CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE ALD. JOSEPH DUDZIK, CHAIR Ald. Robert Bauman, Ald. Michael Murphy, Ghassan Korban, Martin Matson, Mark Nicolini, and Mariano Schifalacqua Staff Assistant: Tobie Black, 286-2231; Fax: 286-3456, tblack@milwaukee.gov Fiscal Planning Specialist: Kathleen Brengosz, 286-3926, kbreng@milwaukee.gov Wednesday, February 8, 2012 9:00 AM Room 301-B, City Hall Meeting called to order at 9:03 a.m. Present: Dudzik, Bauman, Schifalacqua, Froh, Korban, Kammholz, Nicolini Individuals also in attendance: Kathy Brengosz, Fiscal Planning Specialist Venu Gupta, Department of Public Works 1. Review and approval of the minutes from the January 19, 2012 meeting. Minutes were approved as written. 2. Presentation of the Street Lighting Condition Report. Individuals appearing: Bob Bryson, Traffic and Street Lighting Jeff Polenske, City Engineer Mr. Polenske and Mr. Bryson presented a PowerPoint on the Street Lighting Program's Condition Report (please see the attachment "2012 CIC Street Lighting Program PowerPoint" to Council file #111338). Mr. Polenske said that the amount of infrastructure that relates to street lighting and traffic control is substantial. The City has over 77,000 street and alley lights in the public way. The lights provide a significant safety benefit for residents and for those travelling through the City. There are over 108,000 traffic signs that help to control traffic and provide guidance. There are also over 750 traffic signals that provide guidance for safe movement through the many intersections in the City. Mr. Polenske said that there a number of requirements for maintaining traffic controls, including guidance from the federal government on how to utilize the various traffic controls, and there are standards for lighting levels on the streets. Mr. Froh asked about the amount of lighted streets in the City, which totals 1290 miles. Mr. Bryson said that there are neighborhoods in the City, primarily on the City of Milwaukee Page 1 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE Northwest side, that do not have street lights because residents desire to maintain the area's rural appearance. The only arterial without street lights is a portion of Good Hope Road between North 91st Street and US 41/45. The City will be adding lights on the segment between 107th Street and the Zoo Freeway, but neighbors have requested that the section between North 91st Street and North 107th Street on Good Hope Road remain dark. Mr. Bryson said that a couple of unlit areas had a series of break-ins in the past and the City installed street lights to add security. Mr. Froh also asked if the City maintains all of its street lights. Mr. Bryson said it does. Mr. Schifalacqua asked if the City maintains the lights on the state trunk highways. Mr. Bryson said that the City does maintain the lighting on the state trunk highways, but it does not provide the lights on the freeway system. Mr. Bryson said that the vast majority of street lights are high pressure sodium, which are the most economical and do the best lighting job. The City still has about 1500 street lights that are mercury vapor which will be replaced eventually. Mr. Bryson also said that the City is looking at the developments in technology in LED street lighting because of the potential for tremendous savings in electricity. Mr. Bryson said that the use of LED street lights is still developing and has a long way to go before it is ready for widespread use. The price has to come down and light distribution needs to be improved. Mr. Bryson said that there were a couple of LED trials done in 2011. Nineteen LED lights were installed on a section of Indiana Avenue from Morgan Avenue to Oklahoma Avenue. LED lights were also installed in the Historic Third Ward, but a problem developed with the retrofited lights there. The power supply inside virtually all of the lights exploded and are being replaced at the manufacturer's expense. Mr. Schifalacqua asked if LED lights give out a true light. Mr. Bryson said that LEDs do emit a true light but it is more directional than the standard lamp light, which shines in every direction. Opticals are being developed that spread the light out from the bulb. This can be a problem when replacing the mercury vapor lights with LEDs as the spacing between the poles may be a little bit too far. The light can be spread out down the road, but then the light on the sidewalks is lost. Mr. Bryson said that LED lights are being installed at the Westlawn Project. When infrastructure is installed from the ground up, it becomes more cost effective to make all of the lights LED. The cost of installing all LED lights would have been the same as installing new harp and lantern-style lights. Mr. Polenske said that the life span of a LED light can be five times greater than that of mercury or high pressure lights. Mr. Bryson said that the pure color of the lights will also be maintained longer. Ald. Dudzik asked about the issue of street lights and stop lights not being able to shed snow efficiently. Mr. Bryson answered that there have to be certain specific weather conditions, including a certain water content in the snow and a specific temperature, for the snow to stick on the lights. There have only been two events in the past years in which snow has stuck to the lights. Therefore, manual snow removal is done with brushes instead of spending money putting heaters in each of the lamps, which is not cost effective. Mr. Bryson said that there was an attempt to develop a coating that can be applied to the lights to keep snow from sticking, but it would have to be sprayed on every year. The snow issue only affects a certain portion of the lights, so it is more cost effective to just do manual snow removal. Ald. Bauman said that one of the reasons the City spends so much money on tree trimming is to enable the street lights to shine on streets. He said that one city has found a partial solution by erecting shorter poles in residential neighborhoods. Ald. City of Milwaukee Page 2 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE Bauman asked if the City has ever explored doing a pilot project to see how residents would respond to shorter light poles. Mr. Bryson said that the majority of poles are 20 feet tall. Shortening the poles would mean getting lower wattage bulbs, but it would also mean an increased number of poles and tightening up the pole spacing to adequately disperse the light. Ald. Bauman said that this has not been a problem in the other city. He also said that in the city that has used shortened poles, tree cutting has been reduced and the canopy is