Bolkcom: All right. I have one item under other business. It's an important item because the Auditor has requested that next Tuesday, Election Day, they're Absentee Counting Team needs more space. They want to use this space starting in the morning. All right? We called over... He called me yesterday, I talked to Carol about this as well, the Civic Center is available for the Board of Supervisors informal meeting next Tuesday between 9 and 11 o'clock on the 3rd. Is the Board OK with giving this room to the Auditor and his elections people. It would both during the day Tuesday and during the day Wednesday. Wednesday's clear... our schedule is clear on Wednesday. The conflict on Tuesday is our own meeting in this room.

Lacina: Is the agenda light for Tuesday?

Bolkcom: It's relatively light...

Peters: There's nothing on (inaudible).

Bolkcom:...there are a couple things on it (inaudible).

Lacina: So why don't we just have...

Peters: Did they get on last night?

Bolkcom: There's an item on... I think Mike had something, Mike Gardner, had something. I got an item this morning, Doug Russell wants to visit with the Board about this Courthouse thing. That'll only take like 5... That's not a long thing.

Lacina: Can we do it Thursday? Let's just cancel Tuesday's meeting or...

Bolkcom: We could conceivably do it...

Lacina:...let's go downstairs in the Conference Room. Why go over there if it's a light agenda? Let's just do it Thursday.

Stutsman: I would say do it Thursday, too.

Bolkcom: OK.

Duffy: Yes.

Bolkcom: So we need to send out a notice... We need to put this on to change the meeting time Thursday and we need to put out immediate notice to the public.

Lacina: Because of the requirement of the (inaudible).

Stutsman: Either send that notice here or over to the Civic Center. I guess I'm disappointed that this came up just at the last minute.

Bolkcom: Yes. I just learned about it yesterday afternoon.

Stutsman: Yes.

Bolkcom: And called over and said...

Stutsman: I think in the future...

Bolkcom: ...where can we meet, here's...

Stutsman: It would almost have been better just to say Election Day, let's just plan not to meet versus the scrambling.

Bolkcom: I think they've been able to accommodate it downstairs, but I think they're anticipating a lot more early ballots being (inaudible).

Stutsman: That's wonderful...

Duffy: They've already got them.

Lacina: $4,600.

Stutsman: ...I don't have... I just am disappointed making this change at such a late time.

Bolkcom: So do you want to meet next Tuesday or not? That's the question.

Jordahl: If you look at the Thursday following, we've got that executive session for doing these multiple employee evaluations. We're going to be sitting down comparing notes and stuff. That's going to take a bunch of time and if we're moving Tuesday's agenda to Thursday then we're packing Thursday right up full stuff.

Lacina: So far we're here and we have one 5 minute presentation coming up.

Stutsman: Doug Russell and then what was the other thing? Mike Gardner?

Bolkcom: We should look at the agenda. I glanced at it briefly.

Peters: OK.

Bolkcom: There were a couple... There was hardly anything on it.

Stutsman: Well, or just...

Bolkcom: I'm for keeping it light, but anyway...

Stutsman: I guess I am too. I think...

Bolkcom: ...I just wanted to...

Lacina: Just roll to Thursday?

Bolkcom: Yes.

Jordahl: At least the if we roll it over to Thursday we ought to do something by way of expressing our gratitude to Iowa City for making their space available on Tuesday.

Bolkcom: I just called over and talked to Lisa and she said it was available if we wanted it. I just wanted...

Duffy: What'd we decide to do?

Bolkcom: We haven't decided anything.

Peters: (Inaudible) got put on there was from Craig Mosher regarding 28E Agreement with Iowa State Association of Counties for Case Management Program to provide technical assistance.

Lacina: Oh, that's a...

Peters: MH/DD (inaudible).

Stutsman: It's something we've not...

Bolkcom: And McGinley has somebody coming, I think, Tuesday. Talking to us about the flood relocation (inaudible). There's somebody from the State that's going to be in town Monday and Tuesday.

Lacina: (Inaudible) informal is it? That's just talking...

Bolkcom: Well he wants to talk to people Tuesday. He kind of indicated some desire to come on the agenda, but maybe I'm confused about that.

Lacina: Oh, I thought it was just to...

Bolkcom: It was informal. I may be wrong about that. Anyway. What do you want to do? Do you want to meet Tuesday or not meet Tuesday?

Lacina: I would say no unless we...

Stutsman: I guess I would say no, too.

Lacina: Do it Thursday. Then Monday, Tuesday we try to meet with...

Bolkcom: All right. We need to put a motion on...

Lacina: That's the Flood Plain Committee?

Bolkcom: ...tomorrow or Thursday to not meet Tuesday.

Stutsman: We might be building arks by this, maybe.

Bolkcom: All right?

Lacina: Yes.

Jordahl: Boy.

Lacina: Which would be the... Yes, 3rd, Election Day.

Jordahl: Yes. I've got a lane that's going to wash out today.

Bolkcom: OK. Anything else?

Peters: Yes.

Bolkcom: Carol's got...

Peters: Before you recess, Rosemary has been waiting very patiently downstairs...

Bolkcom: Yes.

Peters: ...to take up item 6. Do you want her to come up after one o'clock or you do you want to reschedule her?

Bolkcom: Let's reschedule her until Thursday.

Lacina: Yes.

Stutsman: Yes.

Bolkcom: Mark?

Deputy Auditor Mark Kistler: That was the same question I had.

Bolkcom: 2 birds with one stone.

Lacina: Thursday?

