Highway Committee

July 1, 2004

8:30 a.m.

DRAFT Minutes

Present were: Paul Allen, Chairman; John Steger, Vice Chairman; Larry Cornell; Merwin Armstrong, Scott Elston; Steve Dafoe; Dan Tagliente

Others present: Ann Homer; Don Chambers; Joe Eggleston; Bob Buerkle, Scott Schrader, Eric Mulvihill, Lisa Lissberger, Dave Jones

Chairman Allen called the meeting to order at 8: 30 a.m.

Mr. Cornell moved the adoption of the minutes of the June 3 and June 18, 2004, meeting; seconded by Mr. Elston All members voting in favor; none opposed; minutes approved.

2. Authorize Contract, Highway Department/Town of Cincinnatus(Snow and Ice – County Roads)

3. Authorize Contract, Highway Department/Town of Homer (Snow and Ice – County Roads)

5. Award Construction Contract, Highway Department (McGraw-Marathon Bridge) – Mr. Allen moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Cornell. Mr. Schrader indicated that we received Marchiselli funding on this; our cost is 5%. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted.

7. Award Contract, Highway Department/Recycling (Recycling Building) – Mr. Cornell moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Tagliente. Mr. Allen indicated this will be bid in July and should be ready to have bids accepted at Session on July 29, 2004. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted.

8. Award Contract, Highway Department/Recycling (Recycling Equipment) – Mr. Cornell moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Tagliente. Mr. Chambers indicated that this is planned to be bid so that the bid can be acted on at the Session on July 29, 2004. Mr. Chambers indicated that there will be other contracts following, but we are right now getting the building and the equipment under control due to lead time. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted.

9. Transfer Property to Cortland IDA/BDC, Highway Department/Recycling – Mr. Chambers indicated that the railroad tracks are currently on Cortland County property. The railroad wants to own the property on which the tracks lie. This resolution will allow a property "swap" with Cortland BDC/IDA to allow the railroad to eventually own this property. Mr. Chambers indicated that the way this is set up, the railroad will cross our property regardless of ownership. There was concern whether the railroad would block access and egress from the Recycling Center. Mr. Eggleston indicated that he did not believe this would be an issue. Mr. Allen asked Mr. Chambers if he believes this will create a problem with the design of the Recycling Center and will affect our completion date. Mr. Chambers indicated that it could. And there will also be additional costs and issues surrounding relocation of the utility lines. Mr. Schrader indicated that in his conversation with Chairman Steve, the railroad will be sleeving the sewer line and also place an additional sleeve before the railroad is laid down so that we can, in the future, go under the railroad without boring. Mr. Schrader believes this agreement needs to be built in to the lease between IDA/BDC and the lease. Mr. Schrader indicated that the IDA needs to live up to its agreement to hold the County harmless in this and that the railroad will indeed do this sleeving. Mr. Elston asked what assurances we have that the IDA/BDC is going to execute those agreements in our best interest. Mr. Schrader indicated that the IDA/BDC is responsible financially and through its board appointments to the County so he believes there will not be an issue. Mr. Elston indicated that he is very uncomfortable with this at this time. There are not enough details. Mr. Allen indicated that he would like to see this move forward so we can still meet our deadline dates. Mr. Allen moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Armstrong. All members voting in favor, except Mr. Elston voting opposed; motion adopted.

10. Authorize Agreement/Engineering, Highway Department/Airport (Update Airport Master Plan) – Mr. Tagliente moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Cornell asked where the $3,600 will be coming from. Mr. Eggleston will be transferring money from the airport fuel account to cover this. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted.

11. Authorize Fuel System Contract, Highway Department – Mr. Dafoe moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Tagliente. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted.

