Two studies were on the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety’s agenda Monday morning.
One agenda item was a payment for a grade separation study that’s still underway, and the other agenda item was an agreement with AECOM for an East Market Street flood mitigation study.
For the Norfolk Southern Railroad Crossing grade separation study, the Board of Works approved a payment of $4,958.72 to American Structurepoint Inc.
A grade separation generally refers to an underpass or overpass. The Board of Works approved the study in December for an estimated cost of $63,500.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the city had a preliminary copy and was meeting with Structurepoint later Monday. He said it was “on target” but “not done yet.”
Mayor Joe Thallemer reminded the board of the genesis of the study.
“We applied for some safety money from INDOT to improve three of the crossings down there,” he said. “In those discussions, they recommended that we at least take a preliminary look at doing something in regards to grade separation. Hence, we engaged American Structurepoint – it’s been six months ago – so we’ll take a look at that and see how that looks. Obviously, it would be a major project. This just gives us a little bit of an idea to understand where – and potentially how much … .”
Skinner said the study would tell the city three things about the grade separation: cost, if it’s feasible and what the options are to fund the project once it knows what the costs are.
“And it also looks throughout the corridor, the entire corridor, so it’s not just focusing on any one street. It’s just looking at where it could be potentially feasible, taking into consideration the tracks and how it impacts them,” Skinner said, noting it’s a pretty comprehensive study.
The mayor said it’s “one of those long-term projects again that we don’t really know where to start.” He said the study is looking at a lot of different factors, and “we’re not even sure it’s feasible to do. That’s one of the things we wanted to find out. And if so, this gives us a blueprint to do that.”
The agreement for the East Market Street flood mitigation study for $59,400 is between the city’s stormwater utility and AECOM Technical Services Inc.
Waste Water Treatment Utility Manager Brian Davison said the study was to “investigate that Market Street, Johnson Street area that has experienced some significant flooding.”
AECOM will look at the city’s current infrastructure and see how the city can maximize that, as well as what else may be needed to reduce the frequency of flooding in that area, Davison said. “It floods pretty frequently,” he said.
Thallemer said, “We’re continually concerned about that area. I know we’ve gone through and made sure the pipes were cleared out. They photographed them, and cleaned them. There’s nothing obstructing, it’s just potentially the design. More importantly, the flow that’s not coming into that area as well.” He said it’s something that a lot of time has been spent on and the city needs to “try and put it to rest.”
“Many, many years,” said George Clemens, Board of Works member.
Thallemer said the city has had some “major 500-year rains this year, some big rains that came very quickly and certainly aggravated that.”
Davison stated that while the city “certainly won’t have the infrastructure to handle those 500-year rains, our goal is to reduce the frequency of the flooding in that area, that’s for sure.”
According to information provided by the city, “Several large rain events in 2016 have resulted in flooding at the intersection of East Market Street and Johnson Street, inundating nearby residents and businesses and creating an unsafe condition for pedestrians and vehicles. … The intersection of East Market Street and Johnson Street is situated in a topographical depression at a level of 820 feet, where surface water naturally ponds and the surrounded terrain rises to a level of 825 feet.”
In other business, the board approved:
• A contract between the Wastewater Utility and Wessler Engineering for Warsaw Sewer Rehabilitation Prioritization for a cost of $16,800.
“This is sort of the last step of the old (inflow and infiltration) project, that we’ve been working on for the last year,” Davison said. “So they’re going to take the information they have and prioritize the failed pipes and then give us a recommendation. Actually, they’ve already started some of this work. The other big key they’re going to give us with this agreement is sort of a blanket spec sheet for when we have to do these emergency linings, so we have some specs we can issue with those requests, so we’re not relying blind on the contractor to give us the right lining material.”
• Heard from Davison that, “We’re getting ready to bid on a project for what we call our Osborne pump station. It’s a big stormwater station that helps improve further the Center Lake Park drainage area.”
He said the first notice to the public goes out next week, and they were just doing some improvements.
“So that project is getting ready to go out for bid,” Davison said.
• A payment application for $3,304.48 to American Structurepoint Inc. for engineering services concerning the Buffalo Street redevelopment project.
• A pay application for $17,717.94 for preliminary engineering services by VS Engineering Inc. for the East Market Street project. City will be reimbursed for 80 percent of the engineering contract as it’s an Indiana Department of Transportation grant project.
Bid letting is anticipated to be in spring 2018, and Skinner said it’s still on schedule to be completed by 2019.
• A pay application for $9,234 for A&Z Engineering LLC for right of way services for the Husky Trail Project.
• A pay application for $4,494.60 for A&Z Engineering LLC for engineering services for the Husky Trail Project. Bid letting for the project is anticipated for January.
• A pay application for $18,975.60 for A&Z Engineering LLC for engineering services for the Husky Trail Project.
• A payment of $3,400 to A&Z Engineering for right of way staking for the Husky Trail Project.
The right of way has been staked so that various utilities can begin relocating infrastructure along Husky Trail. Skinner said NIPSCO is one of the first utilities to begin moving their utilities, and the process will take another four to five months.
• An agreement with The Bowling Alley for the city employee Christmas gathering. The cost of $3,988.88 is based on the 2015 attendance of 79 children and 171 adults.
• Accepting a $4,228 matching grant from the Bureau of Justice for bulletproof vests for law enforcement officers. Since it is a 50/50 grant, the Warsaw Police Department pays for the other half of the vests. The WPD appropriates the full cost of vests in its budgets as it takes about nine months to get the funding, according to WPD Capt. Kip Shuter. These bulletproof vests will replace vests for those officers that are at or past the recommended replacement date. The funds also will be used to outfit new officers with bulletproof vests.
• The 2016 employee safety manual as presented. It will be distributed to city employees now that the board has approved it.