Bolkcom: Can you call Lisa at the City Manager's office and say... She tentatively gave us 9 to noon next Tuesday, we don't need it. Thank you. All right. I would move to recess the informal until one.

Lacina: OK.

Bolkcom: Does anybody want to eat?

Recessed at 12:13 p.m.; reconvened at 1:05 p.m. Jordahl arrived at 1:10 p.m.

Stutsman passed along a compliment received from a constituent who attended the Prairie du Chien Road project presentation. The comment was that it was an excellent presentation and the constituent thought staff was very professional and considerate.

Bolkcom explained the Board would be talking to staff and would reserve some time at the end of the meeting for comments from the public. County Engineer Mike Gardner said this construction plan is a first shot and there is flexibility, especially in the out years. He said they have tried to nail down what they have planned for 1999 and what they have planned for 2000; and with 2001 it becomes progressively less sure. He began to review the maps which show the projects. He said the ones labeled in blue were programmed to at least start in 1999, some to carry over into 2000.

Gardner reviewed the list of projects in 1999 as follows:

FM-52(47)--55-52 Prairie Du Chien Road Grade & Pave

STP-E-52(40)--8V-52 Prairie Du Chien Road Recreation Trail

L-U-16-1 Culverts on 640th St./Utah Ave.

BROS-52(46)--8J-52 Bridge on Calkins Avenue

STP-0000(51)--2C-00 Taft Avenue Railroad Crossing Signal

STP-S-52(48)--5E-52 IWV Road Paving

FM-52(50)--55-52 140th Street Paving

STP-S-52(50)--5E-52 Wapsi Avenue ACC Resurfacing

L-B-5-2 Culvert on Naples Avenue

L-U-36-1 Culvert on Wapello Avenue

L-P-34-3 Culvert on 560th Street

STP-E-52(41)--8V-52 Dubuque Street Recreation Trail

Gardner said the railroad crossing signal on Taft Avenue is not something they get involved in much. They have State funding and participation by the railroad. He said he doesn't yet know when the work will be done. Lacina cited the dust on that road as part of the problem and asked if there was anything they could do to control the dust. He said they could discuss that later. Gardner said Wapsi Avenue north of Lone Tree where they are widening the shoulders this year is where they will be resurfacing next summer. Gardner said the culverts on Naples Avenue, Wapello Avenue, and 560th Street will be done by Secondary Roads crews.

Next Gardner reviewed what is programmed for the year 2000.

FM-52( )--55-52 Sand Road Grading

BROS-52(51)--8J-52 Bridge on Kansas Avenue

L-M-36-1 Bridge on Sharon Center Road

L-2000-G-1 180th St./Mehaffey Bridge Road Grading

L-O-5-3 Culvert on Black Hawk Avenue

L-O-5-4 Culvert on Black Hawk Avenue

STP-E-52(41)--8V-52 Dubuque Street Recreation Trail

Maint. Culverts Misc. Pre-cast Culverts

Gardner said the Sand Road grading would be on the 2 miles from 480th Street to 520th Street. The Kansas Avenue bridge would be over Old Man's Creek. Gardner said the overhead truss bridge on Sharon Center Road was a newly programmed project. Another new project, the Mehaffey Bridge Road and 180th Street grading would begin in 2000 with right-of-way acquisition, with construction to take place later on. Duffy asked what type of road that would be. Gardner said it would be a paved road, similar to 140th Street going to Sutliff and the portion of Mehaffey Bridge Road from Sugar Bottom to North Liberty. Bolkcom suggested trying to get some Enhancement help for that project. Gardner agreed that is a possibility. Gardner said, in looking at their structure inventory, they found 2 structures high on that list that have not been included in the program in the past, which were located on Black Hawk Avenue, south of Interstate 80. He said they could replace those 2 bridges with culverts in the year 2000. He said the Dubuque Street Rec Trail is programmed to begin in 1999. He hoped to get started, but the majority of that will probably take place after July 1st, so it is listed in both 1999 and 2000. He said they have listed miscellaneous pre-cast culverts to be installed by Secondary Roads maintenance crews for under $50,000 each. He said these are listed as priorities by Maintenance Supervisor Kevin Hackathorn to be submitted for design. He said they will probably construct 6 or 7 culverts, locations to be determined at the design stage.

Gardner said the projects that follow start to become a little less certain when they will occur. He continued to review each project.

L-O-25-1 Bridge on Cosgrove Road

FM-52( )--55-52 Sand Road Paving

L-B-5-4 Bridge on Hoosier Creek Road

L-H-31-2 Bridge on Rapid Creek Road

L-B-28-4 180th Street/MehaffeyBridge Road Culvert

L-2001-G-1 Sharon Center Road and 500th Street Grading

L-O-25-2 Pre-cast Culvert- Cosgrove Road project (actually on Rohret Road)

L-E-20-2 Con-Span near Oxford

L-M-36-2 RCB Culvert on Sharon Center Road

L-M-25-2 RCB Culvert on Sharon Center Road

L-B-25-1 Racine Ave Culvert

Gardner said the bridge on Cosgrove Road is listed in 2001 prior to grading that will be done on Cosgrove Road. The grading has been moved out farther than it was in the past because the bridge and structures need to be done first. Gardner said the bridge on Hoosier Creek Road on the county line is split with Linn County. He said they have added to the program as part of the 180th Street/Mehaffey Bridge Road project the replacement of the causeway bridge with what will probably be a box culvert. Gardner said in the past they programmed 500th Street from Highway 1 to Highway 923 near Hills. In looking at the traffic patterns, he said it made more sense to program Sharon Center Road from Highway 1 to Sharon Center and 500th Street from Sharon Center to the west. He said they would begin right-of-way acquisition in 2001, with construction taking place further out. He said this would be a reconstruction similar to the work on the IWV Road, Prairie Du Chien Road, and 140th Street. Duffy asked if this would be done with Farm to Market dollars. Gardner said it would be and he would be getting into more detail on funding of projects.