1. Daisy Hollow Road – This was an area of concern identified on the June 18, 2004, tour. Mr. Elston indicated that there is an area of this road that he feels needs at least a surface treatment to make the road smoother. Mr. Eggleston indicated that he received a letter from Mr. Elston putting him on notice of concern with the road. Mr. Eggleston has provided a response to the legislature on this. He is asking for this to be on the committee agenda because the letter from Mr. Elston asked for a long-term safety and engineering plan. Mr. Eggleston is asking if the committee wants the commitment of the long-term funding and staff time to do this study/plan. Mr. Allen asked where this is in relation to the long-term replacement plan. Mr. Schrader indicated that he is looking at this as part of the five-year capital plan and it would be released with the tentative budget in October. Mr. Allen asked how roads were being prioritized in his five-year plan. Mr. Schrader indicated he could not respond to that until he has all the capital requests from all of the departments and looks at the funding stream. Mr. Elston believes either the letter should be entered in to the minutes or read into the minutes. Mr. Eggleston indicated that his concern is not the letter, but the requests contained in the letter – should he respond. Mr. Elston indicated that this road is certainly one of the worst in the county; he believes the short-term plan at this point is as important as the long-term plan. He believes there should be some surface treatment at this time. And, you could adopt what is done on the Hoxie Gorge Road, which is one-way with stop sign. Also, he is concerned about the speed on the road. Perhaps a sign with flashing lights and 25 mph should be done. Mr. Steger feels this road is not nearly as bad as the Cold Brook Road, and the speed limit on the Cold Brook Road is 55 mph. He feels this road is not nearly as bad as other roads that need repair. We have to set a priority list. The Highway Department has been working on a repair/replacement plan. Mr. Eggleston asked if the committee wants him to develop a plan and see how much it is going to cost to fix Daisy Hollow. This would involve updating the plan. This would be a time commitment of three to five weeks most likely. Mr. Allen directed Mr. Eggleston to see if there is some money available from Soil & Water to repair. Mr. Elston asked if Mr. Eggleston believes the road is signed properly for the condition. Mr. Eggleston indicated that he feels it is. Mr. Elston then queried how Mr. Eggleston feels about lane closure. Mr. Eggleston indicated that he does not like lane closure. Mr. Allen asked Mr. Eggleston to talk to Soil & Water and asked if they plan on doing patch work out there. Mr. Eggleston indicated there would be patch work done at some time this summer as time allows.

 

2. Purchase of Equipment – Mr. Allen indicated that there is equipment at the landfill (compactor that has 50% tread wear left and compactor with 0% tread wear left). Mr. Chambers indicated that the newer compactor is 1996. Both pieces of equipment have in excess of 11,000 hours, which is the real issue – not the age. The older machine is a 1990. They both have problems with spikes on wheels so it is not working properly. The older machine has 0 life left on the wheels. It is, therefore, not effective as a compacting piece of equipment at this time. The other machine had the wheels rebuilt in 2001 and we are down to 50%. It costs $30,000 to put new spikes on wheels. Mr. Chambers suggests trading in the oldest piece of equipment on a new piece of equipment and them using the 1996 as a spare so we don’t have to invest $30,000 on an older piece of equipment. Mr. Chambers indicated that with the trade in, a new compactor is about $270,000. Mr. Chambers indicated we have just over $300,000 in the reserve equipment account. Mr. Cornell indicated that a portion of the tipping fee used to go in to the equipment reserve account. That has been discontinued and he believes we should look at doing that once again. Mr. Chambers would propose getting a truck with a plow and dump body to replace the 1990 unit that is there now. The truck has done nothing but off road work since 1990. It is not an over the road truck; it has plowed and sanded. The body is rough, the running gear is worn out – the transfer case is currently out. It has been a good truck and has now outlived its usefulness. The cost of the new truck would be approximately $45,000 off state bid. Mr. Chambers indicated that the truck couldn’t be procured until next year as build up dates have expired. Mr. Tagliente moved that we trade the old compactor (1990), keeping the 1996 compactor as a spare, for a cost of about $270,000 and that we go out to bid on the compactor and that we also look at getting the dump/plow truck off state bid in 2004. Mr. Armstrong seconded the motion. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted. Mr. Cornell moved that Mr. Chambers develop some figures to have $1.00 or $2.00 per ton of the tipping fee go into the reserve account. Seconded by Mr. Tagliente. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion adopted.

