PUBLIC WORKS & SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING
April 5, 2006
Minutes
The
meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m.
Clm. Paul Skrede, Jon Monson, Public Works Supervisor Jerry Hudlow, Administrator Dana Young
Safety
Committee members Teresa Pendleton, Owen Fuglseth, Police Chief Virgil
Gustafson
None
Four-Way Stop Sign at
Highland & Leroy (Doak Davis)
Doak Davis, 3566 Leroy Street, was present to request the installation of a four-way stop sign at the intersection of Highland and Leroy Street. Mr. Davis stated that his dog got killed at this intersection several weeks ago and he believes his dog wouldn’t have gotten hit by a car if there had been a four-way stop sign at the intersection of Highland & Leroy. He stated that there is currently a four-way stop sign at Highland and Lowell but only a two-way stop sign at Highland & Leroy. He added that there are no traffic control signs at Highland and Therese.
He stated that he believes that Highland can be a dangerous street due to the infrequency of traffic and the speed of vehicles. He stated that there are typically more pedestrians on the street than vehicles and that the neighborhood has a lot of dogs and children but no sidewalks. He stated that he believes some of the traffic is caused by people coming from Hwy 101 to Minnetonka Blvd. He stated that his neighbors have complained about the need for a four-way stop sign in the past without success.
Police Chief Gustafson stated that the individual who struck Mr. Davis’s dog is a resident of Deephaven and did nothing wrong. He stated that he was told that the dog appeared out of nowhere and she simply could not avoid hitting him. The Chief stated that people also become complacent about stop signs and it is one of the reasons why he is reluctant to add signs. Often, all signs do is to add to sign pollution. He added that, in his opinion, Highland is not an efficient shortcut to Minnetonka Boulevard because of the difficulty of pulling onto Minnetonka Boulevard.
Mr. Davis stated that he recently drove through Cottagewood and was impressed with the street signs that stated Local Traffic Only. He stated that these types of signs might help slow traffic on Highland.
Police Chief Gustafson stated that the problem with these types of signs is that they are not enforceable. He stated that he doesn’t want to recommend putting up a stop sign just to make somebody feel better when he knows it really isn’t going to do any good.
Paul Skrede stated that the City doesn’t turn a deaf ear to resident’s requests and that he was sorry for Mr. Davis’s loss. He stated that the Police would install a traffic monitor on Highland Avenue and the Committee will communicate the results of their decision to Mr. Davis.
Jerry
Hudlow reported that an employee backed the lawn mower into the ductwork last
month. He stated that he is still
waiting for the employee to step forward to admit what he did.
Jon
Monson stated that he has seen the Sand/Salt Shed open during the weekend and
wondered if it was wise to keep the shed unlocked. Dana Young agreed that the shed should be
locked when not in use.
The
Safety Committee meeting adjourned on a motion by Dana Young, seconded by Paul
Skrede. Motion carried 6-0. The meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.
Scott Harri and Zac Essig, engineers with Schoell & Madson, were present to provide the final revisions to the Storm Water Plan that resulted from discussions with the City Council on February 21, 2006. Scott Harri stated that, at the request of the City Council, costs have been prepared on the installation of ditches along certain sections of the Rutledge/Park Avenue Project and the Monaltrie Pond Project. He also reported that they had looked into the possibility of using the Boyer Farm storm sewer as an outlet for the Easton Road water runoff but the elevation of this storm sewer system is too high to accommodate the runoff from this direction.
Paul Skrede noted that he had checked on the drainage at Hamilton/Montgomerie during the rainfall last Sunday and stated that he didn’t see any problems with water runoff. He also noted that the property that has been considered for rolled curb is for sale.
Rutledge/Park Avenue Project – The cost of installing ditches would lower the overall cost of the project from an estimated $677,330 to $493,609. However, it was generally acknowledged that while the 4’ deep by 27’ wide ditches might work along a section of Deephaven Avenue, they would likely to be far too intrusive along Rutledge Avenue. Further discussion was held on breaking the project into different components by attempting to address the runoff in the Easton/Deephaven Avenue area by purchasing the pond property and running storm sewer into the pond. Further discussion was held on the possibility of installing curb along Rutledge as a less expensive alternative to underground piping. Scott Harri stated that this would be problematic because the elevations on Rutledge would not allow the water runoff to gravity flow to Azure to outlet at the lake.
Monaltrie Pond Project – The cost of installing the ditches along portions of Virginia Avenue would lower the overall cost of the project from an estimated $171,637 to $167,697. Paul Skrede offered an alternate route for the storm sewer instead of the current route that proposed to cross private property in order to get to Virginia. He recommended that the storm sewer could be extended down Monaltrie to an unimproved street and across an easement to Minnetonka Blvd. Dana Young stated that staff would check to ensure that the street has not been vacated and that the easement actually exists. Further discussion was held on the possibility of extending the storm sewer from Monaltrie Pond to a different pond located west of Talton Place.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the Committee thanked Scott Harri and Zac Essig for their work compiling cost estimates on the ditch alternative and concluded that while the information was helpful, the installation of ditches may not be a viable option. Discussion was also held on the scope of the Storm Water Drainage Study and it was concluded that Schoell & Madson have fulfilled their obligations in completing the study. The Committee thanked Scott and Zac for their efforts. The Committee decided to prioritize the list of storm water projects to be undertaken at their next meeting.
Dana Young stated that the bid for 2006 Seal Coating came in $38,769 higher than was budgeted. He stated that seal coating was budgeted at $75,000 in the 2006 Capital Improvement Fund budget and Pearson Bros., Inc. were awarded the bid for seal coating at $113,769.04. He stated that the Council approved the seal coating bid last Monday evening with the understanding that the purchase of the $30,000 Chevy pickup would be postponed to offset the additional cost.
He
stated that the cost of the water truck is also substantially higher than had
been budgeted. He stated that Stepp
Manufacturing had quoted a price of $65,000 last year for a new water truck but
it appears that this only includes the cost of the apparatus and not the
vehicle. Jerry Hudlow stated that there
were several options to consider. First,
the City could approve the purchase of a new truck and could transfer the
existing tank and apparatus onto the new truck.
He estimated that this would cost approximately $65,000 for a new
vehicle and the conversion costs. The
second option would be to purchase an entirely new water truck for
$115,000. He added that the cost of new
emission control equipment would increase the cost of new vehicles by
approximately $10,000 if the vehicle were purchased next year. Paul Skrede suggested that the City could
lease/purchase the vehicle as an option.
Further
discussion on the water truck will be held next month.
Motion to adjourn by Dana Young, seconded by Jon Monson. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Public Works & Safety Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 3, 2006.