Mt. Morris Village Board OKs TIF amendment, redevelopment agreement

MT. MORRIS – Mt. Morris officials’ efforts to improve blighted properties in the village are continuing.

Mt. Morris Village Board members unanimously voted Tuesday to add 2 W. Hitt St., Mt. Morris, to Tax Increment District No. 2 and to reapprove a redevelopment agreement with the property owners to reimburse up to $50,000 of building rehabilitation and renovation costs.

“We’d already approved the redevelopment agreement when we thought the property was in the TIF, and then that triggered the [TIF amendment] process when it wasn’t,” Village President Phil Labash said.

Jeremy Nesemeier owns 2 W. Hitt St., which houses his business, County Line Design. Renovating the building will cost about $125,000, according to the redevelopment agreement.

In order for Nesemeier to complete the project, village officials determined that it is in the village’s best interest and “the health, safety, morals and welfare of the residents and taxpayers” to reimburse certain project costs, according to the redevelopment agreement.

“The agreement is signed up front, but the payment and supplemental documentation is once you’re done,” village attorney Rob LeSage told Nesemeier, who was at the July 23 meeting. “Most of your costs should be TIF eligible based on that TIF agreement.”

Adding the Hitt Street property to TIF No. 2 cost about $20,000, half of which Nesemeier agreed to pay, Labash said.

“Practically, from a TIF expense, it cost the village $10,000,” he said. “I think that’s worth it to have one of the blighted properties in our downtown cleaned up.”

In other business, Village Board members:

• unanimously approved a $62,750 contract with Fehr Graham for professional design services for the Sunset Lane reconstruction project. The contract will cover design services for Sunset Lane from Zickuhr Park to Mulberry Avenue.
• unanimously approved a $22,197.48 bid from Total Construction Services of Sterling to redo the Dillehay Park barn roof. There were three bids; the other two were from Precision Buildings of Ashton for $24,450 and BOSS Roofing-Siding Experts for $23,691.44.
• unanimously approved a contract with Soil and Material Consultants Inc. for $5,312 to do a geotechnical investigation report at Zickuhr Park. The report is required as part of the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Grant that the village received for the park, parks and recreation Trustee Jim Hopkins said.