A meeting of the Highway Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday February 7, 2008 at 6:00pm in the Conference Room of the DeKalb County Highway Department, DeKalb, Illinois.  

Vice-Chairperson Augsburger called the meeting to order at 6:05pm.  Committee members present were, Chair LaVigne, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Gudmunson, Mr. Stoddard and Mr. Walt.  Also present were Mr. Bill Lorence, County Engineer, Wayne Davey, Support Services Manager, James Quinn, Operations Manager, Paul Rasmussen and Gregg Millburg, Farm Bureau; Robert Mullins, Mullins Grain; and Mr. Arthur Bingham.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion made by Mr. Anderson and seconded by Mr. Stoddard to approve the minutes of the regular December 6, 2007 meeting.  The motion to approve the minutes carried unanimously. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Motion made by Mr. Walt to approve the agenda and Mr. Gudmunson seconded this motion.  The motion carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

PUBLIC COMMENT:  There were no public comments at this time. 

AWARD RESOLUTION FOR THE 2008 COUNTY/ROAD DISTRICTS SEAL COAT PROJECT:   

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that bids were taken for the 2008 County/Road District Seal Coat Project.  Three bids were received with the apparent low bid having to be rejected by DeKalb County for an incomplete bid submission.  The Committee inquired as to why a bidder would fail to bid on an item if they knew it would disqualify them.  The County Engineer had no answer and only speculated that is was an oversight on the person preparing the bid documents.  The next lowest bid meeting specification was submitted by Road Oil, Inc. from Granville, Illinois, in the amount of $1,307,144.00.  This Company has done work previously for the County and their work has been acceptable.  Mr. Lorence explained that Road Oil would do a good job for the County and recommended that the Committee forward the award resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.    A motion was made by Mr. Anderson and seconded by Mr. Walt to forward the award resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.

AWARD RESOLUTION FOR 2008 ROAD DISTRICT AGGREGATE SPREAD ON ROAD (SOR) MFT PROJECTS:

Mr. Lorence explained to the Committee that bids were taken for the Road Districts for their aggregate projects that they would be spending their MFT funds on to complete.  Two bids were received for Malta Road District with Macklin, Inc from Rochelle, Illinois submitting the low bid meeting specifications.  Their bid was $7.79 per ton and that bid was under the Engineer’s estimate of $7.90 per ton.  Paw Paw Road District received three bids with the lowest bid meeting specifications submitted by Fischer Excavating, Inc from Freeport, Illinois.  Their bid was $7.49 per ton and that bid was also under the Engineer’s estimate of $10.50 per ton.  The Committee inquired as to why Fischer would bid on Paw Paw’s project and not Malta’s if they were coming out of Freeport, Illinois.  The County Engineer explained that Fisher Excavating had pits in several locations and that they would not necessarily be hauling out of Freeport, Illinois.  It would be hard to beat Macklin, Inc. bid for Malta Road District as they have a pit right next to Malta Road District.  Mr. Lorence recommended that the Committee forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.    A motion was made by Mr. Walt and seconded by Mr. Anderson to forward the award resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION FOR THE JURISDICTIONAL TRANSFER OF SOUTH FIRST STREET FROM AFTON ROAD DISTRICT TO DEKALB COUNTY: 

Mr. Lorence explained that the County is currently maintaining this road for everything except snow removal and sign maintenance.  This was brought about by an agreement several years ago and Afton Road District has been requesting the County take complete control for some time.  The reason the County was unable to accept this transfer was that County roads must join to a municipal road system and cannot terminate at a Road District jurisdiction.  The City of DeKalb has annexed South First Street to south of Harvester Drive and DeKalb Road District has agreed to transfer 1,142.9 feet of South First Street to now allow the transfer to go forward.  The County Engineer explained the curves on South First Street will be straightened and the road resurfaced in the future.  The Afton Road District Commissioner obtained the necessary right-of-way to allow for the curves to be laid out to accommodate safer speeds.  The County is in need of additional north-south routes through the County and this will provide for that need.  The County will not receive any additional MFT funds for this road, however the Afton Road District and DeKalb Road Districts will see a decrease in their annual MFT allocation due to reduced mileage.  By having this road on the County system this road will now be eligible for Federal funding and upgrading of this road can be accomplished at a considerable savings to the County.  Mr. Lorence recommended that the Committee forward this jurisdictional transfer to the full County Board recommending approval.  A motion was made by Mr. Anderson and seconded by Vice Chairperson Augsburger to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval and authorizing the County Board Chairperson to sign the jurisdictional transfer.  The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION FOR THE JURISDICTIONAL TRANSFER OF SOUTH FIRST STREET FROM DEKALB ROAD DISTRICT TO DEKALB COUNTY: 

Mr. Lorence explained that this resolution goes with the previously presented jurisdictional transfer and recommended the Committee forward this jurisdictional transfer to the full County Board recommending approval as well.   A motion was made by Mr. Stoddard and seconded by Vice-Chairperson Augsburger to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval and authorizing the County Board Chairperson to sign the jurisdictional transfer.  The motion carried unanimously.