Stutsman asked why the Sharon Center Road bridge was added to the program. Gardner said if the road is upgraded the bridge would need to be upgraded as well. Bolkcom said there would be interest in acquiring the old bridge for Kent Park. Gardner agreed because Conservation Director Rod Dunlap has shown interest in getting a longer span bridge for trails. Gardner said the pre-cast culvert for the Cosgrove Road project is actually on Rohret Road around the corner from the intersection with Cosgrove Road. The concrete span near Oxford is just west of Oxford on the oil road. He said it was programmed several years ago with approach grading as part of the project. When they got into it, during the archeological study, a site was found nearby. He said the new project was to just replace the structure itself with no approach grading, so the archeological site would not be impacted. Gardner noted there were 2 culverts on Sharon Center Road which need to be replaced prior to regrading. Bolkcom asked what the traffic count was on Sharon Center Road. Gardner said the 1994 count was from 480 at the south end to 620 at the north end. Gardner pointed out that the box culvert on Racine Avenue would be needed in conjunction with the regrading of the 180th Street/Mehaffey Bridge Road project and would have to be taken care of prior to grading.

BROS-52(25 )--8J-52 Bridge on Half Moon Avenue

FM-52( )--55-52 Cosgrove Road Grading

L-2002-G2 Newport Road Grading

FM-52( )--55-52 Mehaffey/180th Paving

BROS-52( )--8J-52 Rohret Road Bridge

FM-52( )--55-52 Shoulder Widening & ACC Resurfacing (F12)

Gardner said the bridge on Half Moon Avenue has been in the program for a while and is still a priority. He said the Cosgrove Road grading has also been in the program for a while. He said right-of-way acquisition would occur in 2001 and construction would begin in 2002. Gardner noted a new project in the program is for Newport Road. He said right-of-way acquisition would begin in 2002. It would run from Prairie Du Chien Road to Highway 1. Duffy asked if it was for a bike trail. Gardner replied it would be for upgrading the road, similar to Prairie Du Chien Road. Bolkcom said he would support that. Gardner said they are trying to upgrade the roads where they are getting pressure. Instead of going into the interior (of the countryside) and working their way out, they are starting on the outside (where traffic is heaviest), so they aren't dumping a lot of traffic onto an inferior road. Jordahl said that makes a lot of sense. He said they are proposing paved shoulders to accommodate recreational traffic. Duffy said they could do without this project to create a bike trail. Gardner said this is being done to handle the traffic. Bolkcom said they are improving the road. Jordahl asked what the traffic count was on Newport Road. Gardner said the traffic count was 820 vehicles between Prairie Du Chien Road and Sugar Bottom Road and 310 to 470 from there to Highway 1.

Gardner said what they were going to propose was to upgrade roads to standard, put them back to a dust-free surface, possibly seal coat, and leave them at that level until they reach a traffic count threshold where they would put it in the program to be paved. That would save some money in the interim and they would do them as they were needed. Jordahl asked if this was not what they would do with Prairie Du Chien. Gardner said they would pave Prairie Du Chien because it was already at the threshold numbers. Jordahl asked what the threshold numbers would be. Gardner said they would look at 800 to 1,000 cars. Bolkcom asked how that would apply to 140th Street. Gardner said 140th Street would not meet those levels yet at 110 vehicles per day. Duffy said the traffic currently carried by Sutliff Road should be added on, 555 vehicles per day. Jordahl said he liked the general approach Gardner had talked about to take care of the geometry of the road. He was curious about Newport Road, whether they were at that threshold for paving the stretch at the 820 vehicle traffic count. Gardner said that it could be. If a road were to be paved the following year he would advocate a calcium chloride surface rather than seal coat, because it wouldn't have the expense or the life. Jordahl said that made a lot of sense and Stutsman agreed. He said the statement he made would apply to Sharon Center Road and others he has talked about. He said Sand Road and Mehaffey Bridge Road/180th Street are already at the threshold, so they have programmed the paving right behind the grading. Gardner said the Rohret Road bridge was carried over moved back a year.

The next project listed was for right-of-way acquisition in 2002 for the mile of road between Swisher and Highway 965 (F12), which has not been resurfaced in over 20 years. This project is what they call a rehab job, similar to the work on Wapsi Avenue this summer. He said they can save part of the investment in the existing infrastructure and improve on it, bringing it up to standard. He said this may or may not work, but they would widen the shoulders, flatten the foreslopes, and maintain whatever paving they can. Lacina asked if the road would be feathered so cars wouldn't have a change in surface as they go. Gardner said they would do an overlay afterward and clarified that the preservation would primarily be the base. Jordahl asked if for 120th Street there might be some possible participation by the City of Swisher in the project because there may be a reasonable expectation that the road may be annexed in the near future. He cited the discussions with the City of Coralville about improving Deer Creek Road and the County's query about future annexation and the City's role in paying for it. He said this same type of question needs to asked of Swisher. Gardner said that is a good point and something they can pursue as the project works its way up.

