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 Present: Bob Farmer; Rick Aylesworth; David Blankenship; Gene
Rohlfs; Chuck Ruben; Dave Hepler
Absent:
Guests: Bret Aukamp; Curt Fox
Mr. Farmer called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
A motion was made by Mr. Ruben, seconded by Mr. Aylesworth, to
approve the minutes from the July 13, 2015 meeting. Motion passed.
The list of claims for payments was reviewed. A motion was made by
Mr. Aylesworth, seconded by Mr. Hepler, to approve the list of
claims for payment. Motion passed.
Monthly report on current maintenance and construction:
Maintenance Report: The County’s sealcoat program finally got
going in July after the wet weather finally quit. They have finished
5 townships, 4 villages, and several County roads so far. They are
shut down this week, which is typical for the first week of August.
Next week, they will be working on the Sheridan, Corwin and West
Lincoln townships. Summer flooding caused some problems when water
crossed the road. They do their best to be responsive and put out
barricades when they are notified. An entire process is in place to
notify the Highway Department of problem areas. There are several
locations around the County where the road base has been repaired
and they are now re-working the road surface. These areas are
currently gravel and will be re-graded before sealcoating. An intern
has been updating sign inventory. Signs were originally collected in
2007 and there have been many changes. New inventory helps manage
the thousands of signs Highway owns. It is also useful for monthly
sign inspections and the annual night-time sign inspections.
Construction Report: The Orvil township bridge project on
2200th Street is expected to start up this week.
Engineering Report: They are still finding some damage caused
by flooding and working on riprap plans for several township
bridges. They have been working with East Lincoln township to design
a culvert to replace the one that washed out on South Beason road.
There are several options and are discussion the best solution. This
could come before the Board as a County Aid request.
Engineers for Meridien Wind Farm are beginning preliminary design
work for the project. The LIDAR data should save them some time and
money if they are able to incorporate the data into their design
software. The state budget is still at a standstill. It is likely
MFT allotments will stop in the next month since the state does not
have authority to distribute the funds. The Surface Transportation
Program seems to be gaining some momentum. The House passed a 3
month extension of the existing program. We are hoping for a bill
that would include some increases to local highways and would keep
pace with increasing construction costs.
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Old Business:
1) High Speed Rail Crossings: Bret is continuing to work
with various consultants on the High Speed Rail project. Several
of the crossings in the south half of the county will have
extensive roadway improvements. He is still reviewing plans for
most of these crossings and waiting for IDOT to determine
certain design criteria. The only County Highway crossing is in
Broadwell. That crossing does include some road improvements.
Nearly all of the crossings in the north half of the county will
receive only minimal improvements. This is because of the
revised Scope of Work that was discussed several months ago.
2) Improvements to CH 3 (San Jose Road) and CH 16 (Delavan Road):
The oil letting was held in July and awarded to Illinois Road
Contractors. They will be working with the contractor and with Mason
County on this project. Hopefully, they will get started this month.
3) Repairs to County Highway 6 (Atlanta-Beason): The County
crew worked with West Lincoln township last week to recycle a
portion of this road. About 7/10ths of a mile is being repaired. The
crew began placing rock on the roadway today, and that effort will
continue for the next two days. The recycler will then be used again
to mix the underlying sealcoat with the new rock. In all four inches
of thickness will be added to the road, which amounts to about 2,000
tons. Once the surface is mixed, it will be graded and compacted.
New Business:
1) Budget Worksheets: In order to balance the budget, the
infrastructure fund levies are being reduced. This has been
happening for quite a few years, and they are seeing a rapid decline
in the condition of bridges and roads. Bret indicated he will manage
the County’s road system with the resources he is given.
2) Road Conditions and Funding: This subject was already
covered during the budget discussion.
3) Equipment Purchases: Bret is still searching for a
snowplow/dump truck. The state bid has not been awarded yet. Once he
finds the right truck, we may need to act quickly so that they will
be ready for the first snowfall.
4) Resolution to award a bridge replacement project in Mt.
Pulaski Township on 050th Street to the lowest responsible bidder.
Letting scheduled for August 11th at 10:00 am: A motion was made
by Mr. Blankenship, seconded by Mr. Rohlfs, to approve. Motion
passed.
A motion was made by Mr. Aylesworth seconded by Mr. Ruben, to
adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 8:07 p.m.
[Copied from Logan County website] |
