Rock Island County Public Works Committee met February 12.
Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:
1) Call to order and roll call
Committee members present: Chair Larry Burns, Jeff Deppe, Edna Sowards, Ed Langdon, Bob Westpfahl, Ginny Shelton
Committee members absent: Richard Morthland, Robert Reagan
Others present: Mike Steffen, Chuck Layer, John Massa, Kenneth Maranda, Pat Koranda, Bill Long, Chuck Frenell, Chuck Ellis, Kurt Davis, Greg Thorpe
2) Public Comments
Mr. Chuck Ellis: “My name is Charles Ellis. I’m an employee at the Rock Island County Highway Department. I’m just here to talk about a position that is being opened up for the Assistant Foreman. Like I said last time, I am not here to tell the County whether or not to hire a foreman but we were under the impression that a third management for our department wasn’t going to be filled and that way we didn’t argue the two year pay freeze with that. I think that someone in our department is capable of being a lead worker for that. Part of our proposal was to ask for a full time lead worker. Mr. Ross said at the table that they were going to hire one but we would start utilizing lead workers more. That is all I am here to say with that and let the County at least to hear our thing with what we were under the impression of what was going on.”
Mr. Chuck Frenell: “My name is Chuck Frenell, president of Teamsters Local 371 who of course represents the Highway Maintainers. I’m not going to go over a whole lot of things that Chuck just touched on is that during contract negotiations we understood that the County was short on funds and needed to line up with what the other unions had done with the other and in lieu of that, they said that they weren’t going to fill the position at the time and utilize lead persons which was already in the contract. I understand that just because it was budgeted, doesn’t mean that you have to fill the position. That is our position that shouldn’t be filled and should utilize the lead person in the existing contract. Thank you for your time.”
Chair Larry Burns thanked the public comment speakers for bringing their concerns to the committee’s attention.
3) Approval of the minutes from the January 8, 2018 meeting
Motion to approve: Ed Langdon
2nd: Ginny Shelton
Voice vote
Motion carried
4) Reports to the Committee
Zoning-
Mr. Thorpe gave his monthly Zoning and Building report. They had a total of 53 receipts for a net revenue of $31,715. Arrowhead Ranch had a big project and that was a huge chunk for us last month. There were five new residences, four in Bowling and one in Hampton. Mr. Thorpe added that they got their preliminary approval back for the community rating system, CRS, the flood insurance discount that people get. Residents in unincorporated Rock Island County get a 15% discount on their flood insurance rates.
Motion to approve: Jeff Deppe
2nd: Edna Sowards
Voice vote
Motion carried
Public Works-
Mr. Massa gave his monthly Public Works report. The maintenance department has been snow plowing the last few weeks. When they do have some decent weather they have done some hole patching or brush cutting. The engineering department has been working on trying to get some plans for Knoxville Road this year, getting some ready for the guardrail upgrade. They are also working on a general maintenance project depending on how the funding goes for Knoxville Road. With federal funding we might be able to do another project up in Rapid City, it’s our County Highway 6.
Mr. Langdon commented on the great job the maintenance department has been doing on clearing the roads.
Motion to approve: Ed Langdon
2nd: Ginny Shelton
Voice vote
Motion carried
GIS-
Mr. Thorpe gave the monthly GIS report in Mr. Boudi’s absence. Revenue for the month was $18,855. His goal is $20,000 a month so he is just a little bit under. He’s working a lot on census stuff. This time of year they are calling him and lining up maps and Casey is doing a ton of parcel splits.
Motion to approve: Edna Sowards
2nd: Ed Langdon
Voice vote
Motion carried
Maintenance-
Mr. Davis mentioned that the elevator is repaired now. The front elevator was down about a week ago. We had a coil burn up so it smoked up the room, the fire department was dispatched, we evacuated the building, KONE came in and they repaired the coil but there was another part that they had to fabricate and apparently they fixed it Friday and we are operational.
