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07/09/09: Minutes - June 17, 2009 - Special Meeting
The Village Board of Trustees met in special session, Wednesday, June 17, 2009;
at the Hillcrest Village Hall. President Rich Hicks called the meeting to order
at 7:02 P.M. Answering the roll call were Trustees Jim Mecklenburg, Rich
Elliott, Randy Salsbury, Jim McMullin, Trevor Unger and Vicki
Stewart.
President Hicks stated the first order of business is the
engineering service agreement amendment number two. President Hicks introduced
James Sparber of Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers to explain the
amendment to the agreement. Mr. Sparber stated that in the original engineering
service agreement with Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers there was a
provision to prepare the easement documents for each of the sanitary sewer
services and the time spent on preparing the documents would be billed at the
hourly rate; essentially what this agreement does is include language that
states the easement preparation will not exceed $11,500.
Mr. Sparber
stated these easements are preliminary blanket easements over the entire piece
of property, when the services are actually installed then a final easement will
be drafted for the area where the sanitary sewer system is actually located
because the exact locations are not known until the time of construction; that
is why blankets easements are the first step in the process. Mr. Sparber stated
that once the service is installed a final easement document will be drafted for
a ten foot strip of land over the sewer lines and not the entire piece of
property.
President Hicks asked the Board of Trustees if they had any
questions for Mr. Sparber, the Board of Trustees indicated that they did not
have any questions and President Hicks called for a motion to accept engineering
services agreement amendment number two. Trustee Elliott made a motion to accept
engineering services agreement number two; Trustee McMullin seconded the motion.
Vote as follows: Mecklenburg – yes, Elliott – yes, Salsbury – no, McMullin –
yes, Unger – yes and Stewart – yes. The motion carried.
President Hicks
stated the next order of business is Testing Soils Corporation and he asked Mr.
Sparber to explain what that entailed. Mr. Sparber stated that as part of the
design of the sanitary sewer collection system subsurface soil conditions need
to be determined and that is not something that Baxter & Woodman Consulting
Engineers does. Mr. Sparber stated that is somewhat of a specialization that
drilling companies do and they typically drill borings that go a few feet below
the projected depth of the sanitary sewer lines so that Baxter & Woodman
Consulting Engineers will know what types of soils exist so that we may engineer
properly around those soils. Mr. Sparber stated that the original engineering
service agreement was structured so that Baxter & Woodman Consulting
Engineers would coordinate this work and bring this to the Village for approval.
Mr. Sparber stated that a request for a soils testing company was published in
the Rockford Register Star; Testing Soils Corporation responded to the
advertisement and submitted a bid of $37,300 to complete sixty-two soil borings
along the three main trunk lines of the sanitary sewer system. Mr. Sparber
stated that Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers has worked with Testing
Soils Corporation in the past and they are a good company to work with; Baxter
& Woodman Consulting Engineers is asking for your approval to subcontract
with Testing Soils Corporation to complete the soil borings.
Trustee
Elliott expressed his concerns about the excavation that will be done throughout
the Village as part of the project and the possibility of utility lines being
compromised. Mr. Sparber stated that all the utilities will be marked; however
if the lines are not properly marked there are no guarantees that utility lines
won’t be compromised. Trustee Mecklenburg asked if the costs for the soil
borings are part of the original engineering costs. Mr. Sparber stated that the
cost for the soil borings is in addition to the costs for Baxter & Woodman
Consulting Engineers fees for design services. Trustee Elliott asked if the
costs for the soil borings would be covered under the grant funds. Mr. Sparber
stated that is why the soil borings are being handled through Baxter &
Woodman Consulting Engineers so that those costs will be subject to the grant
funds. Trustee Stewart stated what happens if the grant funds don’t come
through, what happens to that bill. Trustee Mecklenburg stated that the Village
would be responsible for the bill for the soil borings. Trustee Salsbury stated
why are we doing this, what is the necessity. Mr. Sparber stated that if there
was a rock condition Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers would not want to
build through a rock ledge because it is very cost prohibitive if we know that a
rock ledge exists we can design around it; on the other hand if there is wet
sand that is a very difficult condition to dig in and we can avoid that during
the design phase. Mr. Sparber stated the soils boring are also important for
bidding purposes because it gives the contractor information on which to base
their bid, if the contractor does not know the soil conditions they are going to
inflate their bid to cover their costs; it reduces the risk to the contractor
so, it reduces their price. Trustee Salsbury stated doesn’t the County know the
soil conditions already. Mr. Sparber stated not to ten, fifteen, twenty feet or
whatever the case maybe. Mr. Sparber stated that there are some soils maps that
soils conservation have produced but, there do not show the subsoils. President
Hicks stated in the past septic systems were installed by using the County soils
book but, in the last ten years that has changed; now you are required to have a
soil scientists come out and do a two inch boring that is seven to nine feet
deep and that determines the size of the system that needs to be installed so,
these soil borings are important.
