Frustrations flare up in special meeting

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Sullivan City Council effectively postponed plans to repave the square and nearby side streets a week ago Monday amid concerns over the project’s bid specs.

After raising questions in their March 24 regular meeting, from which Streets and Public Improvements commissioner Monty LeCrone was absent, a special meeting was then held on April 4, so as to have LeCrone clear up the supposed deficiencies in his bid proposal.      Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.

Among the concerns the council had, most dealt with potential liability issues including who was responsible for certifying payroll, whether city employees needed flagger training and certification, and potential issues with milling the road to a three inch depth. The council had Lee Beckman of Milano and Grunloh Engineer’s review the bid specs and return his findings as a report, which was then given to LeCrone for the special meeting.

LeCrone addressed several of the issues members had with the specs, admitting he had left out some information such as bid bonds, accidentally.

“I admit, I left that out and not on purpose. I’m usually as much a stickler on bid bonds and performance bonds as anyone else,” he said.

LeCrone also settled other issues, reporting, among other things, that the city did in fact have two individuals certified to be flaggers.

But frustrations over the bid specs eventually came to a head when LeCrone tossed the bid sheet into the middle of the table.

“Okay. There it is. You guys can do it. You do all the other road projects, you guys can do it.”

“Now let’s just wait a minute,” replied Mayor Short .

The meeting then fell into disputes over improvements currently in the works for two parking lots behind the Little Theatre and the former Coyote Cabins restaurant. 

According to Short, in 2007 a committee of citizens was initiated to form a plan to bring in visitors and make the community more attractive to residents. The proposal included upgrades to city parking lots, including the area next to the former Chef Tippy’s building and the two lots in question. But at the time, the city was unable to proceed with the improvements to the two parking lots, citing a lack of storm sewers for drainage.

LeCrone made clear that he disagreed with the improvements and that his department would not be in charge or oversee their completion.

“We do not want to be the point people. If there’s a big problem that happens, say on the parking lot or something that we have to be involved in to be team players, we’ll come and help. We’re not going to be the decision makers; we’re not going to be the overseers; we’re not going to be the point guys for the project,” said LeCrone during the special meeting. “We’ll help if another department needs help, I don’t have a problem with that at all. But I don’t want the street department on two projects that I really, faithfully, feel that a lot of our citizens really don’t think are necessary. That’s my problem. And I don’t  want us taking time or Doug (Daily) taking time out of his day to focus on that and be the lead guy on that, because I don’t agree with it.”

“We have been discussing this for some time and thought commissioner LeCrone was on board,” said Short in an email. “The storm sewers are nearly completed, and the next step is to concrete the lots and alleys. The council, or at least myself, was not aware of commissioner Lecrone’s objections until we rejected his bid proposal for the square project.”

Commissioner Bill Hagen volunteered to be in charge of the project, but the meeting was driven further off course with accusations about interdepartmental communications and the barriers some may be overstepping.

After commissioner Mike Kirk asked why the department of streets and alleys foreman Doug Daily had told him he would not be the point man on the project, LeCrone replied, asking why Kirk hadn’t called him rather than his foreman.

“It happens a lot…You talking to my guys that I don’t know anything about until later when I get a phone call,” LeCrone accused. “Don’t tell me there hasn’t been some work directed from you to my guys in the past, because there has. I don’t call Shannon and direct him to do work. That’s my point. I was elected to do the street department work. You weren’t.”

In a separate email, LeCrone elaborated on this point, stating, “There is not a problem with communication with the department superintendent/foreman working together for the common goal. It is a communication issue at the top.”

Kirk explained over the phone to the NP that he has never directed work to the street department and wasn’t sure what to make of LeCrone’s statements.

“I don’t think anybody has ever overstepped those bounds,” he said. “Never has there been a time when one department head told another department head what to do– it’s never happened to my knowledge.”

Frustrations eventually cooled, and the special meeting concluded with LeCrone agreeing to update his bid spec sheet and present it to the council at their next regular meeting–but not before first making a request of his own.

“But one thing I would like, is the next time this happens, instead of getting this report on the same day we’re having the meeting, I would like to have it a few days so I can go through the report. I think it was a little short-sided and one-sided the way this happened.”

Near the end of their regular meeting last Monday, the council addressed LeCrone’s updates to the bid spec sheet, which, in part, included specific language on milling roads curve to curve, replacing the recommendation for a pre bid meeting with a field site visit, as well as information pertaining to JULIE, the method of payment, general conditions, and prevailing wage rates.

But Short replied with a concern that the completion date for the project was set for June 19, therefore interfering with the Little Theatre’s season.

LeCrone reported that they could change the timeline to a 30-day project but not without increasing costs, and even then, the completion date would be set for June 5, with the theatre beginning its season on June 4. Other business owners in attendance also asked whether the project would coerce them into closing their doors temporarily, to which LeCrone assured them it would not.

“A good portion will be torn up. They’ll mill the whole job in five days, but you can still drive on it,” said LeCrone. “It’s going to be dirty, but there is brick underneath there…it could be an hour or two after milling that roads are closed.”

Commissioner Kirk then expressed two final concerns, citing the lack of an engineer in overseeing the project and secondly, not knowing what exactly the required IDOT specs included for the project.

The road commissioner replied explaining that whomever the city chose to do the project would be familiar with those specs. LeCrone had also mentioned in the special meeting that he had been trying to do without an engineer so as to save the city money.

In a phone interview, LeCrone cited the project’s budget, without an outside engineer, at $400,000 with an additional $50,000 for overages. He said that were the city to bring in an engineer, the total cost could be as high as approximately $700,000.

“I’m not opposed to engineers,” he said. “I worked for one for 23 years, so I know how things go. Engineer’s put a lot of extra stuff in there to protect themselves, which I don’t blame, but it costs the customer extra.”

After Kirk presented his two final concerns about the project, Mayor Short asked LeCrone whether he intended on presenting a motion to approve the project, which he did.

But when it came to the roll call vote, Commissioners Mossman and LeCrone voted yes, while Commissioners Kirk and Hagen each voted no. Mayor Short’s no vote came only after several seconds pause, thus striking down the project, for at least now.

In a separate interview LeCrone said he didn’t expect the council to approve the project, thinking they instead harbored ill feelings from the special meeting.

In a separate interview, Short justified her vote, explaining that she felt “a project of that magnitude should be better planned. He (LeCrone) tried his best to satisfy [our concerns] but there were no design plans to go along with them…for myself, there should be some design work to have gone into it. We don’t have the expertise to do it ourselves.”

Both commissioners Hagen and Kirk were in tandem, citing the lack of an outside engineer as the reason for their no votes.

According to the council, the square was last repaved in 1992, with an outside engineer contributing to the project. The most recently discussed project would have included the resurfacing of the entire square as well as parts of Main, Washington, Harrison, and Jefferson streets closest to the square–or approximately 187,525 square feet, not including an alternate bid for 26,157 square feet on Main Street just north of Jefferson.

In the summer of 2012, parts of the square along with many of the side roads were crack sealed, expecting to give another four to five years life to the surfaces. But as LeCrone and others have mentioned, the recently passed winter brought more wear and tear than anticipated. Still yet, LeCrone and Short both believe the roads will last another year until resurfacing can be done, which doesn’t appear to be anytime this year.

“I think the square itself and streets will probably hold off another year,” said Short over the phone. “I hope it’s not severe. The crack sealing bought us some extra time.”