5) Consider ZBA cases
a. RZ-18-102 – NOG, LLC, Ag-1 to SE-1, Coe Township
Mr. Thorpe explained that this is a rezoning from Ag-1 to SE-1. There were no objectors present and the board’s recommendation was to grant.
b. SU-18-202 – Mark Kruckenberg Revocable Trust, Rural Residential Building Lot, Coe Township
Mr. Thorpe explained that this is a special use permit for a rural residential building lot for approximately 2 acres. There were no objectors present and the board’s recommendation was to grant.
c. RZ-18-103 – James and Wanda Kerner Trust, Ag-1 to SE-1, Coe Township
Mr. Thorpe explained that this was to split 5 acres off of a farm. There were no objectors present and the board’s recommendation was to grant.
Motion to approve ZBA cases a-c: Jeff Deppe
2nd: Ginny Shelton
Voice vote
Motion carried
6) Review and award bids received on Friday February 9, 2018 for General Seal Coat Letting
Mr. Massa explained that they received bids on Friday for township seal coat so each individual township is a group. Each one is awarded separately. There were four bidders. They are indicated by the asterisk, who the low bidder is and who they recommend to approve the award to. Mr. Massa added that on one of them, at the bid opening, one of the bids, the first sheet was missed on the bid because they sent out an addendum. There was an incorrect quantity and typically they will put the addendum in the front of the packet and there was a bid sheet, the very first bid sheet was in there. Mr. Massa added that when he went to enter it into the computer, it was there. Mr. Massa talked to IDOT and Larry. It is our decision to waive technicality since it was no one’s fault but his own. They bid three groups and only one page was missed so they would receive one of those by the amount of about $6,000. Porter Brothers bid on Andalusia, Bowling, and Buffalo Prairie on the front sheet. Mr. Deppe confirmed with Mr. Massa that Porter Brothers is the low bidder on Bowling that we have to recognize.
Motion to approve all the low bids: Jeff Deppe
2nd: Ed Langdon
Voice vote
Motion carried
7) Consider request to place a “State Historic Site” sign on Campbell’s Island
Mr. Massa explained that IDOT was contacted by the DNR and asked if they would put a sign up on Illinois 84 referring them to the historic site on Campbell’s Island. When you drive on Campbell’s Island you can take a right or left. If you take a left, that’s the County portion. They asked if we can put a sign up right at the T indicating to go to the left because the Historic Site is there. We have to bring that to the committee to put up a non uniform traffic control device sign.
Mr. Deppe asked if we were making the sign ourselves.
Mr. Massa explained that IDOT said they would do it since they requested it.
Motion to approve: Jeff Deppe
2nd: Ginny Shelton
Voice vote
Motion carried
8) Consider Engineering Agreement with Ament Engineering to perform survey work
Mr. Massa explained that this is just an agreement with Ament Engineering to have them do some survey work for us to get some information. He added that there is a road on Rapid City that he would like to get some survey information on. They have had some drainage issues up there. The agreement is also good for the whole year so if something comes up where we needs some other survey information, we can just ask Ament to do it. They give us an hourly rate for each of their job duties. That will be paid out of Motorfuel Tax.
Mr. Deppe asked how the merger of all the local engineering companies affecting the bids. Mr. Massa explained that on small projects like this, what we have done in the past, we have to follow Motorfuel Tax regulations. We can hire based on work relationship and Ament has done some survey work. So it’s just survey. It’s not the engineering. We have done a lot of work with Missman so now they are combined but if you have a project and use federal funds, you would have to do a QBS, qualified base selection. It is a whole process where you actually have to get requests for proposals. You tell them what you are looking for and they send in a whole proposal sheet of what they can do how many people they have on staff, their experience, etc. There is a whole review process they have to do with that. Mr. Massa added that he didn’t know with the mergings how that was going to be. There are still some others to select from.
Motion to approve: Jeff Deppe
2nd: Ed Langdon
Voice vote
Motion carried
9) Committee member opportunity for brief comments (no decisions will be made)
Mr. Steffen noted that he didn’t see the hiring of the Assistant Foreman on the agenda and asked if that has been put on hold. He asked if the committee needed to vote on it.
Chair Larry Burns said no.
10) Adjourn
Meeting adjourned at 8:51 a.m. by Chair Larry Burns.
http://www.rockislandcounty.org/CountyBoard.aspx?id=41261#PWF
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