allowed to grow since the tree trimming would no longer be necessary to make room for the light poles. Mr. Polenske said that the other city could be contacted to get information about the use of shorter poles. Mr. Korban said that on Water Street in front of the North End project shorter poles were used. He added that tree pruning could not be eliminated completely as it is also done for the health of the tree. Mr. Bryson said that shorter poles have been used in outlying areas of the City, but all the poles would need to be replaced, which is a cost issue. But an analysis could definitely be done. Mr. Bryson said that if an alley is dark, the department will try to determine if the spacing between lights is proper and if it is not, alley lights are added. A number of alley lights were replaced or installed to bring the lighting up to standards. Mr. Bryson said that there is an ongoing program to replace the mercury vapor lamps with high pressure sodium lights, but this replacement program has been deferred due to other priorities in the lighting program. However, there is an energy savings of about fifty percent on the lights simply because the mercury vapor lamp is such a high wattage lamp and produces the same amount of light as the high pressure sodium lights. Mr. Bryson said that the City is investing money and a lot of work in series circuit replacement. With 70,000 lights to be replaced, progress can take time. Sixty percent of the city has been completed. Mr. Bryson added that a problem is that the cable is aging and as it gets older it becomes more prone to breakdowns. Because of this, there are areas that are experiencing a very large number of failures. A major circuitry replacement was performed in the 10th aldermanic district in the last three or four years. Currently, the department is working on a project in the 1st and 6th aldermanic districts. There is also a problem in the 11th and 5th districts on which the department will begin to work this year. Ald. Dudzik asked if series circuit replacement is an appropriate time to consider looking at different pole lighting options, including turning off every third or fourth light. He said that some streets seem exceptionally bright. Mr. Bryson said that the City has been lighting its streets by a national standard from the International Illumination Society of North America (IES North America), which establishes the national standard for light levels on roadways. The standard sets a minimum level that should be included for safety and allows the City to provide adequate lighting on the street and to provide a safe amount of lighting on the sidewalk. Mr. Bryson said that safety is paramount for pedestrians and for traffic operations and creating dark spots in a particular area would create a safety problem. With regard to brighter lights, shadows become a problem, which can compromise safety. Once one turns off of a street that is lit more brightly than usual standards, the next street that is not lit as brightly will seem dark. Mr. Polenske said that a standard provides consistency for lighting throughout the City. At the same time, it is a very significant issue and if there is a portion of a street that is either not lit because of a failure in the light or is underlit, the department gets a number of complaints. There is a strong perception that decreased lighting decreases safety. Mr. Korban asked for more information on the sixty percent conversion of circuitry and asked what it will take, given the current efforts and level of funding, to reach 100 percent conversion. Mr. Bryson said that the department worked with the Budget City of Milwaukee Page 3 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE Office and the Comptroller's Office to look at ways to expedite the conversion and the original cost to fully upgrade the system was determined to be 60 million dollars if City workers are doing the work. The cost estimate for work done by a contractor was estimated to be forty to fifty percent higher. He added that students from the LaFollette School of Public Affairs looked at the City's plans and determined that the City is doing the conversion the correct way. Mr. Korban asked how long the conversion would take at the current level of funding. Mr. Bryson said that a complete conversion will take about sixty more years to complete. Mr. Bryson said that five years ago when the department increased the replacement of the series circuits and the funding was available, getting the extra two or three percent converted in the entire system meant that strides were made. He said that replacing an entire cable plant is difficult and expensive, so the department does what it can with the resources that it has. Mr. Korban asked what the cost is of not doing the conversion and just maintaining the existing system. Mr. Bryson said that in areas like the 11th District, which has the worst circuits in the City, there are thirty failures a year, which means that thirty nights a year the street lights will be out in various locations. Those outages, because the cable is so old, mean that the entire cable is failing. The problem is also severe in the 5th district. The vast majority of outages are on the series circuits. This means that there must be staff dedicated to making repairs on the components. Also, the transformer ballasts, due to the series circuits and the voltage, cannot be purchased and need to be manufactured by the City and buried underground, which increases costs. Also, the time dedicated to replacing them is substantial. Mr. Polenske said that this year the department is addressing the circuits in the areas that have the most problems. He said that the department can work towards getting the problem areas down to ten or fifteen outages per year. Mr. Bryson said that the department is replacing everything in one substation in the 1st and 6th Districts. However, in areas with constant problems, replacing the entire substation could take ten to twelve years. So it is better to treat the series circuit problems in the areas that are having the major outages and to get them done first. Mr. Nicolini asked if the department can look at extending the period of time that paving-related work has overhead lighting and perhaps use the funds to make more progress on the series conversion. He also said that it has been the most frustrating piece of the Capital Budget because of the lack of progress, even though the street lighting budget has been doubled since 2004. Ald. Bauman asked about the annual cost of operation and maintenance of the 77,000 street and alley lights. Mr. Bryson said that the electrical energy budget