**APPROVED MINUTES**

 

 

Mason, Michigan

November 29, 2007

 

 

The Board of Ingham County Road Commissioners met for a regular meeting on Thursday, November 29, 2007, at 6:00 P.M. in the Board Room of the Road Commission’s Austin E. Cavanaugh Administration Building located at 301 N. Bush Street, Mason, Michigan.

 

Present:  Larry R. Smith, Chair, Joseph A. Guenther, Vice Chair, and Shirley M. Rodgers, Commissioner.

 

Also Present:  Sandra F. Montgomery, Interim Managing Director, Deborah L. Bellows, Secretary to the Board, and Robert H. Peterson, Director of Engineering.

 

Others Present:  Cheryl Fritze, Duane Yerks, SEIU Unit President and Fleet Manager, Dale E. Arnett, Eastern District Supervisor, and Will Comstock, Eastern District employee.

 

Absent & Excused:  Joseph D. Pulver, Director of Operations.

 

AGENDA ITEM #4 – CONSENT AGENDA.

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther, that the following items be approved under consent:

 

A.         Agenda Item #5, Minutes.

B.         Agenda Item #6, Permits.

C.         Agenda Item #8A, Accounts Payable for October 29-November 11, 2007.

D.         Agenda Item #8B, Accounts Payable for November 12-25, 2007.

E.         Agenda Item #8C, Local Road Agreement with Williamstown Township.

F.         Agenda Item #8D, Guardrail for the Kirby Road culvert replacement project.

G.         Agenda Item #8E, Guardrail for the Eifert Road culvert replacement project.

H.         Agenda Item #8F, Final Pay Estimate and Acceptance Report for Proposal #1507.

 

3 yes, 0 no.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

            Agenda Item #5 – Minutes.

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther, that the minutes of the meetings of November 1, 2007, November 7, 2007, November 26, 2007, and November 27, 2007, be approved as presented.  3 yes, 0 no.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

            Agenda Item #6 – Permits.

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther, that routine permits be approved as follows:

 

07-0654 07-0690            07-0694            07-0696            07-0697            07-0698

07-0701 07-0702            07-0703            07-0706            07-0708            07-0709

07-0710 07-0711            07-0712            07-0714            07-0715            07-0617

07-0691 07-0692            07-0693            07-0695            07-0700            07-0699

07-0704 07-0707            07-0713            07-0717            07-0718            07-0719

07-0720

 

3 yes, 0 no.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

            Agenda Item #8A&B – Accounts Payable.

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther, that the accounts payable be approved as follows:  for the two week period from October 29-November 11, 2007, totaling $237,395.75; and the two week period from November 12-25, 2007, totaling $281,318.59.  2 yes, 0 no.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

            Agenda Item #8C – Local Road Agreement with Williamstown Township.

 

RESOLUTION APPROVING LOCAL ROAD AGREEMENT WITH WILLIAMSTOWN TOWNSHIP.

 

RESOLUTION #170-07

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther.  3 yes, 0 no.  Resolution carried unanimously.

 

BE IT RESOLVED that upon recommendation of the Interim Managing Director, the Board approves a Local Road Agreement with Williamstown Township for additional crackfilling on various roadways.

 

            Agenda Item #8D&E – Confirm Purchase of Guardrail.

 

RESOLUTION CONFIRMING PURCHASE OF GUARDRAIL FOR KIRBY ROAD AND EIFERT ROAD CULVERT REPLACEMENT PROJECTS.

 

RESOLUTION #171-07

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther.  3 yes, 0 no.  Resolution carried unanimously.

 

BE IT RESOLVED that upon recommendation of the Interim Managing Director, the Board confirms the purchase of guardrail to be installed at the Kirby Road and Eifert Road culvert replacement locations, in the total amount of $19,828.00.

 

            Agenda Item #8F – Final Pay Estimate and Acceptance Report for Proposal #1507.

 

RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PAY ESTIMATE AND ACCEPTANCE REPORT FOR PROPOSAL #1507, THE 2007 PAVEMENT MARKING PROGRAM.

 

RESOLUTION #172-07

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther.  3 yes, 0 no.  Resolution carried unanimously.

 

BE IT RESOLVED that upon recommendation of the Sign and Signal Manager, the Board approves the Final Pay Estimate and Acceptance Report for Proposal #1507 for the 2007 pavement marking program as follows:  Contractor: M&M Pavement Marking Inc.  Contract Amount: $322,525.00.  Final Amount: $310,799.00.

 

Changes to the Agenda:  Chair Smith stated he was moving agenda item #8I-Managing Director selection, to be 11; and agenda items 11, 12 and 13 would now become 12, 13 and 14.

 

AGENDA ITEM #7 – MANAGING DIRECTOR REPORTS.

