Kendall County Times

Kendall County Highway Committee met Nov. 14.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

DATE: November 14, 2023

LOCATION: Kendall County Highway Department

MEMBERS PRESENT: Zach Bachmann, Dan Koukol, Scott Gengler, and Ruben Rodriguez

STAFF PRESENT: Michele Riley, Christina Burns, and Francis Klaas

ALSO PRESENT: PJ Fitzpatrick, Kelly Farley, and Jeremy Hudek

The committee meeting convened at 3:31 P.M. with roll call of committee members. DeBolt absent. Quorum established.

Motion Rodriguez; second Gengler, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion Koukol; second Gengler, to approve the Highway Committee meeting minutes from October 10, 2023. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion Koukol; second Gengler to recommend approval of a resolution awarding contracts to the lowest responsible bidders on the following projects:

a. Section 21-00162-00-DR to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $229,939.89

b. Section 22-00169-00-TL to D Construction, Inc. in the amount of $3,526,701.94

c. Section 23-00172-00-TL to H&H Electric Company in the amount of $370,827.81

Klaas reported that these projects were a result of the bid opening on November 3, 2023. All bids received were below the engineer’s estimate. Koukol asked about the project at Newark Road. Klaas indicated that the project includes new pipe culverts and about a ¼ mile of ditch grading on the north side of Newark Road. This will prevent water from overtopping Newark

Road during large storm events. Upon further consideration, motion approved unanimously by voice vote.

Motion Gengler; second Rodriguez to recommend approval of the low bid of $95,940 by Arneson Oil Company for the annual purchase of 12,000 gallons of unleaded gas and 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel for FY 2024. Klaas stated that this was an annual bid for the Highway Department as well as several other County Departments. Rodriguez asked Klaas if he was surprised by the low bid; and was it below the budgeted amount. Klaas thought that he had budgeted $150,000 for FY2024. He also discussed how historically November is the best time to bid fuel, as it is usually at its lowest cost for the year. Koukol asked if the fuel tanks had to be inspected by the State Fire Marshall. Klaas stated that the Fire Marshall did have to inspect the entire installation when the County switched from underground tanks to above-ground tanks; but there was no requirement for annual inspections. Gengler asked if they were stainless steel. Klaas indicated that they were not. They are dual wall, but regular steel; which why they only last about 10 or 15 years. Motion carried unanimously by voice vote.

Klaas informed the Committee that the Village of Plainfield was looking into the idea of making part of Ridge Road into a reroute for Illinois Route 126. For many years, Plainfield has entertained the idea of rerouting Route 126 to get truck traffic out of the downtown area. This has resurfaced again lately; but the Village has asked for a little more time to develop the plan before coming to a future Highway Committee meeting. They are considering using 143rd Street to Ridge Road to existing Route 126 as the preferred route. But there remain many unanswered questions. Klaas thought that the Village would probably not come to the Highway Committee until next year.

The committee reviewed the 2023-2043 Long-Range Transportation Plan. Motion Bachmann; second Gengler to recommend approval of the Long-Range Transportation Plan to the County Board. Koukol asked if the plan was fully funded. Klaas noted that there was almost no deficit in the plan; so it is essentially balanced. He credited the Transportation Sales Tax for this. Sales tax revenues are currently up over $8 million per year. Motion approved unanimously Rodriguez asked how much time the County Engineer spends on preparing the plan. He indicated that he spends several days in the fall putting the plan together; but because the format has not changed, it helps save quite a bit of time. Rodriguez also asked where Klaas gathered all the demographics for the plan. Klaas said that he gathers information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois Secretary of State, CMAP, and others. He makes the financial projections himself. Koukol asked Klaas why he thought Kendall County was such a popular place to live. Klaas thought that most of the people who move to Kendall County come from other Chicago suburbs; and compared to other collar counties, Kendall has attractive open spaces, less density, good schools, relatively low taxes and real estate prices compared to these other counties. Gengler noted that we have good access to a couple interstates and airports. Bachmann added that we’re close to a Metra station. Koukol talked about how the east side of Kendall County is changing… in numbers and in character and used the Cricket Stadium as an example of the changing nature of our County.

In the Chairman’s Report, Bachmann asked Klaas if there were any updates on the Millington Millhurst intersection. Klaas stated that all of the recommended improvements have been completed except for the acquisition of the larger corner cuts. But since the crops are now down, the sight distance is improved. Bachmann stated that he hasn’t received any more updates on the Route 126-Schlapp Road intersection, nor the U.S. Route 52-Grove Road intersection. He said that Jed Davis’ office had indicated that IDOT was collecting their own data on these latter intersections.

Klaas reported that traffic numbers had finally been received for the Eldamain corridor. He shared some of the information but indicated that he would put it in a better format before getting it to the Committee. Koukol asked if there had been any crashes at the new roundabout. Klaas had not heard of any accidents at this location. Rodriguez asked if there was information on percentage of trucks. Klaas indicated that he had all the information in .pdf and excel format, which he would share with Rodriguez. He indicated that the numbers came from a single day of studying the traffic and indicated that traffic numbers did not change much from day to day. Rodriguez asked who did the study and how much it cost. Klaas stated that KLOA performed the traffic study, and he thought it cost about $12,000. Bachmann wondered if the data could be used for traffic projections. Klaas thought that traffic projections were inherently inaccurate unless they were just for a year or two. Rodriguez pointed out that the information would be helpful in programming maintenance projects. Klaas agreed.

Koukol had heard that a quarry on the south side of Joliet was getting permitted to be a CCDD facility and might take in demolition and construction debris. The quarry in question had a prior tipping fee established with the Village of Lisbon. If the CCDD license is granted, Lisbon wouldn’t get any future tipping fees. No one else on the Committee had heard of this potential change to the quarry’s use.

Gengler inquired about the status of Galena-Kennedy intersection. Klaas indicated that the signals should be energized on November 28th. Final earthwork and seeding might not happen until next year due to utility delays.

Rodriguez inquired about the house at the corner of Ridge & Wildy. Klaas said that the County has acquired and closed on the property. He felt it was a win-win for everyone involved. The prior owner gets to live in the house for 12 months while trying to find a new house. If she is there for more than 12 months, she will have to start paying rent to the County. Koukol asked if the dollar value of $325,000 had been listed on the agenda last month when it was approved.

Klaas notified the Committee that there will be a second public informational meeting for the widening of Ridge Road from Holt Road in Minooka to Black Road in Joliet. The meeting will be held on Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the Grade School on Black Road in Joliet. This is the same location as the first informational meeting. Rodriguez asked who ran the meeting. Klaas stated that the consultant, Hutchison Engineering, would be running the meeting, but Klaas would also be there to answer questions. Rodriguez also asked if these meetings sometimes got contentious. Klaas said that they can; but in this particular case, everyone who lives near Ridge Road understands that it needs to be widened to 4 lanes. So they might not be happy about it, but they realize the work needs to be done. Koukol asked about the Kunke parcel. Klaas stated that when the County bought the necessary parcels for the Ridge Road Bridge replacement, we also bought all the necessary right-of-way for the roadway widening.

Motion Bachmann; second Rodriguez to adjourn the meeting at 4:10 PM. Motion carried unanimously.

https://www.kendallcountyil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28885/638384952816570000