CITY OF ATTICA
BOARD OF WORKS AND SAFETY
FEBRUARY 4, 2003
The Board of Works and Safety
met on the 4th day of February 2003 at city hall at 5:30 p.m. Members present: Mr. Duane Roderick, Mrs. Kay Gustus, Mr. Tom O’Connor, Mr. Deon
Swift, and Mrs. Nancy Mitchell.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the January 28, 2003
meeting were approved as prepared on a motion by Mrs. Gustus, seconded by Mr.
Roderick. All ayes.
DEPARTMENT HEADS
Mr. Ron Jean, Director of Public
Works, said the office in the fire department didn’t have heat in it, which
caused a water pipe to freeze. A heater
was installed directly to the pipe and hopefully that will take care of the
problem.
Police Chief Snoeberger informed
the board he had prepared for publication a letter and a copy of the city
ordinance pertaining to parking. He
gave a copy to the Review Republican, the Fountain County Neighbor, and to Mr.
Dave Huckleberry for Attica Online. It
explains what the ordinance is, what the most common violations are and informs
the citizens the police department is going to be more aggressive in enforcing
the ordinances. He wanted to give fair
warning that if violation of the ordinance occurs, one can expect to be
ticketed.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Eric Smith, of Hannum, Wagle
& Cline, was present to offer information regarding a grant program that is
available through INDOT. Mr. Smith
said he had met with Mayor Swift and Mr. Jean some weeks ago to make them aware
of this particular grant program. INDOT
currently has projects for communities the size of Attica for their ST Program,
which is their Service Transportation Program.
It’s an eighty/twenty grant program whereby the city is granted eighty
per cent of the construction cost for eligible projects and is required to
match twenty percent of the construction costs and pay for the up front costs
consisting of any engineering surveying, legal, and accounting, etc. Eligible projects include roadways,
drainage, curbs, gutters, and side walks on eligible roadways. What dictates as eligible roadways are roads
within a community, which are shown or identified on the state highway federal
classification system. In Attica, the
only street that was classified was Perry Street. Based on their conversation, they looked at potentially what it
would cost to do those types of improvements on Perry Street and centered those
improvements on south Perry Street toward Sycamore Street. This would be done in two segments. To go all the way to Sycamore Street is
quite lengthy, approximately a mile. This
obviously would be costly. Mr. Smith
said he is presenting this in two options so we can see the differences. If the city did choose to apply for the
funding, Hannum, Wagle & Cline would prepare the application for the city
(at no cost) and submit it to INDOT. It
would be this summer before we found out if we would receive the funding. Since these projects are run and
administered by INDOT, it takes some time to develop. It would probably be two to three years before the city would be
bidding this project which would provide time to develop our match. For the work in those areas we looked at
pricing for street construction (full width for Perry Street), curbs, gutters,
and storm sewers, and sidewalks. Storm
sewers would tie in to existing east/west drains, which go to the river—there
would be inlets placed in the curb and gutter to tie into those, and new
sidewalk and street surfaces. Mr. Smith
said that Option #1, which is all the way to Sycamore Street from State Road 28
the estimated construction costs, would be approximately $1.4 or $1.5 million
dollars. A total project cost, which is
the entire up front costs plus the construction costs, is $1.67 million
dollars. The total cost to the City of
Attica is $502,000. The first two years
the city would pay the up front cost such as engineering and surveying
fees. The third year is the last bit of
the up front costs, plus the twenty per cent match. Option #2 is to go only to Lithia Street, which is about
halfway. The costs are about half
because the length is being cut in half.
Total construction on that is $730,000— with the up front engineering
and surveying costs the project cost is $840,000. Cost to the City of Attica under this option is $256,000, again
spread out over three years. INDOT
doesn’t have a strict guideline on time; if it takes a little longer to develop
and build up the match, that’s an option.
Again, given that this project is administered through INDOT, the city
has the ability to spread payment out over three years. Mr. Smith pointed out that if the city
should apply and receive the grant and turned it down, it could hurt the city
in the future. If the city should
decide to do this at this time, Hannum, Wagle & Cline would have to file
the online application by the end of the business day on February 10,
2003. After Mr. Smith’s presentation, a
great deal of discussion was held among board members and others present. While all agreed the grant a good
opportunity, they also felt it is too sudden to make a decision until further
study could be done. The board thanked
Mr. Smith for making them aware of the INDOT grant opportunity.
