Consider Recommending City Council Approval of Plans and Authorization to Solicit Quotes for 2026 Pavement Skim Patching Contracted Services, Maintenance Project #26-53

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to consider recommending City Council approval of plans and authorization to solicit quotes for 2026 Pavement Skim Patching Contracted Services, Maintenance Project #26-53. 
 
Background:
In 2023, the number of public streets with numerous deep potholes and surface stripping increased to the point that Public Works staff were only able to maintain a small percentage of the streets in-house. The poor pavement conditions were due in small part to the previous winter’s severe weather conditions, but more significantly the poor pavement conditions were due to advanced pavement age and minimal pavement section composition, as well as due to not receiving regular proactive maintenance treatments over the life of the pavement sections. In 2023, the city spent almost $1.3M on contracted pavement patching services.
 
Since 2023, the city has expended over $10,000,000 per year on pavement overlay and street reconstruction improvement projects, and on pavement maintenance projects including crack seal, pavement rejuvenation, and pavement skim and spray patching projects.  In addition, public works staff continue to patch potholes, as well as mill and overlay pavement segments where pavement stripping is generally confined to tire tracks.  This work has helped to significantly reduce the scope and severity of potholes, pavement stripping and other forms of pavement damage on city streets.
 
Based on staff’s observations of all contracted skim patching work to date, the patching appears to have a useful life of 4 years or more. To date, this product has held up very well to plowing, traffic and weather.
 
This spring, staff inspected and identified public street segments within 7 residential areas that would benefit greatly from pavement skim patching due to existing poor pavement conditions and the fact that the majority of these streets are not programmed in the CIP for reconstruction until 2032 or later, with 3 of the street segments not programmed for reconstruction in the CIP at all.  All identified street segments total 3.35 miles in length. Attached is a figure showing the street segments located within the 7 areas.
 
Many streets identified for skim patching in 2026 have deep potholes (deeper than 2-inches) that will require hand patching before skim patching operations commence.  Below is a summary of the proposed skim patching process, which is generally the same process followed since 2023.

• City staff will patch deepest potholes and sweep streets first.
• Contractor will blow debris and water out of remaining potholes using compressed air.
• Contractor will apply bituminous tack coat to potholes, fill with hot mix, then compact the mix.
• Contractor will apply bituminous tack coat to existing pavement surfaces and patches.
• Contractor will skim patch both sides of streets except outer 2 feet to maintain positive drainage.
• Contractor will compact skim patching with rubber-tired rollers.
• City will sweep patched streets full width.

 
City staff will patch all other public paved street segments in-house as needed and as time allows. 

Observations:
Tentative project schedule:

• April 21^st – Public Works Committee considers recommending City Council authorization to solicit quotes
• May 12^th – City Council considers authorizing solicitation of quotes
• June 23^rd – City Council considers approving quotes and awarding contract
• July 6^th – Begin construction
• August 28^th – Final completion

 
Alternatives:
Alternative #1: Motion recommending City Council approval of plans and authorization to solicit quotes for 2026 Pavement Skim Patching Contracted Services, Maintenance Project #26-53.
 
Alternative #2: Motion of other.

Payment for this work is proposed to come from the $650,000 budgeted for 2026 to complete cracksealing, pavement rejuvenation, pavement striping and contracted pavement patching projects. Awarded contract costs for the 2026 cracksealing project total $156,951.90, and awarded contract costs for the pavement rejuvenation project total $327,922.41.  Staff currently estimates 2026 pavement striping project costs at $18,000, which leaves an estimated $147,125.69 for 2026 skim patching contracted services.
 
In 2026, staff recommends skim patching all street segments in areas 1 through 4 using contracted services.  These street segment lengths total 2.21 miles.
 
Staff estimates costs for the proposed 2026 skim patching project (areas 1 - 4) at $166,300, which is over $19,000 more than the estimated available funding amount.  Staff therefore proposes to solicit skim patching quotes for areas 1, 2 and 3, and to request alternate quotes for streets within areas 4 and 5.  This will allow the city to custom size the project to spend down as much available funding as possible.
 
Per State statute, projects with costs of $175,000 or more are required to be bid, while projects with costs under $175,000 can be awarded by soliciting multiple quotes. 

Staff recommends Alternative #1. 

Motion recommending City Council approval of plans and authorization to solicit quotes for 2026 Pavement Skim Patching Contracted Services, Maintenance Project #26-53.