The regular monthly meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 6:00pm in the Conference Room of the DeKalb County Highway Department, DeKalb, Illinois.  

Chair LaVigne called the meeting to order at 7:03pm.  Committee members present were Vice-Chair Faivre, Mr. Anderson, Ms. Fauci, Mr. Gudmunson, and Mr. Whelan.   Also present were County Engineer William Lorence, Wayne Davey, Highway Department Support Services Manager, Mr. Greg Millburg, Farm Bureau and Mr. James Quinn, Highway Department Operations Manager. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion made by Mr. Whelan and seconded by Ms. Fauci to approve the minutes of November 3, 2005.  The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA: 

Motion made by Vice-Chair Faivre to approve the agenda and Mr. Gudmunson seconded this motion.  The motion carried unanimously to approve the agenda.    

PUBLIC COMMENT:   Comments were received from the public concerning the issue of changing the current name of Moose Range Road back to the original name of Charter Grove Road.  Those comments are summarized and attached hereto.  By consensus the Committee received the information and tabled any further discussion and will place this issue on the Committee’s January 2006 agenda.

RESOLUTION FOR 2006 GENERAL COUNTY LETTING: 

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that the Highway Department receives bids every year to fix prices for materials used by all Road Districts and the County for the coming year to perform general maintenance activities.  These materials are picked-up or hauled by the Road Districts or the County and the location of the project will determine what vendor these materials are purchased from to arrive at the lowest possible cost.  All bids are accepted for materials except for the liquid calcium chloride and crack sealer.  Those items are shipped in bulk and are purchased from the lowest bidder meeting specifications.  The low bid for calcium chloride was received by Sicalco, LTD from Hinsdale, Illinois and the low bid for the crack sealer was received from McAsphalt Industries from Scarborough, ON.  Mr. Lorence recommended that the Committee recommend approval of the resolution as proposed.  A motion was made by Vice-Chair Faivre and seconded by Mr. Anderson to forward the proposed 2006 General County letting resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.  

MFT RESOLUTION FOR SALARY AND EQUIPMENT FOR 2006:

Mr. Lorence explained that this resolution is submitted annually and is necessary for the State to authorize the expenditure of any MFT funds.  MFT funds are authorized to be used for salary for maintainers and equipment rental only when they are performing authorized maintenance activities on the County roadway system.  These activities must be documented and the documentation is audited annually by the State.   A motion was made by Ms. Fauci and seconded by Mr. Gudmunson to forward the proposed resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS:   No comments.  Everything was covered under public comments. 

COUNTY ENGINEER’S COMMENTS:

Mr. Lorence provided his progress report to the Committee.    Those projects noted in red are the ones that have been updated since the Committee’s last report.  The Malta Road project has been submitted for Federal funding for next year.  Construction for this year is pretty much completed.  During the winter months design work as well as surveying will be taking place.   Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that the Department is planning on letting the entire Peace Road project from IL Route 64 south to Wirsing Drive during 2006 versus doing it over two years.  The County will attempt to secure Federal funding for the entire project or obtain additional funding to allow this to happen.  By doing the entire project at once the County will be able to complete the project for less dollars and would provide the least inconvenience to the traveling public.   Vice-Chair Faivre inquired into who was paying for the four lane widening of Peace Road between Il Route 64 south to Il Route 23.  Mr. Lorence indicated that the County would be paying for everything except for the turn lanes and the traffic signals.  Vice-Chair Faivre stated that during the August Board meeting, Mr. Bill Nicklas, stated that if Peace Road, between Illinois Route 23 and Illinois Route 64, needed to be widened as a result of DeKalb County granting an additional one half access point to Peace Road that the City of Sycamore would bear all cost associated with that expansion.  He expects to hold the City of Sycamore to their word.   

Mr. Lorence provided the Committee with the snow removal policy for 2005-2006 for their information.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

            Vice-Chair Faivre asked about the Eagle home subdivision in Malta and when the Malta Road extension was going to be built.  Mr. Lorence indicated that the right-of-way had been reserved for the road extension and it would be built as funds become available.  There are no short term plans to build the bridge needed to travel over the railroad and therefore no big hurry to build the road at this time. 

The Committee inquired into the reason the detour signs were still up for Bethany Road.  Mr. Lorence indicated that he had requested the City of Sycamore have them removed but that has not been accomplished yet.

Mr. Gudmunson stated he had noticed that LaSalle County had their own striping equipment and was wondering if it was more cost effective if the County did their own striping rather than contract it out.  Mr. Lorence explained that DeKalb County use to do their own striping but approximately 20 years ago got out of the business due to the cost and logistics and EPA concerns.   If the County were to begin striping we would have to contract other work out that we would normally do with our crews that would be assigned to the striping.  It would take over half of our regular crew to do such a project and it would take anywhere from six to eight weeks to complete.  We contract for all 19 Road Districts as well as the County Roads.  Mr. Lorence stated he would continue to look at this issue to insure the County is benefiting from contracting this out.   

Chair LaVigne inquired if there was anything else that needed to be brought before the Committee and hearing none asked for a motion to adjourn.  A motion was made by Vice-Chair Faivre to adjourn and this motion was seconded by Mr. Gudmunson.  The motion passed unanimously and the December 1, 2005 meeting was adjourned at 7:28 p.m. 

Respectfully Submitted

Pat LaVigne

Chairman