Kendall County Highway Committee met April 11.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
MEMBERS PRESENT: Zach Bachman, Ruben Rodriguez, Brian DeBolt, & Scott Gengler
STAFF PRESENT: Michele Riley, John Burscheid and Francis Klaas
ALSO PRESENT: PJ Fitzpatrick and Jeremy Hudek
The committee meeting convened at 3:30 P.M. with roll call of committee members. Koukol Absent. Quorum established.
Motion DeBolt; second Rodriguez, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion approved unanimously.
Motion DeBolt; second Gengler, to approve the Highway Committee meeting minutes from March 14, 2023. Motion approved unanimously.
Motion DeBolt; second Gengler to recommend approval of resolution awarding contracts to the low bidders for the following projects:
23-00000-00-GM to Superior Road Striping in the amount of $290,838.20
23-00000-01-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $240,245.75
23-00000-02-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $2,139,939.20
23-01000-00-GM to A.C. Pavement Striping in the amount of $71,908.00
23-02000-00-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $68,956.75
23-03000-00-GM to A.C. Pavement Striping in the amount of $104,935.50
23-04000-00-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $415,485.04
23-05000-00-GM to A.C. Pavement Striping in the amount of $75,690.00
23-06000-00-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $156,537.65
23-07000-00-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $171,804.95
23-08000-00-GM to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $402,594.25
23-09000-00-GM to A.C. Pavement Striping in the amount of $63,342.00
Chairman Bachman presented the low bidders for 19 County, Township and Municipal projects. Kendall County will be the awarding authority for 12 of these projects because they contain Motor Fuel Taxes. Bids were very competitive, and averaged about 15% below the engineer’s estimate. D Construction got all the HMA projects, while AC Pavement Striping got all the seal coat projects. Burscheid provided some additional information on the contractor, AC Pavement Striping, who has worked for Kendall County in past years, but not recently. Klaas explained that the engineer’s estimates were raised slightly this year, based on previous bids that were opened in other adjacent counties. DeBolt stated that you get the best prices in the spring when contractors are scheduling their work for the year; and Klaas confirmed that Kendall County intentionally schedules their biggest bid opening at this time each year. Rodriguez asked for more information about the Orchard Road resurfacing project, and whether any nighttime work would be allowed. Klaas provided a summary of the proposed construction. No nighttime work will be allowed due to concerns about the quality of the construction. Upon consideration, motion was approved unanimously.
Motion DeBolt; second Gengler to recommend approval of an intergovernmental agreement between Kendall County, Illinois and the City of Joliet, Illinois, relating to the construction of Ridge Road, Section 19-00149-00-PW. This agreement was drafted by the Kendall County SAO, and was approved by the City of Joliet on April 4, 2023. It provides for the maintenance of street lighting by the City of Joliet, and maintenance of the new traffic signal at Plainfield South High School by Kendall County. Motion approved unanimously.
Motion DeBolt; second Gengler to recommend approval of a resolution authorizing the use of eminent domain to acquire certain parcels of land for roadway purposes on Fox Rive Drive (N. Johnson St.) in Kendall County, Illinois. Klaas explained that the County Board had just passed an eminent domain resolution last month for this same job. At the time, he didn’t think there would be any additional parcels; however, he was notified by the County’s land negotiator that two additional parcels had become non-responsive. The odd thing was that the acquisitions are tiny. One of them included only an area that was already being used for public right-of-way. Klaas could not understand why there would be any opposition to the acquisition; but since our land negotiator had made this recommendation, he believes it should be done. It may incentivize the property owners to settle without actually filing in court. Rodriguez asked if the County meets with the property owners in person, or if it was just by phone/email. Klaas stated that the County’s land negotiator tries to meet with everyone in person. Upon further consideration, the motion approved unanimously.
Chairman Bachman described the recent efforts by the Connect Kendall County Commission, involving planning to provide fast internet service to all areas of Kendall County. One of the ideas was to try to place conduit during road construction projects. Klaas expressed some concerns about the placement of conduits in the County’s rights-of-way, due to constant conflicts with the many utilities that place their facilities in the r.o.w. DeBolt thought it would make sense to finalize the map first – the areas where conduit is needed – before getting ahead of ourselves. Klaas agreed that we would need to know first where the fiber is to be located, and then try to incorporate those improvements as part of the roadway contract, to get a better price on the installation. He also noted that there would be ongoing costs for the Commission; because once those fibers are in the ground, they may need to be moved in the future, when any road widening projects are planned. By State Law, this cost falls on the owner of the utility. Bachman believed that the cost would likely be the responsibility of the Commission/County. Klaas also asked Bachman if he foresaw that in the future, the hard wire (fiber) might be replaced with some other technology. Bachman stated that there is already a plan to lay fiber, and supplement that with some areas of wireless technology. Committee discussed some of the issues with changing technology and what might happen in the future. Bachman stated that he will discuss some of these issues and concerns with the Commission.
