DRAFT

HIGHWAY COMMITTEE

May 5, 2011

A meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board was held on Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 6:00pm in the Conference Room of the DeKalb County Highway Department, DeKalb, Illinois.  

Chairman Gudmunson called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.  Committee members present were Vice-Chair Augsburger, Mr. Brown, Mr. Cribben, Mr. Deverell and Mr. Foster.   Others present were William Lorence, County Engineer, Wayne Davey, Support Services Manager from the Highway Department and Mr. Tom Zucker, Executive Director, Voluntary Action Center.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Deverell to approve the minutes of the regular April 20, 2011 meeting.  The motion to approve the minutes as presented carried unanimously. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Motion made by Mr. Deverell and seconded by Mr. Foster to approve the agenda as presented.   Discussion followed concerning the addition of one item, 4a – an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Town of Cortland to allow sidewalks on the County right-of-way within the jurisdictional limits of the Town of Cortland.  The motion to approve the agenda as amended carried unanimously. 

PUBLIC COMMENT:   None

RESOLUTION #R2011-30, FY-2012 OPERATING ASSISTANCE GRANT FOR THE VOLUNTARY ACTION CENTER TO OPERATE TRANSVAC AND MEDVAC TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: 

Mr. Zucker presented the Committee with information concerning the FY-12 5311 Operating Assistance Grant.  This program has been around for years and was originally operated through the City of DeKalb.  After the 2000 census, it was determined the DeKalb, Sycamore, Cortland area was of significant population to require the inception of a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).  The MPO would then be in charge of future federal grants to be used within the MPO.  The grant must be submitted through a Government agency and is a pass through grant.  That means that all funds are passed through the County to the Voluntary Action Center for the operation of TransVac/MedVac.  Like the funding, all responsibility and liability is passed from the County to TransVac as well.  This grant provides for operating funding for TransVac and MedVac.  These services provide transportation to residents of DeKalb County within the County as well as to medical appointments outside of the County.  This year’s grant will remain at the 2011 funding level which is approximately $372,000.00.    The Voluntary Action Center must match this grant at 50% for operations and 20% for administration.  This is accomplished through the use of other grants, County contributions, Township contributions, in-kind contributions as well as fund raisers.  TransVac uses these soft/hard matches for their share and have always had no problem in meeting their share.  The County’s cost for this service is provided through the senior levy.  These transportation programs do assign a fee for the ridership of $1.50 for a one-way ride if utilizing TransVac and $0.50 per mile if utilizing MedVac services.  For residents that can not afford this cost, arrangements are made and no one is ever turned away from these services.  Kishwaukee College charges students an annual fee to utilize this service and contributes 100% of these fees collected back to TransVac.  Ridership has more than doubled from 2009 to 2010 from 12,500 to over 26,000 rides being provided in the rural areas of DeKalb County.  Total cost of operation for these transportations programs is estimated at $800,000.00 with 70% going toward operations and 30% going toward administration.  A motion was made by Mr. Foster and seconded by Mr. Brown to forward this resolution to the full County Board recommending award.  The motion carried unanimously. 

RESOLUTION #R2011-31, FY-2012 SPECIAL WARRANTY FOR APPLICATION TO THE SMALL URBAN AND RURAL PROGRAM:

Mr. Zucker explained the 5311 Grant and the Special Warranty go hand in hand and in order to receive the 5311 Grant the Special Warranty must accompany the application.  This Warranty simply states that public funds will not be used to provide TransVac/MedVac with an unfair advantage in operating in this area with other agencies providing the same type of service to the public on a private basis.  The Greyhound bus line is the only other Company providing transportation services in DeKalb County and they have no interest in providing the type of service that TransVac/MedVac is providing.  It also states that no union members will be displaced by the awarding of this grant to the Voluntary Action Center for use by TransVac/MedVac.   A motion was made by Mr. Foster and seconded by Mr. Cribben to forward this resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously. 

RESOLUTION #R2011-32 REVISED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR THE DEKALB-SYCAMORE AREA TRANSPORTATION STUDY (DSATS)

Mr. Lorence explained that currently there is a cooperative agreement between the City of DeKalb, the City of Sycamore, the Town of Cortland, DeKalb County, Northern Illinois University and the State of Illinois which provides transportation planning in and around the DeKalb-Sycamore urbanized area.  This goes back to the requirement of urban areas with a population of more than 50,000, in order to continue to receive Federal funding or operating assistance for transportation, must have a transportation planning process for the urbanized area.  There is funding requirements for this study and a state grant has been used to cover a major portion of the local match required.  In light of the current and expected future fiscal outlook of the State, DSATS feels those funds might not be available every year.  In the event state funds are not available for the local match for this program, participants would have to make up this funding requirement.  The worst case scenario for the County would be an annual share of $5,565 or a 12.5% share of the local match.  The County has received funds from DSATS and is expected to continue to receive funds for future road projects that intersect with this urbanized area.  Mr. Lorence stated the County has already received back over $400,000 through DSATS for the resurfacing of South First Street.  Future projects include the resurfacing of Peace Road.  Mr. Lorence recommended the approval of this revised agreement that modifies the cost share of the required local match.    A motion was made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Deverell to forward this resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously. 

