May 17, 2013 meeting of the Monroe County Highway Committee
Meeting called to order at 9:00 a.m., by Chairman James Schroeder.
Members present: James Schroeder, Gene Treu, Dale Greeno, and James Rice.
Members absent: Daniel Olson
Others present: Highway Commissioner – Jack Dittmar, Recording Secretary – Becky Pitel, County Administrator – Cathy Schmit, ScottConstructionInc. Regional Manager – Kevin Schmitz (ItemsVII.-IX.only), and Mathy ConstructionCo. Vice President – Dana Frederickson (ItemsIX. & VIII. only).
- Period of Public Comment – No comments.
- Motion to approve the minutes of the regular April 19, 2013meeting made by Gene Treu, seconded by Dale Greeno. All ayes, motion carried.
- Payroll presented as follows:
Check Date: 05/02/2013Check Date: 05/16/2013
- Field Personnel $65,450.06● Field Personnel$59,141.73
- Administration $11,165.07● Administration$10,758.53
- Total$76,615.13● TOTAL$69,900.26
- Motion made by Gene Treu, seconded by Dale Greeno, to approve the early paid vouchers in the amount of $12,379.79, credit card bills in the amount of $1,654.10 and the vouchers payable in the amount of $228,561.59. All ayes, motion carried.
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May 17, 2013 meeting of the Monroe County Highway Committee
- Commissioner’s Report
- Projects:
-County crews: performed crack sealing of our shop lots and newer highways, patched potholes, graded shoulders, cut brush, cleaned ditches and replaced a few culverts, picked garbage & inspected drainage, and swept intersections & bridges & curves.
-State crews: spent a considerable amount of time patching & sealing I-94 between Tomah and Warrens, repaired guardrail, graded shoulders, picked garbage & inspected drainage, and cut brush.
-Spring weight limits were removed on April 29.
-**Bids for the CTH EW bridge were opened by the WDOT this Tuesday and the low bid was only about $5kmore than the engineer’s estimate. Concrete Structures Inc. was the low bidder and has to be done with the project in mid September (just before Cranfest).
- Equipment:
-Nothing to report.
- Facilities:
-We received our Excel Energy lighting efficiency check.
-**Bar coding equipment for the parts department is ordered and it is all worked out to be tied in with our present software and should be operational by next Committee meeting.
-**The ATC lease of our sand pit property was approved by County Corporation Counsel and ATC agreed to the price increase proposed by the Committee at last month’s meeting. ATC is revising the lease for the new price and will send it to Jack soon.
- Budget:
-Our 2012 Annual Financial Report is finished and will be handed out at this month’s County Board meeting.
-**Copies of the March monthly budget analysis were handed out. Due to an unseasonably long winter we are about $145k over historic average expenditures in winter maintenance but only about $85k over historic average expenditures for all three of our major accounts combined. Cash balance is in excellent shape which is why Jack proposed the budget adjustment to be acted on today.
- Personnel:
-One of our Public Works Laborers started the last week in April working full-time for the Maintenance Department.
-One additional Public Works Laborer started working full-time for Maintenance to fill in until the Maintenance Department fills a recent vacancy (estimated at 4-5 wks).
-One additional Public Works Laborer will be mowing two days per week all summer long for the Maintenance Department.
-Our LTE wetland specialist started work at the beginning of the month.
-Our two full-time student summer helpers will be starting before the next meeting.
** = added to report during meeting
- 2013 Budget Adjustment
Jack explained that we ended last year with a positive cash balance of almost $1.3 million. The cash balance is a reflection of last year’s winter maintenance expenditures being over $200k under budget, loss of 6 employees for almost half a year, only one layer of pavement being constructed on the CTH CAreconditioning project, and previous year’s positive cash balances. The proposed budget adjustment would allow moving $750k out of the Department cash balance and into our CTHSupplemental account to be used for highway reconditioning projects. Gene Treu asked Cathy what her feelings were about this and she stated that she is good with the adjustment as the Highway Department’s cash balance is non-lapsing. Gene Treu made a motion to approve the $750,000 budgetary adjustment and forward on to the full County Board, seconded by Dale Greeno. Four ayes, one nay (Rice). Motion carried.
- 2013 Sealcoat Bids
Jack handed out copies of the subject tabulation ofbids opened on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Bids came in as follows:
Fahrner Asphalt Sealers, LLCScott Construction Inc.
$3.20 per gallon of Cutback Asphalt Cement$3.70 per gallon of Cutback Asphalt Cement
$31.44 per ton of 3/8” Pea Stone Chips$12.50 per ton of 3/8” Pea Stone Chips
Total Estimated Bid Cost: $328,200Total Estimated Bid Cost: $319,850
Gene Treu made a motion to approve the low bid unit prices with a total estimated cost of $319,850 from Scott Construction, seconded by James Rice. All ayes, motion carried.
