As a result of a request made at a previous Carroll City Council meeting, all council members attended a tour of the street maintenance facility prior to their regular meeting last night (Monday). Director of Public Works, Randy Krauel and street department employees, Tom Weber and Kevin Hoffman, provided details about the current building. Krauel said he was unaware of when the original structure was built, but the building they are using now was erected in 1969, part of it on the concrete slab of the original after a fire. Only one small portion of the work and storage areas was added just a few years later. Weber told those in attendance that there were issues with fitting equipment into the cramped, low-clearance spaces and that drivers had to be careful at all times about getting equipment in and out of the doorways. They are also limited in their ability to raise booms or boxes and Hoffman said they have had to come up with creative solutions to do a great deal of their repair work.
Back at the council chambers, Krauel presented master plan proposals for the addition of a new street maintenance garage, aggregate bins and an unheated storage building as well as possible alternate uses for the current street maintenance garage. He said he would propose building a new garage and the aggregate bins. The maintenance garage would be just under 19,000 sq. feet and provide for equipment storage, personnel administration as well as shop areas to increase the operational efficiency of the department.
Krauel said the next step he would like to take is to select a consultant to get their exact needs laid out.
After presentation of a maintenance facility funding survey showing seven of eight municipalities had not held a public vote for construction, Carolyn Siemann asked Krauel about why this had been categorized for public vote in 2013. Krauel said they had not done a survey at that time to enlist funding source information and the overall cost of the project was why it was a general obligation bond for citizen vote. Once tax proceeds or other funding sources are calculated, the amount of a bond is reduced to be under the $700,000 amount that requires a public vote. All council members commented on the great job the street department has done in maintaining the equipment and doing so in a space they have outgrown. They then approved preliminary professional services from FEH Design for a scope of services plan at a cost of $22,500 to be completed by May, 2016.