is about four million dollars for street lights and traffic signals. He added that the Capital Budget is a little over eight million dollars for the year just for street lighting; he will have to research the budget for maintenance. Ald. Bauman asked if a large portion of the street lighting budget is for series circuit replacement. Mr. Bryson answered that the funding for circuit conversion is a small percentage of the budget. He added that paving-related work accounts for half of the budget, which goes to Mr. Nicolini's point about using funds to put lighting back underground. Mr. Korban said that funds for overhead lights must be spent to keep the street lights on during paving projects. Mr. Bryson said that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds put the department behind with regard to leaving in overhead lighting. ARRA funds allowed the City to pave streets that were not origninally scheduled or budgeted for. Overhead lighting was required on these additional streets, and funds were not provided by the Federal government to do the work. Mr. Bryson said that the overheads must go underground eventually because they cause maintenance problems. Mr. Polenske said that the department is considering moving some of the temporary light pole setup into the paving contracts City of Milwaukee Page 4 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE so City staff can work on the more permanent light installations. Ald. Bauman asked about the cost of achieving 100 percent circuit conversion. Mr. Bryson said that five years ago, the cost was estimated to be sixty to ninety million dollars depending on whether the City staff does the work or if the work is contracted out. Mr. Polenske said that the department can track how much time is spent on the area-wide outage efforts versus the single-unit outages. Mr. Nicolini said that because the system is getting worse, it will take at least another doubling of the funding commitment to start reducing the annual operating and maintenance (O&M). Mr. Polenske said that the shift in the strategy to targeting the individual circuits that are causing the most trouble versus trying to do an entire substation will help. Mr. Schifalacqua said that the circuit system is aging, which means more problem areas will be developing. All the subdivisions that were put in in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s will be failing in the next ten or fifteen years. He said that the present pace for the conversion is too slow if it will take sixty years to complete. Additional funding or at least a different strategy will be needed. Mr. Schifalacqua also said that the cost of hiring contractors might not be more expensive than the work being done with City workers since contracts can sometimes be arranged for less money. He said that reducing the implementation time, hiring contractors, or reducing implementation time combined with increased funding can be considered. With regard to Street Lighting Substations, Mr. Bryson said that maintenance dollars go to care for the boxes out on the street, of which there are 247. These boxes rust, so funds are used to replace them. In one location in particular, the entire inside of a substation enclosure will be replaced as their deterioration poses a safety risk to anyone who enters the enclosure. About 100,000 dollars a year is spent replacing rusted boxes and components. Master Control System Replacement was started in 2000 and was developed as a way of controlling on and off times for lighting citywide. The previous system was breaking down, so a new, computer-based master control system is being deployed. This system has a fail safe at each station that can turn the lights on itself if the communication system fails. The new system also has the ability to send a warning when a circuit has failed. Mr. Bryson said that system is currently operational at 51 of the 247 stations and that the design of an additional 22 stations is being completed and will go to contract this summer. Roughly a third of the stations will be online mostly on the southwest and west sides of the City, the areas in which there are the most circuit failures. The department will start designing another forty stations this year. Mr. Bryson discussed the upgrading of poles, cables and equipment. With regard to pole replacement, the department is planning the replacement of the oldest poles, Shepards Crook Style lighting, around Schlitz Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and the Blatz Complex. The poles were popular back in the 70s, but they are now out of style and the department can no longer obtain replacement components. Ald. Bauman asked about the poles in the Yankee Hill area. Mr. Bryson said that Yankee Hill is the next area for pole replacement. The lights in that area are specialty, canister-type, which is also a difficult style to find parts for. Because the City uses so many harp and lanterns, the parts continue to be produced. But eventually, the City will have to look at replacing this style as well because the City will not be able to get the components necessary to maintain them. Ald. Bauman brought up the fact that property owners are assessed for sidewalk improvements; he asked if the department has explored making improvements to street lighting assessable. Mr. Bryson said that while regular street light repairs are City of Milwaukee Page 5 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE generally not assessable, specialty lighting components are fully assessable, although maintenance costs are still the responsibility of the City. Mr. Schifalacqua said street lighting is for the use of the general public, not just the homeowners and Mr. Nicolini added that political leadership has moved away from imposing additional special assessments. Mr. Nicolini also said that paving-related street lighting improvements present an opportunity to improve the performance of a system. But if the improvements are subject to special assessments, there may be a higher level of outages and an expectation for more maintenance and repair work. The City may be able to consider a modest level of assessment, but this could result in a large amount of the projects could be rejected by property owners, just like sidewalk and alley assessments sometimes are. Mr. Nicolini added that there were 3300 responses for area outages of street lights last year, while the previous four-year average was about 2700 responses. Using a fairly moderate estimate of what each response costs, 1.3 to 1.5 million dollars a year can be spent for just area outages. Mr. Kammholz said that when he worked in the Budget Office