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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPW-2007-01-03BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS PROCEEDINGS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Committee of the Whole Meeting 4:45 p.m. January 3, 2007 PRESENT: Mayor Peterson Commissioners (6) - Jenkins, Dotson, Chapman, Schlather, Tripp, Wykstra OTHERS PRESENT: City Attorney - Hoffman Superintendent of Public Works - Gray Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities - Ferrel Assistant Superintendent of Water and Sewer – Whitney Common Council Liaison – Coles Executive Assistant – Grunder EXCUSED: DAC Liaison – Roberts Welcome New Board of Public Works Commissioner: Mayor Peterson introduced the newest member of the Board of Public Works, Jill Tripp, who had served previously on the Board during the 1990’s. Meeting Schedule: Mayor Peterson explained that Wednesdays are a difficult day to meet because of the Common Council and standing committee meetings schedule. Currently she has back to back meetings and the Clerk’s office has difficulty setting up for the next meeting. She asked Board members to check their schedules to determine if there is another day of the week that the Board could meet. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee – Update: Mayor Peterson reported that she has set up a committee of eight community members, one Board of Public Works representative, one Common Council representative, and a meeting facilitator. Mike Hall has agreed to be the facilitator. Commissioner Jenkins has agreed to serve from the Board, and she is double-checking with Alderperson Townsend to see if he would be willing to serve as the Common Council representative. The following community members have agreed to serve on the committee: Gino Bush, Pete Meyers, Kathleen Passety, Ed Hart, Mary Ellen Sprague, Nancy Ramage, and Jevon Garrett. She is waiting to hear back from one of the students from the Circle of Recovery regarding their interest in serving. Either the Mayor’s office or the Superintendent’s office will be working to set up the first meeting. Commissioner Schlather commended Mayor Peterson for her work in organizing the committee and her selection of members. He stated he is hopeful that a solution can be reached quickly and that it will be well received and accepted in the community. South Aurora Street Bridge: Superintendent Gray reported that bids were received for reconstruction of the South Aurora Street Bridge on December 11, 2006. The construction bids ranged from $1.53 to $2.23 million while the pre-bid budget for the bid was $1.28 million. The pre-bid project estimate of $1.74 million has been increased to $1.99 million to reflect the actual bids and $150,000 of the $250,000 increase is in two bid items: Maintenance and protection of traffic, $75,000 Remove and replace concrete, Class A, $75,000 He explained that the Board needs to adopt the pre-bid budget to get permission from NYSDOT to bid, and then it has to adopt the post-bid budget in order to get permission to sign contracts. The State has already agreed to the budget adjustment and their cost increase. The net impact on the City is to increase the local share from $87,000 to $100,000. Common Council will consider this increase at tonight’s meeting and if it passes it will be placed on the Board’s agenda for authorization for the bids at next week’s meeting. 2 January 3, 2007 Commissioner Schlather stated that he was glad to see that Economy Paving has a competitive bid for this project because they are the closest to home and use local labor which is important to our local economy. DPW Quarterly Report – Presented to the Planning, Economic Development, and Environmental Quality Committee on November 18, 2006 Mayor Peterson explained that each department of the City has been assigned to report to a standing committee of Common Council and is expected to give a quarterly report to the committee. This helps Common Council members stay up-to-date on what various departments are doing throughout the year so they can make informed choices during budget deliberations. Superintendent Gray stated that the Board of Public Works tends to look at five-year plans, 1-year budgets, and last week’s activities. The report included information on the following items: Turner Place Project – started as a simple strip of existing surface and re-pave. Project changed to removing the excessive cross slope on the lower section by building a new retaining wall to pick up the west side elevation. New curbing for most of the west side and paved with binder and top. Cascadilla Avenue – concrete crew replaced wall section between Sears and Tioga Streets, replaced wall cap section, installed new handrails. Street patching – spent two weeks patching potholes on various streets – placed 10 to 30 tons per day which has made a dramatic reduction in the number of calls received by the Streets & Facilities office. Fall tree planting started November 7. Crew traveled to nursery near Buffalo to pick up trees. City Forester named President of the National Association of Municipal Arborists for 2007. Parking – new equipment installed. Delays in operation between parking equipment software and City’s network system. Contractor working constantly to resolve problems. Once operational, the plan is to extend operation hours for a few weeks to educate the public on pay station use when attendants are not on duty. City Court – coordinating the contract efforts to repair damage caused by water damage of October 19. Drywall, paint, wallpaper, carpet, ceiling tiles, heat/air conditioning ducts, fire alarm system, telephone system, HVAC duct cleaning, final cleaning for occupancy. Drywall and painting are complete, new carpet installed and the facility was re-opened in early December. Administration – Training by the City Clerk and Fire Department staff continues on the National Incident Management System & Incident Command System. 2007 Objective – re-establish work program based on street and pavement conditions, need several years of “routine” maintenance to improve pavements from fair to good condition, concept supported in 2007 budget. Sewer Collection – 24” trunk sewer construction continues on South Hill sewer on Cascadilla Avenue and south on Aurora Street, depth of 12’ to 18’, 2,200 feet plus approximately 500 feet south from the intersection of Aurora and Hudson Streets. Sewer Service – routine cleaning and TV inspection – locate and diagnose problems, clear blockage, anticipate problems. Park Road sanitary sewer, pump station re-build. Giles Street sanitary sewer pump station, embankment stabilization. 