 

A.         A correction to the minutes of October 18, 2007, has been requested by Meridian Township Trustee Julie Brixie.  Page 5, under the traffic control orders discussion, the minutes reflect that Ms. Brixie stated “the township supports the stop locations in this neighborhood.”  Ms. Brixie has indicated this was her personal opinion as a resident in the area, and it does not reflect the opinion of the township board.

 

Moved by Commissioner Guenther and Supported by Commissioner Rodgers, that the minutes of the October 18, 2007, board meeting be corrected as follows:

 

Page 5 under the traffic control orders discussion:

 

Original Entry:            “Meridian Township Trustee Julie Brixie stated the township supports the stop locations in this neighborhood”.

 

Corrected Entry:            “Meridian Township Trustee Julie Brixie stated that as a resident in this area, she supports the stop locations in this neighborhood.”

 

2 yes, 0 no.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

B.         The Dale Ruttan health insurance issue has been settled and the money received.

 

C.         The new radio tower has been installed and is operational.

 

D.         The guardrail on the Hagadorn Road Bridge will start tomorrow.  The holes will be drilled tomorrow and the fabrication needed will be done next week.  Commissioner Guenther stated he respects the opinion of the welder, Clare Piepkow, and trusts the job will be done correctly.  Ms. Montgomery stated she cannot guarantee the painting will be done now though, because of the weather conditions.

 

AGENDA ITEM #8G – PROPOSED 2008 BUDGET.

 

Interim Managing Director Sandy Montgomery reviewed the proposed 2008 Budget.  She indicated this is pretty much a status quo budget, but will give the new manager a good starting point.  Ms. Montgomery said that CRAM is advising road commissions to expect a five percent (5%) reduction in the MTF revenue for 2008. 

 

Commissioner Rodgers asked if the currently unfilled positions are accounted for in the budget?  Those positions have not been eliminated, right?  Ms. Montgomery stated she would provide the Board with a list of all the current vacancies and what it would cost to fund those positions.  She said the only positions that are funded in the 2008 budget are the Managing Director and the Administrative Services Director.  Commissioner Rodgers asked where those funds reside?  In the administrative expense?  Ms. Montgomery said yes. 

 

Chair Smith asked why the Waverly Road project is not shown under the primary heavy maintenance budget?  Director of Engineering Bob Peterson said the Waverly Road project is not funded until 2009.  Commissioner Rodgers asked if that is because the design is not done?  Mr. Peterson said no, it has always been programmed for 2009.  We are partnering with Lansing Township and the Township has not yet obtained the funding for the water main replacement.  Commissioner Rodgers asked about the jurisdictional changes along Waverly Road.  Mr. Peterson said Waverly Road is under the jurisdiction of the Ingham County Road Commission from Columbia Road north to Jolly Road and then from the bridge at Moores River Drive north to Grand River.

 

Ms. Montgomery stated the Board’s public hearing on the proposed budget is December 13th.  This proposed budget can now be sent to anyone who might request it.  The Board concurred.

 

AGENDA ITEM #9A – OUT OF STATE TRAVEL.

 

Director of Engineering Bob Peterson requested out of state travel to attend the 2008 NACE annual meeting and Management & Technical Conference in Portland, Oregon, April 19-26, 2008.  He indicated the program is packed with transportation issues and he feels this would be a very worthwhile trip.

 

RESOLUTION APPROVING OUT OF STATE TRAVEL FOR THE DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING.

 

RESOLUTION #173-07

 

Moved by Commissioner Rodgers and Supported by Commissioner Guenther.  3 yes, 0 no.  Resolution carried unanimously.

 

BE IT RESOLVED that upon request of the Director of Engineering, the Board approves out of state travel for him to attend the 2008 NACE annual meeting and Management & Technical conference in Portland, Oregon, at the DoubleTree Lloyd Center Hotel, April 19-26, 2008.

 

Discussion on Motion:            Commissioner Guenther asked Mr. Peterson if he would visit one or more of the walkable communities that Portland is famous for, and bring back information and pictures.  Mr. Peterson said he would.

 

AGENDA ITEM #9B – OKEMOS ROAD UTILITY FORCE ACCOUNT COSTS.

 

Director of Engineering Bob Peterson offered some background regarding a problem that has surfaced with the 2005 Okemos Road project utility force account costs.  He started by saying that the 2005 Okemos Road project involved four different federal funding sources, four project numbers, and three different force account “set-a-sides”.  The federal funding sources that were used to construct the $3.40 million project were from the Urban STP, CMAQ, Railroad, and Enhancement programs.  In addition, there were three Advanced Construct (AC) conversions within the Urban STP allocation.  AC conversions essentially add federal money to the account that pays for the work.  Force account “set-a-sides” are sub-accounts of money used to pay for project work, outside of the construction contract between MDOT and the contractor.  The three force account set-a-sides were for signal work performed by ICRC crews, railroad signal relocation work performed by CSX Railroad, and utility relocation work performed by Consumers Energy.