 

3. Bid MH-1 – This is a bid for the main hangar and was discussed under resolutions. MH-3 will be next, which is the newest of the hangars. MH-2 will be the final hangar to be bid. MH-3 will be discussed in August and hopefully MH-2 will be discussed in September.

 

4. Direction for future concessions at Dwyer Park – Mr. Allen indicated that Cindy’s is done after this year. We have discussed this several times. Should there be concessions inside the building or only outside the building. If we are looking at inside the building, we should think about going to bid soon. Mr. Eggleston reminded the committee that they indicated to him earlier he should start looking for vendors. Mr. Eggleston has a proposal from Amanda Slack which would require not using the stoves, etc. to create a fire hazard. She has some other proposals as well. Mr. Eggleston would like to sit and talk to someone about what they would like to see in the future as far as concessions at the park. Groups book well in advance and they need to know in September/October what the concessions will be. We should plan to go to bid in September. We got some time, but we need to get moving. Mr. Allen indicated that someone from the CRT board should be involved in the discussion; he believes he should be part of the discussion as well as Mr. Schrader. Mr. Eggleston indicated that CRT has their own concession and they don’t pay the County to do that. This contract is for someone who pays the County for the privilege of selling concessions. Mr. Dafoe believes we should solicit bids to keep the downstairs concession open. Mr. Eggleston indicated that he has individuals interested in having concessions there. He believes we should advertise in August, so a decision can be made in September. This will have a budget impact. Mr. Eggleston will check what we did when Cindy’s became the concessionaire. Mr. Schrader indicated we need to develop a basic spec for a specific period of time and let the vendors come back with what they propose and the fee structure. The County would dictate that there would be no open flame/fryer/flame issues in the main Pavilion. If someone wants to bring in something to cook that doesn’t violate the above that would be fine. Mr. Tagliente suggested that Mr. Schrader and whomever in Safety develop the specs. Mr. Schrader will get with Mr. Eggleston to develop the specs.

 

5. South Main Street Engineering Selection – Mr. Allen indicated the selection process should be completed in August. Mr. Eggleston indicated these are the Federal Aid projects. This is the construction inspection and construction administration of the project. They plan to go through the selection process to determine who will carry out the above functions. Mr. Schrader will be working with Mr. Eggleston, Mr. Buerkle, and Mr. Chambers. Committee indicated this was fine.

 

6. Mr. Tagliente suggested that the Highway Department look into building a facility at the landfill that would treat the leachaid directly at the site instead of having to truck it. He would like them to look in to State and Federal funding for the project. He doesn’t believe it would cost that much to build a biological facility. Mr. Allen indicated that he would also like to see the Department look in to the possibility/feasibility of building the pipeline. Mr. Tagliente believes there should be state and federal funding to build such a facility. Mr. Cornell also believes we should look at septage and Mr. Dafoe believes we should look at dairy waste. Mr. Chambers clarified that the committee is looking for a report on a facility to treat leachade, septage, and dairy waste. He will look in to this issue. Mr. Chambers indicated that we don’t have money budgeted for this type of professional services. Mr. Tagliente indicated that with the pipeline, we will most likely incur costs for upkeep of equipment. Mr. Eggleston clarified that they will look into a facility at the landfill and will look for federal and state funding. Mr. Chambers will check with B & L to see how long it will take to do this and how much it will cost and will report at the next committee meeting.

7. Mr. Schrader raised the issue of granting credit to haulers. He suggests that if the haulers have a clean credit record, the Highway Department be authorized to issue credit. If there is a question on credit, the Department will bring it to the Committee. All members agreed.

Meeting adjourned at 9:48 a.m.

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