Rock Falls City Council purchases lot for new electronics recycling center

ROCK FALLS – Rock Falls residents soon will have a new place to recycle their electronics.

On Tuesday, Rock Falls City Council members voted 6-1 to purchase 1003 W. Route 30 for $80,000. The property currently is the site of Instant Car Credit. The seller is Catherine Gray.

Alderwoman Cathy Arduini voted against the purchase. Alderman Bill Wangelin was absent. There was no discussion among council members before the vote.

“It’ll take a little work, but I think it’s going to be a really good site and really convenient for the residents,” City Administrator Robbin Blackert said after the meeting. “We’ve got citizens very, very anxious, calling us a lot, [asking], ‘When are you going to open again?’”

The new electronics recycling center is expected to be up and running by mid-July, Mayor Rod Kleckler said.

The city’s former electronics recycling center on First Avenue/Route 40 closed when the property was sold to Jeff and Angie Moore, owners of Moore Tires, after a Jan. 16 fire.

Firefighters from more than 20 agencies throughout the Sauk Valley either provided equipment or helped fight the Jan. 16 blaze, which eventually destroyed Moore Tires’ 70,000-square-foot facility on East Rock Falls Road/Route 30. No one was injured.

East Second Street

Also on Tuesday, Rock Falls City Council members unanimously voted to waive bidding for the East Second Street hot-mix asphalt overlay project and to accept an $80,647 quote from Helm Civil of Freeport for the project.

“We got quotes because we weren’t even sure if we were going to be able to afford to do it, and the quotes came in so good that we wanted to take it straight and waive bidding and get it,” Blackert said. “We had all the main players give us quotes.”

The city also received quotes from Porter Brothers Construction of Rock Falls for $97,475.84 and from Martin & Co. of Oregon for $86,732.60.

The overlay project won’t take place until early August or early September, Blackert said. Some large construction equipment will be on the road in late July to do work on the hydroelectric-generation facility, and they don’t want to redo the street and then put a large crane on it, she said.

“That’s a big complaint street, so the residents should be happy about that,” Blackert said.