 

Mr. Peterson continued that the federal aid construction contracts were let and supervised by MDOT.  Road Commission staff inspected the work, enforced the contract provisions, and prepared pay estimates for completed work.  MDOT paid the contractor and invoiced the Road Commission for our share of the work.  The Road Commission will be receiving the final invoice for the project, probably in the near future, and the Road Commission needs to budget for that expenditure.  The CMAQ and Enhancement funding allocations were fairly straight forward and are close to being settled out.  The Urban STP funding allocation, which contains the AC conversions and all the force account set-a-sides, is not settled.

 

Mr. Peterson said he now needs to explain the final invoicing issue, how the issue affects the Road Commission’s budget, and set the table for closing out the project accounting.  Although MDOT indicated that only the Urban STP funding was at issue, the Road Commission requested spreadsheets for all of the funding categories so that his staff could verify all of the project costs.  Mr. Peterson provided the Board with copies of those project accounting spreadsheets.

 

Mr. Peterson added that after bids were received for this project, significant storm sewer costs were added.  He said they knew going into construction that the project was under funded and that the opportunity to add federal money to the project could present itself within the next couple of years and probably, most certainly when the 2008-2011 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) call for projects was released in December 2006.  Mr. Peterson pointed out that on the Urban STP spreadsheet, there are two AC conversions.  One programmed initially ($300,000) and one that was unexpected ($268,000).  He continued that although the railroad force account and MDOT administration costs were unknown at the time, late in 2006 (after the construction had been completed), we used the total construction estimates and the total amount paid by ICRC to determine what additional funding was needed to make the project whole.  When they ran the numbers, they found that the Road Commission needed about $150,000 of Urban STP funding to zero out the construction costs and pay Consumers Energy for the force account work they performed.

 

Mr. Peterson said he submitted an application for an additional $150,000 ($120,000 federal and $30,000 local match), which the CARTS group Tri-County approved on February 2, 2007.  From there, the $150,000 was approved by the Commission, FHWA, and finally converted in August 2007 (last AC conversion on the Urban STP spreadsheet).  The AC conversions zeroed out the Urban STP construction costs and resulted in a refund of $60,207.27.  He said that unfortunately, later in 2007, MDOT mistakenly reimbursed the Road Commission in three disbursements totaling $110,261.73.  Mr. Peterson said he has not received an explanation from MDOT as to why the reimbursement was mistaken, except that it had to do with timing of the AC conversions and the program funding splits.  Regardless, MDOT will be invoicing us for the $110,261.73.  They will in turn send us back a check for $107,490.33 (federal portion) to which we must add $23,835.67 (our local match) and use the resulting amount to pay Consumers Energy for the work they performed for the project.

 

Mr. Peterson said that the problem now is that we need to budget for the Okemos Road final costs in the 2007 or 2008 budget.  The total amount needed is about $136,000.  That amount includes the $110,261.73 mistakenly reimbursed.  Please be aware that the majority of the $136,000 is an eligible federal expense, but the federal allocation of Urban STP funding has been fully used.  We would have to go through the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission process and ask for additional money (a fourth AC conversion) so that 81.85 percent of the final bill could be paid using federal funds.  Mr. Peterson said it is unlikely that $136,000 would become available within the tri-county region in the next two years.  He said that 2009 is the last year of the current SAFETEA-LU transportation legislation and rescissions have greatly reduced the available program funding amounts. 

 

Mr. Peterson indicated there are two options available.  The first would be to budget and pay the $136,000 bill and close out the project.  The second option would be to budget and pay the $136,000 bill, not close out the project, hope that some agency’s Urban STP project falls off the TIP or use ICRC funding for a project presently in the TIP, and make application through the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission process for the eligible portion of the Okemos Road expense.

 

Interim Managing Director Sandy Montgomery said that no official action by the Board is necessary at this time.  This was presented to the Board for its information.  She indicated that Tina is currently in discussions with the auditors to figure out whether to budget and pay this Consumers Energy invoice within the 2007, or 2008 budget.  The Board will be kept informed of how this is handled.

 

AGENDA ITEM #11 – SELECTION OF A NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR.

 

Chair Smith asked the Board’s management recruitment consultant, Charles Blockett, to give an overview of the selection process.

 

Mr. Blockett stated the selection process consisted of conducting a targeted recruitment of qualified candidates based on the approved job announcement.

 

Then, ads were placed on the websites for the American Public Works Work Zone, and the Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota municipal leagues.  Ads were also placed in the following newspapers:  Lansing State Journal, Holt, Mason, South Lansing and Delta/Waverly Community newspapers, Detroit News/Free Press, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette and Kalamazoo Community newspapers, and Michigan Roads and Construction magazine.

