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September 2002 Status Report
It is my pleasure to once again submit my status report for your review and information. If you should have any questions about any of the items listed or would like information about something I did not cover, please do not hesitate to contact me.
1. Fire Funding
On Tuesday the Senate voted to approve and voted on a transportation bill that contains the replacement of fire funding that was vetoed by the Governor. As you recall, there were not enough votes to overturn the Governor's veto of fire funding. There has been an effort ever since the veto to have the fire funding restored. On Tuesday of last week I attended a news conference in East Lansing held by Jennifer Granholm and the mayors of Lansing and East Lansing urging the Senate to vote to reinstate the fire funding and urge the Governor to sign the bill.
Now that the bill has been approved by the Senate, we will have to wait to see if the Governor will sign the bill. At last week's news conference we heard that the Governor indicated he would sign the bill, but we will just have to wait and see.
2. Park Projects
On Monday afternoon the temporary dam was removed and water began to flow in the river following its normal course and over the newly-constructed weirs. Clean-up work is proceeding on the projects so over the next few days the dam project should be essentially completed.
In a previous status report I indicated that MDEQ had requested some additional information before we could proceed with the remainder of the trail project. That project is now back on track and the trail is being constructed. The new pedestrian bridge over the old dam site was installed about ten days ago. The new street and parking lot at the old dam site are under construction and should be completed by the end of the construction season. Island Park Drive North is nearing completion with the installation of curb and gutter and final grading taking place as I dictate this report.
3. Skateboard Park
The concrete was poured on Monday, September 16, and the fence posts were installed as well. It is anticipated that the skate park will be finished by the end of October.
4. Phone System
We have switched over to our new phone system. Unfortunately, it did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. Tom Robinson and Jeremy Howard spent long hours on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to make sure that the transition was successful. There are a number of items that are still being worked on by the Verizon staff, but they are things that should not impact service to people calling in.
5. Public Safety Building Project
The contractor is currently working on the last phase or the front of the building and the new entrance. It is anticipated that the project should be completed within the first couple of weeks of October.
6. Neighborhood Picnic
A year or so ago the City-CMU Student Liaison Committee came up with the idea of holding a block party for students living north of the campus. We thought it might be a good way to introduce students in the neighborhood to permanent residents. It was decided we would hold a trial picnic and focus on a few blocks on University Avenue. We tried to hold the picnic last fall, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. This year, however, the weather cooperated and we were able to hold the picnic this past Sunday. I think it was quite successful as we had five owner-occupied residents attend as well as about 50 or 55 students. It seemed to be well-received by both the students and the residents, and we will determine how to possibly expand the program next year.
7. Lost And Found Bronze Art
Tony Kulick tells me that the first bronze art piece was installed in Town Center on the site of the old Bamber House. The representation for the House is a set of keys. When you get a chance you may want to go down to Town Center and look at the first piece.
8. Airport
As you may recall, a few weeks ago you approved the acquisition of a 12,000 gallon Jet A fuel tank. Sparling Corporation is the contractor for the project and has told us the project has been delayed due to problems in obtaining the tank from the supplier. They anticipate that the tank will be delivered on or about September 30th. It will then take them about three or four days to install the tank, so we anticipate it will be available for operation by the second week in October.
As you may also recall, the City approved a special assessment for the installation of sanitary sewer line to the corporate hangar building. According to Duane Ellis, materials have been delivered to the site for the project, but no construction has started at this time.
9. Downtown Traffic Signals
An editorial appeared in the Morning Sun a couple of weeks ago regarding traffic signals in the Central Business District. Tom Nothstine, Staff Engineer, prepared a memo to Duane Ellis addressing these issues. I would like to take this time to summarize his comments regarding the signal cycles for your information.
There are three ways to approach intersection signal timing for the downtown signals:
1) Run long cycle lengths so that traffic waiting at the first signal can travel through all signals in the direction of travel, say on Main Street or Broadway.
a. This would require long cycle lengths.
b. Left turn opportunities would decrease, causing interruptions of traffic flow.
c. This would encourage speeding to make the next light at the end of the cycle phase.
d. This creates frustration for drivers waiting during light traffic periods.
e. Pedestrians would have longer waits.
f. Broadway traffic would see a shorter time because of only two closely-spaced lights, thus the wait would be perceived to be longer and unequal.
g. Rough estimation of cycle length 1.5 to 2 minutes.
2) Run progressive lights that would favor one direction.a. The non-favored direction would stop at every light for nearly an entire cycle length. We had that situation when the one-way streets were eliminated from the downtown. Many complaints were received.
b. Difficult to time Mosher - Washington versus Broadway without clipping traffic and encouraging speeding.
c. This would encourage speeding to try and make the next light as it is seen to be green by vehicles that just made the previous light on amber.
d. Estimated cycle length is 60 seconds.3) Run short cycle lengths so that waits would be minimized and spread the pain of waiting to all but have very short waits.
a. This is the present setting of the signals.
b. Traffic in all directions is blessed with short waits at each light.
c. Waits are short even during the higher traffic periods and less frustrating during light traffic periods.
d. Because all traffic is stopped frequently there is no reason to speed to make the next light.
e. There are frequent opportunities for pedestrian crossing. This increases pedestrian safety by fewer crossings against the light.
f. The current cycle length is 45 seconds.One of the timing problems is the change in travel direction of those traveling on Mosher Street - Washington Street because of the change in direction of traffic flow from East-West to North-South.
It was suggested by Commissioner Miller that we hold a work session on this item and we would be happy to do so if you would like. Let me just say that neither Public Works nor City Hall have received any complaints about the cycle of the traffic signals, nor have we ever received a complaint from either the DBA or the DCC.
10. Pickard Street Project
You may recall that you recently approved an agreement with the State of Michigan for funding to repave Pickard Street from Mission to Harris. The proposed scope of work includes the milling of two inches of surface from the existing pavement and the placement of an asphalt overlay. Once the pavement has been milled, the concrete joints in the street will be repaired. This process will severely limit the access of through traffic, but the road will remain open for local traffic to access the businesses and residences along Pickard Street. At times local access will also be limited, so alternative routing may be required. We will do our best to maintain access to each of the facilities along Pickard Street during the construction project. Construction will begin October 7th and last for approximately two weeks. While the street is under construction a detour will be established for all through traffic.
11. Voluntary Bid Alternates
As you may recall, when we took bids for the dam removal project, one of the bidders offered a voluntary alternate which saved the City money. At that time we awarded the bid to the contractor who offered the voluntary alternate; however, we did not have a set practice on this matter. At that time I asked staff to review this issue and make some recommendations regarding a policy dealing with voluntary alternates in the future. They spent quite a bit of time looking at various issues and came up with a proposed policy that I would like to summarize for you in this report.
Alternative proposals that are suggested by bidders will be considered if presented before the bid opening. If accepted, an addendum will be issued and sent out to all potential bidders so they may bid on the alternatives that have been identified. In rare circumstances the Finance Director can authorize the acceptance of voluntary alternates at the time of bid. This waiver is expected to be used very rarely, and authorization must be received from the Finance Director prior to issuing the bid specification.
Implementing this approach will require rewriting the current general specifications and instructions to bidders that are used for construction contracts. This is an internal document that is prepared and mailed to all bidders as a project proceeds to the construction phase.