when the decision was made to increase some of the assessments for regular streets and alleys. The subject of assessing street lighting did come up, and there was reluctance to making lighting improvements assessable since there is a certain public safety element to lighting, even alley lighting. Mr. Bryson said that uncollectable pole and equipment knockdowns currently account for five percent of the street lighting budget. If someone knocks over a street light or damages a cabinet or a transposer in the field, the cost cannot be recovered if the person flees. So several years ago the cost was put into the Capital Program as a capital upgrade. Mr. Polenske followed up on a question posed regarding the O&M for street lighting. He said that the cost is basically twelve million dollars for lighting and traffic. The electricity usage is just over four million dollars in addition to the twelve million dollars. Mr. Froh asked if there is large differential rate between electrical rates at night and during the day. Mr. Bryson said there is a huge differential and the rate is reduced at night, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Mr. Bryson added that there is a special rate just for the city utilities that was negotiated at the time of the sale of the alley lights. 3. Presentation of the Traffic Control Condition Report. Individuals appearing: Bob Bryson, Traffic and Street Lighting Jeff Polenske, City Engineer Mr. Bryson presented a PowerPoint on the Traffic Control program (please the attachment "2012 CIC Traffic Control Program PowerPoint" to Council file 111338). Mr. Bryson said that a lot of work has been done regarding traffic signs. There was concern about the requirements for sign replacement that were set by the Federal government. But there is legislation in progress to repeal dates set by the government for sign replacement. Over time, the department has looked into the aging condition of the traffic sign inventory. The vast majority of traffic signs are parking signs. But there are large numbers of other types of signs, including nearly 22,000 street name signs and over 19000 regulatory signs. City of Milwaukee Page 6 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE Mr. Bryson said that the Federal government required the City to document a policy for maintaining sign reflectivity (please see the attachment "Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy Nov 2011" to Council file 111338). This codified how the City determines the retroreflectivity of signs. The department has instituted a program to look at the actual performance of the traffic sign sheeting, so it is not eliminating signs that are still functional. A test rack was put up at the Water Tower site at 6th and Howard that entailed putting the different types of sheeting on a piece of metal and allowing the sun to shine on them. The types of sheeting are checked on a yearly basis, which allows the department to determine when a type of sign should be replaced. Mr. Bryson said that since the program for measuring sign performance has only been effect since 2010, the department still must go out into the field and analyze traffic signs. During the past year, a number of traffic control interns measured the reflectivity of existing traffic signs with a reflectometer. If a sign does not meet the performance measures, the department has an idea of what signs need to be replaced. Ald. Bauman asked how many signs are produced by the City's sign shop in a given year. Mr. Bryson said that about 7500 traffic signs were installed in 2011. The City has a sign shop, but it will purchase certain signs if a mass sign replacement is being performed or something special is needed that the sign shop cannot produce. Ald. Bauman asked if the sign shop can cut the aluminum and create the signs that way. Mr. Bryson answered that the City buys blank aluminum signs and covers them with a reflective sheeting. Ald. Bauman asked if the department makes any signs for other entities or municipalities. Mr. Bryson said that the shop does not usually make non-City of Milwaukee signs. Mr. Polenske said that the City's sign shop is a small operation. It may have the capacity to handle the signage needs for other entities, but for the most part the shop can only handle the City's sign needs. Ald. Bauman said that making non-City signs could be a possible profit generator. Mr. Bryson said that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in conjunction with the sign manufacturers, determined that signs could only perform well for 10 years in terms of reflectivity. However, the sign study that the department performed out in the field showed that the sheeting life for the sign material has been two to 2.5 times better than the estimate of the sign manufacturers. The white signs are the best performing, lasting for 25 years before fading to the point that they need to be replaced. The yellow signs, which are a small component of the sign inventory that needs to be replaced, last the least amount of years before needing to be replaced. Mr. Bryson said that roughly 3500 signs are over 25 years old and should be scheduled for replacement. Mr. Kammholz asked how many signs are replaced a year. Mr. Bryson said that last year 7500 signs were replaced last year and the replacement of signs is based on legislation by the Common Council as well as the department's maintenance activity. The replacement of signs last year increased due to the replacement of some of the red signs and street name signs. The most critical signs, yield and stop, are being replaced at a good pace. Mr. Bryson said that there is not a lot of ground to make up on getting these type of signs replaced. He added that the vast majority of the green street signs are well beyond their useful life. Back in the early 1980s there was a total replacement of street name signs in the City. Those signs, about 13000 of them, are now twenty-five to thirty-five years old. Mr. Bryson said that the department will not replace that many signs in one year, but progress needs to be made to get rid of signs that are in a serious state of deterioration. Some of the green signs have aged to the point where they are falling apart and the sheeting is crumbling. Mr. Schifalacqua asked why street name signs are not being returned to white City of Milwaukee Page 7 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE sheeting if white signs last longer. Mr. Bryson said that the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) mandated that the signs be changed to green. Ald. Bauman asked why the City does not close the sign shop and privatize it to create a lucrative