The Hillcrest Village Board of Trustees heard a report Wednesday, Nov. 12, from Village Engineer Kaitlin Wright of Baxter & Woodman on the recent closure of the Hemstock Road bridge and the work it will take to reopen it.

The bridge was closed by the Illinois Department of Transportation in mid-October. In July, Ogle County inspected the bridge and found that its load rating declined sharply, from a 7 to a 4.

After seeing those numbers, IDOT inspected the bridge in October and determined the steel piles that support it have deteriorated and that it should be closed. The bridge is owned by the Village of Hillcrest. Baxter & Woodman inspected the bridge Nov. 6 and found that all eight steel piles are corroded, with two severely corroded and no longer supporting the bridge.

Wright said Baxter & Woodman is in discussions with Ogle County and IDOT about funding and repair options. The bridge is 50 years old. Wright said the bridge needs to be replaced in its entirety, which would cost about $1 million and take 3-4 years for funding and construction.

“The bridge has reached the end of its useful life,” Wright said. “The repair that we do will be temporary and you will see other failures in the near future. The recommendation overall is to plan on the entire bridge being replaced.”

In the short term to reopen it, the village will be pursuing a repair of the bridge for $100,000 or less. Village President Rick Rhoads instructed Wright to begin conversations with contractors about a design and repair process. Corroded parts of the two failing steel piles would be removed and then encased in concrete. Wright said that could take around six months, due to concrete work needing to be done in the spring. Inspection and reopening would take place after that.

For the future needed full replacement of the bridge, the village will work with IDOT long-term. Eighty percent of the anticipated $1 million project would be covered by federal funds, Wright said. Hillcrest would cover the remaining amount. The multi-year process would begin soon, with potential funding in 2028 or later, Wright said.

Sewer

Trustees, along with Wright, held discussion on potentially applying for a grant to help pay for the installation of additional sewer service in portions of the village in the future.

Most of Hillcrest does not have sewer service and is served by septic. Trustees have looked at adding sewer service in the past but decided against it due to costs.

The grant, which has not opened yet, could provide up to $5 million in funding if Hillcrest is selected for it, and the amount would depend on the size of the project the village wants to take on.

The village has discussed the idea of running sewer to Hillcrest’s business district on Powers Road in the past, along with running sewer to homes in the southern portion of the village, which is where its oldest homes with the smallest yards are. If sewer were to be run to residential homes, hookup would not be mandatory for residents until the time that their septic failed.

Rhoads instructed Wright to continue pursuing the potential grant on Wednesday, and expressed the desire to be prepared in the future for when residents’ septic tanks fail. Wright said Wednesday that grant funds could cover septic abandonment and hookup costs for residents.

Insurance

The board unanimously approved its yearly insurance policy for a total of $29,586. The village’s total insurance cost saw a 1.6% increase from last year. Its workers compensation insurance decreased from $8,377 to $8,097 and its general liability insurance increased from $16,985 to $17,739.

“I wish I could tell all my insurers that they had a 1.6 percent increase in the past year,” Adam Heal of Crum-Halsted Insurance said. “It’s very rare. I thought it was a pretty good renewal.”

Trees

Rhoads said during the meeting that trees along Illinois Route 251 are being removed by IDOT, which owns the trees. Rhoads said Hillcrest had no involvement in the removal of the six dead trees, and the stumps will be removed by IDOT.

Levy

The board unanimously approved its fiscal 2026 tax levy in the amount of $73,063. The increase is less than 5% from last year, which did not require the village to hold a truth in taxation hearing.

Donations

The village will be collecting donations for an “Adopt a Grandparent” campaign to benefit Liberty Village residents for the holidays. Monetary donations and unwrapped gifts can be dropped off at Village Hall at 204 Hillcrest Ave. by Dec. 20. Gift ideas include lap blankets, slip-proof socks, sweaters M-2XL, large print word search books, coloring books with colored pencils, 300-piece or less puzzles, wooden puzzles, mini cans of soda, shatter-proof plastic or acrylic tumblers, squishmallows, new release DVDs, and plastic shower caddies.