A recommendation to reconstruct portions of Seventh Street and the appropriation of $5,000 of motor fuel tax for the design of Sycamore Road traffic signal improvements will be considered Monday by the DeKalb City Council.

Assistant City Manager Gary Boden said the design of the final phase of Seventh Street reconstruction from Shipman Street to Sycamore Road is nearing completion.

City Staff recommends the reconstruction of the roadway from the ground up at a cost of $485,000 with 75 percent to be paid by the Federal Highway Administration, Boden said. The city would have to fund the remaining $121,250.

econstruction is recommended because large portions of the sewer underneath the road need to be removed and replaced, Boden said. The council will be asked to authorize the completion of the design phase and to allow the project to be bid out to a contractor who will do the reconstruction, he said.

An Oct. 15 memo to City Manager Mark Stevens stated the project needs approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation. If approved, the project would be bid early next year, and construction would begin in the spring or summer, the memo stated.

The council also will consider the appropriation of $5,000 of the city’s motor fuel tax funds for the design of traffic signal improvements on Sycamore Road.

The motor fuel tax is a state tax in which a “lump sum” is re-allocated back to municipalities, Boden said. DeKalb uses most of the money for street maintenance, he said. Boden could not say at the time what the lump sum totaled.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has indicated they will pay $100,000 for the construction of the project which would establish traffic signal synchronization along a 2.37 mile stretch of Sycamore Road from Fourth Street to Bethany Road, Boden said.

If the council approves the appropriation of the motor fuel tax, it will be used to complete “some engineering and design work to get it (the project) at a point where construction would occur. IDOT would fund construction,” Boden said.

City Staff also is asking the council to approve two special council meetings in November to discuss storm water and sewer issues, Boden said. August’s flooding problems would be discussed at the first meeting, and sanitary sewer problems would be discussed at the second meeting, he said.

If approved, the first meeting would be Nov. 16 and the second Nov. 30, Boden said.