RESOLUTION #R2011-33 – INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF ILLINOIS FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS ON THE STATE SYSTEM THAT INTERSECTS WITH A COUNTY ROAD:

Mr. Lorence received an intergovernmental agreement from the State this past month wherein they requested signature.  This agreement officially sets forth maintenance responsibilities for traffic signals that were constructed by County contracts and placed on the State Roadway System.  This agreement covers the traffic signals at Illinois Route 23 (south) and Peace Road;  Illinois Route 64 and Peace Road; and Illinois Route 23 (north)/Peace/Plank Roads.  These signals are currently maintained by the City of Sycamore and the County is billed annually for maintenance cost.  This agreement is formalizing what is currently being done and does not change or remove any responsibility or cost sharing for the maintenance of these signals.  Mr. Lorence recommended this agreement be executed and recommended forwarding to the full County Board for action.  A motion was made by Mr. Cribben and seconded by Mr. Deverell to forward this resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously. 

RESOLUTION #R2011-36 – INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE TOWN OF CORTLAND:

Mr. Lorence explained that the Town of Cortland had just returned a long overdue Intergovernmental Agreement sent to them during 2009 for execution.  This agreement allows for the Town of Cortland to construct and maintain and hold the County harmless for all sidewalks placed within the County’s right-of-way along Somonauk Road within the Town’s jurisdiction.  This is a standard agreement the County has with all Cities/Villages/Towns within DeKalb County and Mr. Lorence recommended approval of this agreement.   A motion was made by Mr. Foster and seconded by Mr. Brown to forward this resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously. 

80,000 POUNDS ROAD IN DEKALB COUNTY:

Chairman Gudmunson provided the Committee with a copy of his recommendations to this Committee during 2009 wherein some compromise could be reached to handle 80,000 pound loads on the County roadways.  These recommendations included:

1. All County roads 80,000 pounds class III truck route
2. All County roads 73,280 pounds with an 80,000 pound ag exemption
3. All County roads 80,000 pounds starting June 1^st to January 31^st  and 73,280 pounds from February 1^st to May 31^st subject to spring road postings
4. All County roads 80,000 pound truck weight but without the class III truck route

Chairman Gudmunson stated that during that meeting he was under the impression that recommendation 3 was agreed upon by the County Engineer as something that could be done.

Mr. Lorence explained that recommendation 3 would be doable if the law that set the legal limits on all roads at 80,000 pounds was not ruled unconstitutional by the courts.  Now all roads on the County system have been re-set to the statutory legal limit of 73,280 pounds unless otherwise posted.  In order for divisible 80,000 pound loads to be carried over current 73,280 pound roads, roads would have to be designated as truck routes.  This would be done by ordinance and once done, those roads would not be allowed to be posted in the spring.  Mr. Lorence stated there is a written legal opinion stating that it is not allowed to have a road designated as a truck route for a certain period of time and then reducing that road back to a non-truck route for a period of time throughout the year.  All truck traffic would be allowed to carry 80,000 pounds all year long.  Roads that are structurally capable of handling these loads are already posted as a truck route.  As funds become available to upgrade roads to handle 80,000 pound loads, they are constructed and designated.

Mr. Foster, with the assistant of the Farm Bureau, stated that the difference in truck traffic being allowed to carry 80,000 pound loads verses 73,280 pound loads, was an increase of 5,800 trucks a year on County Roads for agriculture communities.  This translates into additional costs for the farming community.  Mr. Foster would like to see a uniform weight on the roadway system to allow farmers to carry a consistent weight of 80,000 pounds throughout DeKalb County regardless where they live or operate from.

It was the consensus of the Committee to revisit this topic again at another time for further discussion.

CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS:  Chairman Gudmunson inquired into the County Engineer’s last day.  Mr. Lorence stated his official last day was June 25, 2011.  The Highway Department is planning an open house for Mr. Lorence on June 24^th from 1:00pm – 3:00pm in the Conference Room of the Highway Department.

COUNTY ENGINEER’S COMMENTS: 

The Transportation Improvement Progress Report for April was presented and the highlighted projects on the report were discussed.  The Old State Road Bridge project has a preconstruction meeting scheduled for May 17^th.  Road closure and construction would be scheduled shortly after that depending on the material arrival schedule.   The other projects highlighted include East County Line Road, Suydam Road Bridge, Waterman Road, Coltonville Road Bridge, Five Points Road Bridge, Gurler Road Bridge and East County Line Road Bridge.  All these projects continue to progress and no difficulties have arisen that need to be addressed at this time.

The Keslinger Road Bridge remains under negotiation and no plans are underway for the replacement.  This incident has been under negotiations for the last three years with little progress being made.  Mr. Lorence stated the parties will not move forward to replace this bridge until it is clear as to who will be bearing the financial responsibilities and to what extent. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

Mr. Brown inquired into why the need for additional right-of-way when the County is replacing an existing bridge.  Mr. Lorence stated that the new requirement is that the bridge deck must now be as wide as the road bed (roadway surface plus shoulders).  When these bridges were built that are being replaced the bridge deck only needed to be a wide as the road surface. 

Mr. Cribben inquired into the 150 Contract Negotiations.  Written proposal will be presented by both sides on May 24^th and the Committee will be provided an update of our progress at that time. 

 ADJOURNMENT:

Mr. Foster inquired if there was anything else that needed to be brought before the Committee and hearing none requested a motion to adjourn.  A motion was made by Mr. Foster and seconded by Chairman Gudmunson.  The motion passed unanimously and the May 5, 2011 meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Gudmunson

Chairperson