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 December 14, 2022 10:00 AM. Sam King Room - 601 Broad Street PRESENT: Commissioner Cochran Commissioner Askew Commissioner Bojo Mr. Sammy Rich, City Manager Ms. Meredith Ulmer, Assistant City Manager Ms. Kelly Parker, Executive Assistant to the City Manager Mr. Chris Jenkins, Public Works Director Ms. Toni Rhinehart, Finance Director Mr. Aaron Carroll, Engineering Services Director Mr. Felipe Arevalo, Engineering Services Design Engineer Ms. Aundi Lesley, DDA Director Ms. Julie Harris, Parking Services Manager Ms. Kathy Shealy, Transit Director Ms. Courtnay Williams, Transit Assistant Director Mr. Artegus Newell, Planning Director Ms. Hannah Bagley, Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful Program Coordinator Capt. Chris Dehart, Rome Police Department Mr. Doug Walker, Public Information Officer CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Cochran called the meeting to order. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the October called meeting were approved by common consent. 200 Vaughn Road • PO Box 1433 • Rome, Georgia 30162-1433 Phone: 706/236-4466 • fax: 706/236-4532 Mr. Rich reported that Byrd Scooter Company will be making a presentation via Zoom. Commissioner Cochran asked that presentation should start off this meeting. Byrd Scooter Presentation Account executive Camille Didio of the Bird Company explained that in partnerships with cities, they provide electric scooters where riders can rent them via a phone app. The scooters have GPS tracking so they can be retrieved for recharging by a fleet manager after use. Their range is 35-miles, but they can be restricted to the travel area designated by the City. She noted the vehicle speed can be programed for designated areas as well as on the approach to a no ride zones. The charge to riders is typically a $1 unlock fee plus a permanent fee based on the type and length of the ride which usually averages around $7. They typically appeal to an age range from 20 to 40. Commissioner Cochran asked if the company would require the City’s approval to use our right of way. Ms. Didio said they would. He asked if any of the cities they work with have used the scooters for micro transit. She said they have. Commissioner Cochran thanked her for the presentation assuring her it would be discussed with the other Commissioners. POLICE REPORTS Capt. Dehart presented the November Accident/DUI report. He noted for 22 there were 185 crashes down slightly from this time last year. Total crashes year to date were 2,069 up from 1,908 in 2021. There has been a fatality in December, so we know have 2 for the year. There were no major changes as of recently, but it is surprising that Turner McCall /Hicks Drive was the highest accident intersection with 9 accidents. Redmond Circle/Shorter Avenue was the second highest with 6 accidents. TRANSIT OPERATIONS Transit Updates Ms. Shealy reported that we have discussed free transportation for 2023 but would like to get a vote from this Committee to recommend this to the City Commission. Commissioner Bojo moved to recommend free Transit ridership in 2023. Commissioner Askew seconded. The motion carried. Ms. Griffin presented the updated safety plan, required by GDOT and FTA, which includes an update on some statistics as well as an updated map. She noted the organizational chart was the only substantial change. GDOT required a more defined schedule for the Safety Committee so that has been set for quarterly. Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes December 14, 2022 Page 2 of 6  Commissioner Bojo moved to approve the Safety Plan. Commissioner Askew seconded. The motion carried. Ms. Griffin reported that almost all the tripper buses have been sold. The remaining six will be posted by year end. Commissioner Bojo asked how many we started with. Ms. Griffin replied twenty-eight. Ms. Shealy added that those that have met their useful life could be sold for any price under $5000 without any obligation to send the proceeds back to FTA. Financial Report Ms. Rhinehart presented the October financial statement. She noted that Main Line revenues were down due to the free ridership. She noted under Paratransit, the DHR is giving us a little more per rider on our state contract. Investment income is up from last year. We are in the process of submitting capital and Federal operating from July on. Their fiscal year is from July 1 through June 30th, so we are trying to get that caught up to get some reimbursements in by the end of the year. We just paid for five Gillig buses and four Creative buses for about $3 million so we are trying to get the capital reimbursements for those. Under expenses, she noted we are on budget overall. Ms. Griffin added that the new buses are in, and our mechanics are in training for them. We are getting the logos on the new buses now and are planning a ribbon cutting sometime in January which will be announced. OLD BUSINESS Speed Hump Policy Mr. Carroll reported that has completed a draft speed hump policy for review. We looked at a lot of different policies in different areas and are very much in line with Floyd County’s policy. He highlighted the steps that would be taken when a speed hump request, is received as follows 1. Confirm the location requested is a City Street. 2. Post speed limits in the location if it is not already posted check back to see if that helped resolve the situation. 3. If the situation is not resolved staff will perform a traffic study. 4. If the study concludes the speed at which the 85th percentile of motorists’ travel is no more than 5 miles per hour over the speed limit the request will be denied. 5. If the study concludes the 85th percentile of motorists’ travel from 6 to 11 miles over the speed limit, the Engineering staff will determine the service area that would be most directly impacted by a speed hump and 85% of those property owners must support the request by petition. 6. If the 85th percentile drives greater than 11 miles over the speed limit, 60% of the affected property owners must support the request by petition. Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes December 14, 2022 Page 3 of 6  After the petition has been verified, the speed hump will be installed but will only be placed in front of a property whose owner did support the petition. Mr. Carroll stated he will distribute the policy to the Commissioners for review. Riverbend Drive Accidents Mr. Jenkins reported since we discussed this a couple of months ago, we have been reviewing accidents on Riverbend Drive. Most of the accidents were due to losing control. Guardrail has been suggested but it wouldn’t solve the problem of motorists losing control of the vehicles. He noted the accidents have occurred in both directions in the curve. He noted that guardrail is $65,000 and if we don’t solve the root problem, we will be frequently replacing guardrail. Mr. Carroll met with a vendor who provides high friction surface treatment that is used by GDOT on bridges. He presented a sample of the material. Commissioner Bojo asked how much the surface treatment would cost. Mr. Jenkins said it would be $43,000. Mr. Carroll noted that it would be a good solution on Walnut Avenue as well where several motorists have lost control and damaged a resident’s property. Mr. Carroll added this material is an epoxy resin that has gravel applied to it. Mr. Jenkins recommended this traction along with a guardrail. Mr. Carroll noted that this can’t be done until the spring because we will have to mill and repave the area that we already have scuffed up before we can place the epoxy. Captain Dehart stated that he would prefer increasing enforcement and public awareness prior to implementing these expensive physical changes. Mr. Rich said since this couldn’t be implemented until spring, there is plenty of time to try his suggestions first. Mr. Carroll asked if Captain Dehart would also look at Walnut Avenue as well. Commissioner Bojo moved that the surface treatment be tried prior to installing a guardrail. Commissioner Cochran clarified that we would try enforcement first, then the surface treatment after which a study would be performed to determine the effectiveness of these measures before installing a guardrail. Commissioner Askew seconded. The motion carried. NEW BUSINESS Request to Convert Turn lane on E 8th St into parallel parking Mr. Jenkins reported that Ira Levy has requested taking a portion of the turn lane on E 8th between the two driveways of the former Georgia Power building and creating four or five parallel parking spaces. The road is 46 feet wide which is enough room to do it. He noted that there is not a parking issue there right now. Mr. Levy will not be using the former drive through driveway. Ms. Leslie noted Mr. Levy is aware that DDA would not be monitoring parking at that location. Mr. Rich noted that the building is very busy and well utilized with its new tenants. Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes December 14, 2022 Page 4 of 6  Mr. Jenkins noted we could do angled parking if we made a two-lane road, which would probably give us more spaces than parallel spaces would. Commissioner Cochran asked Mr. Jenkins to investigate angled parking for this location. No Parking Sign request for a portion of Douglas Street Mr. Jenkins reported that Lifoam Industries on Douglas Street have requested no parking on Douglas street to enable vehicles and large trucks to exit their parking lot. They have had problems with cars parked on both sides of the street making it difficult particularly for large trucks to exit. Mr. Jenkins indicated the desired area on a map. Request to allow PTV Access for Branham Ave and Pennington Dr. Mr. Jenkins reported in 2016 the State allowed PTV’s on roads posted at 25 mph or less. He said we have since allowed PTV’s on Broad Street with some requirements such as registering the PTV with the Rome Police Department, having brake lights, lights on the front and drivers must be 18 or over. We have received a request for Branham Ave to Virginia Circle. The speed limit on Branham is 35 mph and it is on the radar list. We will have to either request GDOT remove it from the radar list or drop it down to 25 mph and keep it on the radar list. Mr. Carroll noted that the 85% is going to be higher than 25 mph so it will be difficult to reduce it. Commissioner Cochran asked for a traffic study to confirm the speeds found in that location. OYO Hotel Fence Request Mr. Rich reported that developers are converting the OYO Hotel into apartments and need to fence off the City property along the levy side they have been using as a private parking lot. He added the already have a lease agreement with the City for the use of these spaces and we would create an agreement or memorandum of understanding for this access. Commissioner Bojo moved to grant the request. Commissioner Askew seconded. The motion carried. OTHER Belmont Drive Flooding Commissioner Cochran asked for an update on the Belmont Drive flooding issue. Mr. Carroll said we have arrived at a solution and when the weather improves, we will heighten the shoulder and make some improvements that should help. Public Work Committee/Transit Committee/Traffic Commission Minutes December 14, 2022 Page 5 of 6 West 3rd Street/North 5th Avenue Design Update Mr. Carroll reported he West 3rd Street/North 5th Avenue project is moving forward. We are working with Pond and Company and Georgia Power. We are supplying some additional survey information. He will try to provide more information at the next meeting. He added that he has some striping modifications for the Bridge at 5th Avenue to be delivered to the County. GDOT Shorter Avenue Paving Contract Mr. Jenkins reported the GDOT Shorter Avenue paving contract will go out for bid on December 16th. Commissioner Cochran asked if we have funding to pave North Broad and North Broad Extension. Mr. Jenkins said we are about to pave Redmond Road for $900,000. He requested $750,000 in the budget for North Broad and North Broad Extension, but he didn’t know if it was funded. Ms. Rhinehart said she will check and see if that was approved. 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 December 14, 2022 Page 6 of 6