Trustee Stewart asked if the Village
had heard any news from the City of Rochelle on the draft of the sewer
agreement. President Hicks stated no. Trustee Stewart stated then we don’t know
if we are going anywhere. Trustee Mecklenburg stated there is some apprehension
on our part to make a commitment for $37,500 for two reasons; first we don’t
have a commitment from Rochelle and second we don’t know if we have any grant
money coming in. President Hicks asked Mr. Sparber what the timeline is for the
soil borings. Mr. Sparber stated Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers are
reaching a point in the design phase where decisions are going to need to be
made the soil types will be driving some of those decisions; if the Board delays
the boring Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers can continue the design
based on some assumptions but, we may have to go back at some point in the
future and make changes once we do have the information from the soil borings.
Mr. Sparber stated that subsoil conditions do no change that is information that
the Village will have forever, if this project does not go forward at this time
at some point in the future you are going to have to sewer your community and
you will already have this information in place; there is no shelf life so to
speak. President Hicks asked Mr. Sparber if the Board of Trustees tables the
soil boring until the July 8, 2009 board meeting how will that affect the
project. Mr. Sparber stated that if the Board of Trustees tables the soil
borings until the July 8, 2009 board meeting the design will continue however;
the decisions that would be based on the soil borings will have to be based on
some assumptions. President Hicks called for a motion to table the soil borings
until the July 8, 2009 meeting. Trustee Mecklenburg made a motion to table
Testing Soils Corporation until the July 8, 2009 board meeting; Trustee Stewart
seconded the motion. Vote as follows: Mecklenburg – yes, Elliott – yes, Salsbury
– yes, McMullin – yes, Unger – yes and Stewart – yes. The motion passed
unanimously.
President Hicks stated the next order of business is Smith
Ecological Systems Inc. for $7,491.93; this is a bill from the company that
supplied the chemicals for the pump house addition that we previously approved.
Trustee Elliott stated that this bill is related to the project that was started
approximately two years ago when Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
mandated that the Village make some changes to the way chlorine was being
delivered through the water system; we have approved the project now we need to
approve the payment. Trustee Elliott made a motion to pay Smith Ecological
Systems Inc. for the equipment that was installed in the pump house for
$7,491.93; Trustee McMullin seconded the motion. Vote as follows: Mecklenburg –
yes, Elliott – yes, Salsbury – yes, McMullin – yes, Unger – yes and Stewart –
yes. The motion passed unanimously.
President Hicks stated the next order
of business is Resolution No. 061709-A Establishing Guidelines to Identify the
Employment Status of all Persons Employed by the Village of Hillcrest. After a
brief discussion Trustee Stewart made a motion to approve Resolution No.
061709-A Establishing Guidelines to Identify the Employment Status of all
Persons Employed; Trustee Elliott seconded the motion. Vote as follows:
Mecklenburg – yes, Elliott – yes, Salsbury – yes, McMullin – yes, Unger – yes
and Stewart – yes. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment
No
public comment at this time.
There being no further business to transact
a motion to adjourn was made by Trustee Mecklenburg; Trustee Elliott seconded
the motion. Vote as follows: Mecklenburg – yes, Elliott – yes, Salsbury – yes,
McMullin – yes, Unger – yes and Stewart – yes. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m. The next regular monthly meeting will be held
July 8, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Hillcrest Village Hall.
Respectfully
submitted,
Teresa J. Adams
Village Clerk
Posted: 7/9/2009 |
Updated: 7/9/2009