DIS- 471
Items For Discussion .
Work Session Board of Supervisors
Community Development
- Meeting Date:
- 10/11/2011
- Title:
- Emergency Road Repair
- Submitted By:
- Gussie Motter, Board of Supervisors
- Department:
- Board of Supervisors
Presentation:
PowerPoint
NAME
of PRESENTER:
of PRESENTER:
Mike Ortega
TITLE
of PRESENTER:
of PRESENTER:
County Administrator
ORGANIZATION NAME
of PRESENTER:
of PRESENTER:
n/a
Agenda Item Text:
Discussion and general direction to staff on the establishment of an Emergency Road Repair Grant Program.
Background:
The subject of this work session is to obtain thoughts and direction from the BOS on the establishment of an Emergency Road Repair Grant Program.
There have been requests over the years from residents for Cochise County to assist them in fixing roads that were damaged by either flooding or subsidence (fissures).
Although Supervisor Richard Searle most recently has asked this issue be addressed, at various times over the past few years, Supervisors English and Call have also had this issue develop in their respective Districts. Following are but some of the specific non-maintained roads that have suffered damage where the residents did not have access for a period of time:
• Fissures – Van Ness (north of Sunsites)
• Road washed out – High Knolls Road (north of SR 90 – East of Sierra Vista)
• Road washed out – Palomas Road (south of SR 92 – near Palominas)
• Fissures – Kings Rd. (Kansas Settlement)
• Road washed out – St. David neighborhood (Kayenta) - Culverts
There are other instances similar to the examples listed above where access via a non-maintained road/access is hampered or made impossible generally due to weather (drainage related) or because of fissures that generally occur because of subsidence due to a drop in the water table. Since these access roads are not maintained by Cochise County, the standard answer in the past has been that the County not only has no responsibility, but has no mechanism to provide assistance. County Highways crews are funded from HURF and the Statutes covering the use of this funding restrict expenditures from this source to County maintained roadways.
In exploring this matter further, it may be possible to use non-HURF funding to assist in some of these instances assuming a direct tie can be made to economic development. If such a tie can be made, there is some flexibility to use County resources (non-HURF) for economic development purposes.
Given that relatively safe physical access to property is a fundamental aspect of residents getting to and from work and also their reliance on the delivery of goods and services, not having access, clearly impacts the local economy. On another front, in many of these instances, access from public safety vehicles is also precluded. Although this may seem like a quality of life issue, it can also be translated as an economic development issue from the standpoint that if emergency services cannot be provided because of access, property values are affected and ultimately, could cause of devaluation of the entire area or neighborhood. Hence Cochise County may have a stake in making sure access affected by acts of God (emergencies) are restored to a level needed to provide fundamental access to and from these properties.
The Emergency Road Repair Grant Program could be crafted to provide this fundamental access and done so under the flexibility provided to the BOS for economic development purposes. The Program would entail taking requests from residents when an emergency occurs and using non-HURF monies to fund restoration of access. Following are a few thoughts on the criteria that could be used for this Program:
• Funding for this program would come from ½ Cent Sales Tax and be allocated on an annual basis depending on the availability of funding. If not used, any unused amount would be carried over from year to year.
• Each grant would be limited to the cost of making the repairs with a maximum $10,000 limit per emergency per grant.
• Roads must be open to the public. They cannot be private (exclusive) access roads, nor can they be driveways.
• Property owners using the road would have to sign waivers stating that they understand this is one-time grant for road repair and that they are responsible for all future maintenance.
• Property owners would need to cause the work to be accomplished. No County equipment or materials would be used.
• County staff could provide technical expertise, although part of the waiver is holding the County harmless for any advice provided.
• Property owners would be responsible for generating a cost estimate and submitting it for consideration. Actual invoices would be paid directly to contractor or for materials.
• There would need to be some level of traffic (ADT) to be eligible for consideration. An ADT of more than 50 – 100 (5 – 10 homes) could be the threshold for funding.
• County staff would receive the application and if it meets the criteria established by the BOS, it would be approved and funded.
• A limit would be placed on the number of times additional grants can be requested for the same emergency. It could be that depending on the severity of the emergency County-wide, only one grant would be allocated to one area.
• Funding from this Program would be limited only to emergency repairs where a single occurrence (emergency) impacted physical access either precluding it or making it extremely unsafe for the residents, school buses or emergency service vehicles. Examples of repairs that could be considered emergencies could include fixing or repairing fissures, wash outs, erosion, and sink holes.
• No maintenance would be allowed under this program.
Currently the BOS allocates $300,000 for Supervisor projects from the ½ Cent Sales Tax Fund. The Emergency Road Repair Program could be funded from the same source. Since it is difficult to predict how many emergencies would occur in a given year, an amount could be allocated each year and the BOS may have to address the Program funding during the year depending on the need. Since there have been a few emergencies in the recent past years, staff will recommend allocating $30,000 for this program as a starting point.
