The regular monthly meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday, January 5, 2006 at 6:00pm in the Conference Room of the DeKalb County Highway Department, DeKalb, Illinois.  

Chair LaVigne called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.  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 Vice-Chair Faivre and seconded by Mr. Whelan to approve the minutes of December 1, 2005.  The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Motion made by Ms. Fauci to approve the agenda and Mr. Gudmunson seconded this motion.  Discussion followed to move agenda item number two to item number one and move agenda item number one to item number two.  The motion carried unanimously to approve the agenda as amended.    

PUBLIC COMMENT:   None.

DISCUSSION ON RENAMING MOOSE RANGE ROAD TO CHARTER GROVE ROAD:

Chair LaVigne requested comments from Committee members concerning their thoughts on the renaming of Moose Range Road.  The following comments were presented:

Vice-Chair Faivre:  Sees no justification or reason to change the name of the road.  He would rather see some sort of monument or marker placed within the Charter Grove Cemetery explaining the history of Charter Grove.  Requested the name change request die in Committee.

Mr. Gudmunson:  Likes the idea due to its historical value to the Community.  However, due to overwhelming number of property owners and residents located on Moose Range Road being against this requested action, he is unable to support this request at this time.

Mr. Whelan:  Due to the overwhelming number of property owners and residents located on Moose Range Road being against this request he is not in favor of changing the name.  He would support the placement of a monument or marker with a brief history of Charter Grove on it.

Mr. Anderson:  For reasons previously stated he is not in favor of changing the name of the Road at this time.

Ms. Fauci:  People that use to live in Charter Grove and have passed on can not come before the Committee and argue their case to rename the Road to Charter Grove and feels it is important to preserve the history of these Communities that first settled in DeKalb County.  Both parties are gone that the Road was named after (the private Moose Club and the Community of Charter Grove) and history is used to honor the dead.  The cost to residents and the taxpayers to rename the road would be minimal and she would be in favor of renaming the road.  Ms. Phyllis Kelly, the County’s Historian, is in favor of renaming the Road to Charter Grove Road.  Ms. Kelly was unable to be present at this meeting but wanted the Committee to know her thoughts on this subject.

Mr. Lorence:  This is not a County Road and the cost to the County to change the name would be minimal.  The Sycamore Road District Commissioner is not in favor of this name change therefore he would not support the request to change the name.  Further discussion would need to take place concerning a monument to allow for a proper turnout if one was to be placed on the road.  Anything placed within the right-of way would require the approval of the Road District Commissioner as well as any appropriate permits from the DeKalb County Planning and Zoning Department regarding the placement of any signs/markers.

Chair LaVigne:  She is concerned about history as well and would like to see something that would preserve the contributions that the Community of Charter Grove made to DeKalb County.

 Vice-Chair Faivre made a motion to forward a recommendation to the full County Board denying the request to change the road name from Moose Range Road to Charter Grove Road.  Motion was seconded by Mr. Anderson.  Mr. Anderson called for a roll call vote, which resulted in the following:  Mr. Anderson-Yes; Vice-Chair Faivre-Yes; Ms. Fauci-No; Mr. Gudmunson-Yes; Chair LaVigne-Yes; Mr. Whelan-Yes.  The roll call vote resulted in five (5) yes votes and one (1) no vote.  Motion carried to deny the request to change Moose Range Road to Charter Grove Road and to forward that recommendation to the full County Board for final action.

RESOLUTION FOR BID AWARD FOR TWO TANDEM TRUCKS: 

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that the Highway Department requested bids for the replacement of two tandem cab and chassis.  Bids were opened December 20, 2005.  Two bids were received, one from Peterbilt of Rockford and one from TransChicago Truck Group.  Along with the bids for the cab and chassis there were additional options for engine air cleaners, suspended brake and accelerator pedals, engine warranty and a transmission warranty.  TransChicago Truck Group submitted the low bid meeting specifications in the amount of one hundred twenty-one thousand seven hundred fourteen dollars ($121,714.00) or $60,857 per tandem.  The County Engineer recommended approval of the award as submitted.   A motion was made by Vice-Chair Faivre and seconded by Mr. Whelan to forward the proposed bid award to the full County Board recommending approval.  Discussion followed concerning the ability and feasibility of rebuilding the box, plow, wing, and spreader box for these new tandems rather than buying new every year.  The County Engineer explained that as our equipment goes for a trade-in we remove any equipment that we feel still has any useful life left.  The Department feels that rebuilding would not be cost effective or produce a reliable piece of equipment that is needed for snow removal operations.  The Committee requested estimates prior to the decision at February’s meeting for the rebuilding of equipment versus replacing.  The motion carried unanimously.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS:  

Chair LaVigne presented the Committee meeting schedule for CY-2006 for review.  After review, a motion was made by Vice-Chair Faivre and seconded by Mr. Anderson to approve the schedule as presented.   The motion carried unanimously.   The Highway Committee will meet the first Thursday of each month at 6:00pm in the conference room of the Highway Department during 2006.

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 selected for Federal funding for 2006.  Progress was reported on several bridge projects to include Perry Road, Cherry Valley Road, Suydam Road, Chicago Road and Esmond Road.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

            Vice-Chair Faivre asked about the litigation for additional right-of-way on Glidden Road.  Mr. Lorence explained that there was nothing new to report on this issue and it is still pending litigation.

Ms. Fauci inquired if the shoulders on Glidden Road would be aggregate and Mr. Lorence stated that they were.  Ms. Fauci stated this would result in a dangerous situation especially for bicycles.  Mr. Lorence indicated that wider shoulders would allow more recovery time for vehicles that inadvertently leave the roadway and that all shoulders on County roadways were aggregate.

Mr. Whelan inquired into the proposed warehouse construction at Route 23 and Gurler Road.  With the increase in truck traffic, was Gurler Road built to handle this increase.  Mr. Lorence stated the current road is not built as an 80,000-pound road but that was part of the negotiations with the developer that the road would be built to handle the truck traffic at the developers expense.  The warehouse proposal was not approved by the City of DeKalb however, so this is a non-issue at this time.

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 Ms. Fauci to adjourn and this motion was seconded by Mr. Gudmunson.  The motion passed unanimously and the January 5, 2006 meeting was adjourned at 6:48 p.m. 

Respectfully Submitted

Pat LaVigne

Chair