Public Works Minutes 2010 01-19-10
APPROVED W/ CORRECTIONS
2/16/10
UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
800 Game Farm Road
Yorkville, IL 60560
PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING
City Hall, Conference Room
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 – 6:30 P.M.
PRESENT:
Chairman Joe Plocher Valerie Burd - Mayor
Eric Dhuse (Public Works Director) Bart Olson – City of Yorkville
Joe Wywrot (City Engineer) Diane Teeling - Alderman
George Gilson - Alderman Matt Fiascone - Inland
Dan Kramer – Inland Atty. Charles Cole – Bristol Bay
PRESENTATIONS: NONE
The meeting was called to order @ 6:30 p.m. by Chairman Joe Plocher
MINUTES FOR CORRECTION/APPROVAL:
The minutes for December 15, 2009 were
approved.
Items Recommended for Consent Agenda:
1.PW 2010-01 Water Department Report for November 2009
2.PW 2010-02 Water Department Report for December 2009
3.PW 2010-03 Stagecoach Crossing – Earthwork Letter of Credit Expiration
All items will move forward to Consent Agenda.
NEW BUSINESS:
1.PW 2010-04 Parkway Tree Trimming – Information Only
Eric Dhuse said we have a problem with people not trimming their parkway trees. We
need to trim, not take trees down. We need to inform the residents.
2.PW 2010-05 Sign Retroreflectivity – Information Only
Eric Dhuse wanted to start informing every one of the new standards set by the
MUTCD. In 2015 signs that will need to be updated are Stop, Yield, Speed Limit, No
Parking, School Zones, No Passing Zones, etc. etc. Street signs are for 2018
Requirement.
Mayor Burd spoke with Congressman Foster to see what they can do about extending
this requirement. The Mayor also voiced her opinion for this unfunded mandate. She
doesn’t think this is a necessary thing that we need at this time when the country is in
such tight economic troubles. A lot of municipalities are in major deficit and this
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mandate could be a burden. The Mayor asked how much money are we estimating
that this will cost the city. Eric replied it could be tens of thousands of dollars for just
the regulatory and warning signs and then you get to start all over again on the street
signs. For the street sign the requirement in 2018 is for the first let in the street name
be capital and the remaining letters be small. All agreed this is not a good time for
this.
Alderman Gilson asked about a GPS laptop computer and software. Is this something
the MUTCD has a requirement on? Eric replied no, but this would be a nice benefit
for less labor intensive and for inventory control. Alderman Gilson said this is another
thing that dollars and cents wise don’t make sense. Eric said it does make sense
because it also would manage inventory. The cost would be between $1500 & $2500
depending software package. Mayor Burd will be lobbying to get this requirement
amended.
3.PW 2010-06 Route 34 Trail – IDOT Letter of Understanding
Joe Wywrot said we received a letter of understanding from IDOT that we need to
sign. They are going to incorporate a trail along Rt. 34 from Rt. 47 to Timber Ridge
Drive. We have asked IDOT to extend that trail all the way to the city limits. IDOT
said they could not incorporate that into the project, but they would be willing to enter
with this letter of understanding that if the city would build that trail separately at a
later date, IDOT would fund 50% of that trail. This Item will move forward to
consent agenda.
4.PW 2010-07 Miscellaneous Guardrail Repairs – MFT Appropriation Resolution
Joe Wywrot said this is for three guardrails (2 Repairs, 1 Replacement) around town.
Had to go through a design variance procedure with IDOT. We finally got it
approved. The next step is to open bids. Alderman Gilson asked if this will be paid
100% by MFT. Joe said yes. Eric asked if the money is there and Joe again replied
yes. This item will move forward to consent agenda.
5.PW 2010-08 Game Farm Road / Somonauk Street Project – Status & Funding
Joe Wyrot said we are currently in Phase 2 of this project. Phase 2 is design and
Phase 3 is construction. Phase 1 identified where the city needs to acquire temporary
easements and right of way parcels. There are about 30 of them. We are ready to send
out offer letters to the various homeowners with the approval of city council and the
Mayor before we proceed. Joe & Bart discussed this and decided to talk about the
entire project because the project cost has grown since its inception in 1999. We are
getting about $2.3M in federal funds for this project. The City will need to come up
with the balance which is approximately $4M. We thought it was a good idea before
we send out these letters to analyze the situation to decide what we want to do.