The key to making this program successful will be the speed with which money can be allocated for these emergency repairs. As a result, staff is recommending the criteria be established for the Program by the BOS, but implemented at the Staff level.
There have been requests over the years from residents for Cochise County to assist them in fixing roads that were damaged by either flooding or subsidence (fissures).
Although Supervisor Richard Searle most recently has asked this issue be addressed, at various times over the past few years, Supervisors English and Call have also had this issue develop in their respective Districts. Following are but some of the specific non-maintained roads that have suffered damage where the residents did not have access for a period of time:
• Fissures – Van Ness (north of Sunsites)
• Road washed out – High Knolls Road (north of SR 90 – East of Sierra Vista)
• Road washed out – Palomas Road (south of SR 92 – near Palominas)
• Fissures – Kings Rd. (Kansas Settlement)
• Road washed out – St. David neighborhood (Kayenta) - Culverts
There are other instances similar to the examples listed above where access via a non-maintained road/access is hampered or made impossible generally due to weather (drainage related) or because of fissures that generally occur because of subsidence due to a drop in the water table. Since these access roads are not maintained by Cochise County, the standard answer in the past has been that the County not only has no responsibility, but has no mechanism to provide assistance. County Highways crews are funded from HURF and the Statutes covering the use of this funding restrict expenditures from this source to County maintained roadways.
In exploring this matter further, it may be possible to use non-HURF funding to assist in some of these instances assuming a direct tie can be made to economic development. If such a tie can be made, there is some flexibility to use County resources (non-HURF) for economic development purposes.
Given that relatively safe physical access to property is a fundamental aspect of residents getting to and from work and also their reliance on the delivery of goods and services, not having access, clearly impacts the local economy. On another front, in many of these instances, access from public safety vehicles is also precluded. Although this may seem like a quality of life issue, it can also be translated as an economic development issue from the standpoint that if emergency services cannot be provided because of access, property values are affected and ultimately, could cause of devaluation of the entire area or neighborhood. Hence Cochise County may have a stake in making sure access affected by acts of God (emergencies) are restored to a level needed to provide fundamental access to and from these properties.
The Emergency Road Repair Grant Program could be crafted to provide this fundamental access and done so under the flexibility provided to the BOS for economic development purposes. The Program would entail taking requests from residents when an emergency occurs and using non-HURF monies to fund restoration of access. Following are a few thoughts on the criteria that could be used for this Program:
• Funding for this program would come from ½ Cent Sales Tax and be allocated on an annual basis depending on the availability of funding. If not used, any unused amount would be carried over from year to year.
• Each grant would be limited to the cost of making the repairs with a maximum $10,000 limit per emergency per grant.
• Roads must be open to the public. They cannot be private (exclusive) access roads, nor can they be driveways.
• Property owners using the road would have to sign waivers stating that they understand this is one-time grant for road repair and that they are responsible for all future maintenance.
• Property owners would need to cause the work to be accomplished. No County equipment or materials would be used.
• County staff could provide technical expertise, although part of the waiver is holding the County harmless for any advice provided.
• Property owners would be responsible for generating a cost estimate and submitting it for consideration. Actual invoices would be paid directly to contractor or for materials.
• There would need to be some level of traffic (ADT) to be eligible for consideration. An ADT of more than 50 – 100 (5 – 10 homes) could be the threshold for funding.
• County staff would receive the application and if it meets the criteria established by the BOS, it would be approved and funded.
• A limit would be placed on the number of times additional grants can be requested for the same emergency. It could be that depending on the severity of the emergency County-wide, only one grant would be allocated to one area.
• Funding from this Program would be limited only to emergency repairs where a single occurrence (emergency) impacted physical access either precluding it or making it extremely unsafe for the residents, school buses or emergency service vehicles. Examples of repairs that could be considered emergencies could include fixing or repairing fissures, wash outs, erosion, and sink holes.
• No maintenance would be allowed under this program.
Currently the BOS allocates $300,000 for Supervisor projects from the ½ Cent Sales Tax Fund. The Emergency Road Repair Program could be funded from the same source. Since it is difficult to predict how many emergencies would occur in a given year, an amount could be allocated each year and the BOS may have to address the Program funding during the year depending on the need. Since there have been a few emergencies in the recent past years, staff will recommend allocating $30,000 for this program as a starting point.
The key to making this program successful will be the speed with which money can be allocated for these emergency repairs. As a result, staff is recommending the criteria be established for the Program by the BOS, but implemented at the Staff level.
To BOS Staff: Document Disposition/Follow-Up:
The staff will have direction from the BOS on the establishment of the Emergency Road Repair Grant Program including the general criteria the BOS would like included in the grant process.