Public Works / Traffic / Transit Committee

Chris Jenkins, Director Justin Messer, Assistant Director PUBLIC WORKS DIVISION , Cemetery Department Jody Gonzales, Superintendent Engineering Services Aaron Carroll, Director Public Works Vehicle Maintenance Department Joe Krinke, Superintendent Solid Waste Collections Department Tim Garrett, Director Solid Waste Processing & Disposal Department Lee Stone, Director Streets & Drainage Department Chad Hampton, Director PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSIT COMMITTEE AND TRAFFIC COMMISSION May12, 10:00 AM. Sam King Room ‐ 601 Broad Street PRESENT: Commissioner Mark Cochran Commissioner Bill Collins Commissioner Bonny Askew Mr. Sammy Rich, City Manager Mr. Chris Jenkins, Public Works Director Mr. Justin Messer, Assistant Public Works Director Mr. Aaron Carroll, Engineering Services Director Ms. Toni Rhinehart, Finance Director Ms. Kathy Shealy, Transit Director Ms. Courtnay Griffin, Transit Assistant Director Mr. Art Newall, Planning Director Maj. Rodney Bailey, Rome Police Department Ms. Kayla Schaaf, Associate Planner/Transportation GUESTS: Julie Smith, TRED CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Cochran called the meeting to order. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the previous meeting were approved by common consent. 200 Vaughn Road • PO Box 1433 • Rome, Georgia 30162‐1433 Phone: 706/236‐4466 • fax: 706/236‐4532 POLICE REPORTS Major Baily presented the April accident report. He noted that accidents were up quite a bit from 2020, but noted that 2019 is a better comparison. In 2019 there were 802 total accidents in the first quarter of 2019 as compared to 759 this year for the same period. Private lot accidents were up slightly but below this period in 2019. Accidents with injuries about the same. Fatalities have increased significantly this year so we are focusing on reducing speeds to prevent them. DUI arrests continue to go up, so we are increasing enforcement in that area. General traffic cases are up from 2019 and 2020. Following too closely is the primary cause for crashes and they take place during high traffic times. He noted that Riverside and Chatillon has dropped off the list of high accident locations for this month, and Shorter Ave/Burnette Ferry Rd and Martha Berry/Veterans Memorial intersections are at the top of the list with five accidents each. TRANSIT OPERATIONS Disposal of Tripper Buses Ms. Shealy reported that yesterday staff had a zoom meeting with FTA who has finally given permission to sell the tripper buses but there will be some restrictions on purchasing similar sized buses in the future. She noted that we do not yet know how we will sell them. Mr. Rich added there are companies who purchases buses as a fleet so we will be looking into that. Ms. Shealy noted that we will be allowed to keep the proceeds from the sale. Ms. Rhinehart added that the revenue from the sale of the buses must go in restricted accounts and only be used for capital expenses only. Expenditures using those funds would also have to be approved by GDOT. Financial Report Ms. Rhinehart presented the March financial report. She noted there wasn’t much difference in revenues for 2020 and 2021, but contract services showed the biggest difference for being a little behind in revenues this year. Expenditures were down from this period last year due to having an extra payroll last year. The cash balance was about $1 million. We are still getting capital federal and state capital reimbursements. We have not done any requests for revenues for 2021 operation or capital reimbursements at this time, but we do have 100% funding for 2021. Commissioner Collins suggested we look into what local industries are having issues with transporting employees. Commissioner Cochran asked Commissioner Collins to sit down with Chamber representatives to talk about local needs. Ms. Shealy cautioned that we are required to have fixed routes that serve the public at large and cannot create a service that could be in competition with private businesses like a charter business. Commissioner Cochran suggested Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes, May 12, 2021 Page 2 of 6 Commissioner Collins meet with Chamber Director of Business and Industry Services, Pam Powers‐Smith. OLD BUSINESS 5th Avenue Bridge Discussion Mr. Carroll reported that after the meeting at Marriott he planned to be looking at RFP’s by the end of May, but was unable to get them out without knowing how the lanes will be situated first. In order to direct the engineer to complete the design, we need to know how we are connecting at the bridge when we start laying out the push-outs and sidewalks. He added that since the County owns the bridge, they will also have to be involved along with many other players, we need to have a better idea of what we plan to do. Commissioner Collins asked Mr. Rich if the County does actually own the bridge. Mr. Rich replied that according to the State inventory, the County does own the bridge. Commissioner Collins noted that we should call a meeting between everyone involved so we can pin down the design. Mr. Rich noted the County wants us to save the bridge until the end of the streetscape project. Commissioner Cochran noted as far as the RFP goes, we know that we are definitely going to two lanes. He expressed safety concerns around the parallel parking. Mr. Carroll stated that GMC laid out a design based on what they were instructed to do, which was focused on parking. Once we decide on a design, we have to run it by the County for approval. Commissioner Cochran asked if Commissioners Collins and Askew would approve of him meeting with Mr. Carroll and the County to work this out. Commissioner Collins suggested he do that but bring the results of this meeting back to this Committee. The Commissioners agreed. Request to change Ridgepointe Drive from Private to a Public Street Mr. Carroll noted the request to change Ridgepointe Drive in Woodfin Estates from private to a public street was discussed last meeting. He and Mr. Jenkins reviewed the request and suggest the owner removes the flume and puts in a a section of solid curb and gutter so all the water stays within the right of way where we have the right to address it. He and Mr. Jenkins feel the additional flow should not compromise the rest of the road. The water will flow to an existing catch basin and into a drainage pipe. If the flow should prove too much for this drain