Minutes - Public Works Committee - 07/19/2022

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Councilmember Musgrove stated that perhaps the pavement management and street maintenance funds could stay in their accounts if not spent at the end of the year. Chairperson Riley commented that he was fairly confident that the funds were being spent, and if they were not in any given year, they were spent the next year. Councilmember Woestehoff agreed that it would be nice to have dedicated funds used for pavement management and street maintenance. Chairperson Riley moved the discussion towards street reconstruction needs and funding. City Engineer Westby stated that during the budget discussion, staff would need to hear that the available ARPA funds, above what is needed for police, would be used for the streets in order to move forward on development of plans for PMP projects not already programmed for 2022. Chairperson Riley commented that it would seem the only question for police funding is related to the vehicle cameras and that decision should be made at the next budget worksession in order for staff to move forward on the road plans. He commented that the City clearly does not have enough money budgeted for what needs to be done. He asked the feasibility that staff would be able to complete more road projects if the funding were increased in future years. City Engineer Westby commented on the additional work that would place on Engineering staff and the number of projects they could develop plans for and manage construction on in one year. He stated that potentially they might be able to complete all plan preparation in-house but could use consultants, if needed, depending on funds available. Streets Supervisor Turner provided details on potential impacts to street maintenance work. Chairperson Riley commented that he could see the benefit in bonding once in order to get ahead but would not want to consistently bond as it would seem better to just place it on the tax roll at that time. Councilmember Woestehoff stated that he likes the idea of saying there is $5,000,000 to get done as many miles as they can,noting that he would not be opposed to using outside consultants if they could move forward and if the cost would not be that much higher. He stated that while he does not like bonding, it would be a tool to help them get outside of the bubble. City Engineer Westby stated that in his opinion, if they are funding $4,000,000 or less per year, staff could most likely do that in house if those staff members can focus on just those tasks. He stated that anything above that would potentially require outside assistance. Public Works Street Supervisor Turner stated that eight years ago he was using two employees per day and now he is using all available staff to address patching. He stated that he would ideally like to get back to using one or two staff for patching, which would mean accomplishing the reconstructs as quickly as possible. Public Works Committee/July 19, 2022 Page 10 of 13