Village repairing 13th Street

Work on 13th Street will begin this week, Orion trustees learned on Monday, Aug. 2.

New curbs and gutters already have been installed, Trustee Jamie Lawson said. He is chairman of the street committee.

Trustees approved paying $7,146 to Phil Thornburg Construction for 266 feet of curb and gutter.

The money was in the 2010-11 budget, Lawson said. Motor fuel tax revenue will be used to pay the bill.

Street superintendent Neil Dahl was scheduled to start tearing up the street itself on Tuesday, Aug. 3, Lawson said.

Lawson did not know how long  it would be torn up.

The block between 10th and 11th avenues was so bad that even a ground-down street is better, Trustee Mel Drucker said.

As soon as yellow paint arrives, Dahl will begin painting street markings, Lawson said. Dahl hopes to finish the work before Orion Fall Festival begins on Friday, Sept. 3.

Next to the Orion Community Veterans Monument in Central Park, Dahl will paint a no-parking zone.

A driver recently pulled onto the bricks thinking she had found a parking space, Village President Jim Cooper said.

Also, Dahl will paint parking spaces for the handicapped on streets near Orion United Methodist Church.

Burn pile

The burn pile, also known as the rock yard, on Fourth Street has been fenced in, and a locked gate installed, Lawson said.

Village employees worked hard to clean up the rock yard, and it looks really good now, Cooper said.

A grant from the Coulter Trust paid for putting up the fence and gate, and village funds for hauling debris to a landfill, the village president said.

It is time to start thinking about what date to reopen the burn pile to the public, he said. Trustees also need to decide what hours the burn pile will be available.

Village employees should avoid letting brush pile up, Trustee Robert “Deano” O’Leary said. They should burn it when it reaches a certain height.

Railroad crossings

The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved the installation of signal arms at the 11th Avenue railroad crossing, Cooper announced.

Signal arms will be installed on 10th, 11th and 12th avenues by the fall of 2011, he said.

Cooper said he will contact Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad about the schedule for work on the Seventh Street bridge.

A new deck and guard rails are to be installed, according to an agreement the village and the railroad made when Orion promised not to oppose removal of the 13th Avenue bridge.