Council approves funds for street projects

Lower bids for Jackson Street project led to excess allocated funds

By Kellen Olshefski

Correspondent

The City of Elkhorn Common Council voted in favor of spending remaining funds budgeted for the South Jackson Street project to fund other street maintenance programs in the city at its special meeting on April 10.

Elkhorn Public Works Manager Neal Kolb said city staff had an engineer’s estimate and a rough idea of what the South Jackson Street project would cost. However, bids came back substantially less than what was expected. Kolb said the idea behind what was in front of the council was that the city would pay what it had originally planned for, but get a more projects done in the process.

City Engineer Jason Feucht said proposed projects include a number of streets receiving crack-sealing treatment, the same program the city used on several streets last year, as well as three streets – McKenzie Lane, Court Street and Proctor Lane – city staff had looked into for a wedge, mill and overlay. Feucht said it could be an opportunity to take advantage of.

City Administrator Sam Tapson said because of the bids coming in lower – with the council originally approving the project at about $1.2 million and coming in at a cost of about $800,000 – while he wasn’t looking for a specific decision on what street would see improvements, it gives the council an opportunity to take care of more street maintenance.

“The intent to borrow those dollars was already out there,” Tapson said. “You can be aggressive at this point and borrow those funds now, do more projects than you might have otherwise thought in terms of routine maintenance… I don’t think interest rates on municipal borrowing are going to get any lower. They are creeping upwards.”

Alderman Hoss Rehberg – who opted not to rerun for his seat in the April election and will be replaced by Tim Shiroda – said at the April 10 meeting he spent significant time reviewing the proposed projects and would agree with staff’s recommendation to use the about $353,000 that would have been put towards South Jackson Street for other street projects.

“It’s something I do believe in (and) feel it’s necessary,” Rehberg said.

Rehberg said in driving city streets with Kolb, he had some recommendations for councilmembers to consider, streets missing from the proposed potential projects. His recommendations include: West Lawn Street and the portion of Hazel Ridge Road shared between the City of Elkhorn and Town of Sugar Creek that wasn’t completed last year. Rehberg said while he doesn’t disagree with McKenzie Lane and Court Street, he doesn’t think Proctor Lane bears as much importance.

“These other two streets I’ve mentioned, I believe they’re in worse shape than Proctor Lane,” Rehberg said. “I guess I would like to see the mill and overlay for these four streets if possible.”

As for West Lawn Street, Rehberg said he feels a roughly 300-foot section of West Lawn Street between house numbers 310 to 329 was in need of a mill and overlay, something Mayor Howie Reynolds agreed with.

Feucht said it was important to note when they propose “fixes,” they are utilizing the right tools for the conditions they have, noting that West Lawn wasn’t on the list for a mill and overlay because the work needed is more substantial, noting sub-base and reconstruction.

“If you use wedge, mill and overlay on West Lawn, you’re going to have a nice surface course, for a few years,” Feucht said. “But the underlying base that’s supporting that surface course is deteriorating. It’s deteriorated to a point that you have rutting in excess of a half-inch in the drive lanes. It’s classic sub base failure.

“So, to utilize wedge, mill and overlay in that case, I would not recommend that because you’re utilizing something that’s going to fail quicker than if you utilize the wedge, mill and overlay on something that’s not in quite as bad of distress.”

Feucht said in an attempt to utilize funds most efficiently and most effectively, in his opinion, he thinks both West Lawn and Hazel Ridge need more attention.

“Using the right tool for the street we’re doing, that’s important,” he said.

Feucht also noted as the city bids these projects, it’s important to keep in mind what types of equipment contractors are mobilizing for different types of projects, as that could affect the cost of the projects. For example, focusing on certain types of projects would allow the city to potentially gain efficiencies through increasing the quantities for those items rather than doing a mix-and-match of sorts.

“I guess my point is that economies of scale will help you out in obtaining better bid prices,” Feucht said.

As for Hazel Ridge Road, Reynolds said he has been meeting with representatives from the Town of Sugar Creek Board, and they’re willing to pay their half of the project. He said the city is working with the town to form an agreement, and Kolb noted he was on the board’s agenda for its meeting this week. Reynolds also said the inclusion of Hazel Ridge Road in proposed projects was intended as soon as an agreement was worked out with the township.

Tapson reiterated he wasn’t necessarily looking for specifics on streets or projects at this time but to see what funds the council would be willing to dedicate to projects, allowing them to determine at a later time what projects would fit into that budget.

“You can establish dollars now, and I think there’s an understanding that West Lawn would be a preference to add in at this point and possibly drop out Proctor, and let’s take a look at where the dollars fall in,” Tapson said.

Alderman Cathy Bensaid also requested that Spencer Lane be added for consideration for a future project, which Kolb said has been noted as such, though was not included in the list provided to the Council on April 10.

A motion to use the remaining funds from the $1.2 million allocated for the South Jackson Street project on other street projects was made by Rehberg, with the full council approving the motion unanimously.