DECATUR - City council members narrowed a list of their highest priority construction projects to lay at the feet of Springfield lawmakers in hopes of funding.

The council's approval Monday of their priority list places $15 million for a new police headquarters as the top request to state lawmakers.

City Councilman Shad Edwards said though the police building might not be the most immediately pressing need, it tops the list of projects, in part, because it is the single most expensive.

"The police department is not a project we can defer much longer on," Edwards said. "We have to do something."

Rick Marley, director of engineering and infrastructure for the city, said that despite the lack of specifications for what sort of police building will be made, a source of funding is a major concern.

"It's very clear that the project is going to take a substantial amount of funding," Marley said. "By placing this on a high priority list, the city council says to our legislators and lobbyists that they'd like to ask for funding."

Construction funding has been the rallying cry for lawmakers in Springfield all year. The General Assembly's attempt to pass a so-called "capital plan," a funding package for roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and other state infrastructure, failed in the Illinois House at the end of May.

State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, said separating money from an approved capital plan for specific projects such as the police building also will be challenging.

"Capital improvements are a fundamental responsibility of state government, and we're ignoring them," Mitchell said. "For us to be negligent in this respect is inexcusable."

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, said he plans to work with the General Assembly on securing funding for local projects.

"I try to work with the community leaders and those who represent them to establish priorities," Watson said.

Also included on the list of requests are about $12 million in separate plans to improve the city's water infrastructure with lower intakes for Lake Decatur, a pumping facility to take water from Lake Tokorozawa and a new 5 million-gallon backup water storage tank for the South Water Treatment Plant.

Water management Director Keith Alexander said the projects would get the city about halfway to the amount of additional water it needs during a major drought.

"If the Lake Toko pumping and the lowering of the intakes were in place, that would give us about 4,700 acre-feet of water, and our studies indicate we need about 10,000," Alexander said.

Kenneth Lowe can be reached at klowe@herald-review.com or 421-7985.