The federal government is retaining $384,000 from Flossmoor, affecting an infrastructure project intended to tackle flooding issues. Mayor Michelle Nelson stated that since November, the funds have been under unexplained administrative hold.
Flossmoor received a grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete the fourth phase of a multiyear flood control project in the downtown area. According to Nelson, necessary bid documents and design plans were prepared, and the project was set to progress.
“The project was ready to go out to bid,” Nelson said. “We had paid our $384,000 share at the end of October. And a few days later in early November, we got an email from the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Department that our project was put on an administrative hold.”
Designed to direct stormwater to a detention basin at Heather Hill Elementary School, the project’s progress is stalled. Calls for further information have gone unanswered, and efforts to seek help from Illinois senators and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly have not yielded results. Nelson expressed the village’s predicament, noting that their funds have been inaccessible for nearly nine months, impacting the small municipality.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, downtown Flossmoor experienced severe flooding from storms, damaging local businesses and nearly filling Thornton Composite Reservoir. Multiple cars were trapped in the flooded viaduct, highlighting the project’s life and safety importance, according to Nelson.
The broader project commenced in 2020, with the latest phase completed in October 2025, just before word of the funding hold. Installations of storm sewers on Lawrence Crescent concluded in July 2025.
Flooding issues have persisted for decades, affecting emergency response times when the viaduct is impassable due to water overflow. Facing uncertainties, Nelson conveyed Flossmoor’s reliance on federal action and mentioned possible state funding to progress, which may affect other planned flood mitigation efforts.
“That impacts other projects,” Nelson stated. “There are other flood mitigation projects down the line that residents are depending on us to figure out a way how to make them happen, and we were hoping to use state money to do that. And we might have to use state money to do this project, instead.”
Expressing her frustration, Nelson emphasized that full funding was expected and called for commitment fulfillment. Attempts to get comments from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were unsuccessful.