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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works Committee Minutes 01.13.2003 MINUTES PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE JANUARY 13, 2003 5:00 PM COUNCIL CHAMBERS Members Present: Others Present: Mark Mace Dan Mears Bill Staudinger Steve Klotz John Oakes Marvin Caner David Siljestrom Cheryll Lund 1) 2) Underpass Lighting: There is an existing resolution that allows for the cost to light the underpass. It is already assessed into the lighting district. It calls for four 700-watt lights. Steve met with Clay from Ace Electric and he is going to suggest what changes could be made to the lighting to make it vandal proof and more effective. The railroad will pay for the installation and the fixtures and the City lighting district will pay for the power. The work will be done as soon as possible. Bus Parking on W. Main: There is a pending request from the bus Iine to relocate the bus parking to the south side of W. Main along the new Eagles parking lot. Steve has a copy of the approval from Stan Jonntis, State Traffic Engineer, to move the bus parking spot to the south side of W. Main. Origin~ily the bus parking between 3rd and 4th Avenue was designated thr6ugh a City Ordinance. West Main is a designated state road; so there is confusion on several issues such as signage and maintenance of that road and any liability for injuries should an accident occur. The state does the maintenance on the road so Steve is questioning if the city can even make changes through ordinances on state designated roads. Steve has talked to the states head traffic engineer recently and is waiting to hear back from him. He is also talking to the Helena office. Smokey Staudinger stated that the city put up signs after they passed the bus-parking ordinance. He would like to see them do the same thing at the proposed new bus parking area. Discussion by committee. The committee does not feel comfortable about recommending the changing of the bus parking until all the issues of signage, installation, maintenance and liability are discussed and responsibility is designated to the right party. A crosswalk is also an issue regarding how to get people safely across the street from north to south. 3) 4) Solid Waste Sawdust Collection: Airborne sawdust is now on the known Carcinogen list. This information was brought to the City's attention by the union because of the unbagged sawdust that the garbage track collects each day from the Woodcrafters business located on W. Main. The worker's are directly put into contact with the sawdust every time it is dumped. Steve would like an amendment made to the ordinance to add unbagged sawdust to the list of unacceptable rubbish. At this time the Woodcrafters business has willingly offered to put the sawdust in bags beginning as soon as possible. Most businesses that regularly produce sawdust have a dust collection system that is installed in their building. Fox Lumber and the Plum Builders both have those types of systems. Now that sawdust is on the known carcinogen list the city has an obligation to protect the city employees from exposure. This would also protect the employees from the Woodcrafters business. Steve will come back to the committee at a later date to get a recommendation on a proposed ordinance change to address this and several other rubbish issues. Miscellaneous: John Oakes would like to see the committee address the issue of individuais that leave their 90-gallon garbage containers out on the sidewalk, after trash pickup. Steve agrees that the committee should review ali of the issues regarding rubbish. Marvin Carter questioned the placement of the new commercial building beh~g built on the comer of W. ' th . Ftrst Street and 7 Avenue, and where the offstreet parking will be for the offices. Steve stated that both of those issues were addressed in the plan review before the building permit was issued. A discussion was held on off street parking, existing parking lots, weeds, and storm water runoff in commercial areas. Dave Siljestrom updated the committee on the information he collected regarding costs of flashing lights for school zones. He talked to a company in Des Moines, Iowa, and if the city bought six or more lights they would sell them for $575 per light, but the city would have to provide transportation of the lights to Montana because we are outside of their corporate sales district. Dave called several other companies that sell flashing lights but they wouldn't give him any price information because he isn't a city employee or elected city official. He will give the phone numbers to Steve so he can call for information if this issue is pursued further. The meeting was ad~joumed at 5:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Chery~l Lund 3