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 Present: Bob Farmer; Dave Blankenship; Rick Aylesworth; Gene
Rohlfs; Chuck Ruben; Dave Hepler; Scott Schaffenacker
Absent:
Guests: Bret Aukamp; Curt Fox; Angela Olson; Melanie Blankenship
Mr. Farmer called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
A motion was made by Mr. Rohlfs, seconded by Mr. Aylesworth, to
approve the minutes from the January 5, 2015 meeting as printed.
Motion passed.
The list of claims for payments was reviewed. A motion was made by
Mr. Ruben, seconded by Mr. Blankenship, to approve the list of
claims for payment. Motion passed.
Monthly report on current maintenance and construction:
Mr. Aukamp reported we had several days of snow removal, during the
first half of January. Warmer temperatures during the second half of
January kept the roads clear.
Yesterday’s snowstorm was not as bad as predicted. The plows started
at 7am on Sunday. Mr. Aukamp had his crews out this morning at 5am
to put salt/cinders on any critical areas that were still slick.
 The warmer weather during the second half of January made the roads
very soft. Mr. Aukamp’s operations are pretty limited during these
periods, since the ground is still partially frozen.
Seasonal weight limits were in effect for nearly 2 weeks when the
temperatures fluctuated above and below freezing. Mr. Aukamp had
problems last week with several truckers ignoring the weight limits.
In one instance, Mr. Aukamp had to use the snowplow to remove the
mud from the roadway that was tracked out by the illegal
semi-trucks. The crew is continuing to make repairs to machinery.
Thankfully, all the repairs have been minor this month.
New signs are continuing to be installed as part of the sign upgrade
program.
Mr. Aukamp purchased a used electric jack hammer from Chicago Street
Rentals to drive the sign anchor posts. Mr. Aukamp still has 1/3 of
the county highways to go, replacing the older regulatory and
warning signs. As that task is completed, Mr. Aukamp will begin
upgrading the destination and guide signs.
Construction Report: There are no active construction projects at
this time.
Engineering Report:
Mr. Aukamp reported Kris Quandt attended a class last week, earning
his classification as a level 2 Hot-Mix Asphalt Technician. This
allows the Highway Department to continue to perform construction
inspection on resurfacing projects. Using in-house labor instead of
hiring a consultant to do this inspection is saving the count
considerable amount of money.
We are working with the various townships to set up their sealcoat
plans for the coming year.
The county’s oil letting will be coming up in March or April. Milt
has completed the County’s annual night-time inspections of road
signs. This is the third year that he has conducted these night-time
inspections. By inspecting these signs at night, we can identify
signs that need to be replaced, even though they may appear fine in
daylight.
Old Business:
Bridge Inspections:
Mr. Aukamp reported, as he mentioned last month, the County is
required to provide inspections for all of the drainage structures
that measure 20 feet or more in length. Most of these are done every
2 years, and this year we had 71 that required inspections. Mr.
Aukamp knows of at least 2 more bridges that will be considered
“structurally deficient”, increasing the County’s list from 25 to
27.
 Resurfacing Project on County Highway 9 (Primm Road):
Mr. Aukamp reported he has been working with IDOT to get this
project included on the March 6th IDOT letting. Although Mr. Aukamp
had submitted plans to IDOT in October for their review, they were
not reviewed in a timely fashion. Mr. Aukamp has been pushing to get
this project moving forward so he can meet our intended letting
date. The resolution passed by the County Board last month was
included with the joint agreement for the use of federal funds. Mr.
Aukamp is waiting on IDOT to process the agreement and the plans, so
that it can make the March 6th letting.
New Business:
Resolution to award a bridge replacement project in Orvil Township
on 2200th Street to the lowest responsible bidder. Letting scheduled
February 10th at 10:00am:
Mr. Aukamp reported on a bridge replacement on 2200th Street, about
a mile west of Bartman nursing home. Mr. Aukamp had planned to
replace this bridge in 2014, but the right-of-way acquisition took
some time. At the request of the landowners, Mr. Aukamp decided to
wait until 2015 to build the new bridge. The bridge has timber piles
at the abutments, which are rotting. Letting is scheduled for 10a.m
on February 10th. So far, Mr. Aukamp has 4 contractors who have
requested plans and proposal booklets. A motion was made by Mr.