Gardner said the next 2 projects are similar to what he just talked about. He said that the paved portion of Sand Road south of Iowa City does serve Iowa City's sewage treatment plant and soccer fields and eventually will be within the corporate limits of Iowa City. He said putting that on the table is something they may want to look at as a cooperative project. He said this has been on the program years past and it had been taken off but something needs to be done to that. He said that IWV road was about 10 miles and so it was a project they were looking at stringing out over several years but they wanted to get it on the plan and get the Board thinking about it. He said hopefully they could start the right-of-way acquisition process. He said the last project was the bridge on Black Diamond Road by the Iowa County line. He said that project has been on before and it might have been on for 2001. He said the structure itself was adequate. He said what they've done is pushed it out to 2004 so they could get some of the other projects in. Duffy said that bridge had been there a long time. Jordahl asked if 120th Street and IWV road were hard surfaced. Gardner said those were 2 projects, F-12 West of Swisher, and Mehaffey Bridge Road from Sugar Bottom into North Liberty were roads that were already paved roads but they're not up to current standard. Gardner said what they were looking at doing IWV Road first. He said the last time it was resurfaced was in 1987. He said they were looking at in the next 5 or 10 years needing some kind of resurfacing on it. He said the last time they did it they were informed by the DOT that that would probably be the last time they were approve resurfacing without regrading it up to current standards. He said that what they were talking about doing was trying to save as much of it as they could and regrading where it doesn't meet current standards. Gardner said there would be stretches of it they could save but there would be a lot that would have to be redone. Jordahl asked about the dollar amount on the IWV project. Gardner said the dollar amount on the IWV is missing because it's far enough out they didn't put any numbers on it. Gardner said really all they were talking about was right-of-way. Gardner said none of the numbers in the program included right-of-way.

Stutsman asked if Deer Creek Road wasn't on there at all. Gardner said they needed to consider in some manner how the County was going to fit it into the picture. Jordahl said it was something that had been at the forefront of the discussions with Iowa City and Coralville on local option sales tax initiative. Jordahl said they shouldn't drive the County's 5 Year Road Plan, but they ask a larger question that will encompass the Deer Creek question. He said the question is how does Deer Creek Road fit into the Road Study and overall county road management system they are trying to work their way towards. He said that he recognizes that some of the projects have been programmed and this is just putting the clock on things that are in place. Jordahl said with the work Gardner has been doing with Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak and with JCCOG Transportation Planner Jeff Davidson they need to ask if they had a clean slate what would be the projects that they were do. He asked where does Sugar Bottom Road fit into this and where do the roads southwest of Swisher fit into this. Jordahl said if they were to toss it all up in the air and start with a clean slate, looking at this with fresh eyes, what would they see. Jordahl encouraged Gardner to think in that vein. Gardner said that was what they tried to do with the 5 Year Road Plan. He said they were trying to work from the outside back in, looking at the collector roads and through roads first; and then when they get to a certain point, he said their feeling was that the roads that run interior to that need to have participation from the other parties involved, other than just County funding. Bolkcom asked if he was referring to the cities and Gardner said he was talking about private funding for those roads because development would be driving those improvement needs.

Gardner said Deer Creek Road wasn't included at this point because they were just looking at the funding sources presently available. Bolkcom asked where they were with Highway 965/Deer Creek Road today. Jordahl reported that JCCOG Transportation Planner Jeff Davidson said that at the meeting on this subject there was preference for just building Highway 965 as they had originally planned rather than a hybrid version. Bolkcom asked if they were comfortable with not doing anything with Deer Creek. Bolkcom asked if the Highway 965 was the project, what was the County's share. Jordahl answered a third. Lacina said the estimated costs for doing the Highway 965 extension was over 8 million, figuring a half a million dollar bridge over the interstate. He said the County's share would be one third of that. Lacina said his opinion was that they wouldn't be able to build a bridge over the interstate for half a million and they were going to clarify that number. He estimated 2 or 3 million for the bridge. Gardner said that was probably closer. Jordahl said they need to get some actual numbers, but 4 million seems like a reasonable target figure for the County's share. He said it is important to Coralville and Iowa City to know the County's stance on participating in the Highway 965 project. Jordahl recalled they have in meetings said they don't want to put that on their part of the local option sales tax proposal because they have other funds for roads. He said they don't want infrastructure dependent on funds that are for special things. Jordahl said what is on the agenda is where does Highway 965 fit into their road plans and that is connected to the local option sales tax question. Jordahl asked if they have other funds they can use for Highway 965 or would it require that they put it on the ballot. Lacina said that Iowa City was the one that came up with the idea of each entity paying for a 1/3 of Highway 965. Lacina said Coralville then went into a presentation on collaboration, where the money was generated and how the money should be reinvested. Lacina said it wasn't a done deal that it would be a third. Bolkcom agreed that they could negotiate. Lacina said it would be a huge project and the County's portion would be the equivalent of the Secondary Roads budget for a year. Jordahl said he wanted to make sure that any outside sources of funding for roads are factored in.