In other business, DeBolt asked about the opening for the Eldamain Bridge. Klaas stated that the tentative ribbon cutting would be May 31, 2023; but he also asked the Committee what they wanted to have for the opening. He thought it would be best to stage the ribbon cutting on the south side of the bridge, where there is more room to park. Rodriguez felt that the County should have a pretty big event because it is such a significant project. Committee agreed, and discussed several possibilities for the event, including food and refreshments. Klaas suggested the possibility of having the ribbon cutting on May 31st and actually opening the road to the public the next day, due to pavement markings that have to be changed at River Road. Bachman thought that was reasonable. DeBolt thought that there should be a significant celebration because the project is so important, and was built with very little taxpayer money. Rodriguez suggested that the new volunteer committee in HR might be able to help coordinate the event.
DeBolt asked about cleaning roadway ditches. Klaas stated that the County does not have an Adopt-A-Highway program because he just doesn’t feel it is safe, due to the rural nature of most county highways and the excessive speed of the vehicles. This is why IDOT’s program is only allowed in corporate limits, where the speed limits are lower. DeBolt also asked if county employees pick up litter in the ditches, and Klaas confirmed that highway employees pick up litter every year along county highways. DeBolt related a funny story about an elderly woman picking up aluminum cans along Lisbon Road in rural Kendall County. Burscheid described the pick up efforts on Eldamain Road near the waste transfer station; but that was a requirement of the zoning for the transfer station.
DeBolt asked about the path connection between Hoover Forest Preserve and Fox River Bluffs Forest Preserve. Klaas said that the Forest Preserve can apply for TAP Funds. Normally, the maximum grant has a $50,000 limit; but the Board has exceeded that several times. The Forest Preserve can apply for these funds at any time. The Wayne Borneman farm is the only privately owned parcel between the two forest preserves. The committee discussed ways to connect the two forest preserves, who could do the work, and how funding might work.
DeBolt had questions about the ditch along the north side of Plattville Road near Pletcher Drive. He wondered if the County would be responsible for getting the grass to grow and fixing any rutting caused by accidents. Klaas stated that County Highway would make sure this area is growing real well before they stop maintaining. Burscheid indicated this is a common problem; and if they’ll just be patient, this should work out fine.
Klaas presented a graph of the Fox River elevations at the Montgomery gauge over the past 5 years. He compared the elevations during the construction of the Millington Bridge, as opposed to the construction of the Eldamain Bridge. River elevations were constantly high during Millington construction, while the elevations stayed consistently low during Eldamain construction.
Gengler asked about the progress on Collins Road Extension. Klaas stated that the bid opening was March 10, 2023. Project was awarded to the low bidder on March 29, 2023; but construction will probably not start for another 6 weeks. The construction that you see now is water main construction by the Village of Oswego. There was some tree removal on Collins and Minkler that was performed by the County; but that work was separate from the roadway contract, because all the trees had to be removed by April 1, 2023. This is due to restrictions related to Indiana Bat and Long-Eared Bat habitat. Burscheid stated that trees on roadway contracts can only be removed between October 31st and April 1st.
Gengler asked about the progress on the Galena – Cannonball intersection. Klaas indicated that if everything went perfectly, the project would go to letting next year in the spring of 2024. However, he stated that he expected some difficulties with land acquisition. Burscheid stated that construction of Galena – Kennedy intersection should have begun already, but the County is still having trouble getting utilities moved. We are having the same utility relocation troubles with the curve relocation on Cannonball Trail west of Ill. Rte. 47.
Motion Rodriguez; second Gengler to forward Highway Department bills for the month of April in the amount of $193,898.17. Motion approved unanimously.
Motion DeBolt; second Rodriguez, to adjourn the meeting at 4:21 P.M. Motion carried unanimously.
https://www.kendallcountyil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/27074/638188821718770000
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