we can always add a second drain to keep the water inside our right of way. Commissioners agreed with this solution. Mr. Carroll said that he will get with Dr. Collins to present this suggestion to him. Raised Mid-block Crossings on Broad Street Mr. Jenkins reported that we approved a raised mid‐block crossing on Broad St. in the 4th Ave block. He noted that he has gotten with Mr. Carroll and Street Department Director, Chad Hampton, to look at how this will affect the stormwater drainage at this location. This project is intended to be a temporary one so we can see the effectiveness Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes, May 12, 2021 Page 3 of 6  of this measure. He asked Mr. Carroll to assist us with looking at the design. Mr. Carroll said that asphalt would be challenging. The table will be a 3” tall rectangle with tapers, which would require forms to be built which would shut Broad Street down for a day. We went back with the idea of a rubber matt with pre‐painted markings. He noted the ends where it tapers off is not fully ADA complaint, but there isn’t enough room to taper it as needed. Since this is an exercise to see if it is effective at reducing speeds, he felt we could live with this issue temporarily. He added we can get this delivered in 3 to 4 weeks at a cost of about $9000 for two of them. He noted that we are currently clocking speed and want to collect 2 to 3 weeks of data prior to the installation to compare with data taken after installation. Mr. Jenkins added that since this is a mat, we can easily remove it if we aren’t happy with it for any reason. Then we can look into concrete or asphalt solutions. Blooms on Broad Plaque Mr. Jenkins reminded the committee that in 2019 the Community Foundation headed by Joel Snyder created the Blooms on Broad project. They wanted to sell sponsorships on the pots and they want us to install 24 plaques around the push‐outs and completed by June 24th for a dedication they plan to hold. The plaques range in sizes from 4”x8” with some that are 8”x8”. The City will do the installation. He added that we have had a lot of great comments about the flowers. Pedestrian Bridge Closing Sunday, September 19th, 1 PM‐8 PM (One community United) Mr. Jenkins reported that One Community United has requested closing the pedestrian bridge for their event on the bridge they have held for the past three years. He noted there has never been a problem with this event. He recommended approving this event and then it will also have to be forwarded to the County. Commissioner Askew moved to approve the request. Commissioner Cochran seconded the motion carried. Roundabout East 12th/East 2nd Avenue Mr. Carroll reported that GDOT has been observing the bridge at 2nd Ave and E 12th and they have put a concept together for the construction of a roundabout there. They plan to completely fund the project and ask a letter from the City of Rome supporting the project. He noted that roundabouts do help traffic conditions and he recommended we send the approval letter to them. Ms. Smith asked if there would be bile lanes included in this project. Commission Cochran asked Mr. Carroll to see if GDOT would discuss the possibility of adding a bike lane. Mr. Carroll replied that he would send the letter of support and include our desire to discuss bike lines with them. Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes, May 12, 2021 Page 4 of 6 OTHER Commissioner Cochran asked when the other side of Broad Street will be pressure washed. Mr. Jenkins said we were waiting to get past Mother’s Day and Easter and are looking at doing it in the next 30 to 60 days. He added the work will be done at night by our contractor. Commissioner Cochran asked for an update on SPLOST sidewalk projects. Mr. Carroll said we are in the process of finishing up a survey from the driveway at Redmond Regional Hospital , west to the loop and around to Butler St. Once we got into Redmond Regional we found that we will have to obtain right of way to add sidewalks along the front of the hospital. We have the majority of the surveying done and we have some sidewalk to do on Maple Street for Bekki Fox. He added that GDOT wants a 2‐foot grass strip and a six‐foot wide sidewalk but there isn’t enough room to achieve that width so we will have to discuss that further, but we are making progress overall. Commissioner Cochran mentioned his concerns about the Shorter Avenue sidewalks being dangerous. Mr. Jenkins noted they were built in the 1980’s. The curbs are not ADA compliant. We have talked with GDOT several times about this. He noted Georgia Code 32‐2‐2 states that once GDOT builds the infrastructure, the City is responsible for routine maintains for the sidewalk. while GDOT will be required to do “substantial repairs”. Mr. Jenkins stated he considers making sidewalks ADA compliant substantial repairs while GDOT does not. In some cases, the sidewalk has lowered and the catch basin is higher causing a trip hazard. Mr. Carroll mentioned we should reach out to our former district engineer that recently retired for advice on this. Mr. Jenkins said we need to take a hard look at this issue locally. He added that we do get LMIG money every year that we can use on sidewalks although that is the same funding we use for paving. Commissioner Cochran asked about funding for more trails. Ms. Smith there are several grants for trail expansion. Mr. Newell agreed and said he is attending a meeting about this on Monday. He added that he has been talking about tying the trails in with transportation. Commissioner Cochran noted his concerns about the appearance of the light poles and signs on Broad St. Mr. Carroll replied there is a capital project out of the Engineering Department to repaint all overhead signage. An RFP will be going out for that work. Mr. Jenkins reported the City got our gas got topped off yesterday and the Fire department got topped off today. He added that we have a contract with Morgan and Hunt so they are making sure we are supplied. Mr. Jenkins announced that next week is National Public Works appreciation week. Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes, May 12, 2021 Page 5 of 6 MONTHLY REPORTS The monthly departmental reports were distributed for review. ADJOURN There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully Submitted, Margaret Hollingsworth Margaret W. Hollingsworth, Secretary Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes, May 12, 2021 Page 6 of 6