Lacina said they would want to ask if there were new sources of dollars available, because otherwise they would get into the question of whether they taking funding such as Farm to Market funds away from the construction plan and pouring it into Deer Creek Road for many years. Lacina said the question was- do they know anywhere they come up with an extra 4 million dollars and at the same time the municipalities would be working on legislators to reallocate the funding formula on the fuel tax, so that the county would get even less. Jordahl said they also have a request from Coralville to address the Deer Creek Road problem. Jordahl said the reason it wasn't included in the 5 Year Plan was because there were ongoing discussions about doing Highway 965 instead of Deer Creek Road. Jordahl asked what the traffic count was on Deer Creek Road. Gardner said that Jeff Davidson had recently done a count and it was 1,200 before the mall opened and another count after it opened didn't change, so they would do another count. Jordahl said putting money into Deer Creek Road would be a priority if they don't alleviate the problem by putting traffic on Highway 965 extension. Lacina recalled that their discussion was that it should be one or the other, not both. Jordahl agreed, saying the money should go to Highway 965 and not Deer Creek Road. Lacina pointed out that is what the committee suggested and he clarified that equating the County's portion of the Highway 965 project to a year's Secondary Roads budget was only an analogy. He said they have several choices; they can reallocate what they have and look for new dollars. He said the local option sales tax would be one source. He said the question comes back, should the tax fail, how do they do this? Jordahl said a piece of that is what would the cost be to do Deer Creek Road, if they were only doing Deer Creek Road. Lacina said the cities are not supporting that. Jordahl said he just wants a cost comparison. Bolkcom said this discussion in their 5 Year Road Plan was being driven by growth in the cities. Bolkcom asked if part of the problem could be solved by connecting back to Deer Creek Road. Lacina said if one of the entities backs out, it will collapse the project. He said the cities might have to downscale, but under safety considerations the recommendation the decision was made to expend the money on Highway 965. Bolkcom said it didn't make any sense to do both projects which was being talked about at one point. Duffy said that there are roads where maybe the traffic count wouldn't be on a road that is gravel but once you pave it there would be traffic. Jordahl said that wasn't what he was saying, he was saying the opposite. He said if they pave a parallel road to Deer Creek Road, if they build Highway 965 then a lot of the traffic is going to leave Deer Creek Road and use Highway 965.

Lacina said a proposal on Deer Creek Road, if the 965 extension were built, would be to not allow Deer Creek Road to connect and it could become the quarry road for trucks. He said they aren't real wild about quarry trucks on Highway 965 which would be a people mover for the kids at West High and so forth. Jordahl said it would go across the traffic at 965 at the intersection. Lacina said that at some point Highway 965 would have to bridge Interstate 380. Jordahl said unless it were to follow Deer Creek Road through the last half mile and empty into Melrose which would be another intermediate term solution. Jordahl said if the bridge was what it makes it overly expensive then it makes some sense to say bring it down to the ground to Melrose which gets the traffic to West High. Lacina said the whole project is expensive because of the topography and it's hard to come up with a good base and solid road. Gardner said the truck-traffic mix is going to be there. Jordahl said if the they didn't let truck traffic out on Melrose, they would go up to Highway 6 and over to Highway 965 and they'd mix with the school traffic. Lacina stated that it would only be 50% because the other ones will go west. Jordahl said he doesn't understand that and wants to keep the truck traffic on Deer Creek Road. He said it doesn't make sense to put them on Highway 965 by shutting off the southern aperture and making them go north and then south again. He said to compare spending 4 million dollars on Deer Creek Road to spending the same amount on Highway 965. Lacina said that it would cost much more than that to pave it because of the hills. He asked Gardner if the design would be for 45 miles per hour. Gardner said the design proposed was for 45, but if the County did it they would have to look at that. Jordahl said they should take the money they would have spent on Deer Creek Road and put it towards Highway 965. Bolkcom said the problem is that they don't have the money. Jordahl said that if it has the high traffic, a mixture of slow moving trucks and kids going to school at high speed, and it should be a priority. Lacina said that if they followed that theory through, every road within the 2 mile buffer zone of every city would be paved and the remote bridges would collapse because of lighter traffic. Jordahl said to leave that road gravel because that's a truck road and get passenger traffic onto a good, hard surfaced road that they don't have, Highway 965. Jordahl said that the cities will cooperate in building that road.

Bolkcom asked which projects Jordahl doesn't want to do. Jordahl said that was the question they were here to solve. He said that nothing has to suffer and 965 can be done 5 years out. Lacina asked then in the 5 Year Plan if that mean they just have a one project road. Jordahl said they could save an increment of it, such as one fifth each year. He said that the local option sales tax could be one way to pay for it. Lacina said that it would need a lot of coordination with the cities. Jordahl said they should have a 28E agreement with Iowa City and Coralville under 2 scenarios, one if the sales tax is passed and one if it isn't. Lacina said that he is hesitant to help build a road for the city because they are going to own it in 5 years, like the 1st Avenue Extension in Coralville. Citing the limited funds available to the County, he said if the city needs the road, they need to plan for it. Lacina said he supports the project, but without the local option sales tax it won't work. Bolkcom said if they are going to do it, they need to save for it. Stutsman asked how they were going to save money to do it. Bolkcom said they need to look at what they've got on the table. Jordahl said that Deer Creek Road is on the table, and if they don't do that, they have to do Highway 965. He said it's one or the other. Lacina said they have really struggled with some of their bridges and roads, and doing dust control on some of the roads. Lacina said now they were talking taking all of those funds into this major project and the cities are going to say thank you very much and annex it. Bolkcom said even if they all agreed to do the project, it couldn't be done for 3 or 4 years, because they would have to save money. He said it means that they aren't going to do some of the other projects. Jordahl said other road projects could be delayed in order to put Deer Creek/965 on the schedule. He said that it's not a matter of which projects get done, it's a matter of what order.

