A meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday August 6, 2009 at 6:00pm in the Conference Room of the DeKalb County Highway Department, DeKalb, Illinois.  
               
Chairperson LaVigne called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.  Committee members present were Vice-Chair Augsburger, Mr. Chambliss and Mr. Emerson.  Also present were Mr. Bill Lorence, County Engineer, Wayne Davey, Support Services Manager and Gregg Millburg, Farm Bureau. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Emerson to approve the minutes of the regular June 17, 2009 meeting.  The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Motion made by Mr. Chambliss to approve the agenda and Mr. Emerson seconded this motion.   Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that item number one on the agenda was being re-bid and will be presented at the September Committee meeting.  Also item number two is still pending the City of Sycamore action.  Mr. Lorence recommended both items one and two be deleted from the agenda.  Motion made by Mr. Chambliss to approve the agenda as amended and Mr. Emerson seconded this motion.   The motion to approve the agenda as amended carried unanimously. 

PUBLIC COMMENT:  None

CHAIR’S COMMENTS:      None

COUNTY ENGINEER’S COMMENTS: 

The Transportation Improvement Progress Report for July was provided to the Committee for their review.  The highlighted projects on the report were discussed. Preliminary Engineering is progressing on the Kane Road culvert project as well as Old State Road bridge, Five Points Road bridge and Coltonville Road bridge.  The Glidden Road roundabout at Rich is nearing Design Engineering completion.  The Shabbona Road bridge construction will begin on Monday, August 10, 2009 and the road is expected to be closed until October 31, 2009.  The curve realignment on South First Street is nearing completion and the road should be opened to the public soon.  The curves will remain aggregate for a while in order for traffic to compact the new roadway.  Prior to winter the curves will have a binder course placed on them and then the entire road will receive a surface course during 2010.  North Grove Road Bridge is scheduled to be opened Friday August 7th. 

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that during the State’s Budget process this year a provision was placed within the budget designating all roads in the State of Illinois as 80,000 pound roads.  No additional funding was provided to build our current roadways system up to handle this additional weight, but did allow for Counties to post their roads back at their 73,280 pound limit.  Mr. Lorence presented a proposed ordinance placing weight restriction on roads that would not handle the additional weight and cause additional maintenance expense.  Mr. Emerson asked if this ordinance was necessary and why the County could not allow trucks to run at 80,000 pounds.  Mr. Lorence explained that the roads he was recommending weight restrictions on were either for bridge restrictions or the base of the current road was not sufficient to accommodate the increased weight limits.  The State will be evaluating all the bridges to see which ones could handle the additional weight and if any roads could be removed from the “restricted” list at a later date the County Engineer would so recommend.    A motion was made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Chambliss to forward proposed Ordinance 2009-13 to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Lorence presented the Department’s 2010 budget recommendation.  The budget contains no new revenue and expenditures were reduced by $1.5 million over the 2009 Budget.  However, fund balance spending will be needed if all projects scheduled within the County’s five year road improvement plan are let.  The Bridge, MFT and Matching budgets are typically overspent in some years as we save funds to pay for projects and spend the balance down.  The Highway budget shows a deficient this year due to funds being transferred to the Engineering budget to help offset the cost of an additional position of Assistant County Engineer if that position is to be approved.  There were no questions presented.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:  None

ADJOURNMENT:

Chairperson 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. Emerson seconded this motion. The motion passed unanimously and the August 6, 2009 meeting was adjourned at 6:32p.m.  Respectfully Submitted

Patricia LaVigne