The regular monthly meeting of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday, May 2, 2002, at 7:00PM in the Conference Room of the County Highway Department. Chairman Wilson called the meeting to order..

Committee members present were Chairman Wilson, Mr. Smith, Ms. LaVigne, Mr. Guehler, Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Sands, Mr. McLaughlin and Mrs. Casella. Also attending were William Lorence, County Engineer; Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator; Gary Hanson, Deputy County Administrator; Sheriff Roger Scott, Greg Millburg of the Farm Bureau, Jim Quinn, Operations Manager at the County Highway Department and a representation of employees of the Department.

Motion by Mr. Smith to approve the April 4, 2002 minutes, seconded by Mrs. Casella.

Mr. Sands asked to correct a sentence in the last full paragraph of page 2. To read "there had been a misunderstanding" rather than "he had misunderstood". Mr. Bockman added that he felt the sentence as written was correct. Chairman Wilson asked that the minutes be corrected to read as Mr. Sands requested.

Mr. Lorence noted that DeKalb Road District has already signed the agreement. Chairman Wilson said this was a very welcome offering by the Road District.

Mr. Lorence explained that the first engineering agreement was for a structure located on Chicago Road. It is planned for this structure to be done next year, which will mean two structures located between Route 23 and Shabbona Road will be planned for construction simultaneously. This would then eliminate having to close the road at two different times minimizing the disruption to the traveling public. There will be a marked detour.

Mr. Lorence explained that this project would be 80% financing with Township Bridge Program funds and the remaining costs shared equally by Sycamore Road District and DeKalb County.

Mr. Lorence reviewed the Policy his Department had put together following several sessions with the Administrative Staff. This Policy is being presented as a result of the request for the Department to provide a 10 minute response time to emergencies during winter storms. These emergencies would be determined by the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Scott indicated primarily these emergencies would be icy intersections, drivers in ditches when it appears they could create other accidents, etc.

Additionally, there would be an "on call" person who could respond to emergency situations when no winter storm exists. This situation would not provide a 10 minute response time, but would provide a quicker response time than the present policy.

This new Policy would require the hiring of a full time "snowbird" with a guarantee of 32 hours of work during the winter season.

Sheriff Scott had questioned if it would be possible to assign a truck to be at the residence or nearby for the "on call" person"? Mr. Lorence responded that the Department would look at that issue. It is the consensus of the Highway Department that it can make this Policy work. As with anything new, Mr. Lorence added, it will take a trial period to see what may need changing and to fine tune the system. However, he believes the Policy presented responds to the intent of the memo to provide the 10 minute response time and gives the Sheriff one call for emergencies. While it may not cover all bases, it is definitely a good start.

There is a concern by the Department’ administrative staff as well as those of the employees involved regarding the safety factor of having only one person on duty all night. The Sheriff has agreed that, when a plow truck is requested at an emergency, there will be a deputy at the site when the truck arrives and that deputy will remain until the situation is corrected. Additionally, the dispatcher will be monitoring the snow plow driver for radio transmissions.

Chairman Wilson asked the members of the Committee for the opinions.

Mr. Smith said he would like to study the Policy further as it had just been presented to the Committee this evening.

Ms. LaVigne asked how the "on call" person would be determined? Mr. Lorence responded that the scheduling and pay for the "on call" person has been discussed and will be finalized at a later date, but prior to next years snow removal season.

Mr. Guehler said he was glad to see the attempts at addressing the situation and that the proposed costs are quite low. However, he feels an expanded concept should be looked at using two people.

Mr. Hoffman commented that he did not think it would work and was against it.

Mr. McLaughlin’s only comment at this time that he did not think a car in the ditch qualifies as an emergency situation, but thought we were to address fire and ambulances calls.

Mrs. Casella indicated she thought the Department should try it, adding that one can never know what might work until it is tried.

Mr. Sands said he thought it was a giant step in the right direction, but short of what was originally anticipated. He feels it is a positive step and agrees that after a year in effect changes will probably need to be made.

Sheriff Scott intimated he too thought it was a good step forward. The first year will give indications of what changes may need to be made for the following years.

Chairman Wilson thanked the Department for their hard work.

Mr. Lorence reviewed the Department’s activities during the past month. The Glidden Road is now complete. The Genoa Road is progressing and is in the slow process of driving sheeting for the shoofly. However, the project still remains two months ahead of schedule. There will be two bridges let in June; one in Clinton Road District on Preserve Road and one in Pierce Road District on Hinckley Road.

Respectfully submitted,

___________________
John Wilson
Chairman