Duffy said that many people go to Cedar Rapids on Ely Road through Solon and 180th Street could take many of them off of there. Duffy asked what the traffic count was on 180th Street and on Ely Road. Gardner said that 180th Street was carrying 960 to 1,070 and Ely Road was at about 1,900. Gardner said Ely Road was one they would treat as a rehab project. Bolkcom said they have a hard time making a case that 140th Street warrants a $625,000 project. Bolkcom said that Ely Road is a priority after the next 5 years. Duffy said he doesn't agree with that. Duffy asked what the count was on Sutliff Road. Gardner said in the 1994 count it was running 270 to 450. Duffy said a lot of that traffic would be going on 140th Street. Jordahl said he didn't know how much of that traffic would be going south to Iowa City. Lacina said that a lot of smaller projects could be done with that 4 million dollars, citing dust control on Amana Road and the railroad crossing on Taft Avenue where someone was hit by a train. Bolkcom asked if Lacina would advocate the County telling the cities to do it at their own pace. Lacina said this should fall way back in priorities if the local option sales tax doesn't pass. Jordahl said that without Coralville's support, the likelihood of the local option sales tax passing is slim. He said Deer Creek Road needs to be addressed before 140th Street is paved. Lacina said that he doesn't want to ignore upgrades of roads where school buses travel just for one project. Stutsman said she wonders why the total cost can't be divided 3 ways. Gardner said they are working on that. Jordahl said if the Board doesn't make a statement about the County's willingness to participate in a joint project to do Highway 965 then there probably won't be local option sales tax dollars to talk about and they're back in the position of having to deal with the traffic on Deer Creek Road as a County project. Lacina said part of Deer Creek Road is in the city, so it has to be some form of collaboration. Jordahl said Highway 965 makes more sense than Deer Creek Road for that collaboration. Stutsman said if they are going to put Highway 965 in the 5 Year Plan Gardner and Miller need to come up with a revamped 5 Year Plan for all of these other projects. Gardner said the alternative to changing the other projects would be additional funding. Bolkcom said everybody wants something they can't afford. Jordahl said if they are willing to say they will cooperate with them on that project if the sales tax passes, then Coralville will then try to get the sales tax to pass. Bolkcom and Lacina weren't so sure.

Lacina asked if there are any changes to what Gardner and Miller have proposed on this work order, other than Highway 965. Jordahl said that 140th Street is an extremely low traffic road. Duffy said this has been political with Bolkcom ever since he knew him. Lacina asked that personalities be kept out of it. Jordahl said it's not political, it's traffic counts. Duffy stated oiled roads are embargoed, so traffic would have to go around to Ely and Highway 1. He said Washington Township has 16% of the concrete roads. He said he would like to have a copy of the minutes. Stutsman asked what kind of investment is in 140th Street and if it could be put on hold without losing that money. Gardner said the construction was between 250 to $300,000 for the grading. The 2 box culverts added another $100,000 and there was right-of-way acquisition. He said he didn't know the exact figure for that. Lacina stated it was $626,000. Bolkcom said he didn't think the investment goes away. Stutsman asked if the grading had to be redone in 4 years if they don't do that project. Gardner said the grading would probably not have to be redone in 4 years if they postponed it. Duffy said it's Farm to Market funding from the gas tax and that the road should be completed. Jordahl stated that when they did IWV Road they purposely let the road sit for a year and return later with the hard surface because there were advantages having it packed done by traffic. Jordahl said he applauds the Engineer and his staff for thinking things through and coming up with an alternative policy, that deals with the problems of steep hills, tight corners, widening roads and putting shoulders in throughout the County and then only hard surface the roads when the traffic count justifies it. Lacina said that he doesn't support taking that out, saying it's not safe. He said it is a connecting piece for the rest of that project and it's a major east-west feeder. He said he's for leaving in 140th Street. Duffy asked if that was State dollars. Gardner said it was Farm to Market funds. Lacina said that in time the reconstruction of those culverts is going to have to be done anyway. Gardner and Bolkcom said that it's all done. Bolkcom said the road is ready to be surfaced right now. Gardner said it includes the pavement, granular shoulders and longitudinal sub drain and pavement markings.

Jordahl said Gardner said they had some overspending with the Farm to Market Fund and he wanted to know by how much. Gardner said he projected they'd be in the red by the end of this fiscal year by about $700,000. He stated that might not happen that quickly. He said the projects they have planned are eating up more than their share of the money. He said he accounted for that in the program, assuming that they wouldn't be spending the Farm to Market Funds to build it back up. He said they get about $950,000 a year in Farm to Market Funds. He said part of their proposal was doing the grading portion of the upgrades with the use of local funds, even on Farm to Market routes and then using the Farm to Market Funds for the pavement and the bridges, when the time comes. He said the smaller costs will be in the initial grading and he can get them up to standard with that and put the surfacing on them they want, rock then pave them later down the road. Lacina said that will give them the most bang for their buck. Jordahl said there is a good match between cost of paving on 140th Street and the cost overrun of the Farm to Market Funds of $700,000. He said they could recoup almost all of that by taking 140th Street paving out of the program. Duffy said Jordahl doesn't understand roads. He said it's going to be more than 110 cars per day. He stated he is not going to take responsibility for putting the traffic by the grade school in Solon. Gardner said he is compensating for the $700,000 over the next 2 to 3 years. He said they can operate in the red for a while. Bolkcom said they compensate by not doing projects. Jordahl said he doubts that traffic would take 140th Street if it were paved instead of the road by the grade school. Duffy said they are going to Cedar Rapids from Iowa City.

