A meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday February 1, 2007 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 Augsburger, Mr. Gudmunson, Mr. Stuckert, Mr. Walt and Mr. Whelan. Also present were Mr. Lorence, County Engineer and Wayne Davey-Support Services Manager, Highway Department.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Whelan to approve the minutes of the regular January 4, 2007 meeting.  The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

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

PUBLIC COMMENT: There was no public comment. 

RESOLUTION TO AWARD THE 2007 AGGREGATE PROJECTS SPREAD ON ROAD (SOR):

Mr. Lorence explained the County conducted a Bid Letting on January 30, 2007 at 10:00am in the conference room of the Highway Department to receive bids for the Road District’s 2007 Aggregate projects.  Six projects were on the table, however only two will require action of the full county board.  Two projects will be funded with 100% Township funds and require no action by the County Board.  Two projects were rejected by their respective Road District Commissioners as being over the Engineer’s Estimate.  These were Paw Paw and Victor.  Both Road Commissioners estimated they could haul their stone cheaper and will take the stone price off the General County letting and pay for their trucking.  That would leave only two projects that would require the Board to approve, Malta and Shabbona Road Districts.  The bid submitted for Malta Road District was under the Engineer’s estimate and Shabbona’s was over the Engineer’s estimate by 11%.  The price of fuel was the driving force behind these increases.  Mr. Lorence recommended that the two projects be recommended for award.   A motion was made by Mr. Stuckert and seconded by Vice-Chair Augsburger to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously. 

RESOLUTION TO REQUEST IDOT CONSENT TO REAPPOINT WILLIAM G. LORENCE AS DEKALB COUNTY ENGINEER: 

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that the first step in the reappointment process was to request the consent from the Illinois Department of Transportation to allow the County to reappoint him for an additional six-year term.  The Committee inquired what Mr. Lorence thought were his greatest accomplishments during the past six years.  Mr. Lorence stated that the County was able to build or repair 3-5 bridges a year. The County also completed the Peace Road project from Illinois Route 64 to Illinois Route 23/Plank.  We are now in the process of widening Peace Road to four lanes from Wirsing Drive to IL Route 64.  The County was also able to secure funding and build a new four million dollar railroad bridge in Genoa.  The County plans for twenty miles of seal coat every year and we do entire roads now and not parts of a road as in the past. Several roads have been hot mix resurfaced.  Storm water management continues to be a work in progress even though it is not really the County Engineer’s responsibility.  For future projects the County will have Genoa Road, Malta Road and Perry Roads completely hot-mix resurfaced in the coming years utilizing Federal funding.  Bridges will continue to be built at a pace funding will allow.  Mr. Lorence estimates the County’s bridges are in better shape that 80% of all other Counties in the State.  DeKalb County is anticipating federal funding to allow for our projects to be built with the least amount of fiscal burden on local taxpayers.  Since Mr. Lorence was appointed as County Engineer, DeKalb County has not forfeited any Federal or State funding due to a lack of project preparation.  We always have a project in the wings just in case the State calls and needs to spend funds quickly.  We can always accommodate them.  

Changes Mr. Lorence sees in the future will be the relocation of Airport Road, the possibility of an additional I-88 exit to accommodate the Cortland expansion.  The Somonauk Road study should be completed in the near future and that will determine if the County allows for a jurisdictional transfer of Somonauk Road from North Street to Barber Greene Road to the Town of Cortland.  The County still has concerns over access points to this road and needs to keep those to a minimum.  The County will move forward to complete a jurisdictional transfer of South First Street from Afton Road District to the County.  The County currently maintains the road but it belongs to Afton Road District per an agreement of understanding executed years ago. Once this road is under the County’s jurisdiction the County will begin to resurface it and improve the ride for the traveling public. 

The Committee inquired about Somonauk Road and the fall out from the seal coat operations this past summer.  Mr. Lorence stated it was determined that this was an unfortunate occurrence and basically caused by an act of God.  The contractor was pulled off the job early due to the incoming rain.  The road was checked by the resident engineer and found it fit for travel.  The road was opened to traffic and was fine until it began to rain two hours later.  At that time the rain emulsified the oil and turned it back into tar.  The County made a good faith offering to reimburse citizens that experienced a problem on the road for 80% of the cleaning costs and certain repairs up to a fix amount.  The County received 50 claims from this incident totaling approximately $95,000.00.  During negotiations these claims were settled for approximately $60,000.00.  These funds were expended through the tort fund and no transportation funds were expended on these claims. 

Chair LaVigne inquired if there was any further comments or questions of Mr. Lorence.  Hearing none she asked for a motion.  A motion was made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Whelan to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.

PUBLIC HEARING TO PRESENT A NOTICE OF INTENT FOR NPDES PHASE II COMPLIANCE:

Chair LaVigne called the Public Hearing to order.  There was no one from the public present to speak at the hearing. 

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that the local governments of the City of DeKalb, City of Sycamore, Town of Cortland and the County of DeKalb agreed to participate as one body in a local National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).  By doing so all storm water management projects and regulations would be consistent County wide and would enable organizations having to deal with NPDES to operate with the same rules anywhere in the County.  The County has obtained our NPDES permit as required and beginning on March 10, 2003, construction sites that disturb one acre or more are required to have coverage under the NPDES general permit for storm water discharges from construction site activities.  This program benefits cleaner lakes and streams, improves recreational opportunities and tourism and helps to reduce damages from floods.  The main purpose of this program is to control polluted storm water runoff.

Mr. Lorence stated that a Notice of Intent would be submitted as required.

Mr. Stuckert inquired who was responsible to keep the waterways open and flowing freely.  Mr. Lorence stated if they were navigable waters it was up to the Army Corps of Engineers.  The formula used by the Corps to determine if they would dredge a channel would be the cost of the dredging and prior or expected cost of damages caused by flooding.  If the cost of dredging was more than the damage done by flooding the Corps would not clear the waterways.  Mr. Lorence stated locally you could report any situation to the Planning Department and they would more than likely get the Illinois EPA involved.

Chair LaVigne closed the Public Hearing. 

CHAIR’S COMMENTS:           Chair LaVigne stated this was the last meeting for Committee member Jeff Whelan as he had moved out of his District and could no longer represent that District.  Chair LaVigne thanked Mr. Whelan for his service to the Highway Committee and wished him all the best in the future. 

COUNTY ENGINEER’S COMMENTS: 

The Transportation Improvement Progress Report was provided to the Committee for their review.  The highlighted projects were discussed.  Traffic signals are still being worked on for Peace Road.  It is moving slowly due to the cold weather.  Shabbona

Road Bridge at Lee Road curves is progressing on schedule.  The County will need to obtain some additional right-of-way for this project.  Cherry Valley Road Bridge is still being negotiated with IDOT to keep this project on schedule and begin building late this year.  The County continues to make progress on obtaining additional right-of way for the shoulder expansion along Glidden Road north of Illinois Route 64.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

Mr. Gudmunson inquired if any consideration was given to the cost of the upkeep for roads, as well as bridges, that belong to Road Districts that are being annexed into a Village or Town.  It seems to him that these local governments annex this land and by law have to take the roads over for maintenance but they cannot keep up with the maintenance due to the cost.  Mr. Lorence stated that prior to annexation the local government doing the annexation should have considered all of those factors.

ADJOURNMENT:

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 Augsburger to adjourn and Mr. Whelan seconded this motion.  The motion passed unanimously and the February 1, 2007 meeting was adjourned at 6:59p.m. 

Respectfully Submitted

Pat LaVigne

Chair