County Engineer Circulates Utility Permit Template to Township Road Districts

Montgomery County Board Roads & Bridges Committee Meeting | June 3, 2026

Article Summary: County Engineer Cody Greenwood presented the Montgomery County Board Roads & Bridges Committee on June 3 with a right-of-way utility permit template developed jointly by the Township Officials of Illinois, the Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Association of County Engineers, and said he has sent each township road district a copy. He is also working on a countywide right-of-way procedure he hopes to present next month.

Utility Permit Policy Key Points:

• The template was published jointly by the Township Officials of Illinois, Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Association of County Engineers.
• Per the packet, the template spells out the rights granted by the road authority and additional agreements that may be needed from landowners.
• Greenwood has sent each township road district a copy of the sample template.
• He is working on his own countywide right-of-way procedure he hopes to present to both the committee and the full board next month. No motion or vote was recorded.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Montgomery County’s township road districts have each received a copy of a statewide utility permit template, County Engineer Cody Greenwood told the Roads & Bridges Committee on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, as he works toward a countywide right-of-way procedure of his own.

Greenwood presented the committee with a template for right-of-way concerns published jointly by the Township Officials of Illinois, the Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Association of County Engineers. According to the packet, the three organizations developed a utility permit template that “clearly explains the rights granted by the road authority” along with any further agreements landowners may need to provide.

Greenwood went on to note that he had sent each township road district a copy of the sample template.

He also noted that he is working on his own countywide right-of-way procedure that he hopes to present to both the committee and the full board next month.

Discussion Item Only

The item was listed on the agenda for update and approval, but the minutes record no motion and no vote. The template is a sample published by outside organizations rather than a county policy, and the minutes do not indicate that the county has adopted it or asked the township road districts to.

The record does not describe what right-of-way problems prompted the circulation, whether any dispute between a utility, a road authority and a landowner is pending in the county, or what Greenwood’s countywide procedure would require. It does not give the template’s publication date or say when Greenwood sent it to the road districts.

Background

Utility permits govern how utilities place lines and equipment within road rights-of-way — corridors where the road authority holds an interest in land that often remains in private ownership, an overlap that can leave utilities, road districts and adjacent landowners uncertain about who must agree to what. The joint template’s stated purpose, per the packet passage before the committee, speaks directly to that division of rights.

Greenwood’s countywide procedure would be a county-level document rather than a township one. The minutes do not indicate whether it would require action by the full Montgomery County Board or whether he intends to bring it as a policy for adoption.

Greenwood also figured in three other items before the committee June 3, reporting on a design change to the East 17th Road culvert project in Irving Township, on the resolution of a safety concern in the Plains Solar road use agreement, and on a restructuring of the Highway Department’s front office.