Bolkcom said he is not against paving 140th Street. He said Gardner was talking about a policy dealing with grading and the geometry of roads and paving them at a later point. He asked how 140th Street fit into the idea of regrading for safety and basing types of surfacing on utilization. He said he doesn't see spending over half a million dollars on paving it for 400 cars. He said maybe next year or the following year. Duffy said he'd better get some people in here who know what is going on out there. Lacina asked if this is the best place to spend $700,000 at this time, given the budget shortfall and their other needs. Gardner said what they are talking about is a big change in how things have been done. He stated this road was put in the program to try and make some connections across the county. He said that it wouldn't be paved under what he is proposing today, but when the project was proposed and done to this point, there were some statements made at that time and the people who live along 140th Street anticipate that it was going to be paved this year. Jordahl said that all citizens should understand the County will do it's best with the resources that it takes from them in taxes and that needs to be something the Board should access as facts come to light and policies are brought into focus. Jordahl said the policy that Gardner is espousing today has grown out of that Road Study or grown out of his extensive experience with the Secondary Roads department looking for a rational way of making decisions that can be fair. He states it's important to be fair around the county so they're not loading all the money in one area of the county and meet the needs of the people where they exist. Duffy said he agreed that it is the needs of the people. Duffy said that it used to be an oiled road. He said it was taken away from them and now they're saying to go through Solon to get to Cedar Rapids. He stated that it should be done and he expects it will be done and not to let a couple of Supervisors, who weren't in it at the beginning, change it.

Stutsman said she understands they have put a lot into this road, people are expecting it, but part of what they are charged to do is to be flexible in addressing changing needs. She said this is what she sees happening here, 140th Street is not where the demands are in the county. She said this is the thing to do so that they're maximizing resources based on good decisions about where the needs are. She stated that the needs have changed and she's not convinced the traffic would increase if it is paved because that's not where the population centers are. Duffy said that it's Farm to Market money. Stutsman said the Farm to Market are short. Lacina stated they thought they had this $700,000 in place. He said things do change. He said they did this in the budget a number of years ago when they deferred paying for patrol cars for a year and they struggled for many years after to recover. Lacina said he is going to predict if they don't do it, if they are already short the $700,000 they have to figure out where they will find it in the future. Jordahl said the $700,000 doesn't even exist and they will be in the hole $700,000. Lacina said they thought they had the money to do this when the residents expected it. He said it would be very difficult to catch up. Jordahl stated he disagreed and that Gardner's proposal is a wonderful balance. He said there is a concern that they are putting all the money into the area around the cities but they are putting County dollars into addressing problematic road situations and when traffic counts justify it, using Farm to Market Funds for hard surfacing so they provide safety for everybody. Lacina said that he supports that.

Duffy asked how much the bike trail cost on the West Overlook. Bolkcom said they got 80% grant money. Duffy said it is Farm to Market dollars for the pavement and to not finish the road they are wrong. Bolkcom asked how it would compete against the 120th Street project in 2002. Bolkcom said they should do the road up by Swisher sooner because there is a ton of traffic there. Gardner said the traffic count is 2,700. Jordahl said that it what they are there to do. He said they need to weigh the priorities. Miller said on 120th Street they are trying to time the shoulder widening with the needed resurfacing that's coming. Jordahl said that the analogy to Deer Creek Road is very instructive. He said that Deer Creek Road is a gravel road and it has over 1,000 cars a day and 140th Street is a gravel road and it has 140 cars a day. He stated people take a road for transportation purposes not because it's paved. Duffy said it's not going to flood with traffic, but it will increase. He added it was to serve the northern portion of the county. He said he won't vote for any more bike trails.

Lacina asked how not doing 140th Street would affect the 5 year plan. He said they wouldn't be in the red. Gardner said they could move it out further if they want. Jordahl said they should formally adopt this as a way of looking at roads and that hard surfacing will come when it fits in the format. Lacina said that could be an agenda item that the Board could discuss some formula , but as far as getting the 5 Year Plan in place, he asked if they just push it back a year. Jordahl suggested pulling it out. Duffy asked if that is what Gardner and Miller want to do. Gardner said they don't have to turn it in until next Spring. He said it was just for his own good and just a temporary document. He stated the 140th Street project is actually last year's 5 year program. He said that it's in FY99 funding and the plans are in Ames right now to be let. He said if you pull 140th Street out of the program and seal coat it, you're going to not want to program it again for another 5 years so you can get some life out of your investment.

Jordahl suggested they calcium chloride it. Lacina said this is one for discussion. Gardner said they need to decide something so they can pull it out of February letting if they need to. Bolkcom asked Gardner when they need to complete the 5 Year Plan. Gardner said next spring, April 15th. Bolkcom asked Gardner for his advice on 140th Street. Gardner stated it needs to be decided in the next couple of weeks. Lacina wanted to make sure they haven't advertised this for credibility purposes. Bolkcom suggested November 3rd. Jordahl asked if they could make decisions today. Bolkcom stated that they could, but he wanted to open it up to the public and to talk about Amana Road and Greencastle Avenue or an update on the transportation plan and possibly set up another work session.

