenance Project (Bid #2022-32), in the amount of $2,036,500. The city received bids for the project on April 19 and Gildner was the low bidder.
Stark Excavating bid $2,459,660.50 and Horr Construction bid $2,834,950.
Gildner’s bid was $423,160.50 lower than Stark’s.
The project includes $735,000 for Sanitary Sewer repair, $438,000 for water line maintenance and $414,000 for storm sewer work.
Also on the agenda is an item to precede towards spending $8.75 million on street resurfacing and sidewalk work.
The council is asked to approve a Resolution Establishing the Streets to be Resurfaced in Fiscal Year 2023. This would be the largest resurfacing program in the city’s history. The resolution establishes $7 million of work and allows for another $1.75 million of work if the Council agrees to spend American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding on street resurfacing.
The resolution asks council to waive the normal bidding process for the $7 million worth of work and allow staff to negotiate a contract with Rowe Construction, the only local firm that can do the work. After negotiations that contract would be brought back to the council in June for approval.
A second contract for the $1.75 million proposed to be funded using ARPA funds would be bid out in the late summer of 2023.
Notable streets that would be resurfaced this summer include; E. Oakland Ave. from Guido Circle to Eldorado Rd., McArthur Avenue from S. Morris Ave. to Main St. and E. Jackson St. From S. McLean Ave to Vales St.