Mrs. Connie Sichts, representing
the Attica Wastewater Treatment Plant, was present to request permission to
purchase necessary items for the plant.
She said B. L. Anderson now maintains equipment for the city. Her recommendation is to replace both dual
cylinder scales at the plant with hydraulic units; these scales are metal,
exposed to chlorine and corrode over time.
The new hydraulic units, which are made of corrosion resistant PVC, have
a long life expectancy and carry a five-year warranty. She also recommends replacement of the
Chlorine automatic gas feed cabinet with the Series WP840 system, which
includes the digital controller to adjust the feed rate, based on the effluent
flow rate. Four new vacuum regulators
are needed, two for chlorine and two for sulfur dioxide. Also, Mrs. Sichts needs to restore gas feed
control for the sulfur dioxide with either another WP840 cabinet or just install
a manually adjustable remote meter to keep costs down. Mrs. Sichts lists the costs of her proposal
as follows:
1 WP840 Automatic chlorinator cabinet $3,290
1 Lot of manual override parts for chlorinator cabinet
584
4 NXT3000 vacuum regulators 5,300
2 Hydraulic Chlor-Scales 2,576
1 Manually operated remoter meter for Sulfur Dioxide $
413
Total
cost for equipment less freight $12,163
However, Mrs. Sichts said she
felt all above items were necessary with the exception of the four vacuum
regulators at $5,300. Without the
vacuums cost would be approximately $6,863, plus freight and labor. One day or less would be sufficient to get
the system up and running and provide training. Mr. Roderick made a motion to accept the bid excluding the $5,300
for the vacuum regulators, seconded by Mrs. Gustus. All ayes.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Mr. O’Connor said Ms. Jordan
recently issued an order as Building Commissioner to have the burned trailer
removed in the Lambert Trailer Court.
As city attorney, Mr. O’Connor advised Mr. Stair, owner, that he could
attend the meeting this evening to seek any relief he might want from the
building commissioner’s order. Mr.
O’Connor said since Mr. Stair was not present the city will go ahead and
enforce Ms. Jordan’s order. Bids for
demolition will be published in the paper.
Mayor Swift announced Mr. Jimmy
Taylor would begin demolition on 201 West Logan the first of next week.
Mayor Swift also reported he had
spoken to Ms. Jordan and Mr. O’Connor concerning an official complaint about
the mice problem in the Stephen’s Auction House, next to Tanner Optometrist
office. Mr. O’Connor said the building
is being sold to someone in Florida and when we learn whom it is, he will be
contacted. Meanwhile, Ms. Jordan said
she would work on the problem.
Mayor Swift asked Ms. Jordan if
she had an update on the Small Building.
She said Mr. Small has done absolutely nothing as requested and she has
sent him another notice just last week.
What she proposes is to have him attend the next Board of Works meeting
to answer to the ongoing problems and what his plans are to solve them. Mr. O’Connor wanted to know what Mr. Small
used as an address and Mr. Jordan said rumor has it he is living in the
upstairs apartment at 108 Perry Street.
This is the only address she has on him. Mr. O’Connor said replacing or boarding up the windows is the main
issue at this time.
Ms. Jordan informed the board
she’s received a lot of complaints about several Hoffa properties in the
city. Mr. Hoffa goes to Florida in the
winter therefore it would be spring before she could contact him. When he does return, Ms. Jordan would like
to have him attend a board meeting and have him answer to what he is going to
do about these problem properties.
CLAIMS
Claims, in the amount of
$49,850.03 as shown by the claims and allowance docket, were presented to the
board. Mrs. Gustus made a motion to pay
the claims, seconded by Mr. Roderick.
All ayes.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business
to be brought before the board, Mrs. Gustus made a motion to adjourn, seconded
by Mr. Roderick. All ayes.
_________________________________
Deon
H. Swift, II, Mayor
ATTEST:
_________________________________
Nancy Jo Mitchell,
Clerk/Treasurer