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A meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board was held on Thursday, August 1, 2013 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 Mr. Frieders, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Jones, Mr. O'Barski and Vice Chair Pietrowski. Mr. Deverell was absent. Others present were Mr. Nathan Schwartz, County Engineer, Wayne Davey, Support Services Manager, Mr. Anthony Cvek, County Board member and Mr. Tom Zucker, Executive Director, Voluntary Action Center.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion made by Vice Chair Pietrowski and seconded by Mr. O'Barski to approve the minutes of the regular June 6, 2013 meeting. The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Motion made by Vice Chair Pietrowski and seconded by Mr. O'Barski to approve the agenda as presented. The motion passed unanimously.

PUBLIC COMMENT: None

RESOLUTION #R2013-56 FOR ACCEPTANCE OF FEDERAL AND STATE FUNDS FOR DOWNSTATE OPERATING ASSISTANT GRANT FOR TRANSVAC SERVICES:

Mr. Zucker explained to the Committee that the Downstate Operating Assistant Grant had been approved for the County and a resolution is needed by DeKalb County accepting those operating funds. There is a Federal grant in the amount of $372,475 and a State grant in the amount of $453,800. The County passes these fund through to TRANSVAC who manages these funds for the County. The State grant is used for the required match for use of the Federal grant and TRANSVAC provides the local match required for the State grant. A motion was made by Mr. Jones and seconded by Vice Chair Pietrowski to forward the resolution to the full Board recommending approval. The motion passed unanimously.

RESOLUTION #R2013-58, FIVE POINT ROAD BRIDGE WETLAND BANK MITIGATION AGREEMENT:

Mr. Schwartz explained to the Committee that a small portion (0.46 acres) of additional right-of-way needed to complete the Five Points Road Bridge project has been designated a wetland. In order to complete this project the County will need to purchase 0.69 acres (1.5 to 1 ratio is required) of wetland credits. The DeKalb County Forest Preserve District is willing to provide the needed credits from its Afton Forest Preserve Wetland Bank site at no cost to the County, pending approval by the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District Committee. In order to finalize this transaction the County needs to enter into a mitigation agreement with the Forest Preserve District for the 0.69 acres. A motion was made by Mr. Jones and seconded by Vice Chair Pietrowski to forward the resolution to the full Board recommending approval. The motion passed unanimously.

CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS: Chairman Gudmunson asked Mr. Cvek if he had anything he would like to bring to the Committee. Mr. Cvek was interested in seeing if the Highway Department could sweep the loose gravel from our roads more often. He commented that other Counties have a broom mounted on the front of pick-ups or one tons. Mr. Cvek suggested that if we have staff that travel the County regularly that putting a broom on those trucks might be a good way to address this. Mr. Schwartz thanked Mr. Cvek for his observations and stated he would review this situation further.

COUNTY ENGINEER'S COMMENTS:

Mr. Schwartz provided the Committee with an update concerning the Peace Road Safety Study. Traffic studies have been completed for the road and the data is being reviewed. This will be a labor intensive project and Mr. Schwartz indicated that a final report probably would not be ready until the end of this year at the earliest. Updates will be provided to the committee as appropriate.

The 1998 Metra Report was shown to the Committee. A copy will be provided via e-mail to the Committee for their use as they deem appropriate.

Mr. Schwartz informed the Committee that if they happened to see the press release by the Governor's Office concerning the Five Points Road Bridge project, some of the information was not totally accurate. This project was scheduled before the Illinois Jobs Now! Program, it is a project scheduled through our regular bridge replacement program. The County is providing all the supervision and oversight of this project and not IDOT. Just in case any Committee member was asked about this project Mr. Schwartz wanted the Committee to have the correct information.

All of the signs and posts and hardware has been received in conjunction with the Rural Sign Upgrade Program. The Highway Department is in the process of passing these items out to all the Townships and Villages who participated in this program. We received over 3,645 signs relating to this project.

The County is wrapping up work on the five-year traffic counts for DeKalb County. Every five years mandatory traffic counts are conducted statewide. If the County wants to use Federal dollars towards a project, the county is required to have current traffic counts on the roads on file with IDOT. The County is also conducting counts for the municipalities as well. We will be reimbursed for our services by the individual municipalities.

The Transportation Improvement Progress Report for the month of July was reviewed with the Committee. Mr. Schwartz shared photos of the progress made on three township projects and the County's Malta Road project, utilizing the Department's new 80" PC Smart Board. The Smart Board was made possible through a DSATS grant for planning equipment. It will be used for planning, video conferencing and other general presentations. The property belongs to DSTAS but will remain in the Highway Department's Conference Room.

Other projects highlighted this month were the Five Point Road bridge and Perry Road resurfacing projects. Both are scheduled to have their preconstruction meeting on August 8, 2013 in Ottawa and construction should start shortly after that. Keslinger Road Bridge continues in negotiations. Mr. Frieders inquired if all county roads being resurfaced by the County will have paved shoulders and Mr. Schwartz stated that is his plan. Mr. Gudmunson asked if Waterman Road would be going forward next year as planned.

Mr. Schwartz stated it might be pushed back a year depending on the schedule for Glidden Road. County forces will be doing the dirt work on Waterman Road and they are currently on Glidden Road. When that project is completed they will move to Waterman Road.

Mr. Schwartz presented a snapshot of the Department's proposed 2014 Budget submission to the Committee for their information. If any of the Committee members has any questions concerning the numbers they can contact him to discuss. The proposed budget is due downtown on Monday, August 5th.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: None

ADJOURNMENT:

Chairman Gudmunson asked if there was anything further that needed to be discussed and hearing none asked for a motion to adjourn. A motion was made by Mr. O'Barski and seconded by Vice Chair Pietrowski to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously and the August 1, 2013 meeting was adjourned at 7:35pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Gudmunson
Chairperson