business. Mr. Bryson said that this topic comes up once every three to four years. Mr. Polenske said that a report was done several years ago to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of privatizing the sign shop. He said that most of the signs that the shop produces are specialty signs, although stop signs and regulatory signs are fairly standard. The City benefits from having the in-house sign making services. Ald. Bauman asked if the street signs for neighborhoods that were mass produced back in the 1990s could be reproduced if a neighborhood organization wanted to pay for them. Mr. Bryson said that the signs cannot be reproduced as the templates for the signs were made with a computer program that is no longer supported by the system that is needed for the sign inventories. Ald. Bauman asked if the City can at least provide the service of recreating street signs that are deteriorating. Mr. Polenske said that the specialty signs are of a higher graphic and the shop may not have the capability to produce them, so the neighborhood associations are having private vendors produce the signs. Mr. Bryson said that street sign specifications are given to the neighborhood associations, the associations buy them from outside vendors and then the City installs them. Mr. Bryson said that back in 2010, the State Legislature passed a law that doubles fines for speeding in school zones. The legislation requires the installation of signs that warn drivers that the fine doubles. These additional signs were not included in the budget. State law previously prohibited the City from installing "End School Zone" signs, but the City now has to add the signs at the end of the school zones so that the "Fines Double" signs can also be installed. This has led to a large, unplanned increase in sign installation. Mr. Bryson said that all but two traffic signals have been converted to LED lights. He also mentioned the rectangular flashing beacon that has been installed at Market Street and Kilbourn Avenue, but the results for the beacon have not been the same as some of the results reported nationally. Mr. Polenske said that it is not meant to be a traffic signal and is to garner the attention of motorists and remind them of the obligation to stop for pedestrians in the roadway. He added that it is an expensive measure to put in place, but it an improvement to what was at the intersection previously. Mr. Korban asked if the monetary savings from the LED traffic signal conversion has been quantified. Mr. Polenske said that 400,000 to 500,000 thousand dollars in annual energy costs were saved initially. Now it is around 100,000 dollars. Mr. Bryson also said that maintenance costs are lower due to the replacement of incandescent lamps, which only lasted about a year compared to the six-year life span of LEDs. Regarding pedestrian countdown displays, Mr. Bryson said that the MUTCD mandated that the City install them whenever a signal is upgraded or a signal project was reconstructed. Due to the City aggressively seeking Federal Highway Safety dollars for the conversion to the displays, five approved grants will pay for ninety percent of the cost of installation of the displays. With this funding, the City's signals should be entirely converted by the end of 2014. Downtown will be completed first along with a portion of the near North Side. Mr. Polenske said that getting the pedestrian countdown displays paid for involved DPW staff preparing a case for why this type of improvement should qualify for grants. The City of Milwaukee was the first City of Milwaukee Page 8 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE to make the case for coverage of costs by grants and now other communities are doing the same and are benefiting from the City making the case for grants. Ald. Bauman asked about the performance-based contract with Johnson Controls for the street light installation of LEDs. Mr. Bryson answered that the contract was for the LED traffic signal conversion. Out of over 700 lights, 199 were replaced by Johnson Controls. Ald. Bauman said that he was not completely in favor of the contract because the savings to the City was obviously measureable, so a guarantee was not needed. Ald. Bauman also said that Johnson Controls is being compensated with the savings that the City would have received from the conversion. Mr. Bryson responded that there is a component in the contract for monitoring both traffic signals and building controls and equipment at the Police Academy. That monitoring portion of the contract can be terminated for the traffic signals because the work has been done and the goal was achieved. There is no need to continue monitoring the work. Ald. Dudzik said that a problem with pedestrian countdown signals is drivers watching the countdown and driving accordingly. He asked if there has been any analysis of traffic accidents in intersections with the countdown signals. Mr. Bryson said that there has been no analysis of traffic accidents, but the response regarding the increase in pedestrian safety has been very positive. Ald. Dudzik asked if there is any consideration of something that can shield the countdown from the view of drivers but not pedestrians. Mr. Bryson answered that there are shields called Controlled Visibility Heads on certain traffic signals, but the cost of installing them is tremendous. Mr. Bryson said that the US Access Board has published changes in accessibility guidelines for the public right of way. The Department of Justice, since issues of accessibility relate to civil rights, is soliciting comments on potential changes that will affect the City tremendously. Under the Proposed Accessibility Guidelines, audible pedestrian signals will be required at all signalized intersections when a signal is changed or modified. This requirement will result in a ten to twelve million dollar cost to the City, or about 15,000 dollars per intersection. Ald. Dudzik asked how often the timing of traffic signals is changed. Mr. Bryson said that systems timing is done on a regular basis to keep them current. Also, accessibility guidelines are requiring a change in pedestrian clearance times (longer flashing "don't walk" signals) for the elderly and handicapped. So whenever the City makes the adjustments required, the internal timings of the traffic lights will be changed and the audible pedestrian signals must be installed at the same time. Mr. Bryson also said another result of changed accessibility guidelines is that signalization will be required on all legs of multilane roundabouts and multilane right turn lanes to assist in pedestrian crossing. Ald. Dudzik