The regular monthly meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday, March 3, 2005 at 6:00 P.M. in the Conference Room of the DeKalb County Highway Department, DeKalb, Illinois.  

Vice-Chair Faivre called the meeting to order.  Committee members present were Vice-Chair Faivre, Mr. Anderson, Ms. Fauci, and Mr. Gudmunson.   Also present were William Lorence, County Engineer, Wayne Davey, Highway Department Support Services Manager, and Mr. Greg Millburg, Farm Bureau.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 

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

APPROVAL OF AGENDA: 

Motion made by Mr. Anderson to approve the agenda and Mr. Gudmunson seconded this motion.  The motion carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented. 

RESOLUTION FOR INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT FOR SHABBONA ROAD IN THE VILLAGE OF SHABBONA: 

            The County Engineer explained that the intergovernmental agreement was for the purpose of allowing the Village of Shabbona to construct sidewalks within the County right-of-way along Shabbona Road when the Village deems it appropriate in the future.  As with all intergovernmental agreements of this kind, once the sidewalk is built the maintenance and repair responsibility will rest with the Village of Shabbona for as long as the sidewalk is in existence.  The Village also must agree to hold the County harmless for any incident that occurs on the sidewalk.  This resolution is different from a similar resolution presented to the Committee last month in that this intergovernmental agreement has no provisions for financial participation by the County for future sidewalks.  A motion was made by Ms. Fauci and seconded by Mr. Gudmunson to forward the proposed resolution to the full County Board recommending approval of the intergovernmental agreement and authorizing the Chairman to sign the appropriate documents.  The motion carried unanimously.  

MFT RESOLUTION FOR 2005 GM PROJECTS: 

The County Engineer presented the Committee with a Motor Fuel Tax  (MFT) Resolution for review.  This resolution authorizes MFT funds to be released by the State of Illinois for the expenditure by DeKalb County.  The amount being authorized represents 60% of the estimated cost of the County’s general maintenance projects for 2005.  A motion was made by Mr. Anderson and seconded by Ms. Fauci to forward the proposed resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.   

RESOLUTION FOR BID AWARD FOR DEKALB COUNTY AND ROAD DISTRICT HOT MIX PROJECTS, STRIPING AND THE MILLING OF PERRY ROAD:   

The County Engineer presented to the Committee the results of the bid letting held at the Highway Department on March 1, 2005 at 10:00am for the purpose of receiving bids for several construction projects.  Ten hot mix projects were presented to the Committee, two for DeKalb County (Kingston Road; and Coltonville, North First Street and Five Points Road) and eight Road District projects.  The County Engineer recommended that the award be granted to the lowest bidder for each project.  All recommended awards for hot mix projects are for contractors who have previously worked on County and Road District projects and everyone has been satisfied with the quality of work completed.  Three hot mix awards are recommended for Aurora Blacktop, Inc. of Montgomery, Illinois; two awards for Curran Contracting of DeKalb, Illinois; and five awards for Peter Baker & Sons, Inc. of Lake Bluff, Illinois.  Also included in this recommended resolution is an award for 2005 Pavement Striping for Maintenance Coating Company of South Elgin, Illinois and the milling of Perry Road from Waterman Road east to Illinois Route 23 to Curran Contracting of DeKalb, Illinois.  A milling project was explained to the Committee as one where the existing surface of the roadway is ground down prior to that roadway having a seal coat applied.  This allows for a smoother roadway.  The need for the milling is brought upon due to that portion of Perry Road formerly being a one lane concrete State Route that has been overlaid with bituminous materials. Although only one bid was submitted for the milling project the County Engineer recommended accepting the bid submitted, as it seemed fair and reasonable.   A motion was made by Mr. Gudmunson and seconded by Mr. Anderson to forward the proposed resolution to the full County Board recommending the awarding of these projects to the Contractors as specified in the resolution.  The motion carried unanimously.  