 

Mr. Blockett said his mailed or faxed 407 job announcements to managers, directors, chief highway engineers, and finance directors in the 83 Michigan county road commissions, MDOT central office administrators and contractors, MDOT regional and area managers, city, county, townships and village public works directors and/or engineers, and numerous emails were sent to human resource colleagues across the nation.  As a result, Mr. Blockett said he received 51 resumes.

 

Mr. Blockett reported that on September 26th he met with approximately 20 employees at the Metro District garage and 41 employees at the Mason complex.  He said the employees in both groups provided input on six survey questions that had been distributed to employees.  Surveys were also sent to all of the townships, county commissioners and elected officials.

 

The results of the survey plus the annual report, budget, and organization chart were later sent to the finalists, and they were requested to develop a written plan of action as to how they would address the issues and concerns in the surveys.

 

Mr. Blockett stated that on November 7th he met with the Board and the Interim Managing Director and together they narrowed the pool to five finalists and two back-up candidates.  One of the finalists withdrew and then one of the back-up candidates was included.  A second candidate withdrew too late in the process to include the second back-up.  The group then proceeded with four finalists.  On November 26th the four finalists were interviewed by two advisory panels.  One panel consisted of eight Road Commission employees and the second panel consisted of eight key stakeholders representing the townships, county commissioners and community leaders.  On November 26th a public forum was held in the evening and the public, as well as the townships, county commissioners and elected officials were invited to come in and meet the four finalists.  On November 27th the Board conducted public interviews of the four finalists. 

 

At this time Mr. Blockett said he was requested by the Board to conduct background interviews and reference checks on the four finalists.  He indicated he hired Kerby, Bailey and Associates, a Saginaw-based investigation firm, to do the background investigation on the finalists.  The investigation consisted of a search of the following sources:  criminal history record file of Michigan State Police and appropriate courts for the past seven years, civil court history file of appropriate courts for the past seven years, bankruptcy records in federal, state and county courts for the past 10 years, Trans Union credit report, driving record for the past five years, former employment verification, education verification, and a nationwide newspaper article search.  In addition to this, Mr. Blockett said he personally made reference check calls on all of the finalists.  He indicated he has personally briefed board members on the results of the background investigation and reference checks.

 

Mr. Blockett said that each board member has had an opportunity to review the following material in order to assist them in making a decision:  resumes, narrative and other background information on the finalists, written plan of action, employees and stakeholders interview memos, observations and comments from the public forum, and each of their own evaluation of the finalists’ performance in the commission interviews. 

 

This completes Mr. Blockett’s report.  Commissioner Rodgers thanked Mr. Blockett for assisting and guiding the Board through this process.  She said she has received very positive comments from not only the candidates, but from the employees and community as well.  Mr. Blockett thanked the Board and commented that the Road Commission has a great group of employees, and the fact that this process was so open is a credit to the Board members.

 

Chair Smith asked for a motion.

 

RESOLUTION TO MAKE AN OFFER TO ONE OF THE CANDIDATES TO FILL THE MANAGING DIRECTOR VACANCY.

 

RESOLUTION #174-07

 

Moved by Commissioner Guenther and Supported by Commissioner Rodgers.  3 yes, 0 no.  Resolution carried unanimously.

 

BE IT RESOLVED that the Board hereby agrees to offer the Managing Director position to candidate William Conklin of Plymouth.  Mr. Conklin is currently employed by the Oakland County Road Commission.  The Board hereby authorizes the Chair to negotiate a salary and fringe benefit package with Mr. Conklin upon his acceptance of the position.

 

AGENDA ITEM #10A – LOCAL BRIDGE PROGRAM.

 

Director of Engineering Bob Peterson advised the Board that official notification has been received from MDOT that the Dobie Road structure over the Red Cedar River has been approved for replacement in 2010.  Chair Smith indicated that public informational meetings should start next year.  Commissioner Guenther suggested the meetings be held in Meridian Township, possibly at the same location where the meetings were held to discuss the Okemos Road Enhancement project. 

 

Meridian Township resident Cheryl Fritze stated she thought it would be good PR to hold those informational meetings in the township. 

 

AGENDA ITEM #12 – BOARD UPDATES/COMMENTS.

 

A.            Commissioner Rodgers stated that a written report will be forthcoming from Mr. Gill of Ameriprise Financial Group regarding the Road Commission’s Deferred Compensation program.  He would like to make a presentation to the Board and will be contacting the Secretary to the Board to schedule for an upcoming meeting.

 

No public comment was offered.  The meeting adjourned at 7:15 P.M.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                           

Larry R. Smith, Chair                                                     Deborah L. Bellows, Secretary to the Board