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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHWY Minutes aug 13 2015HIGHWAY COMMITTEE MEETING August 13, 2015 The regular monthly meeting of the Grant County Highway Committee was held on Thursday, August 13, 2015 at the Highway Office in Lancaster, Wisconsin. Chairman Donald Splinter called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M.. Members present besides the Chairman were John Patcle, Mark Stead, Grant Loy, Vern Lewison, and Highway Commissioner David Lambert. Also present was County Board Chairman Robert Keeney, Jon Knautz, Larry Kirschbaum, Shelly Downing, Dave Knoke, Terri Abing, and Mark Landon. Joining the Committee later in the meeting for discussion on the budget and equipment were Travis Kramer, Donna Bohnenkamp, and Mike Bartels. Notice of the meeting was sent to the newspaper and radio station and the agenda was posted at the Administration Building and Highway Office. Vern Lewison, seconded by Grant Loy, moved to approve the agenda as printed. Motion carried. Mark Stead, seconded by John Patcle, moved to approve the minutes of the July 9, 2015 and July 16, 2015 meetings as printed. Motion carried. John Patcle, seconded by Vern Lewison, moved to pay Vouchers #445 thru #534. Motion carried. John Patcle, seconded by Mark Stead, moved to approve and recommend to the full County Board a request for a ATV - UTV Route on CTH "K" (Pine Knob Road to Hwy 61) in the Town of North Lancaster pending approval by the Traffic Safety Committee. Motion carried. Mark Stead, seconded by Vern Lewison, moved to approve and recommend to the full County Board a request for a ATV - UTV Route on CTH "0" (Church Road to STH 61) in the Village of Tennyson pending approval by the Traffic Safety Committee. Motion carried. Donald Splinter, seconded by John Patcle, moved to approve and recommend to the full County Board a ATV - UTV Route on CTH "W" (Lafayette County Line to Hwy 80) in the Village of Hazel Green pending approval by the Traffic Safety Committee. Motion carried. Vern Lewison, seconded by Grant Loy, moved to approve and recommend to the full County Board a request for a ATV - UTV Route on CTH "Q" (Tormey Road northeast to Blue School Road) in the Town of Fennimore pending approval by the Traffic Safety Committee. Motion carried. For the first six months of 2015, Grant County is under budget $71,805.00 for the maintenance work that we provide on the State Highway System. Jon reported that State crews have been busy on the PBM project in the County of crack filling and sealing 23 bridge decks. Larry reported that County crews have been mowing, replacing tubes on CTH "P", and seal coating on CTH "Q". Donna and Travis joined the Committee for discussion on the proposed 2016 Highway Department Budget. David reviewed a handout comparing the Highway Budget in 2005 to 2015 as well as the cost of diesel fuel, oil, asphalt, salt, a fully equipped patrol truck, wages, and the machinery budget and County mats and seals budget for the same ten year period. Travis reviewed the total costs to date on the 2015 County Construction Projects. Construction on the new Platteville Outshop is moving ahead. The roof has now been completed. David met with the electrician and it was decided to install LED lighting for the building. Dave Lombardi, a Senior Loss Control Specialist, and Dawn Mergen, recently visited our 1939 shop and found some potential violations of current OSHA regulations. The violations included lift chains, gas cans, extension cords, ladder, and a guard for the drill press. David said that to his knowledge, there has never been an accident resulting from the failure of a lift chain, gas can, extension cord, or ladder. There also has never been an accident due to a faulty guard on the large drill press that was installed back in 1939 when the building was new. David, Bart, Jon, and Larry will get together and come back to the Committee next month with a cost and proposed plan on how to address the potential violations of current OSHA regulations. David reported that Brian Northouse started as a new Operator on August 10th. David was again asked by the Department Heads to look at additional revenue considerations or the wheel tax. The Committee discussed this issue last month. The Committee requested that David inform the other Department Heads that the Highway Committee has no interest at this time in proposing a wheel tax for Grant County. Travis reviewed a handout showing Highway Department Reserves as of 12/31/14. David commented on the recent Johnson Block and Company Audit of Grant County for the year ending December 31, 2014 as discussed at the Executive Meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2015. The Highway Department currently maintains a separate general ledger from the County wide general ledger. Johnson Block recommends the County investigate the possibility of integrating the two general ledger systems to eliminate duplication of procedures. Chippewa County has gone to one accounting software package, using Springbrook. The Chippewa County Highway Commissioner informed David that data entry is time consuming, cumbersome, and entries are duplicated using Springbrook. Closing and balancing the books takes longer than with their previous software. There are currently 3 people in the Highway Office in Chippewa County. They would like to add one more due to the added work using the Springbrook software. Juneau County also uses Springbrook. Juneau County Highway also uses Chems software to do some of the inventory tasks that Springbrook can't do. Juneau County has only 2 people in the Highway Office, however, much of the data entry is completed by the Finance Office that has 5 employees. David commented that if we are to go to one software package using Springbrook, as advised by the Auditors, it would be prudent to add a minimum of 2 employees to handle the additional data entry, either at the Highway Office or Finance Office. Mark Stead, seconded by Vern Lewison, moved to adjourn at 11:03 A.M. to Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 9:00 A.M.. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Mark A. Stead, Secretary