GODFREY | After another heated discussion, the Godfrey Village Board has decided to request bids for the purchase of the village sewer system by a private entity.
The board voted a unanimous 6-0 to seek bids, but Trustees Joe Springman and Nathan Schrumpf both seemed vehemently opposed to an eventual sale. The vote to sell, which would not come for months and after negotiations between the winning bidder and the village, would require a supermajority affirmative vote of five of the six trustees. Therefore, only one trustee could dissent or the sale would not be approved.
Trustees Jeff Weber and Mark Stewart were the most vocally supportive trustees of a potential sale, but both stated they saw the opportunity to receive bids as a means to gauge interest in the system and emphasized that, if no bids came back or the bids came in too low, they would not be obligated to sell.
At one contentious point in the discussion, Weber and Springman sparred, with the former asking his fellow trustee, “You want to be educated or what? No matter what they say, you’re against it?”
Springman replied that, no matter what the bids came back as, he would be against the sale. His primary concern was that sewer rates would be at least doubled, illustrated by documents that he provided his fellow trustees. He also felt that the village was capable of making the needed repairs and better serving residents.
Springman was also concerned about the speed of the sale process.
“What is the hurry here?” he asked. “Why can’t we wait and try to find options to make the needed repairs? Why can’t we wait until next year?”
Mayor Mike McCormick, who remained quiet for most of the discussion, spoke up, saying “because we want to do it now.” McCormick has previously stated his support for sale.
Schrumpf was concerned with the additional overhead and bureaucracy he felt would come with a large private entity owning and running the sewer system. Illinois American Water, which trustees have frequently cited as the company most interested in the purchase, is a publicly traded corporation and has shareholders, which worries him. He appealed to his colleagues, reminding them Illinois American Water “has stockholders and those stockholders want a return on their money. They are going to charge us somehow to make sure that those stockholders have a return on their investment.” He said the village can run it better and that, as a local government, it won’t gouge residents in order to make a profit.
Stewart hoped cooler heads would prevail, closing out the discussion by saying that “it just makes sense to hear what they have to say no matter how we feel about it and, who knows, maybe learn something in the process.”
Knowing there is about $20 million of Environmental Protection Agency-mandated upgrades and repairs to be made, he said it seemed appropriate to have a private, for-profit company with capital to invest in the system and expand it in the future.
Eventually, McCormick called for a vote and all trustees voted in favor of seeking bids. Pending any bids that come in, it remains to be seen if the trustees would be able to get the needed votes to ultimately make the sale. Trustees Eldon Williams and Karen McAtee did not speak on the issue at the meeting.
In other business, the board held a public hearing prior to its vote on putting a measure on the ballot to eliminate Godfrey Township. The township and village share boundaries and have mostly the same officials. If the township is eliminated, the village will absorb its functions and responsibilities. Trustees voted 6-0 to place the measure on the ballot for a future vote. Pending approval from voters, the township would not be abolished until current township officials’ terms are completed.