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 Present: Bob Farmer; Rick Aylesworth; David Blankenship; Gene
Rohlfs; Scott Schaffenacker; Chuck Ruben
Absent: Dave Hepler
Guests: Bret Aukamp; Curt Fox
Mr. Farmer called the meeting to order at 7:37pm.
A motion was made by Mr. Aylesworth, seconded by Mr. Ruben, to
approve the minutes from the March 2, 2015 meeting as printed.
Motion passed.
The list of claims for payments was reviewed. A motion was made by
Mr. Aylesworth, seconded by Mr. Blankenship, to approve the list of
claims for payment. Motion passed.
Monthly report on current maintenance and construction:
Mr. Aukamp reported March was a warmer month with no snow events
since the last Road & Bridge meeting. The frost took some time to
thaw, and they are now able to haul again on the roads. The crew has
been doing a lot of patching, both with white rock and with patch
mix. If the potholes are stable, then the crew uses patch mix. But,
if the area is still soft and the pothole is continuing to grow, the
crew will use white rock until the conditions improve.
The crew began stockpiling rock for summer sealcoat. They have a few
hundred ton piled west of Atlanta and they have a smaller pile
started near San Jose.
 The crew continued to replace signs as part of our upgrade program.
They now have all of the regulatory and warning signs upgraded to
the minimum levels of reflectivity. Some of the guide signs have
also been replaced, and they will continue with that effort later on
in the year.
The improved weather conditions allowed them to resume culvert
repair projects east of Atlanta.
Last month, Mr. Aukamp reported that the oldest truck sustained
damage when the fan blade destroyed the radiator. Mr. Aukamp has
salvaged all the remaining pieces off the truck and has parked it in
stockpile area, awaiting the next surplus auction. Since then,
another truck at the Highway Department had to be towed to Decatur
for a rebuilt transmission.
Mr. Aukamp is hoping to purchase a new snowplow truck this year.
Aside from the batwing mower last year, he hasn’t purchased any
equipment since 2012.
Construction Report:
There are no active construction projects at this time.
Engineering Report:
Mr. Aukamp reported in most years, April is the time when he
schedules a letting for sealcoat oils. He decided to wait until May
for this year’s oil letting. The bituminous price index is on a
downward trend right now, and he is hoping that he can get lower
bids if he waits another month. The letting is scheduled for May
12th.
Mr. Aukamp was able to arrange for a free energy audit of the
Highway Department building. A consulting firm toured the building
in March. Mr. Aukamp should receive a report in the next few weeks
with their recommendations for energy savings. Mr. Aukamp hopes the
report with help him prioritize some of the maintenance projects
that need to be done at the building.
Old Business:
Bridge Inspections:
Mr. Aukamp presented the committee with pictures of bridges in the
County. Mr. Aukamp showed the committee a picture of bridges/culvert
conditions in 2015.Mr. Aukamp reported 29 bridges are considered
“structurally deficient”, up from 25 last year. Mr. Aukamp reported
39 structures which are unable to handle anything over the legal
axle weight. That is nearly 20% of the bridges that are legal load
only, and 13% that are structurally deficient. Mr. Aukamp is
planning 1 or 2 replacements per year for the foreseeable future.
Mr. Aukamp reported the County needs to find a way to do even more
in order to keep a pace with the number of bridges becoming
structurally deficient.
Resurfacing Project on Primm Road:
Mr. Aukamp reported IDOT held their letting on March 6th and there
were 2 bidders for our resurfacing project. The low bid was $787,620
submitted by Illinois Valley Paving. This was less than the
engineer’s estimate of $848k. Mr. Aukamp would expect that IDOT will
award the bid, but he hasn’t received confirmation of that.
High Speed Rail Crossings:
Mr. Aukamp typed a letter to Milord Company regarding the High Speed
Rail Project. Mr. Aukamp passed out the letter to the board members.
Mr. Aukamp received permit requests from Milord for them on four of
these local road crossings in the southern part of the county. Mr.
Aukamp refused to sign any of the four permits. Mr. Aukamp listed
the reasons in his response letter that he handed out to the
committee to read.
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Ameren Transmission Line Project:
Mr. Aukamp reported last month, the County Board approved a road
use agreement with Ameren for their transmission line upgrade
project. They have begun working on this project. Mr. Aukamp is
monitoring roads for any damages that could occur during the
project.
A second project is planned for the summer and fall months where
the same transmission line will be upgraded from the Fogarty
substation to the west. This work will involve another road
agreement that Mr. Aukamp will most likely bring before the
committee in May. New Business:
Road Use agreements:
Mr. Aukamp is working on a few other road use agreements. Mr. Aukamp
reported there has been a problem with attorney fees. Some are okay
with paying the fee and others think the county should pay the fee.
Improvements to CH 3 (San Jose Road) and CH 16 (Delavan Road):
Mr. Aukamp reported he is making progress with this project. He
hopes to have something built by this summer. Mr. Aukamp will have
more information next month.
Impacts of the recent HB 318 (fund sweeps):
Mr. Aukamp reported Springfield found a way to find some money to
balance the budget. $50 million will be transferred into the Motor
Fuel Tax Fund. This was an unpredicted move that the designated user
fee for the maintenance of our roads could be transferred into
general revenue.
Seasonal Weight Limits:
Mr. Aukamp showed pictures of some county roads that have damage
to them that could have been caused by people not following the
seasonal weight limits.
Mr. Aukamp reported this spring has been particularly hard on roads
that do not have an adequate rock base or adequate drainage. The
best way to minimize the damage at this time of year is to restrict
the weights on heavy trucks. Logan County enacted the seasonal
weight restrictions in 1959.
Mr. Aukamp now has a website calendar to provide permitting status.
Mr. Aukamp recently revised the weight limits for 5-axle semi-trucks
to 16 ton, which allowed those trucks to haul empty during the
seasonal weight restrictions. There is still one component of the
system that is missing, enforcement. Mr. Aukamp has been
coordinating efforts with the Sheriff’s office. Usually Mr. Aukamp
will receive a complaint and forward it on to Dispatch or the Chief
Deputy. If a deputy is available, they might make a site visit to
provide a verbal warning. Because no tickets are being issued, and
because the threat of being caught is extremely low, there are many
truckers in the hauling community who pay absolutely no attention to
the weight restrictions. As an example, on March 10th a large
farming outfit was hauling grain out of a local farmstead. Mr.
Aukamp accompanied a deputy and they were successful at convincing
them to shut down that day. The next week, semi-trucks were hauling
rock into that farmstead. On March 27th, semi-trucks were hauling
grain out of the same farmstead. When Mr. Aukamp called Dispatch, he
was told that there was only one deputy on duty and that he was
occupied with other issues. The state police were also unable to
respond. Mr. Aukamp reported without any enforcement, the roads will
continue to be damaged. Mr. Aukamp asked the committee for
suggestions on how to handle this issue.
A motion was made by Mr. Blankenship, seconded by Mr. Schaffenacker,
to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 8:44pm.
[Copied from Logan County website]
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