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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEngineer's Report 01.13.2016.PDFFittsqe of @spu g u Tbeiglsts MARCHAM HALL 836 HANSHAW ROAD ITHACA, NEWYORK 14850 (607) 257-1238 fax (607) 257-4910 ENGINEEtrS REPORT January 13,2016 PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES Brent Cross, Superintendent of Public Works Kathryn D. Supron, Mayor Joan M. Mangione, Clerk & Treasurer Angela M. Podufalski, Deputy Clerk Brent A. Cross, Engineer DATE: TO: FROM: The owner of t12 Comstock experienced a sewage back-up into his home. The Village DPW was called to clear the blockage but did not find the source of the problem. Subsequently a claim was submitted to our insurance coverage, but was denied. lt is my understanding that the owner may be asking the Trustees for consideration of this claim. The DPW accidently recently damaged a mailbox during the leaf collection process. The property owners have requested that their mailbox/post be replaced by the Village. Based on policy that was established many years ago, the Village will replace damaged mailbox/posts at Village expense (labor and materials), but due to the wide variation of mailboxes throughout the Village, the cost to replace them "inkind" could be very expensive. Therefore, the policy is to standardize the replacement with a generic type mailbox/post that has a value of less than 5100. This policy is not currently formalized in any public information. We may want to revisit this policy and publish the revised policy. I have several photos (before/after) of the roof flashing work that was done recently by Evans Roofing. I was impressed by both the effort they put into the project and the quality of the finished product. The new plow/box equipment has been installed on the new dump truck that was ordered at the beginning of the flscal year. When it was delivered to Beam Mack, their salesman called us to come look at some things he felt were not acceptable. Apparently, the spring/tire package on the truck was not ordered heavy enough to carry the weight of the new equipment that has been installed. Beam Mack is going to upgrade these features at their cost for the difference of the new parts. We will get full credit for the original parts and there will be no labor charges. There are some other miscellaneous installation details that need to be addressed by the plow/box vendor. The truck has been sent back to their shop for this work. Again, there will be no extra charges to the Village. Even though this has delayed final delivery of the truck, we still have our full fleet of existing truck/plows available for snow removal. The DPW crew has worked together to do a full cleaning/painting of all the plow blades/wings. This is the first time this task has been done for the entire fleet. This will add reliability and reduce maintenance costs during the winter season. I have photos of the shiny new plows. The Village's liability insurance.carrier, NYMIR, has recommended that municipalities maintain a daily log for pre-trip inspections of big trucks (primarily the CDL units). They did not provide details of this program, but we have created a daily checklist that will be kept on a clipboard inside of each truck which will be filled out by the truck drivers each day. These records will be maintained the Mechanic's files at the DPW for future observation by NYMIR. ln the past, due to good safety practices by the DPW, we have always been granted the maximum premium discount available. I suspect that the truck maintenance log will help us retain the best discount possible. I finally received a map done by TG Miller to identify the exact location of the existing water and sewer mains that run across the Palmer Wood area of Cornell property. This information will be shared with Cornell for the purpose of negotiating a new easement and any conditions relative to potential impacts from the adjacent DPW yard. There is a tunnel under NYS Route L3 that provides access to the Village's sewer main that runs down to the WWTP. I am unsure when the last time anyone inspected this tunnel, but I would suspect that it has been 30-40 years. Therefore, we recently made an inspection and a video documentation of the current condition. Surprisingly, the tunnel and pipe is in very good condition with no imminent problems. Even so, there is only one pipe that conveys flow under the state highway, for which we need to have an alternate plan in the event of an emergency blockage or planned maintenance. ITCTC has recently shared the NYSDOT's five year collection of traffic accident data. None of the intersections in the Village are on the list (top 20). As far as the worst in the Village, Pleasant Grove Road is the highest accidents with 21 crashes (5 years) and the worst intersection is Cayuga Heights Road at Devon Road with 8 crashes (5 years). lt seems noteworthy that neither of the N. Triphammer Road or Pleasant Grove Road intersections on Hanshaw Road were even on the list. The issue of the encroachment of the front stoop roof overhang at 511 Kline Road is subject to the Trustees approval/denial of a license (contract) to allow it to remain. Since we are now also aware of the encroachment of the pre-existing arbor trellis, I assume that it should also be subject to approval/denial of a license. NYSDOT has contacted the Tompkins County Association of Highway Superintendents to propose a shard services agreement to allow local municipalities to borrow NYSDOT equipment during emergency situations. This may come before the Trustees in the future to sign onto such an agreement. GHD Services has generated an asset evaluation of the Village's wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). They have used various valuation methods to come up with an estimated $16,000,000 replacement value. This is a new value that will replace the previously insured value of 58,754,759. Joan and I will need to work with GHD to get the new valuation allocated to the individual buildings as previously used by the insurance appraisal. GHD Services has also done a preliminary review of the engineer's report on industrial pretreatment of system proposed by MACOM. They have written a response to MACOM's engineering consultant to address additional information need to make a final recommendation. All of this will lead to the Village issuing a discharge permit in compliance with US Envi ronmenta I Protection Agency. GHD Services has done preliminary research on the evaluation of the WWTP sludge. Additional information has been requested from Yaw's about sludge production and laboratory analysis. I have made an initial contact with the Town of lthaca Planner and the City of lthaca Traffic Engineer to take a look at possible Safe Route To School that would possibly involve an intermunicipal project. Due to scheduling during the holiday season, I suspect we will be able to meet during the month of January. The following two items require action by the Trustees: With the new Kendal buildings nearing completion and the pending occupancy of these new dwelling spaces, they will need to identify the numbers of the units for purposes of emergency response and mail delivery. I am attaching a list of the new numbers that they are proposing. These numbers will need to be approved by the Trustees before they can officially be recognized by the Post Office and Tompkins County 911. The Village has been a charter member of the Tompkins County Stormwater Coalition since it's creation in about 2003. Each of the member municipalities contribute S1500 per year to fund the operation that includes technical assistance, public education, staff training, annual report support, etc. Over the years, the Coalition (of full time government employees) has hired a third party to provide the administrative services. The current agency that is filling that role is Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District. The contract for their services is for $12,500/year. Since the contract is up for renewal, the Coalition bylaws require that the individual member municipalities sign the agreement. Therefore, I am requesting that the Trustees authorize the Mayor to sign this intermunicipal agreement. I will send the draft contract separately.