Hepler, seconded by Mr. Aylesworth, to approve this resolution.
Motion passed.
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Resolution to award 2015 MFT contract for Pipe Culverts to
the lowest responsible bidder. Letting scheduled February 10th
at 10:30am:
Mr. Aukamp has not had a letting for pipe culverts for the past
2 years. Mr. Aukamp usually keeps a small inventory of culverts
on hand, but our pile is getting pretty low. Letting is
scheduled for 10:30am on February 10th. A motion was made by Mr.
Blankenship, seconded by Mr. Ruben, to approve this resolution.
Motion passed.
Report on Revenues and Expenditures for FY 2013-2014 County
Highway Fund:
Mr. Aukamp reported the Expenses were under budget by $75k.
After a retirement early in the year, Mr. Aukamp operated with a
5-man crew for nearly 9 months. He also held off on any
equipment purchases that could be deferred. These savings
allowed Mr. Aukamp to spend more on machinery maintenance, and
still come in under budget. However, Mr. Aukamp doesn’t expect
that he can continue to defer our equipment.
Revenues were above expectations, largely due to transfers from
County Motor Fuel Tax for labor and equipment. Mr. Aukamp said
we plowed a lot of snow last year. Mr. Aukamp presented the
committee members with a bar graph that showed a bit of our
revenue and expense history.
County Motor Fuel
Tax: Mr. Aukamp reported expenses were a bit higher than
expected due to the amount of snow removal last year. However,
Mr. Aukamp reduced our sealcoat program to only 22 miles. This
allowed us to reduce our overall expenses. Revenues for County
MFT were sharply higher last year, even though our standard MFT
allotment showed only a slight increase. For each of the past 5
years, we have received additional funds through the “Illinois
Jobs Now!” capital bill. In addition, state legislature passed
another capital bill, resulting in a doubled allotment in 2014.
Mr. Aukamp does not expect these additional funds to continue.
Mr. Aukamp presented the committee members with a bar graph that
shows some of our revenue and expense history. In years where we
have used MFT for construction, the expenses are much larger
than the annual revenue. The remaining graphs that Mr. Aukamp
presented the committee members showed a 15 year history of
allotments/levies for the various funds that we work with.
 Public Comments:
Angela Olson addressed the committee about Elkhart and Mt.
Pulaski blacktop. Mrs. Olson reported several residents have
concerns about this road. Mrs. Olson called Macon and Piatt
County to see how they treat their roads similar to Elkhart and
Mt. Pulaski blacktop. Mrs.
Olson reported Kelly Elias spoke on this topic last year with
the same concerns. Mrs. Olson feels the county could be sued
after many complaints regarding this road and still nothing is
done about it.
Mr. Aukamp explained how the crews run their snow route. Mr.
Aukamp has one employee who lives in Elkhart. He plows Elkhart
and heads toward Primm Road and then turns around and heads back
to Elkhart. Mr. Aukamp has another employee who starts from
Lincoln and heads down Primm Road and heads toward Mt. Pulaski.
If Mr. Aukamp does straight away; first they plow the road and
then they come back and apply salt to any isolated areas. If Mr.
Aukamp had his crews salt straight a ways they would blow
through their salt supply. Mr. Aukamp explained the County does
not have that much salt this year.
Mr. Ruben feels if Mr. Aukamp treats this one road special then
others will be complaining that the county bent the rules for
that one road but not others.
Mrs. Olson understood what Mr. Ruben was saying but wanted to
know how you consider a road unsafe. Mr. Farmer reported we
should leave it up to the Highway Engineer to do what’s best for
the road.
A motion was made by Mr. Ruben, seconded by Mr. Rohlfs, to
adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 8:30 pm.
[Copied from Logan County website]
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