10-2024 Minutes

Street Committee Meeting

October 15, 2024 - 12:30 p.m.

The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m.

Present were, Scott Manchester, Assistant Director of Streets; Jim Bodenhamer, Paige Evans, Susan Stockton and Jennifer Baker, Committee members; also present was Steve Hill, Director of Public Works.

The Street Report for September 2024 was reviewed.

The Access Road to the Community Center is going well.  Scott reported this is the road going to the Community Center; curb and gutter on that road and around the parking lots tis what the crew is working on at this time.  The total cost to date is $259,524.69.

The cost to the Community Center through September 30 is $1,486,018.91, of this total, the Street Department has been reimbursed $283,144.09.   Scott reported the steel has gone up and the roof is going on. 

The 6th Street Rebuild project has been completed at a cost of $361,943.20.  Scott said the crew did a fine job on that project.

Overlays have been completed this week.  The total cost through September 30 is $407,186.70.  Scott said they finished with South Street and 2nd Street. 

The crew working on the rebuild of Redbud Street and Windbrook Street are pouring curb at this time on Windbrook.  Culvert pipe had been installed earlier on Windbrook.  Scott said he would like to have the crew finish up with sidewalk on Windbrook before they start on Redbud.  The cost to date is $46,713.55.

The rebuild project at Carlile Highlands is going well.  The curbing has been completed, and Scott said he expects paving to begin sometime next week.  He told the Committee the Maintenance crew has completed digging out Turnage Trail and they are now digging out Deer Path.  The cost of this project is $139,474.86.

Maintenance for the month of September totaled $24,258.91.

Jim asked if we were fully staffed, and Scott reported that one left today, so they are going to advertise for a Laborer.

The Budget Summary was reviewed, and Scott reported there were no issues.  Steve told the Committee that he would be presenting some adjustments to the Council at Thursday's meeting.

There was a discussion about the Street Sign line item in the Budget.  The amount of $515,000 was budgeted for the Wayfinding program, and Steve asked the Committee if we were going to go forward with this purchase. If not, he said he could use that money elsewhere.    Scott said he had discussed this with Arnold, who said the Committee didn't seem too interested in it, so he dropped it.  Jim said it sounded good when it was brought up, but there is a Budget session coming up November 12; Steve said we could discuss it then.  Susan added it would be something to think about more.  Steve added, there was another adjustment he wanted to make to the Budget, asking for the Salary line to be increased and adding two more employees for the Maintenance crew.  Scott said, throughout the Summer, now that we are doing our own paving, this is the Maintenance crew; while paving there are not as many to do regular maintenance, including trimming limbs, etc.  He told the Committee he has 2, 2-man crews from other crews, going around trimming weeds at the curbs and cleaning off sidewalks throughout the city.  The extra two guys that we would hire, can do this, along with sign maintenance, cleaning ditches and the other things the Maintenance crew does regularly every month. 

Jennifer mentioned the Wayfinding system again, it was a good idea, but it was the expense that would be setting us back, it was more than they thought it would cost.  It looked good and she said she'd like to see signage to point out things, for example, the hospital and police department, and that sort of thing.  She said they were expensive, so we might want to scale down what we wanted to purchase.   She said there were some signs on the plans that weren't as crucial as others.  Paige said she had done research on the Wayfinding program throughout Arkansas, and she said it appears most of the cities had used grants to use for their funding of the signs.  She added, it was exuberant for Mountain Home to use tax dollars to pay for what many cities received grants for their Wayfinding signs.  She added, maybe if we partnered with someone for a grant, and asked if maybe we could use some money from the Public Safety Tax to pay for signage, for special things like the police department, and the fire department, and possibly the hospital.  Maybe we could use some of those tax dollars to put up signs just for those, the safety part.  Maybe that is something that can be looked at, using safety funds for those types of signs.  Jim said he had that same discussion with the Mayor and appreciated Paige researching this.  Scott reminded the Committee that most of these signs will be on the state highway, and this is why they are so expensive.   There was more discussion and Jim said it would be brought up at the Budget meeting. 

Susan asked when ARDOT would be starting on the bridge at 9th Street.  Scott said some power poles have been moved; Steve said the City is still working with property owners on the easements, and there are still city utilities that need to be moved. 

There was discussion about the 25-mph speed limit on streets that are not marked.  Scott said there used to be signs on the population signs at the City limits, but they are no longer there.  There is an ordinance that states the 25 mph limit, and putting 25 mph speed limit signs on every street would be too costly. 

The meeting was adjourned at 12:50 p.m.