>Skipped Agenda Item VIII.Will come back to it, took 5 minute break at 9:50 a.m.
IX.Drainage Ditches in CTH Right-of-Ways
A copy of Department Standard Operating Policy No. 2000-1 (Drainage & Ditching) which was adopted by the Committee on June 15, 2000 was included with today’s agenda. This policy was adopted over 10 years ago when Jack got his first request to clean out a private drainage ditch that is located within our CTH R/W. We are now getting requests to clean out these drainage ditches again and Jack would like to revisit this policy to see if the Committee is in agreement or would like to change it. These drainage ditches do not materially benefit the CTH and were constructed over 50 years ago almost solely to drain private properties. Jack recommends rewriting 1.b. of the policy so we would no longer be responsible for maintaining private drainage ditches within our R/Ws. Cathy Schmit asked Jack if he had a proposed amendment of this policy to put into a motion. Jack would like to have the policy reflect that existing non-natural drainage within the county R/W will be relocated outside of the R/W. Dale Greeno feels that the ditches should be kept clean and feels that the county should stick with the present policy as written. Dale Greeno made a motion to leave 1.b. of Department Standard Operating Policy No. 2000-1 as it was adopted in June 15, 2000, seconded by James Rice. All ayes, motion carried.
- 2013 Asphaltic Pavement Bids
Jack handed out copies of the subject tabulation ofbids opened on Thursday, May 16, 2013. Per ton bids came in as follows:
Mathy Construction Co.Scott Construction Inc.
Hot Mix Asphaltic Pavement FOBPlant$49.81 No Bid
Total Estimated Bid Cost (1,700 ton): $84,677n/a
Gene Treu made a motion to approve the hot mix asphaltic pavement fob plant bid of Mathy Construction for $49.81 per ton, seconded by James Rice. All ayes, motion carried.
Mathy Construction Co.Scott Construction Inc.
Cold-Mix Asph. Pav’t Hand Patching Mix$52.70 $49.78
Total Estimated Bid Cost (1,000 ton): $52,700 $49,780
Gene asked if Jack has a recommendation. Jack replied that we have used both mixes and they perform comparably. Dana Frederickson mentioned that the Mathy mix is not run through a hot mix plant. Gene Treu made a motion to approve the low bid cold-mix asphalt pavement hand patching mix of Scott Construction for $49.78 per ton, seconded by James Schroeder. All ayes, motion carried.
Jack recommended approving wedging & patching bids as a laid bidas it allows our employees to keepworking cost effectively on our reconditioning and maintenance projects.
Mathy Construction Co.Scott Construction Inc.
Paver-laid Wedging & Patching with
Cold-Mixed Asphaltic Pavement$69.82 $64.73
Total Estimated Bid Cost (4,000 ton): $279,280 $258,920
Gene Treu made a motion to approve the low bid cold-mixed paver-laid wedging & patching ofScottConstruction for $64.73 per ton, seconded by Dale Greeno. All ayes, motion carried.
Jack suggested approving the remaining CTH paving projects contingent upon the County Board approving our above budget adjustment at next week’s meeting.
Mathy Construction Co.Scott Construction Inc.
CTH A Paving w/ Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement$55.91$55.47
Total Estimated Bid Cost (3,500 ton): $195,685 $194,145
CTH N Paving w/ Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement$64.26$64.05
Total Estimated Bid Cost (300 ton): $19,278 $19,215
CTH PP Paving w/ Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement$53.80$55.94
Total Estimated Bid Cost (15,500 ton): $833,900 $867,070
Gene asked Jack if there is any difference in the hot mixes. Jack replied that we have used both companies’ hot mixes and they both perform excellent. Dale Greeno made a motion to approve the unit pricebids from Mathy Construction for all three CTH paving projects contingent uponCounty Board approval of the budget adjustment, seconded by Gene Treu. All ayes, motion carried.
Kevin Schmitz inquired as to why the Committee accepted all three bids, as he was the low bidder on two out of three of the projects. Dale Greeno explained that there is only a $1,603 difference between the two low bid projects. Secondly, he took into consideration that Mathy Construction pays a lot in property taxes to our county.
- Future Agenda Items
James Schroeder feels the Committee should address the CTH Q hill again as the landowner is concerned about his liability from rocksthat might fall from outside of the R/W onto the highway.
Motion to adjourn at 10:39 a.m. made by Dale Greeno, seconded by James Rice. All ayes, motion carried.
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