City of Mt. Vernon, Illinois

City Council Workshop Meeting

Monday, January 31, 2011

 

 

 

Mayor Mary Jane Chesley called the Workshop Meeting to order.

 

Roll call showed present: Council Member Dennis McEnaney, Council Member Todd Piper, Council Member David Wood and Mayor Mary Jane Chesley.  Absent: Council Member Mary Burgan.

 

Mayor Mary Jane Chesley stated that the purpose of this meeting was for discussion of the Water Tower Project, the 34th Street Project and the Current Trash Pick Up.

 

The Water Tower Project was the first item to discuss.  City Manager Ron Neibert introduced Mr. Brian Buckheit of HM&G Engineers. Mr. Neibert stated that the City had signed a contract for a feasibility study to be done on the Times Square Mall Water Tower.  The study was to look at the existing situation within the City, the location of the tower, the future growth of the city. This would look at the future design of the tower, a location for the tower and size of the tower. Once the study was done they would make recommendations and proceed with the actual design engineering for the project.

 

Mr. Buckheit addressed Council regarding the study done. He stated that the analysis was a hydraulic model of the tower needs, a water CAD program. This simulates how the water system operates. They evaluated the tanks and checked the behavior of the western section and looked at new growth. One option was to just put a new tank at the existing tank site. Look at a site near the ground storage tank, looked at a spot right of the Rt. 15 W Interchange and a spot SW near the new roadway improvements. Each site was evaluated to equal at least one day’s storage. That all goes into the sizing criteria. The total storage should be 500,000 gallons. The current tank is only 150,000 gallons. Mr. Buckheit stated that we do not want to have way too much storage because then the water doesn’t turn often enough.

 

Mr. Buckheit stated that they also looked at the fire pressures needed and fire flow. Minimum pressures were also discussed. What the system will allow for fire flow. He explained how the tower proposed would allow flow. He stated #2 and #4 examples were not really good for fire flow. This left the other two examples.

Council Member McEnaney asked about the pressure levels and if they would not improve with a new tank.  Mr. Buckheit stated that pressure is due to the amount of water in the tanks. City Manager Ron Neibert stated that the only way to increase water pressure would be to replace all of the Cities water towers with towers higher than 652 feet. Council Member McEnaney asked if they could be modified. Mr. Buckheit stated that they could be, but it would be very expensive to do that. Council Member David Wood stated that he is disappointed that a new tower would not increase the water pressures. Council Member McEnaney asked if a bladder system would help to increase the pressure in some areas. Council Member David Wood asked if the system would have an impact on water main breaks.  Would a bladder tank cause breaks? Mr. Buckheit stated that in isolated areas possibly. Mayor Mary Jane Chesley stated that the water pressure would be balanced out.  Council Member Todd Piper asked if this tower would be expanded for new growth or would that be another project.

 

Mr. Buckheit spoke regarding the costs.  Changing the existing 148 foot tower to reach 652 feet West of the Interstate and 30 feet higher would equal a higher cost, $ 155,000.00 difference. Discussion was held regarding possible future growth. Mayor Chesley asked about the $1.3 million cost, does that include the land costs. Mr. Buckheit stated that no, it does not. He showed Council pictures of tank designs.  He stated that the pedisphere is the most popular. The cost is lower and it is easier to repaint which makes it the most cost effective. If the tower is painted properly it could last a longtime. Council Member McEnaney asked who would do the maintenance on the tower. City Manager Neibert stated that the maintenance is usually contracted out. Council Member Wood asked if the same companies manufacture all of the tanks. Mr. Buckheit stated that yes, they do. Mr. Wood asked if it would be beneficial to get a presentation from the manufacturers. Mr. Buckheit spoke regarding the types of tanks and told of other communities that had put in different tanks.

 

Council Member Wood asked for the reason that the citizens are now having to pay over a million dollars to replace a water tower. City Manager Ron Neibert stated that the tower was built taller than it needed to be and it has degraded inside.  It needs to be painted so it is actually better to replace the tower at this time to also allow for growth.  Mr. Neibert stated that his recommendation is location # 1 and the pedisphere style of tank. Mr. Buckheit stated that if building a new tower, there would be no disruption in service. Mayor Chesley stated that the City could look into improving water pressure in the future. City Manager Ron Neibert spoke regarding the colors to paint the tank.  He asked if Council wanted team colors like the Opdyke tower.  Council Member Dennis McEnaney asked about a timeline for the project. 45 days to get ready to go to Springfield for a permit, the actual permit can take up to 3 months. The bidding out for the work

would be in May and the bids opened in June.  The construction would take 9 months, weather permitting. Council Member Wood stated that would make it spring of 2012 for completion. Mr. Wood asked if we now own the land where the tower will go. City Manager Ron Neibert stated that the land owner has agreed to give us the land at no charge to put the tower on. It was Council’s consensus to go ahead with the project. Mr. Buckheit stated that color templates will be sent to the City Manager.  

