Public Works Committee Meeting

MINUTES CITY OF LOGANVILLE Public Works / Highways & Streets Committee Monday, February 6, 2012 6:00pm Council Chambers Committee Member and past Chairman Rey Martinez gave the yearly report of the activities of the Public Works Department for 2011. He reported that during the past year the Public Works Department completed many paving and street repair projects, limb pick up and chipping, maintenance and repair to City Buildings (including Library) and Parks, right of way, installation of signs, maintenance and repair to vehicles and equipment, assistance with special events, storm clean up, renovations to the Rock Gym and completed sidewalk projects around town. Mr. Martinez stated that 2011 was a good year and he enjoyed working with Randall Casper and the public works department and he looks forward to 2012 being a good year as a committee member as well. Chairman Mike Jones stated that the for years the Villas have had problems being able to see coming out of their subdivision and wanted to see about removing some trees to help increase visibility. He also expressed that the traffic is speeding at this location as well. He asked for the Public Works Department to clear the right of way at the entrance to the Villas. He proposed placing rolling speed humps along Sharon Church Road using SPLOST funding. Public Works Director Randall Casper stated that the rolling speed humps would cost approximately $2,500 each. He stated that some people would probably like and others wouldn’t. He stated that he traffic needed to be slowed down in this area. Committee Member Rey Martinez asked how many people would be affected by this. Chairman Jones stated that he was not sure but there was a lot of traffic in this area. Committee Member Rey Martinez asked how many homes were in this area. Chairman Jones stated that there were probably 4-5 subdivisions. There was discussion about the speed limit and potential remedies. Chairman Jones asked Public Works Director Randall Casper about getting some bids to replace the broken sidewalks on Main Street. Mr. Casper stated that he has already begun working on bids. He explained that he already had one that had come in for the area from Walgreens down to Dr. Carithers office at Covington Street. Chairman Jones stated that the worst intersection in town was at the IHOP. He stated that he had spoken with Bucky Smith about constructing a back entrance into the post office to Pecan Street. He stated that would help take some traffic off the area at Hwy 78. Committee Member Michelle Lynch asked where the road would come in. Mr. Jones explained that it would go from the front door around the back on the left hand side of the building. Mrs. Lynch questioned that we would have to purchase the property. Mr. Jones stated that we would. Mrs. Lynch stated that she would like to know how it would affect the traffic on Pecan Street if we increased the traffic by creating this new entrance. Chairman Jones stated that he would like to replace the sign at the Library. He explained that he had Jean Lee gather information on a new sign. He stated that it should be considered if we want to spend more money on this sign or install a public use sign. He suggested an LED sign and stated that they are pretty expensive. He stated that since we no longer had a reader board in front of City Hall we have nowhere to post meetings, parades, events, etc. He thought that the sign could be moved from its current location to the corner and be used for this type of notices. He explained that he had spoken with the Library and they would be willing to keep it current. Committee Member Rey Martinez asked if there would be any problems with our sign ordinance in doing something like this. Chairman Jones stated that we would have to comply with the ordinance. Committee Member Michelle Lynch stated that this would be the third LED sign at this intersection. She expressed her concern that this would cause too much distraction in this small of an area. She stated that while an LED sign would appeal to her she felt like she could not in good conscience, knowing they way the budget sits, that $57,000 was a really big expense. She further stated that she wouldn’t be opposed to placing a reader board somewhere in the City, but she is concerned add additional interaction at this intersection and the expense of the sign. Chairman Jones stated that he did not know that these signs cost so much. Committee Member Michelle Lynch stated that she would not mind hearing of another option to upgrade the sign just not at this expense. Chairman Jones asked Mr. Casper to obtain some additional quotes. Chairman Jones stated that he would like to look into the possibility of maintaining our vehicles ourselves to possibly save money. He asked that we look at figures. Mr. Casper explained that we currently do our own small services such as oil changes and small repairs. He asked Mr. Casper to look into this possibility. Committee Member Rey Martinez asked if his department really has to time to take on this type of additional work. Mr. Casper stated that they can handle what they currently maintain but would need to look into hiring a mechanic to further expand any additional type of service. There was much discussion regarding his matter. Chairman Jones stated that he had been told that at times some of our City vehicles are in places that they shouldn’t be and that supervisors go home for two or three hours in the middle of the day. He stated that perhaps we should consider a GPS tracking system to track all of our City vehicles. Committee Member Rey Martinez asked Mr. Casper if he has had any problems with employees not being where they are supposed to be. Chairman Jones stated that Mr. Casper only has two take home vehicles. Mr. Martinez asked if he was talking about Public Works. Mr. Jones stated that he was not. Committee Member Michelle Lynch asked who had take home vehicles besides the police. Mr. Jones stated that he only had a few taken home vehicles and stated that we probably needed to redo our take home policy. Mr. Martinez stated that he has spoken to Chief McHugh about this. He explained that the police have a 20 mile radius of the City and they all currently live within that 20 mile radius. He also explained that this was a small perk for the police department because we are one of the lowest paid departments in the area. Mr. Martinez stated that he does not have a problem with the policy and he supports it. Chairman Jones stated that he has been told they are parked outside of places where they don’t need to be. Mayor Nunley stated it might not be a bad idea if that is that case. Chairman Jones stated that he didn’t want to get sued either. Council Member Mark Kiddoo stated that there could be many reasons for employees to be where they are at any given moment. He stated that he felt like if we are going to ask these people to step in front of a bullet for us we owe it to them to trust them. Mayor Nunley stated that if he saw something like this he would report it to Mr. Jones and have him look into the situation. Mr. Kiddoo stated that on two separate occasions that he saw police cars where he didn’t think they should be. He explained that both times he reported it to City Manager Bill Jones and on both occasions that the staff knew where the cars were and that they were there on legitimate City business. Chairman Jones stated that he hasn’t seen it but it has been reported to him. There was much discussion regarding this matter. Committee Member Michelle Lynch stated that she went out to the Villas and looked at the current situation. She stated that she felt like the problem is on the Villas Property and not in the right of way. She stated that she felt like we could give them suggestions but the work should be done by them. Mayor Nunley stated that it was a 40 ft. right of way it the trees would be on their property. Mr. Jones stated that the area is a 60 ft right of way and it would be on our property. Mr. Casper stated that he had looked at the area and the plat the he has at the shop shows a 40 ft right of way. Mayor Nunley stated that if that was the case they would have to take that up with the HOA. Chairman Jones asked Mr. Casper to check on that. With no further discussion, meeting adjourned.