Chair Booth called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM

1.  Chair's Report - Chair Booth reported the following:
A. Project Field Trip - The committee will be contacted about a date and time for a field trip to see various highway and bridge projects.  The trip is primarily for the committee members, but other Legislature members will also be invited to attend.
B.  2004 Capital Projects - The submissions are due in May.
C. Expansion of the NYS Returnable Container Act of 1982 - This item will be coming back to the committee in the form of a resolution.
D. Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) - SWCD is possibly interested in constructing a new building for its operations on the county-owned Bostwick Rd. property.  Preliminary discussions are underway.
E. Municipal Equipment Sharing Agreement - This draft agreement has not yet been re-acquired from the Town of Ithaca Attorney.  P. Messmer and J. Wood may need to start this process over.
F. Sharing of the Highway Draft Workplan - J. Wood has informed the Chair that the NYS FOIL is clear that draft documents do not need to be released to the public, and that in his opinion, it is usually not beneficial to release draft documents to the public.  The committee agreed that the subject of document release would be a future committee agenda item.

2.  Persons Wishing to Address the Committee - Anne Chernish and Karen VanEtten, Town of Newfield residents, addressed the committee regarding their concerns about the Beach Rd. Bridge closing.

3.  2003 F&I Committee Goals - The goals were accepted by consensus.  The Chair will review the status of each goal with E. Marx and the PW Cabinet in order to develop a plan for how each goal will be accomplished.

4.  Award of Bid - Airport Exterior Landscaping - The following resolution was moved by M. Robertson, seconded by D. Winch and unanimously carried:

WHEREAS, The Department of Finance - Division of Purchasing has duly advertised for bids for exterior landscaping services at the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, and
WHEREAS, two (2) bids were received and publicly opened on March 25, 2003, now therefore be it,
RESOLVED, by the Facilities and Infrastructure Committee that the bid be awarded to Pro-Lawn Landscaping of Ithaca, NY as the lowest responsible bidder with an annual contract value of $17,900, for a period of one year(s) with the option to renew for two additional one-year(s) terms.
RESOLVED, further that the County Administrator is hereby authorized to execute a contract with Pro-Lawn Landscaping, funds being available in the Airport’s budget.

Explanatory Note - The Airport budgets annually for this service.  For 2003, $20,000 was budgeted for the service.

SEQR ACTION - Type II   6

5.  Approval to Seek Bids and Level of Committee Involvement - Airport Fire Fighting Vehicle - No action was taken on this item.  R. Nicholas was directed to meet with David Squires and Ed Marx and to present this item again to the committee on 5/13/03; in conjunction with an overall assessment of the fiscal future the airport is likely to face.  This assessment should prioritize upcoming airport projects, examine future use of the airport fund balance to support those projects, and provide financial projections regarding whether the airport will remain self-sufficient or will, at some point, require tax dollars to operate.
 
6.  Approval to Seek Bids and Level of Committee Involvement - Contract Customer Service Personnel - Airport - The committee determined by consensus, that staff should seek bids for this work, and that the committee will review the bids received, make an award, reject the bids, or direct staff to re-bid using the present structure of formal security guards, since this is a new endeavor.

7.  Red Mill Road Bridge Funding Options - The committee reviewed the information on funding options for this bridge if the bridge were to be constructed with local funds instead of federal funds.  After discussion, the committee directed P. Messmer and E. Marx to meet and return to the committee with a unified recommendation on how to proceed.  It was also recommended that Industrial Access grant funds be investigated as a potential funding source for the Red Mill Road Bridge.

8.  2003 Highway Workplan  - M. Harris finished reviewing the plan with the committee.  The committee requested copies of the overheads used by Mike.

9.  Budget Transfers - The following transfers were provided to the committee for information only; no action required:

FROM:     TO:
5130.52233 Highway Equipment - $3,000 5130.52231 Vehicles
Explanation:  Additional money needed to purchase two state bid pickup trucks.
FROM:     TO:
3310.54312 Highway Materials - $950 3310.52230 Computer Software
Explanation:  Money needed to purchase SignCad Software for our Sign Shop program.  The one-year warranty period is up on 4/30/03.

