Rock Falls council OKs Micro Industries building asbestos abatement bid

ROCK FALLS – The city of Rock Falls is one step closer to demolishing the former Micro Industries buildings.

On Tuesday, Rock Falls City Council members voted unanimously to accept a $188,000 bid from Husar Abatement Ltd. of Franklin Park for asbestos abatement. The work is expected to take 25 working days to complete, according to Husar’s bid.

“This came in approximately $400,000 under the engineer’s estimate,” City Administrator Robbin Blackert said.

Husar Abatement was the lowest of three bids. The other two were O&M Environmental Co., for $444,000 and a duration of 40 days, and Enviroplus Inc., for $1,089,850 and a duration of 35 days.

Forty areas in five of the Micro Industries buildings were found to contain asbestos, according to Terracon Consultants’ proposal for consulting services.

The City Council hired Terracon for asbestos consulting services on Dec. 19, 2023.

Terracon prepared an asbestos abatement scope of work package and assisted in bidding out the project and in selection of the contractor, according to its proposal. The company also will oversee the abatement process and complete an abatement closeout report.

“As part of our $2.2 million grant that we received for the Rebuild Downtowns and Main Streets, about $600,000 of that was going towards asbestos abatement,” Blackert said Dec. 19. “In order to write the grant, we had to hire Terracon to do the survey of asbestos, which ended up being about 600 pages long.”

The grant also will cover demolition of the buildings.

Blackert said the city is looking to have the asbestos removed sometime in late spring or early summer 2024, once the cold weather for sure has passed. Demolition of the Micro Industries buildings will follow shortly after, she said.

The city plans to redevelop the space once it’s cleared, Blackert said.

Lifesaving Awards

Rock Falls Police Chief David Pilgrim awarded Lifesaving Awards to Sgt. Betony Gluff and Officer Kristofer Perez for their actions during a Feb. 14 call.

Blackert and City Council members in turn awarded Pilgrim a Lifesaving Award for his part in the same call.

The 911 dispatchers, Alexis Echebarria and Tara Baumgartner, also received an award from their supervisor, Stacie McKinzie.

The lifesaving event took place about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, when Rock Falls police were dispatched to a medical assist in the area of state Route 40 and Interstate 88, according to a news release.

The 911 caller reported she was a passenger in a vehicle in which the driver had become unconscious and was not breathing. The caller and the other passenger were able to get the vehicle stopped and began attempting to perform CPR with assistance from the instructions from the 911 dispatcher.

The caller was not from the area and was unable to immediately provide an exact location. Rock Falls police, Rock Falls firefighters and CGH EMS were dispatched to assist. Rock Falls police located the vehicle on state Route 40 just north of the I-88 overpass. Once on-scene, Rock Falls officers removed the unconscious male from the vehicle.

One officer began chest compressions while another prepared an automated external defibrillator. The AED was applied to the man’s chest and delivered one shock as responders from the Rock Falls Fire Department and CGH EMS arrived to take over treatment. The man was transported via ambulance to CGH Medical Center, where he was hospitalized in the critical care unit for several days before being discharged to a rehab center. He has since been released from the hospital to recover at home.

The Rock Falls Fire Department and EMS personnel – Deputy Chief Kyle Sommers and firefighters Matt Oswalt, Mark McPhillips and Cameron Gonzalez, and CGH EMS’ Danny Surdez – also were recognized for their efforts in the response.

In other business, the City Council unanimously voted to:

• Approve an ordinance amending business license fee increases.
• Approve an annual fair solar credit.
• Allow Blackert or the Rock Falls street superintendent to enter into contracts with the state on behalf of the city and execute necessary documents related to the bulk purchase of rock salt.
• Award a $5,565,369 bid to Martin & Co. Excavating of Oregon for the Avenue A reconstruction and Fifth Avenue lift station replacement.
• Approve the $174,461 Phase 2 engineering agreement with Willett, Hofmann & Associates, of Dixon, for the East 11th Street Bridge project.
• Allow the Rock Falls Fire Department to purchase eight sets of turn-out gear for $30,400 using American Rescue Plan Act funds.