Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-07-2008TO: Members of the Sebastian City Council FROM Al Minner, City Manager RE: FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE MEMO DATE: February 7, 2008 WAYNE ESELTINE RESIGNATION On Friday, February 1, 2008, Wayne Eseltine submitted his resignation as the Building Official with the City of Sebastian. I have to admit, this does not come as a complete surprise, because in private conversations, Wayne spoke with me about this opportunity. To Wayne's credit, I can tell you first hand, how much deliberation and thought went into Wayne's decision to move on from Sebastian. After much consideration, Wayne has chosen to take employment with the City of Lakeland. His last day of employment with the City of Sebastian will be March 3, 2008. Debbie Krueger and I are considering staffing alternatives, temporary Building Official solutions and preparing the job announcement for positing. We will keep you up to date as the search for a new Building Official moves forward. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT For the last several weeks, Dave Fisher has been moving forward on a number of fronts. Of course, you are familiar with the Collier Creek Project. The RFP went out on that project the end of last week and proposals are due back on February 28, 2008. Other Engineering projects include: Pedestrian Bridges — Frank Watanabe of Neel Schaffer, Inc. is finishing up some geotechnical specifications. Once this data is complete, we should be ready to bid the job at the end of February. The goal is still to get two bridges in place at (1) Barber Street, Wimbrow, and Lake Street and (2) Periwinkle. Some information shows that purchasing the third bridge now may save on funds. Hence we have prepared the bidding specifications accordingly and will consider the third location (Barber Street between Joy Haven and Concha) once bids are returned. If all goes as planned, we should have estimates by the end of March; Construction Agreements to Council by April; and, maybe, bridges in place by the 4ch of July. As an information item, the bridges are scheduled to have low lighting for night illuminations, wooden floors and metal sidewalls approximately 4 feet high. The metal on the hinges are galvanized. At first installation they will be silver in color; however, they will oxidize quickly giving them a "rusty/brown" color which should be attractive. The bridges are made for low maintenance and will not require painting. Easy Street — SJRWMD has completed the initial permit phase. Again working with Frank Watanabe, we are awaiting to hear back from SJRWMD, and hope to have the permits ready in the next few weeks. That will complete the permitting phase. Next, some internal meetings will be conducted for planning and then we plan to mobilize our "existing contractors" (i.e., sod, asphalt, quarter round) to begin work. If you recall we plan on using a mixture of City crews and existing contractors to get Easy Street widened, resurfaced and new swales built. Currently the plan is to have this project start in the next month. Davis Street Baffle Box — This project is now complete and only the grant and finance administration remain. This project put in a new sediment collection box on Indian River Drive and Davis Street, which helps with pollutant discharges into the river. SJRWMD provided a grant on this project. Twin Ditches — Is finally wrapping up. CDM has signed off on all work and provided SJRWMD with all as -built drawings. MEI has been slow with administrative information which slowed the as -built submittal. Also, MEI has not been paying some of their subcontractors, so we have withheld final payment. I believe most of this is now cleared up except for two subcontractor payments totaling $20,000. Once this matter is clear, we will close out the project. Please note, we did not charge liquidated damages because the major construction issues were solved and the area was not left in any disorder. However, MEI has been extremely slow on the administrative work and we have held final payment and retainage which is a total of almost $100,000. Solar Energy — As Dave wraps up some of these major projects, I have assigned to him some additional tasks on renewable energy; primarily solar energy use at the Golf Course for cart charging. Lhave also asked him to start examination of wind -mills. SIDEWALKS The first phase of sidewalk construction project is nearly complete. We established a budget of $500,000, and set out to install sidewalks along Bevan, Periwinkle, Laconia and Main Street (from Wimbrow to Airport Drive). We have spent approximately $446,000, and have an estimated remaining available budget of $54,000 to complete phase I. The sidewalk project fund has an estimated remaining balance of $100,000 to complete phase II. To date, the effort to "marry" sidewalks adjacent to Sebastian's swale and ditch drainage system has turned out rather well. Most of the areas where the ROW is wide enough, have been identified; and now, the Public Works crews are now identifying other areas that should have sidewalks. On top of that list is the eastern portion of Main Street (between Airport Drive and Easy). This section was left out, because of the drainage work required along the northern edge of Main Street. However, crews will be piping the area and installing drop inlets to allow construction of sidewalks in this area. Also concerning Main Street, we are attempting to link the existing sidewalks on Orange Street to the new ones on Main Street, presently, this sidewalk stops at Fleming. Instead of bringing sidewalks around the Fleming/Main Street "Y", we are extending the Orange Street sidewalks north — where it will connect with Main Street west of the "Y" intersection. Also, we will be taking a look at putting in sidewalks along Barber Street (between Bristol and the Railroad Tracks). BARBER STREET SPORTS COMPLEX — BASEBALL FIELD PRESS BOXES As you know, last Saturday was the start of little league baseball. And in time for the fresh season, the Public Works crews finished up the rehabilitation of the baseball field press boxes. The structures received fresh wood (where it was rotting), new stucco, windows, doors and paint. The fields are also in great shape. So if you are down along Barber Street, please check out the press boxes, they really look great. Also, Jerry is getting some prices on doing the same work to the football field — two stories — press box. That building is in need of the "TLC", and with any luck, we can get it fixed this year. VJff�etU, IRCE ,WOCK Engineering received indication back from Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the application for construction of the finger docks at the Yacht club has been received. FDEP has asked for some minor clarifications on the permit request, which we are working on, and we anticipate the permits will be received back in a timely manner. 4,,�il G e'-j" Z / While this issue has not been before you in some time, it has not gone unattended. During the last several weeks, I have visited with Dog Park advocates and researched some other sites. The key ingredients in site location have been shade, location, away from residential neighborhoods, accessibility and cost. Unfortunately blending all these components has been extremely difficult. Nonetheless, in an attempt to find the best place for the park we have revisited the following locations, (1) SJRWMD Stormwater Park — off Thunderbird; (2) Filbert Street Park; (3) Keen Terrace; (4) Barber/Acorn/Adams Street; and Schumann Island. The easiest location of all of these sites to construct and operate is the Keen location. However, when this site was originally discussed, much opposition from the neighborhood was present, which led to the idea of locating the park outside of residential areas. That is a hard task in Sebastian. At this time, the SJRWMD Stormwater Park — off Thunderbird has become the best alternative. However, before moving forward on this site, we have identified two major considerations. First, we need SJRWMD authorization. Currently, the opening and dedication of the park has been pushed back until October 2008, because the District has had some pump issues and they want all equipment working before transference. With that should we quickly move to open a Dog Park here, the possibility exists that the City will not own the parcel before it is dedicated. Hence, we are going to need District approval for the park. Conversation has occurred between the City and SJRWMD on this issue, but a letter requesting authority to operate said park will be submitted to the District, prior to bringing this option to your attention. A second issue at this site is road access. The last 500 feet of Thunderbird is a private road. Therefore some negotiation with those residents will be required prior to recommendation. Once those two issues are addressed, I plan to make a presentation to the Planning and Zoning Board and Council on this matter. As you can see, at every turn, we have struggled with locating this park. If you have suggestions or would like to visit this issue again, please let me know. Otherwise, I will continue to proceed with the SJRWMD option. I hope to have some solid direction on this option by early March. t As always if you have any questions about these or any other topics, please contact me at your convenience.