10.  Approval of Minutes - 2/25/03 and 3/25/03 - The 2/25/03 minutes were moved by D. Winch seconded by B. Blanchard and unanimously carried including a change to #5 read by B. Blanchard.  Action on the 3/25/03 minutes was postponed until the 4/22/03 meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 3:50 PM

       Respectfully submitted,

       Cheryl A. Nelson
       Public Works Administrator

ADDENDUM ATTACHED AND MADE PART OF THE PRECEEDING MINUTES

Submitted by M. Robertson:

Additions to Public Works Committee minutes, April 8, 2003 from Martha Robertson

P. 1, Item 2:
§ At end of sentence, add “, and the dangerous conditions for pedestrians who use the covered bridge instead.”

P. 2, Item 5:
§ After title of this item, add:
“Mr. Nicholas explained that the truck to be replaced is 15 years old, and if it breaks down he needs to borrow another truck from the Lansing Fire Department while repairs are done. Our share of this project would be $20,000, and he would keep the old truck for training purposes. Committee members asked Mr. Nicholas to provide data on the frequency of breakdown of the two trucks. Mr. Nicholas indicated that this is his highest priority for the use of FAA entitlement funds, for which he needs to have commitments by August 1 each year. Committee members expressed caution about airport spending in light of the airport’s financial situation and the uncertainty around commercial service. In particular it was noted that although FAA money makes these projects look attractive, the County has to look very carefully at the local expenditure that is required. ”

P. 2, Item 6:
§ After title of this item, add:
“Mr. Nicholas explained his desire to modify the security guard services that have been provided, and to recruit personnel with customer service skills as a top priority. The new contract would have to provide for approximately 5 FTE’s with a likely wage around  $11/hour, to cover the full operational hours of the airport. The current contract ends in mid-June and committee members asked Mr. Nicholas to provide the total amount of the contract at the next discussion of the proposal.”
§ Delete “since this is a new endeavor.” from the end of the item.

P. 2, Item 7:
§ Add after first sentence:
“Mr. Messmer explained that some of the top 30 bridges needing work in the County already have federal funding, which is based on a cost/benefit ratio. Although traffic counts were not provided in the information the Committee received, Mr. Messmer said that the Freese Rd. bridge is his top priority among those under consideration because it gets the most use. He said that it will have to be replaced within the next ten years. In response to a question, Mr. Messmer agreed that because of its historic designation, Freese Rd. will also have to go through the federal 4-F process, but he is optimistic that his plan could receive approval because there are fewer options there than with the Red Mill Rd. bridge.”

P. 2, Item 8:
§ Add after first sentence:
“Mr. Harris also distributed information related to the Highway Materials budget and the effects of recent and projected increases in oil prices. For example, he expects a 7% increase in the costs for the Irish Settlement Rd. repairs above the bid price. He also distributed a memo from a pipe supplier informing him of a 32% increase in their prices.”

Submitted by Ms. Kiefer:

Page 1
 Under #2 (persons to be heard), add at end:  "Ms. Chernish spoke of serious concerns about pedestrians, especially school children using the Covered Bridge as the alternative to the Beach Road Bridge now that the County has signed the Covered Bridge for pedestrian use.  Ms. VanEtten presented an alternative of repairing the bridge on site.

Under #3 (goals)
 Insert at start:  BB and MR moved acceptance of the goals.  DB noted they approximate priority order.  DK said they should include the charge to all committees to understand and encourage dept. evaluation of programs, their goals and workplan.  DW said he is not ready to vote; we need dept. input and work program."

Page 2
 Under #6 (airport)
 Insert at start:  "The current airport security contract ends in June.  Because there are now federal and other security personnel at the airport, B. Nicholas proposes emphasizing hiring persons with customer-service skills."

Under #7 (Red Mill Rd.)
 In line 2 and end of sentence insert:  "After review, staff presented several options for alternative uses of freed-up federal funds; by coincidence, each includes a bridge in Dryden, and all but one are historic.  The priority order of the alternatives was discussed.  E. Marx commented that using the federal funds for Red Mill after all seems most sensible to him."