04-25-2016 Council Work Session Minutes

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maintenance works with previous year's budget surpluses (averaging $380,000 annually over the last 10 years). Currently the city does not have a sustainable budget. Council's options for funding sources are to change the levy, assessments, franchise fees, or reallocating resources from other city activities. The 2008 Casco Point Road was repaired using bonds which will be expiring in 2023. Looking at the historical records it appears that a decision was made to use the Cities preventative maintenance funds to pay back the bonds on this project. This has left the city without a reliable budget for road maintenance. Mayor McMillan said Council could look to add levy funds that result from increase property values but did not want to increase the tax rate. Edwards would like direction from Council to move forward because the longer road maintenance is deferred the more expensive to repair. Currently maintenance workers are trying to play catch up with limited funds and staff, with some roads beyond patching. Walsh wants a list of the street reconstruction projects under consideration reviewed. Edwards reviewed the top priority roads, 2016 road maintenance, and current improvement activity in progress. A feasibility study for Fox Street improvements is slated for this summer with projects possible in 2017-2019. Council Members are in agreement that Fox Street needs to be repaired as soon as possible. Fox road complaints are for the length but the worst sections are on the west end. Total street costs are from the Pavement Management Study. A feasibility study will provide more detail to refine the numbers. With the recent road bids coming in low there should be sufficient funds in the MSA account to rebuild the MSA section of Fox in 2017. If a sufficient funding source can be identified it would be wise to also rebuild the western most (city funded) section as well in 2017. In addition to rebuilding our worst roads the city needs to invest in preventative maintenance activities such as mill and overlays and seal coating. Hunter, Tamarack and Casco Circle were all proposed for mill and overlays in 2016 but differed. With the surpluses from 2015 they could be reconsidered. Hunter Roads condition is in decent shape underneath but the top coat is disintegrating. Tamarack is in nearly the same condition. Northern Avenue is at the top of the list but due to the building project in that area repair would be best to wait. There may be a cost savings to group roads together which would better serve residents by limiting disruption. Walsh wants to get the bad roads completed. He would like Hunter and Tamarack set for mill and overlay this year and hold any excess funds for Fox Street.