3 January 3, 2007 Water Filter Plant and Watershed – silt dam area restoration, revegetation, sedimentation groin (this word is used as a reference to a “jetty”) installed, stabilized stone surface added to roads, approximately 1,500 cy sediment removed upstream of installed groin in Six Mile Creek area. Work done in town of Caroline along Six Mile Creek using grants that were through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Soil/Water Conservation Service. Mayor Peterson asked staff if there were ever grants that came to cover clean up of the area of the Cayuga Lake at Stewart Park which falls under the City but which is really inter-municipal silt. Staff reported that there are a lot of erosion type grants, but not for sedimentation and deposition. Water Distribution – Water main leaks – 17 repairs Johnson Controls – program to replace and test 150 meter done. Waste Water Treatment Plant – cleaned primary digester – bid and award of contract Administration – storm water program – continue development for 2008 deadline, participate with several municipalities Goals for 2007 – replace several important pieces of equipment (bull dozer and sewer vacuum truck), build cold storage building to protect material, improve appearance and reduce theft, maintain water storage tanks by repainting, re-loop water main in City’s southwest corner, supported by 2007 budget. GIS and GPS Support – City-wide GIS – current projects with Fire Department for watershed access and with Planning for development of lots Engineering – prepare projects for five year program through the Ithaca/Tompkins Transportation Council for federal and state dollars that totals $19 million spread out over the next five to seven years: $7 million in bridges, $9 million in roads, $2 million in traffic signals, and $1 million specifically dedicated to bicycle and pedestrian issues. Commissioner Wykstra arrived at 5:45 p.m. Commissioner Schlather asked if specific roads and bridges could be named in the above proposal for funding. Superintendent Gray explained that the Lake Street bridge needs a deck, Cayuga Street bridge at Six Mile Creek needs to have its deck redone, the bridge on Cecile Malone Drive needs not only a deck, but it needs to be widened for pedestrian and bicycle accommodations. The road projects are outer East State Street, Old Elmira Road, University Avenue from Linn Street up to the intersection of Lake Street. Discussion followed on the floor regarding the repair work needed in the Dryden Road garage that will take place when school lets out in May to be completed before students return in August. Cornell has offered the City use of the area near Williams Street/Corner of Stewart Avenue for an alternative parking space. Discussion also followed on the floor regarding the upcoming work on the 100 block of North Aurora Street and how long the street would have to be closed. The Water and Sewer department will be replacing all the lead and galvanized pipes in the street starting in March and this work. Further discussion followed on the floor regarding notifying merchants in both Collegetown and the 100 block of North Aurora Street about the upcoming work that will affect them and their customers for the duration of the construction projects. 4 January 3, 2007 Parking Tickets and Odd/Even Parking Superintendent Gray reported that the Board started a discussion about parking tickets and odd/even rules for parking. The City has files that date back to the 1950’s on why the City adopted the rules and other discussion materials. He has asked City Chamberlain Parsons to provide what information is readily available regarding the definitions of various parking requirements and the number of tickets issued in the past few years to the Board for review and follow-up discussion. Mayor Peterson explained that she had received numerous requests for signage to be changed on some streets to “24 Hour Parking” which would remove the odd/even requirements. She stated that she would like to create a sub-committee to review this topic and report back to the full Board with recommendations. Mayor Peterson left the meeting and Commissioner Dotson assumed the position of Chair for the meeting. Assistant Superintendent for Streets and Facilities Ferrel explained that last winter was relatively mild and this winter so far has not been bad. This means that they haven’t had to plow during the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. time period and people think that odd/even parking is not really needed. That is not the case because other winters could have much more snow which would necessitate plowing during that early morning time period. City Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Gray reported that a joint meeting of the Board of Public Works and Common Council has been set January 11, 2007, 6:00 p.m. Rick Gell, from O’Brien & Gere Engineers, has been working with the City for over ten years on the questions surrounding the City’s Water Supply and will be present for a question and answer session.. The first objective will be to develop a common understanding of the problem and the alternative solutions. The second objective will be to develop a common understanding of how the selection process will proceed, leading to resolution of the question(s) concerning the City’s water supply. Commissioner Schlather asked the Board to think about his memo addressed to the City Attorney regarding the question of who has the authority to make the initial decision. He thinks that question needs to be clarified as quickly as possible and that all Board members are comfortable with that particular position. He set forth a preliminary analysis and has asked the City Attorney to render his opinion with respect to that. He stated that this is a critical issue and he does not wish to have it sidetrack the underlying matter which is of huge significance and needs to be decided soon. He encouraged the Board to have a frank discussion next Wednesday on these issues. He asked City Attorney Hoffman if he might be able to share his thoughts with the Board before next Wednesday? City Attorney Hoffman stated that he would try, but there are other things on the docket right now. He stated that the Mayor is also interested in an analysis of this. He doesn’t think there is going to be an absolute black and white answer. He further stated that he looked at the language that Commissioner Schlather quotes in his memo and he has a slightly different interpretation of it. He explained that the intent that is being referenced was written approximately 90 years ago when the Board of Public Works was created. He doesn’t know if that is the original charter language or if it’s been changed over time. He stated that Common Council members have expressed the priority of starting the environmental review quickly. He further noted that he agrees with the latter part of Commissioner Schlather’s statement about the time sensitivity of this issue. The environmental review is not a simple process so the sooner it gets started the better. That will require the designation of a lead agency so there is a choice that has to be made. Discussion followed on the floor about the environmental review process, designation of lead agency, costs for the various options and the legal considerations that the Board needs to keep in mind during the decision making process. 5 January 3, 2007 Commissioner Dotson stated that at the last meeting of the Board there was not enough time for departmental reports from Asst. Supts. Ferrel & Whitney. She requested that the Board allow enough time at a future meeting for those reports to be given. ADJOURNMENT On a motion the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Sarah L. Myers Carolyn K. Peterson Information Management Specialist Mayor