Decision Delayed On Project Monitoring Request

The Citizen
10/01/2008
Centerville City Council members have delayed their decision on a request by the city engineer for a more that 50 percent increase to his bill to oversee work on CSAH 14.
Engineer Mark Statz explained at the city's September 24 meeting that his company's initial cost estimate of $55,428 to oversee Anoka County's work on CSAH 14 through Centerville had fallen short by some way as the 20 weeks of work budgeted in the 2007 and 2008 was insufficient to see the project through completion. "The reality of the situation is that the time has proved to be significantly less than what we really needed so we are asking at this point to increase our bill on this project by $35,000 to continue our efforts through to the end of the project," said Statz.

“We also thought at the time [of the initial bill] that Paul [Palzer, city public works director] and his staff would be able to spend a lot of time on the job; however, due to the resignation earlier this year and also there has been a hail storm … we have had to fill in the gaps there where we had planned to count on city staff to fill in and keep the costs down.” City council members expressed disappointment that they had only received news of the request the night of the meeting. “That’s a huge increase in the budget; that’s nearly 100 percent of the initial estimate,” said Council Member Tom Lee. Statz added that engineering staff had been spending on average 20 hours a week observing and reviewing the work of the Anoka County contractor on CSAH 14. “Our staff was so short this summer it was not able to do it,” added City Administrator Dallas Larson. “There were things that went wrong right away and we did need to have eyes and ears on the project, so there was some justification for having the time on the project.” City council members tabled the decision until their next meeting.
If approved, the oversight will cost the Citizens of Centerville a total of $90,428. Is this how Centerville should be spending our tax dollars in today's economy?

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A Road Maintenance Pacifier?

City Minutes Work Session 8/13/2008
Finance Director John Meyer reviewed the draft budget for 2009 and commented on areas that Council members had suggested for change. Material he prepared also identified the impact to the levy if additional money were included for street maintenance at levels of $50,000, $100,000 and $150,000 per year. The Council consensus was that some amount perhaps around $25,000 could be included in the 2009 budget to begin setting aside additional money for streets. Mark Statz suggested doing a cost estimate for seal coating all streets once every five years and doing mill and overlay at 15 to 20 years. The Council would like to see the report showing the cost of such a maintenance program.

The Quad Press 8/19/2008
Mark Statz noted that the city would need to save more than $300,000 per year to keep pace with the road maintenance over the next 30 years without imposing assessments. This statement was not in the approved work session minutes and is not required to be there by law. The reporter caught it though...
What is going on behind the walls of City Hall? When our own City Engineer states we should be saving $300,000 annually to avoid future assessments, why did they only budget $25,000? The future assessments will keep coming unless something is done to address the basic need of road maintenance! Is the pathetic amount of $25,000 a pacifier because it's election year?

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Proposed Signs for City Entrance and City Hall

We really hate to harp on this but city officials leave us no choice! With a budget so tight they are struggling to put away $25,000 for road maintenance, (which still leaves us short) why is the city even considering spending our money this way?! Why replace the current City Hall sign and spend thousands of dollars for entrance signs that Anoka County provides for FREE?

Council minutes 8/27/2008
City Administrator Larson showed slides of a proposed sign design from Arrow Sign He stated that this will fit in the space where the current sign is in front of the City Hall It has also been proposed to have a message board below it He added that they could either use real brick or a plastic product that looks like brick City Administrator Larson stated that he had also received a proposal for Centerville entry sign
Mayor Capra inquired whether they could wait and look at this at the end of the year.
Council member BVickers stated that the total of the signs proposed would amount to over $70,000. Council member Lee suggested that the City only do one of these signs per year. Council member BVickers suggested having Finance Director John Meyer come back with the impact of $40,000 for the sign and an additional $15,000 for an entry sign on the City budget. Council member Paar stated that the Council is already fighting the budget for the street maintenance He suggested that this may have to wait until there is extra money He stated that they could get the free sign from Anoka County for Centerville Road He added that the City should look at this when Highway 14 is completed and the building and developing are completed
Council member Lakso stated that she felt the most crucial sign would be the sign coming west on Highway 14 to welcome people into Centerville.
Discussion ensued
Council member Lee stated that he agreed with Council member Lakso. They would want the sign on Highway 14 to welcome people into town.

Sitting council is redecorating the City with OUR MONEY! They are spending a lot of time and effort on nonessential items, all the while, the road maintenance fund is being ignored!
We have already incurred a 8 million dollar debt under their watch!
Should new signs that cost thousands of dollars really be a priority?
Speak out from the voting booth on 11/04/2008!

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Centerville Has a Dedicated Road Maintenance Fund?

City Council passed the preliminary 2009 road budget during the September 10th meeting.
A whopping $25,000 will be set aside for street reconstruction and reserve. We know that the City needs $60,000 just to cover the seal coating projects scheduled for next year. This still leaves us short $35,000 but hey, it's a start.
Thank you to all the citizens that have been so involved. Together, we might be able to get the fund increased to the $100,000 Council Member Broussard-Vickers stated we need.

How about slashing part of the $84,000 budgeted funds the City spends on Park Programs and Maintenance for the SIX parks we have in a 2.2 square mile radius?

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