Mayor Burd asked to look at the bids and be tighter on quotes because she talked with
other municipalities and the Mayors have said their projects are actually coming in
way under bid. She said the estimates keep going up, up & up for the asphalt work
and putting the road in. She is surprised they keep going up. She would like to get a
better feel what the cost would actually be and help us better understand what we
would be facing because she doesn’t feel like we’re going to have $4M.
Bart Olson said council still has to vote on each one of them. We do have some time
between when the initial letters are sent out and when we actually have to make a
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decision on whether or not we want to go forward with this or put it off a few years.
The purpose of this agenda item was let you know that we will be sending out these
letters out to homeowners.
Mayor Burd said the City is also on the hook for other city wide improvements; i.e.
Rt. 47 widening, trails, utility movements. The Mayor said the one thing we have to
keep in mind is something has to be done to this road.
Alderman Gilson has three questions. Can we truly afford $4M + in are budget
coming up, secondly if we send out 33 letters and they disagree with the sale price are
we consider using Eminent Domain, which he highly opposes. Is this something in
the equation? Joe said it always is, potentially. His last concern is 50% acquisition
cost. Did we know that? Our estimates don’t seem to be close. Joe said we didn’t
know that, but he’s not an appraiser. The amount that’s budgeted will get us through
the current fiscal year.
The Mayor said the one thing we have to keep in mind is something has to be done to
this road. She would also like to see financial proposals on how we are going to pay
for this brought forward to city council.
Alderman Gilson said before we send out the letters, but the Mayor said the letters
can go out. Everybody knows about this. This has been talked about for years. Joe
said the letters that are scheduled to go out tomorrow will state we offer you x amount
of dollars.
Chairperson Plocher and Alderman Teeling agreed that the letters should be sent out.
6.PW 2010-09 Sun Flower Estates – Remaining Punchlist Work
Joe Wywrot mentioned that the punchlist for Sun Flower was first generated in 2002
which slowly has been whittled down to one page for the 3 units in Sun Flower. Most
of the remaining punchlist items are paperwork type items. There are a few fieldwork
items. There is one main issue that we haven’t been able to agree upon. A major
storm overflow path; 2 paths between 4 lots. This is grading work. Joe believes the
builder didn’t pay attention what the grading plane was supposed to be. It is the
developer responsibility. The original punchlist identified at least a half a dozen of
these deficiencies throughout the subdivision. The developer did re-grade all but these
two.
Dan Kramer, the Attorney for Inland agreed with Joe’s explanation. Inland feels it
would cause an awful lot of trouble with people going in to rip up these yards at this
point. Dan asked Alderman Gilson if has heard of any flooding in that area since the
Alderman lives in Sun Flower? Alderman Gilson replied he doesn’t in that area, but
wanted to know if we received any calls about flooding in that area. Joe Wyrot
responded No, not in that area. Alderman Gilson also asked has the city been out to
check the area for what kind of effect on the drainage in that area and Joe responded
that we checked the grading and it was significantly off.
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Alderman Gilson suggests we talk with the Homeowners in the area about any
drainage issues and if they would have any problems with it being corrected. Joe
Wyrot said we would need to talk with more than the 4 homeowners. Chairperson
Plocher agreed and asked Inland if they were fine with that and they responded Yes.
Matt Fiascone (Inland) said that issue is in Unit 2 and we have bonds outstanding in
Unit 1 which pre-dates it and Unit 3 which there is no reason to hold. At some point it
becomes an economic issue. We are going to back to Unit 2 and leave that one in
place, but we would like the bonds for 1 & 3 to be released. Joe Wywrot once again
said most of them are paperwork, but there are more than just a handful of items
remaining.
Chairperson Plocher stated that he is fine with releasing the bonds for 1 & 3. He
agrees with Alderman Gilson suggestion with talking with the Homeowners.
Alderman Gilson also said that we should be honest with them and let them know up
front. Joe Wyrot said he may caution that. The Homeowner may think, have I had any
problems in the 5 or 8 years I lived here. We are talking a 100 year storm and that is a
relatively short time frame. Something they may not be aware of could be potentially
be a problem later down the road. Alderman Gilson asked if they had any problem
and they don’t sign off on it originally then you may have the potential liability in his
eyes.
Mayor Burd said the Homeowners may say leave us alone if they haven’t had any
problems. She asked Joe Wywrot what was his recommendation. Joe said the
properties should be re-graded. It’s been on the punch list for 8 years.
Alderman Gilson said the homeowners may want to sign off on it and may not want
us disturbing their property. Chairperson Plocher said we mention to the homeowner
that we recommend fixing it and re-grade it, but if they don’t want us to, then they
would need to sign off.