asked how many legs are on a typical roundabout. Mr. Bryson said that on a standard four legged approach, a signal would be needed at eight separate locations. He added that the Proposed Accessibility Guidelines is still a draft and the Department of Justice is soliciting comments about the proposed requirements. Mr. Bryson said that a new pavement marking machine was purchased last year that allows the City to make additional markings and to maintain pavement lines, such as bike lanes. The new machine has also increased the performance of the paint and the amount of pavement that is marked. Mr. Bryson also explained the different types of materials for pavement marking, including inlaid plastic and epoxy. Although they last longer than paint, plastic and epoxy are both expensive, so it is more economical to just re-mark the pavement each year with paint. Mr. Polenske said that under the new policies that the Federal government and the City of Milwaukee Page 9 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE State have enacted, whenever the City does any of its paving projects that utilize funding like the Federal Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality Grant, it is required to install bike lanes. In some instances, the department has been able to make the case that widening a roadway would be too difficult and too costly and that something like a sharrow was a much more accommodating measure to implement. Mr. Bryson discussed the amount of funds expended on uncollectable knockdowns. The total expenditures for damages done to signals, signs and controllers last year was approximately 165,000 dollars. When added to the 370,000 dollars in expenditures for uncollectable light pole and equipment knockdowns, the funds that the City is forced to expend on the damage from knockdowns have a major impact on the Capital Program. 4. Discussion of the Draft of the Administration's Capital Improvements Program. Individual appearing: Jennifer Meyer, Budget and Management Division Mr. Nicolini presented a PowerPoint on the Administration's draft Capital Improvements Program (please see attachment "2012-2017 Capital Improvements Plan DRAFT PowerPoint" to Council file 111338). Mr. Nicolini said that he wanted to emphasize that the program is currently a draft. The plan reflects some input from departments, but to a large extent it is based on figures that are current as of the end of 2011 and uses numbers that appeared in last year's Capital Improvement Plan requests. When doing the line-item budgets, the department will focus primarily on the DPW programs as those are the items that make up the majority of the budget and are also the items that are more easily projected into the future. With regard to programs related to facilities, particularly for the individual departments, and for economic development purposes it becomes more difficult to project out beyond the coming year. One can put in some longer range numbers, but the programs need to be examined on an annual basis. It is difficult to quantify what the demand of those particular programs will be in the future. Mr. Nicolini said that plan risks remain the same as were suggested last year. There is a big tie-in between the Capital Improvements Plan objectives and what is being done in the Operating Budget in terms of trying to provide services. Mr. Nicolini said that the plan risks are largely financial in nature. He focused on items 3 and 4 on the list of risks, which concern the funding for major bridges and the potential for unplanned and emergency projects. Between 2000 and 2011, state funding for major bridges averaged 15 million dollars a year. The Budget Office projects that between 2012 and 2017 that funding amount will be reduced to an average of 3.5 million dollars a year. Therefore, city funding is expected to grow to an annual average of 8.5 million dollars, which is well above what had been occurring between 2000 and 2008. The change between state and local bridges began in 2009 and will make it more difficult to accomplish growth in some of the City's other infrastructure programs. Mr. Nicolini also said that while the City has been able to prioritize facility-related projects reasonably well, the fact that so many facilities are aging leaves the City at risk for emergency or unplanned projects. This risk will increase throughout the plan period. In terms of Plan Opportunities, Mr. Nicolini emphasized the diversification of the Sewer Maintenance Fund Revenue base, which has allowed the City to achieve an adequate replacement cycle. The City has moved away from the total reliance on the water consumption-based fee structure and through the addition of a pervious, City of Milwaukee Page 10 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE surface-based stormwater charge, the City has been able to diversify the program's revenue base and make it more steady and reliable. Mr. Nicolini also said that since the City has made some progress in local street replacement cycles, there is hope that this progress will allow for a shift of funding to programs like alley and sidewalk. This hope is reflected in the draft Capital Plan. However, the increased pressure on major bridge funding from the local revenue base will make this more difficult to accomplish. Mr. Nicolini said that now that the City has reached close to full cost recovery on the operating side from many of the user charge-funded programs, there is an opportunity for reasonable annual rate increases that could provide funding for things like major fleet equipment that serves the Operations Division of DPW. A gradual shift to user charge financing will not only allow that program to remain reasonable but will also free up some levy-supported borrowing for the infrastructure programs. Another example is the Stormwater Charge, which has only 20 to 25 percent of the total revenue coming from residential properties. Mr. Nicolini also mentioned that in the Streets Program, a major portion of the expenditure from year to year is curb and gutter, and one could argue for the allocation of some of the Stormwater Charge to help offset costs. Ald. Dudzik asked if the expenditure for curb and gutter is already covered by the Wheel Tax. Mr. Nicolini said that there are a number of revenues for the local street program, but the Wheel Tax, while important, remains a small portion of the major funding for streets and street lighting. Mr. Schifalacqua asked if Mr. Nicolini is referring to existing user charges or new user charges. He also asked about the proceeds from assessments. Mr. Nicolini answered that in terms of the user charges, the Budget Office is