SPRING VALLEY — The village is back to pondering Glade Avenue bridge plans after having preliminary budget discussions during the Oct. 7 Spring Valley Village Board meeting.

The finance committee met in September, starting with a $189,000 deficit and getting to a balanced budget.

“That being said, we got creative in ways to find money, and we also are looking at the realities of the money that we’re expecting that might not be as likely to come through as we need it to,” Trustee and Finance Committee Chair Andrea Wallin said.

Nursing home revenue is projected to come in at $93,696 for 2027. The village has not received payment from the nursing home over the last two years, and they have a cash flow loan to the business for $129,496.

“Their tentative plan is to take the money that was going to Medicaid for those paybacks and start a payment plan back to us; however, as we go, we start running into, our cash flow is low, we’re not going to make payroll, and it’s really becoming a revolving door of trying to keep up with those payments. We’re affording those payments for them at this point, so I think that’s a conversation that this board needs to look at. It’s a huge amount of money that is not available to us,” Wallin said.

The village will likely be hiring a full-time deputy clerk. With the transition to a new Village Administrator with the coming retirement of Luann Emerson, the finance committee felt the position would assist new Administrator Nick Maxwell. Wallin said this is not a new need for the village; it is just a good time to add the position.

The village is expected to keep the library budget at $63,500 despite concerns that it would be decreased. The library welcomed 18,500 visitors this year, and the Finance Committee found the funds in the budget from a new liquor license to keep the library funding where it is.

The plan from the Finance Committee is to borrow for the Glade Avenue bridge, because they do not want to put the project on the backburner. The Village Board will have the final say in that decision when the time comes.

“The Glade Avenue bridge did not have dedicated funds set aside for it in the year 2027. The reason for that is, one, there isn’t the money, two, we don’t have the bids to put the money in there,” Wallin said.

The village has $288,000 in grant money that is good until 2029. It is a reimbursement grant, meaning the money is given to the village after it is spent.

The Glade Avenue bridge cost after cutting into the price using the grant is expected to be $178,000. Since the grant is a reimbursement grant, the village would need to borrow for the full cost of the project. Currently, the biggest hurdle of the project is getting the easement agreements from the adjacent property owners.

Public Works Director Steven Kirby said even if the village goes with a different option for the bridge from the one decided on, easements would still be required to get the work done.

Trustee Matt Huepfel said he spoke to the property owners, and believes getting the easements would not end up being an issue if they go with a narrower option. He also said he submitted to the Public Works Department a bid for $121,000 to complete the bridge project. Huepfel’s submission would not solve the water main issue, but it would require significantly less village borrowing.

“It is not relevant, in my conversations with the contractor. The contractor is actually very upset that this was misrepresented,” Kirby said of Huepfel’s request. “The village would be breaking the law by accepting this if this was a quote.”

Kirby said the request Huepfel mentioned is for a 14-foot-wide road rather than 22, which may not be wide enough given the terrain. He also said the lack of a water main replacement and guard rail at the bridge in that proposal is “opening yourself up to a huge risk.”

Because the project is over $25,000, the village will need to go out for bids before making an official decision.

The grant would likely be reduced or removed because of a change in scope to the project, but the plan Huepfel favors would still come in at a lower cost to the village without the grant.

“By widening the bridge, suddenly we are not guaranteed easements, because we have spoken to those folks and said we are going to put in a one-lane bridge,” Huepfel said. “It is going to cost us more to use [Cedar Corporation] and the grant than it is just to replace a one-lane bridge with a one-lane bridge.”

Multiple attendees of the meeting said a one-lane road is what the residents of the area are interested in.

Kirby said the materials the higher-cost project would use offer a greater lifespan for the bridge. Huepfel responded by mentioning if the village cannot get the easements by offering a project property owners are interested in, the focus on lifespan is irrelevant.

“You’re still paying $150,000 out of our pocket, so why not get a better project for almost the same amount of money,” Kirby said.

The board discussed sending members to the property owners to discuss the easement with the property owners and going to bid if they can get those approvals. There is expected to be a lot more information during the November board meeting.

Huepfel reinstatement

Over 300 people signed a petition to reinstate Huepfel to his committee assignments.

Additionally, Huepfel was reinstated to his committees by a vote from the board. Huepfel was removed from the Public Works and Emergency Services committees back in June, with a request being made for Huepfel to issue a public apology to Kirby. At the time, Huepfel said the reason for his removal was unclear, but believed it was due to language used when talking about the Glade bridge.

“The complaint that was done against me was done by somebody that did not witness the incident,” Huepfel said.

At the October meeting, Huepfel said Kirby said, “no harm, no foul,” but Kirby said he did not say that.

“I should not have used the BS word, but I will still advocate that what we were doing was not correct, and I would not do a thing differently,” Huepfel said. “We can go back on, play nice and work together, or we can rehash this point by point by point, showing that what was done wasn’t right.”

The request to file a complaint came from Kirby after a Public Works meeting because Huepfel “threatened his job.” The complaint was made to Police Chief Dulcie Lilly, who advised the village president to request an apology to Kirby from Huepfel.

Village President Theresa Koch was absent due to a fever, but multiple board members said everyone should take accountability and move forward. Koch typed in the meeting’s chat that she spoke to an attorney before making the decision to remove Huepfel from the committees. The legal guidance allegedly told Koch to post above his removal, and Koch said it was the Personnel Committee that made the decision on Huepfel’s removal.

“It just keeps circling. We need to just grow up and apologize, tone everything down and start over,” Trustee Ruth Lukes said.

Huepfel said the committee meetings should be recorded like the Village Board meetings are, so that community members can know what is going on.

“I don’t hate anybody here, I don’t dislike anybody here. I’ve worked with a variety of people here, but the policies were so out there,” Huepfel said. “That’s why I got upset.”

One of those policies Huepfel mentioned was the potential removal of fluoride from village water.

“It got so heated so quickly. It got so nuts so fast that we don’t even know where each other stands unless you spoke up in that meeting,” Wallin said. “[The situation] needs to guide how we move forward.”

In the end, Huepfel apologized to Kirby, and asked that the board continue to move forward for the betterment of the community.