The purchase of leak detection equipment for the water department was approved by members of the Fairbury City Council Wednesday evening.
A bid proposal for the locator from Core & Main came in at $6,905 which was ultimately approved, but not before some questions from an alderman.
“Are you going to get another bid?” asked Bruce Weber.
Weber feels there should be two bids and suggested further research. Mayor David Slagel said this matter does not require multiple bids.
“The amount of money doesn’t seem to be that terrible,” stated Alderman Steve Endres.
Water Superintendent Mike Mellott described a “pretty good” leak in town which is when he borrowed a leak detector device. When they dug up the area, they found the water leak was going into a tile.
“That thing helped me narrow it down to a two-foot radius,” Mellott explained.
The locator uses sound and frequency and has a screen on it with a digital readout.
“Would we just use it occasionally or wait until you have a problem?” asked Alderman Jim Tipton.
Mellott said they would occasionally use it to search for leaks.
The purchase passed 6-1 with Weber voting no.
In other matters at Wednesday’s regular Fairbury City Council meeting, City Superintendent Brett Ashburn announced the new city website and app should be up and live in January. They are working on getting a “.gov” URL instead of the current “.com.”
“A little more what it should be really for a government agency,” said Mayor Slagel.
The new website will be fairburyil.gov.
A payment was authorized for concrete work on Chestnut Street where the old hospital buildings were. The owners took care of the cost of replacing all curb and gutter on Fifth Street however, it was torn up on Chestnut and damaged before they got involved. The owners went ahead and did the work but wanted reimbursement from the city.
Council members approved the purchase of a new lab oven for the wastewater department.
“My oven is a dinosaur,” noted Bruce Pride with the sewer department. “They don’t make parts for mine anymore.”
There were two bids on this which were fairly close. The council chose the option from North Central Laboratories for $3,303.
Police Chief Robert McCormick requested an executive session to discuss personnel matters, although no action was taken following the session.
The consent agenda was approved which included Nov. 6 minutes, voucher invoice register, cash report and check register.