looking at the existing ones primarily. The City is limited in its Home Rule authority to introduce user charges other than those that currently exist. With respect to assessments, they can continue to be discussed, but there has been a movement from political leadership towards reducing special assessments, not increasing them. Mr. Nicolini added that realistically 1million to 1.5 million dollars of what is currently funded through levy support could be generated by user charges. That would be an opportunity to bolster programs that have not advanced as far as others, particularly alleys and sidewalks. With regard to the draft Plan's priorities and highlights, Mr. Nicolini said that the Plan does achieve a fifty-year local street replacement cycle by 2014 and continues it through the end of the Plan period. This is done by taking into account the alternating year, fifty percent contribution of the State's Local Roads Improvement Program (LRIP) combined with increasing local authorization. Mr. Nicolini added that the ninety year replacement cycle for sewers will be maintained and the focus on operational effectiveness will be strengthened with things like energy reduction; increased solid waste collection with a greater level of automation; and a promising enterprise land management system that will improve the allocation of Department of Neighborhood Services resources, in particular. The Budget Office does look for opportunities to deploy the Capital Budget to improve operating effectiveness. Mr. Nicolini also said that in the draft Plan, the Water Works Capital Program is reset, which will depend on a sustainable rate program. The plan will also allow for continued economic development projects through Tax Increment Financing. In terms of Plan Financing, the levy-supported General Obligation borrowing target is 74 million dollars for two reasons. The first is that it can enable progress on condition and asset performance. The second is that the target will be consistent with debt levy stability, as it is important to keep increases in the debt levy to two to three percent per year. A larger borrowing target would generate a larger debt levy City of Milwaukee Page 11 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE increase. Mr. Nicolini said that the draft Plan currently exceeds the GO borrowing target by an annual average of 2.6 million dollars. Through the gradual growth in user charge finance, which is not built into the Plan at this point, and some modest growth in the application of the public debt amortization fund application to debt levy management, it will be possible to achieve the levels of expenditure in the Plan while staying within the debt levy target. Mr. Nicolini said that no matter how much progress is made with regard to Capital Budgeting, there challenges will continue to present themselves. 5. Discussion of the Draft of the Six-Year Capital Plan. Individual appearing: Jennifer Meyer, Budget and Management Division Mr. Nicolini presented the draft Six-Year Capital Plan (please see the attachment "2012-2017 Capital Improvements Plan DRAFT" to Council file #111338). He said that all the numbers at this point are draft numbers and suggested that the committee review the major line items. Mr. Nicolini said that since the Budget Office has not had an opportunity to speak with the Library staff in detail, the Budget Office used the numbers that the Library suggested for its Central Library program needs. For the neighborhood libraries, since there is uncertainty as to whether the City will opt for an area library approach, two line items were created. The Improvements Fund reflects more or less absolutely essential improvements like HVAC improvements and roof replacements. The Facility Initiative line represents an average of some refurbishments that, while not essential to operations, would improve Library programs and services. The Facility Initiative items will need to be evaluated on a case by case basis. Mr. Nicolini said that most of the attention today is focused on the Department of Public Works. He said that the Budget Office used a combination of the capital requests in the last budget and some Administration goals. In the Administrative Services Division, the phone system upgrades will have been completed, so the existing appropriation level for Public Safety Communications was maintained. In the Forestry Program, the initial plan amounts are at the level needed based on replacement tree planting. Mr. Nicolini said that the Budget Office did not include any amounts for extended boulevard tree or stump removal programs. He added that the Emerald Ash Borer Prevention program was kept as a plan element throughout the six-year period. Mr. Nicolini said that for Major Capital Equipment, with the exception of one year, the base level is maintained. Basically, for 2014, the Budget Office is trying to balance things out with respect to the rest of the Plan. However, that number could increase depending on the use of automated equipment and user-charge financing. The goal is to stay reasonably close to the overall target. Regarding Buildings and Fleet projects, the numbers are difficult to predict in the out years. In particular, Mr. Nicolini pointed out the line item for Facilities Systems Program, which was developed with the numbers that the department submitted as part of its request last year. This program will probably come under increasing City of Milwaukee Page 12 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE pressure due to the aging of the city facilities. This program should be regarded as a program that will need a lot of attention and analysis moving forward. Mr. Nicolini said that other programs are difficult to predict far in advance and will require additional analysis as progress on the Plan moves forward. There is a plan for the MacArthur Plaza remediation, which basically reflects the department's plan. The Energy Program includes funding for an energy efficiency program with an average of 900,000 dollars a year throughout the Plan period. It is titled "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy", but it will primarily focus on energy efficiency. The Budget Office is trying to build in a commitment of 750,000 dollars for some high energy use projects that could achieve a payback period of about six years. The Budget Office is trying to use some analysis that the department has done regarding energy use and is trying to pick off the projects with highest return in terms of either dollar savings or a short payback period. Mr. Nicolini said that the heart and soul of the Capital Budget is the Infrastructure Division