 

The next item to discuss was the 34th Street Project.  City Manager Ron Neibert stated the preliminary design work for 34th Street. The surveying and analysis was done based on the widening of the streets, the bike trail in pavement, sidewalks on both sides of the road. This is from Peach to Veterans Memorial Drive. Mr. Neibert stated that after the surveying and work by Henegan and Associates he is recommending the we go ahead with the bike trails in the pavement but the sidewalks only on the West side of the streets. He explained why to Council. Mr. Neibert spoke about discussion of extending the bike lanes through the fruit bowl. Discussion was held regarding the bike lane width. Discussion was held regarding the Safe to Schools sidewalk work. Council Member Piper asked if it was safe for two way bikes to ride on the trails. City Engineer Devon DeJournett stated that it would be a little small for two way bike traffic. The two foot lane is mainly for one way traffic for bikes. Council Member McEnaney asked for a time line on this project. City Engineer stated that summer/fall of 2011 for final design and begin work in the spring of 2012. All in agreement for this project.  Council Member Todd Piper stated that there will be a Bike Trails Meeting on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Municipal West Building.

 

The final item for discussion was current trash pickup.   City Manager Ron Neibert stated that the current contract will expire on April 30, 2011. Council requested to discuss new specifications before a bid is set. Mr. Neibert stated that Midwest Waste provides trash totes, normal household trash pickup, no commercial or apartments, lawn waste March through October and two bulk pick ups. Council Member Todd Piper asked if we were starting early on this. City Manager stated that he thought we needed to start about a month earlier to give time to check into everything. Mayor Chesley stated that the bulk pick up at 12th & Casey was not included in the bid last time.  Mr. Neibert stated that no, that was a separate item.  He stated that range of options are actually unlimited. Council Member Wood stated that the current contract was a three year contract and costs the customer $8.86 per month.  The City’s cost is $604,632.00 per year. Council Member Dennis McEnaney stated that we did lose the transfer station with the last contract. Mr. Neibert stated that the transfer station was not a part of the contract. It was just a convenience. He stated that Midwest will pick up if they would call them for a charge. Council Member Wood spoke regarding the amount of trash showing up in the alleys and streets. He stated that other communities are handling these problems and he would like to know how. City

 

Manager Neibert stated that Benton does bulky items as an overall pick up, but they do not do yard waste pick up or provide totes.

 

Mr. Robert Wilson of Bull Dog Systems stated that they do no yard waste pickup and he feels that the Mt. Vernon contract is less user friendly. City Manager Neibert stated that Benton charges $7.71 for their pick up. That figure would change if they had yard waste pick up and totes.  Mayor Mitchell of Sesser stated that they provide 2 bulk pick ups, weekly bulk, no yard waste pick up, containers are provided.  They charge $11.25 per customer with a .25 cent a year raise.

City Manager Neibert stated that our CWI contract before was $526,000. Mayor Mitchell stated that they have no burn barrels in the Ordinance and they charge $10.00 if the totes are not pulled back up from the street. Discussion was held regarding elderly and disabled persons.

 

Luther of Midwest Waste stated that the Mt. Vernon contract is expensive and difficult to pick up yard waste. The costs double due to the yard waste pick up. Discussion was held regarding the least expensive contract might not be the best to actually clean up the City. Mayor Chesley asked about options, totes/ no totes. Council Member Wood wants to allow smaller businesses to bid. City Manager Neibert stated that he will send out copies of the current contracts.  Council Member Wood stated that he would rather see bid specs to get started on. Midwest Waste asked for Council to extend the contract until new specs can be written.

 

Council agreed that we need to do something to clean Mt. Vernon up.

 

Motion by Council Member Todd Piper to adjourn this Workshop Meeting.  Second by Council Member Dennis McEnaney. Yeas: McEnaney, Piper, Wood and Chesley.  Absent: Burgan.