Alderman Teeling said this is like the problem that they are having on Van Emmon. If
the homeowner signs off on it now, this may not affect them, but it may affect the
homeowner 20 years down the road. They would say they never told us that this
wasn’t graded correctly. Mayor Burd said she doesn’t think this will take us off the
hook.
Alderman Gilson, said if that’s the case then we should just send them in there and
have it re-graded, but the first thing is to talk to the Homeowners. Mayor Burd said if
there is some sort of sign-off it would have to be placed on the Title or some kind of
filing so the next owner is aware of the issue. Joe said he would go over it with Bart
to see how we would word this document for the Homeowners to sign.
Alderman Gilson asked why we are waiving the sidewalk requirement on a vacant lot.
Joe Wywrot said typical policy has been when you get a subdivision very close to
final build out you get the builder to put the sidewalk in. We would be waiving that
item for Inland to build it.
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Alderman Gilson said there are quite a bit here that is left still undone. Matt said
Inland’s position on the Public Sidewalk is that they didn’t put the sidewalk in. It was
put in by the builder. Most of these things are items that were not Inland’s
responsibility to begin with and should’ve been inspected when the Certificate of
Occupancy was granted. Joe Wywrot said the Certificate of Occupancy is for the
house and not for the lot. When the sidewalk was first put it, it may have been fine,
but it may have settled since then.
Matt asked how long do you hold people responsible for sidewalks; 8 years?
Alderman Gilson says it can go on as long as there is undeveloped subdivision and
remaining punchlist items.
It was confirmed by Joe Wywrot that the Streetlight Burn Test has been complete and
it can be removed from the punchlist.
Alderman Teeling asked is it our fault that we haven’t accepted it, because the
punchlist items haven’t been completed.
Mayor Burd asked why did Inland wait so long to complete the punchlist. She said
they have developed a lot of properties, if you sit on something for 8 years, things are
going to break.
Matt said most places don’t have constantly updating punchlist. We have had
personnel changes and budget reductions and things have slipped through the cracks.
In summary talk to the residents and look at past punchlists for added items and bring
this item back next month.
7.PW 2010-10 Review of Committee Liaisons
All okay with the review.
OLD BUSINESS:
1.PW 2009-110 Yorkville Business Center Units 2 & 3 –Final Acceptance - Update
Matt Fiascone of Inland said there are 4 bonds still outstanding for the Yorkville
Business Center. The latest one was initiated in 2002. Two of them have been agreed
to be released upon payment of $2K bill in which we agreed to pay. As for the other
two; one has been complete and the other was for a piece of water main on the former
F.E. Wheaton property that was planned prior to 1998 that was never put in. We don’t
think we should be on the hook for this water main.
Joe Wywrot said he recommends that the 2 bonds to be released upon $2K payment.
One of the bonds was for a multi-tenant industrial building that was going to put in
and that is what the bond was for as well as other things that F.E. Wheaton did as part
of their expansion. That building was never built. Joe suggested to Mr. Howat of
Inland to send the City a letter to accept the public improvements that were
constructed and then we can begin or waive the warranty period and then this bond
could be partially released. The last bond was for a 12 inch water main extension on
Rt. 47. When the expansion project was being discussed, the ordinance said you
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extend utilities under the development. We requested Inland to extend the water main
along Wheaton Ave out to Rt. 47. Inland at that point established a bond to guarantee
the work is done some day.
Matt said there is water out to Rt. 47, but Joe said not at that location. Joe said it is at
Corneils. Matt also said within the park there’s a water main out to Rt. 47 from the
building (St. Joseph’s) that fronts Rt. 47 has it, but Joe said it’s not a 12 inch that’s
for sure.
Alderman Teeling asked if the building is ever going to be built. Joe Wywrot said it’s
not in the plans. Mayor Burd asked before it’s built would we have the chance to have
another bond issued. Joe said yes.
Alderman Gilson said he opposes the release of the water main bond. Attorney Dan
Kramer said let’s check the water main on Wheaton Ave and see what is out there
currently.
In Summary, it was agreed to release 3 of the 4 bonds.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS:
Chairperson Plocher asked if everyone was ok with changing the time for future
Pubic works meetings back 30 minutes from 6:30 to 6:00. All were fine with the
change. Starting in Feb. 2010 the meetings will begin at 6:00pm.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING:
With no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 7:50p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Tim Dlugopolski
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