programs. The Major Bridge Program- Local is now substituting, in large part, for what had been previously a largely state-funded program. The amounts can range from 7.8 million dollars this year to a high of about 10.1 million dollars for the 2013 budget. This reflects both the migration of the program to a greater level of local effort as well as the fact that within the Plan period there are three movable bridge projects, which tend to be the most expensive type of bridge project. Mr. Nicolini said that the draft Plan does reflect some reworking of numbers with DPW to bring the average number to a slightly more manageable level than what had previously been submitted. The City funding match for the Major Streets Program varies from year to year, but the Budget Office is committing to the projections from the DPW on that program. There draft Plan shows a decrease in 2013 from the 2012 level, but a negative impact is not expected since the City gained funding from the federal stimulus in the preceding couple of years. Mr. Nicolini said that if the City can return to the more systematic level of five to six million dollars of city funds to combine to the State Grant and Aid funds, there should not be any cause for concern. In the draft Plan, Mr. Nicolini said that New Street Construction will be funded as needed. There are no projections for the program as of yet, so no funding is included. The Street Reconstruction Resurfacing is a key item for the Local Street Program and there will be a declining amount in the even-numbered years, which reflects the expectation that the City will get a million dollars through the LRIP program. The funding actually comes through the Major Street Program, but it applies to Local Streets. Mr. Nicolini said that there is a projection that by 2014, there will be enough funds for the 50-year replacement cycle. A small amount of inflationary impact in the latter years was built in, but by 2015, the funding level reaches almost 17.8 million dollars in the odd-numbered years. Mr. Schifalacqua asked about the amount for special assessments in the Street Reconstruction and Resurfacing program. Mr. Nicolini said that it is just a placeholder number. The actual numbers will be based on the level of estimated work for the driveway and sidewalk portions of projects. For alley reconstruction, Mr. Nicolini said that at the current level of assessments will result in a 100-year replacement cycle being reached in 2021. Seventy-five or eighty years has been discussed as an optimal alley replacement cycle, but the draft Plan sets in motion some progress towards a better replacement cycle. The Sidewalk Replacement Program would be reset at about a 1.5 million dollars with the exception of one year and the Street Lighting Program is projected for .5 million dollar increases City of Milwaukee Page 13 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE each of the next two years with a possible decline in 2016 based on the anticipated completion of the Substation Program. However, the Substation Program will probably take one more year based on the information received from DPW earlier in the meeting. With regard to Water Works, the Plan is more detailed on the level of mains and distribution than on the level of plants. The funding for mains and distribution increases from 8.5 million in 2013 to 14.5 million dollars in 2017. While the plants and facilities figures have not been determined, based on initial projections from Water Works, 8 million dollars a year have been included in the Plan. Mr. Nicolini said that these numbers will be difficult to achieve, but the Budget Office is looking at rate plan alternatives as well as financing plan alternatives, as well as an appropriate mix of debt and cash financing. The City will have to look at how rapidly it can try to offset a deficit to the General Fund that is currently owed and at whether or not a cash balance should be built into the program. Mr. Nicolini said that while a cash balance would be ideal for Water Works, having such a large cash balance in the past led to a delay in the rates. He added that perhaps one relatively large rate increase followed by successive annual rate increases can allow a return to a more stable financial program. Mr. Nicolini said that Sewer Maintenance Program will require some modest adjustments, but the Administration feels it can maintain the roughly 40 million dollars in funding for capital elements in the Plan. This approach is intended to achieve the approximate 90-year replacement cycle, which is viewed as an acceptable level of effort. But Mr. Nicolini said that there is a question as to how the private property Inflow and Infiltration (I & I) initiative will affect the relative balance between I & I reduction projects versus the more conventional projects in the Sewer Maintenance Relay Program. Mr. Nicolini added that the Pump Facility projects are intended to improve the working of the bypass pumps, which can be used in cases of extreme storms. That program was upgraded about three years ago, so the goal is to have those pumps in full working order. He also said that a question remains about River Channel Maintenance, which probably should have been titled Channel Restoration as it does not refer to operating activities like brush removal. There is a project in this year's budget on the far Northwest side to restore the capacity of a stormwater channel. While there has not been an analysis done yet, the assumption is that, given the age of the improvements, some channel restoration will be done on a more regular basis. Mr. Nicolini reminded the committee that the Plan is a draft, but it provides some insight into what current revenues can provide and what some of the trade-offs could be. Mr. Schifalacqua asked for a discussion on Capital Request submittals and reviews. Ms. Brengosz said that the tentative date for the submittal of the Capital Requests will be Friday, March 23rd. Mr. Gupta asked if two separate forms will be submitted to Capital Improvements Committee and to the Budget Office. Ald. Dudzik responded that there will only be one set of forms. 6. Set next agenda. The next meeting is scheduled for February 29th. There will be condition reports from Communications and Underground Conduit and Buildings and Recreational Facilities. City of Milwaukee Page 14 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes February 8, 2012 COMMITTEE Meeting adjourned at 11:23 a.m. Staff Assistant Tobie Black This meeting can be viewed in its entirety through the City's Legislative Research Center at http://milwaukee.legistar.com/calendar. City of Milwaukee Page 15