Approve Plans and Specifications for the 2012 Street Maintenance Program, and Authorize for Bid

During development of the 2012 Street Maintenance Program (SMP) there were discussions taking place at the Council level focused on a long term road maintenance policy for the City.  With the limited funding currently available for all the needed street maintenance activities, it has been extremely difficult implementing a program to address all the needs.

On February 14, 2012 during presentation of a City Council case to consider a long term road maintenance policy, there was discussion with respect to this SMP program.  With the notion being that a long term funding solution would be forthcoming relatively soon with respect to future road maintenance, it was discussed that this years SMP should only include sealcoats, and consideration should be given to potentially eliminating the associated assessments.  There were several reasons why the idea of eliminating assessments for this year were considered; the current sealcoat assessment rate would be only 15%, there was concern expressed by the Council on how to retroactively respond to resident complaints associated with the shift in road maintenance funding, elimination of the public hearing (429 assessment process) would save time and money, and it would remove the ability for residents to counter-petition the improvements.

Based upon this preliminary feedback staff presented a case to the Public Works Committee on February 21, 2012 seeking direction on how best to proceed with the 2012 SMP.  It was the consensus of the Committee to initiate a program that contained sealcoats only, and that the program should be tailored in a way that assessments would be eliminated.  Staff prepared a program meeting those goals and presented the information to the City Council on March 13, 2012.  Council approved the program and directed staff to prepare the plans and specifications for construction.  An informational open house was held with impacted residents on April 9, 2012, where staff explained the project and process, solicit feedback on items of concern within the project area, and responded to questions.

During final preparation and inspection of the various areas it was determined that the roadways within the ROLLING GREEN area, as previously identified for a sealcoat application, were in such a condition that this type of improvement would provide no benefit and is not a prudent use of funding.  Staff has since replaced this area with streets within the FERRUM  ADDITION, and all impacted property owners notified.  The final 2012 SMP is comprised of approximately 21 miles of sealcoats at an estimated cost of $600,000 (see attached map), and will be funded by TIF #4, the City's general fund, municipal state aid (MSA), and developers' first sealcoat escrows from development agreements.  Staff has also included various parking lots in a few parks and at water tower #1, and those items are proposed to be funded through the parks maintenance and paving funds, and the water utility fund.

Bidding the project will take approximately 3-4 weeks, and we intend to be before the City Council again on June 19th with a recommendation to award a contract.  Construction would commence in late June/early July and go through the middle of August.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the plans and specifications for the 2012 SMP, and authorize the project for bid.

Motion to approve the plans and specifications for the 2012 SMP, and authorize the project for bid.