Harris Elias and I attended Moline's Committee of the Whole meeting tonight as the Sylvan Island bridge was on the agenda as part of their proposed Capital Improvement Projects ("CIP") budget. It was exciting to see that they had earmarked $1.2M for the project as part of the 2014 CIPs, however as discussion ensued, they reconsidered inclusion of the money and ultimately removed it from the budget. While it was upsetting to see the funding pulled, their reasoning was sound. First, the City has partnered with Bi-State Regional Commission in writing a grant that, if awarded, would cover 80% of the bridge project (~ $1,000,000). If the city were to write in the project cost into their budget, they would likely jeopardize the grant (by showing they were able to come up with the money on their own). A million bucks is a ton of cash to lose -- a tough sale to Moline taxpayers no matter how badly we want the park back.

Second, while the bridge project landed #3 on their list of priorities from the Goals Planning sessions, the project cost was unknown at the time. I think it's fair to say that everyone is choking from the $1.2M sticker shock especially when the city has many infrastructure repairs to fund. Keep in mind that the 1.2 is simply an engineer's estimate. It could be less. It could be more.

So, where do we go from here, you ask? The grant has been submitted but we won't know if the city will be selected to receive grant funding until as late as August 2014. The City is onboard with the project and they know that the longer the project is at a standstill, the more the island will return to nature (and given the deterioration of the bridge, time is not on its side for staying intact and staying out of the water -- something will have to be done at some point). They certainly have a responsibility to their constituency to be fiscally responsible and we know they have people's safety in the forefront of their thoughts. As much as I want to see the island open soon, I understand tonight's decision. Do know that they did discuss the remaining 20% project cost and it was said that if we were to get the grant, they may write in the remaining 20% into next year's CIP budget. No guarantee, but the city wants to see the island accessible to the public.

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that is where the bridge project stands now.