Minutes - Public Works Committee - 05/21/2019

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5.01: Consider Recommendation to City Council to Suspend Annual Sealcoating Program City Engineer Westby stated that the purpose of this case is to consider a recommendation to the The City of Ramsey has generally sealcoated between 13 and 23 miles of City streets each year for many years. The purpose of sealcoating is to protect existing bituminous pavement from damage caused by stormwater runoff, ultraviolet rays from the sun, and petroleum deposits left by vehicles using these streets. Over the last two or three years, City staff has received higher than normal numbers of complaints about loose rock along gutters and in the boulevards of properties fronting streets that were sealcoated. City Engineer Westby stated that this spring, staff has observed damage to the underlying pavement of streets that were sealcoated within the last two to three years. Staff has also heard from numerous other cities throughout the Twin Cities metro area, including several northwest metro cities, about similar recent observations on their sealcoat projects. Locally, the City of Andover stopped sealcoating streets years ago, and the City of Coon Rapids is transitioning from sealcoating all streets to sealcoating only local residential streets and fog sealing higher-volume collector streets. They believe the higher traffic volumes leads to surface stripping and believe fog sealing will provide similar benefits to seal coating at reduced costs. City Engineer Westby started to present pictures of the damage observed on numerous streets throughout the City this spring, but encountered a problem with his computer and asked that this case be delayed until he could fix the issue. 5.02: Request Authorization to Participate in the MnWARN Mutual Aid Agreement Public Works Superintendent Riemer stated that MnWARN is a formal emergency response program in Minnesota. MnWARN is a mutual aid agreement to provide a program whereby water, wastewater, and storm water utilities sustaining physical damage from natural or man- made disasters in the state of Minnesota can obtain emergency assistance, in the form of personnel, equipment, and materials and other associated services necessary to protect the health Public Works Superintendent Riemer stated that MnWARN assists utilities with: emergency assessment, emergency response, and recovery; Mutual Aid Agreement for sharing emergency resources with members; resources to help recover from a disaster; emergency contact network; and voluntary participation. A Water and Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) is a network of utilities helping utilities respond to and recover from emergencies. Mutual Aid/Assistance is one agency helping another based on a written agreement. The assistance is provided across jurisdictional boundaries in the event of an emergency. Participation is voluntary. Public Works Superintendent Riemer stated that there is no cost to participate. MnWARN provides a forum for establishing and maintained emergency contacts. MnWARN program provides a utility with access to specialized, certified, and knowledgeable utility personnel. If Public Works Committee / May 21, 2019 Page 2 of 8