AWARD RESOLUTION FOR THE PURCHASE OF ONE NEW PLOW, WING, BOX AND TWO SPREADERS:

Mr. Lorence presented the Committee with the bid tabs for two bids for the purchase and installation of a snowplow, frame, hydraulic system, dump body, wing and spreader for the new tandem approval during December 2007.  The County Engineer is also requesting one additional pre-wet spreader system to be installed on one of the County’s previously purchased tandems.  The low bidder meeting specifications was submitted by Monroe Truck Equipment from Monroe, Wisconsin in the amount of $82,792.00.   Monroe has supplied the County with this equipment in the past and the County Engineer recommended that the Committee forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval. A motion was made by Vice-Chair Augsburger and seconded by Mr. Walt to forward the resolution to the full County Board recommending approval.  The motion carried unanimously.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS:            Chairperson LaVigne had no comments at this time.

COUNTY ENGINEER’S COMMENTS: 

The Transportation Improvement Progress Report for January and February was provided to the Committee for their review.  The highlighted projects on the February report were discussed.  There has been very little change to the report except for preliminary and design engineering for our bridge projects.  The States Attorney’s Office is still proceeding with the eminent domain proceedings concerning the Anderson property and moving forward slowly.

Mr. Lorence presented a Position Paper concerning Container Shipments over the County Roadway System.  He explained to the Committee that DeKalb County needs to have a plan in place to deal with these overweight loads if/when the County Board voted to allow them.  Mr. Lorence stated he was not in favor of allowing these loads but understands that commerce is changing and this is how agriculture commodities are now being shipped by some suppliers.  If containers are sealed for overseas shipments then the Federal/State Governments have determined these to be indivisible loads, thereby allowing the issuance of overweight permits.  If the County Board were to allow indivisible loads over the County system Mr. Lorence highly recommended that the County begin to charge a per mile/per trip permit fee to cover a portion of the damage to our road system that these loads would cause.  This fee should be based on a

formula using current data available and reviewed at a regular interval to see if adjustments need to be made to the fee being charged.  Most of our County roads are rated for legal loads of 73,280 pounds for a five-axle vehicle.  The County currently has three roads, or portions thereof, that are rated for legal loads of 80,000 pounds for a five-axle vehicle.  Container shipments usually start at 88,000 pounds and can go considerably higher in weight depending on where/how the container is being shipped.   This additional weight will certainly do damage to the County roadway system and require the resurfacing/rebuilding of these routes earlier than normally budgeted.  The administrative procedures will need to be worked out in such a way to ensure this permitting system will not be unduly burdensome on both the County and the business requesting these permits.  The estimate of the cost of these permits would include an administrative cost of $5.00 per permit as well as a $2.60 per mile/per trip charge regardless if the load was being carried over a 73,280-pound route or an 80,000-pound route.  Multiple permits could be provided for one administrative cost of $5.00.

Mr. Paul Rasmussen spoke on behalf of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau concerning this issue.  Mr. Rasmussen stated the County Engineer had met with the Farm Bureau to go over this situation.  The County Engineer and the Farm Bureau seem to be in agreement with the County Engineer to issue permits for indivisible overweight loads for a reasonable fee.  Mr. Rasmussen requested the opportunity for an individual business to upgrade a particular section of roadway to allow for the shipment of containers in lieu of permits.   Mr. Lorence stated it has always been an option for a business to upgrade a section of roadway if they so desired but overweight permits would still need to be obtained per state statue.  The cost of those permits could be adjusted accordingly if a business did in fact bear the cost of the road upgrade.

Mr. Robert Mullins stated he hoped the Committee would act favorably and allow for container shipments on the County system.  He also requested that consideration be given to devising a system that was not burdensome and more in line with the State permitting operation which allows for a quarterly permit for one flat fee.

The County Engineer asked the Committee how they wanted him to proceed with this matter.  The Committee directed the County Engineer to prepare an ordinance to be brought back before the Committee at a later date allowing for overweight loads for a fee on the County System that were by law indivisible.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:  None

ADJOURNMENT:

Chair LaVigne inquired if there was anything else that needed to be brought before the Committee and hearing none asked for a motion to adjourn.  A motion was made by Mr. Stoddard to adjourn and Vice-Chair Augsburger seconded this motion.  The motion passed unanimously and the February 7, 2008 meeting was adjourned at 7:10p.m. 

Respectfully Submitted

Patricia LaVigne

Chairperson