CHAIR’S COMMENTS:  The Vice-Chair had no comments for the Committee. 

COUNTY ENGINEER’S COMMENTS: 

Mr. Lorence provided his progress report to the Committee.  Highlights were explained that the pre-construction meeting for the Kirkland Road Bridge project was held March 3, 2005 and the projected start date of this project is May 23, 2005.  At that time the road will be closed to all traffic until approximately August 22, 2005.  The appropriate agencies will be notified of that pending closure by the Highway Department in the near future.  The Shabbona Road resurface project has been moved up to an April letting by the State.  Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that the comment in the Daily Chronicle concerning the intersection of Peace and Bethany Roads was misleading.  That project is a City of Sycamore project and there are appropriate funds available to complete that project.  When the weather permits construction will resume.  The contractor left the road in a less than desirable condition for the winter and County Highway Department is continuing to patch portions of Peace Road as necessary to make that intersection as safe as possible.  Mr. Lorence further explained that his comments about funding shortfalls were projected shortfalls for projects in the coming years, one of which is to continue to widen Peace Road to four lanes.  Those projects may have to be postponed a year or so if our projected shortfall does in fact materialize in future years.  The County would not award a project if the funds were not available to complete the project. 

Mr. Lorence informed the Committee that they needed to discuss three real property issues and inquired if the Committee desired to go into executive session.  The Committee did not vote but decided not to enter into executive session to discuss the possibility of needing to proceed with eminent domain proceedings. 

Mr. Lorence explained the safety project currently underway on Glidden Road, north of the Nursing Home to Route 64.  DeKalb County is attempting to purchase additional right-of-way from those landowners to widen the existing right-of-way to one hundred feet (fifty feet from the center line in both directions).  The current right-of-way along that portion of Glidden Road is 33 feet to 40 feet from the centerline.  The County would be acquiring additional right-of-way ranging from 10-17 feet to widen the shoulders from the existing two feet to eight feet.  This is deemed necessary to help reduce the number of single car rollovers resulting from a short recovery time on narrow shoulders.  A State Certified appraiser has appraised all parcels and these offers have been conveyed to individual landowners.  The amount of compensation being demanded from the landowners for the granting of a permanent easement to the County of DeKalb is more than 10% about the current appraisal price.  Therefore, the County Engineer has no authority to offer any additional funds for this purchase.  The negotiator assigned to this project has reached an impasse in his negotiations with certain landowners and has suggested that eminent domain proceedings be initiated if the County desired to go forward with the widening project.  Concerns were raised by the Committee to ensure these landowners were getting a fair market price for their land.  Mr. Lorence assured the Committee that he was offering what the land was being appraised for.  The Committee also wanted to ensure that while the County is obtaining additional land for roadway purposes that we are not taking it a little at a time.  The Committee wanted to ensure the County is taking all they need at one time and would not have to come back 10-15 years later and take more land to widen the roadway even more.  Mr. Lorence assured the Committee that any additional widening would come as a result of development of that area and any additional land needed would be negotiated with the developer as part of that development.  Mr. Lorence informed the Committee that Glidden Road is in place.  No additional right-of-way was needed if the Committee was satisfied with the safety of the road.  However, accident data would show that wider shoulders would provide a safer roadway to allow vehicles to recover when leaving the roadway and that has been a problem on Glidden Road.  A motion was made by Ms. Fauci and seconded by Mr. Anderson to have a resolution prepared and forwarded to the full County Board recommending that Eminent Domain proceedings be initiated to acquire additional right-of-way along Glidden Road for three parcels of land.   The motion carried with three yes votes and one no vote cast by Mr. Gudmunson.

ADJOURNMENT: 

            There being no further business to be brought before the Committee Mr. Anderson moved to adjourn, seconded by Ms. Fauci.   Motion carried unanimously by voice vote and the March 3, 2005 meeting adjourned at 7:15pm.

Respectfully Submitted

Pat LaVigne

Chairman