Bolkcom asked if anyone needed more time to decide. Jordahl said he's ready on 140th Street but he needs more time on the rest of the plan. Lacina stated that he was struggling with 140th Street; it has been programmed in and it is a connecting link, but he is concerned about being $700,000 short. Gardner said the projections he made were based on hitting letting dates and getting things in. He said they would get a late start date in August, but contractors could come in anywhere from April to August or September to begin work. He said the shortfall is assuming completing projects by July 1. Lacina asked if they were afraid of losing Farm to Market dollars if they don't use it all. Gardner responded that it wasn't a concern. Jordahl asked if they could save the Farm to Market money to use for other roads, such as Deer Creek Road. Gardner said Deer Creek Road is not a Farm to Market road. Stutsman stated she doesn't want to pave a road that goes to nowhere. She said the needs have changed. Duffy said that it wasn't a road to nowhere. She said it doesn't have the traffic. Bolkcom asked what the Board wanted to do with 140th Street. Jordahl said he worried about appearances and pulling something after it is advertised, so he would like to get on it now. Lacina wants to see the funds reallocated and how it will ripple through. Gardner said the same thing may occur again. Jordahl said it wasn't a permanent fix but the problem is at least the $626,000. Lacina said that part of the problem was timing and cash flow and fiscal years. Jordahl said that the County money they don't spend from Farm to Market funds can be spent elsewhere. Bolkcom said he sees 4 to pull it out at his point. Lacina said 3, that he would like look at the timing. Bolkcom said he wanted to have another work session to talk about all the other roads. Lacina suggested they should talk about it on the 12th at 4 p.m.

Duffy asked for figures on bike trails from Gardner. Jordahl asked if Jeff Davidson could be at the next discussion and where they are at in the study of the next 4 roads in the Transportation Management Plan. Gardner said he hasn't heard from Davidson. Bolkcom said Davidson could come in and update them. Gardner stated his budget would be requesting an additional $1,184,000 above what was on this year's budget, because 2 of those projects are bridges and funded with bridge replacement money, 80/20, so there will be $640,000 in revenue coming back in. He said Dubuque Street Rec Trail is also 80/20, which is another $304,000 coming back. He stated that they would be getting back $944,000. Duffy asked for the figures on the total cost, the County cost, and the cost of the bike trails. Bolkcom opened the meeting to the public.

Carol Spaziani asked how what Gardner proposed fits into the Land Use Plan, is it all catch up road work or based on long rang plans? Gardner said it was a little of both, but more catch up. She asked if the County has a cooperative acquisition policy for pre-cast culverts with the cities, so there can be a bid that is less than if you did it on your own. Gardner said they don't have one currently. She asked if it would go through JCCOG. Gardner said he wasn't sure. Stutsman said they were having a joint meeting with the cities and the school district and one of the agenda items is how they can cooperate together. She said this might be a good example. She stated that maybe a committee should be set up to look for opportunities for joint purchasing or planning. Spaziani asked under whose budget the cost for right-of-way acquisition came under. Gardner said it came out of his local budget. She asked if that included the Farm to Market roads. Gardner said yes. She asked if the cost of right-of-way acquisition could apply to the 80/20 split. Gardner said it could. Lacina said they needed to look at that. Spaziani asked if the history of the Scott Boulevard-I-80 connection relates to the Highway 965 extension in terms of value to the County and the City. Lacina said the State gave them $800,000 for the reconstruct on Local Road and then they worked with the City on the rest of it. Lacina said there is still a lot of cooperation between them.

Chuck LaCrosse made mention of the proposal to erect Share the Road signs being turned down. He said there is a lot of bike usage on roads in the County and there will be more in the future. LaCrosse asked if roads used for biking could be widened to increase the safety of everyone. He said that he understood there would be a provision for bike traffic along sand road. Duffy said he wasn't against having signs, but he didn't like the design of the Share the Road signs. LaCrosse said he had no objection to not having the sign as long as they make some kind of provision. Lacina said there will be a white stripe to designate the bicycle lane on the roads being widened. Gardner said for most of the roads that are up for reconstruction they will advocate having a paved shoulder. Bolkcom stated the improvements would improve safety for everyone.

Carol Spaziani asked what provisions have been made for the slow moving vehicles between here and Kalona, especially the Amish wagons. Bolkcom said that gravel seemed to be working fine for them. Carol Spaziani asked if that shoulder should be paved. Bolkcom said that it's a State road so they have no say so.

Doug Angelese asked what they are going to do with the road in Sandy Beach. Angelese said it had been under water this summer but the Secondary Roads Department used big rock instead of gravel which worked well. Bolkcom said they would decide what to do with that on the 12th. Gardner said the DOT was doing counts on that road. Stutsman said they needed to conclude their work on the calcium chloride program.

One audience member said if they didn't pave that road, they would be taking a step back. Duffy said it was politics. Bolkcom said they would talk about it on the 12th. He stated they would decide, if they weren't going to pave it, what they are going to do with it and when. The audience member said it was Farm to Market roads and the government was paying for it. Gardner said it was graded with Farm to Market roads. Stutsman asked if it would affect getting Farm to Market dollars in the future. Bolkcom said no. The man said the money had to be spent on what it was specified. Gardner said no. Bolkcom said they would meet again there at 4:00 on the 12th and he was welcome to attend.

Chuck LaCrosse asked what the difference in cost was in chip sealing and paving a road like 140th Street and how long a chip seal is good for. Gardner said they redo 40 miles of chip seal a year so they have about a 3 year life span. He stated it costs about $50-60,000 a mile to chip seal. Chuck LaCrosse said it costs about $200,000 to asphalt it. Gardner said the asphalt has a life span of about 2025 years. Chuck LaCrosse asked if you had to take the chip seal off before they paved it. Gardner said they could use it as a base for the pavement. Lacina states they have to meet DOT standards, which costs a lot. Chuck LaCrosse asked if the federal government or the DOT made these standards. Gardner said they were national standards and if you didn't make the roads to these standards, you'd be liable. Bolkcom said the Board was going to go out to Prairie du Chien at 3:00 on the 12th. Bolkcom moved to recess.

Recessed at 2:55 p.m.; reconvened at 9:35 a.m. on October 29, 1998 with Stutsman absent.

(Continued in Part 6)