Community Commish talk sewer-project concerns

By Cornelia Grace Harrison News-Herald Reporter

FREEPORT — The Village of Freeport hosted a special meeting for residents to hear more about the ongoing sewer project.

Commissioners Amy Norris, Dustin Corder, and Paul Coffland were in attendance, along with representatives from each aspect of the project including engineering, safety, and construction. Over 50 residents came to the meeting, some just looking to listen, some to ask questions, and some to voice concerns or complaints.

Coffland opened the meeting by introducing Engineering Field representative Tom Reid who spoke briefly about safety concerns surrounding the trenches being dug throughout the village.

“When we’re out there excavating these trenches,” he said. “We’ve got some that are up to 15-feet deep. … We don’t want anyone to get hurt. Do not get close to the trenches. … Please keep that in mind. I know you’re inquisitive and you want to come over, I don’t know your experience with construction but safety first.”

Project Engineer Austin Prokup spoke next and shared in more detail when residents can expect work to begin around their homes. “The plan in approaching this is to basically go from south to north then west to east. So if you’re curious as to when construction is coming to your house, it’s hard to say because things continue to change as we move through, but we do have a tentative schedule.”

He showed on a village map the general directions and roads they would be working around next.

“The sewer system and waste-water treatment plant should be wrapping up early 2024,” he said. “At that time, there will be notification sent out to everybody to let you know that it is time to

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connect into the system. Please do not try to [connect] before that. That’s the general timeline, as we can all appreciate things can change as everything develops but that is our tentative timeline for now.”

One resident spoke up to ask how much advance notice they would have before needing to hook into the system. Prokup said the notification would be sent about 90 days before they needed to join