PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE PUBLIC WORKS MEETING

March 6, 2017 5:30 PM

The Public Works Committee met at City Hall on the above date.

Present: Council Members, Kotora, Magill and Pelunis; Assistant to the Construction Project Administrator Abell, Service Director Bandiera, City Engineer Busch, Construction Project Administrator Driscoll, Assistant Service Director Drsek, Monitoring Division Manager Smith, Water Reclamation Director Solanics and Assistant City Engineer Welch

Councilman Pelunis presided.

CHANGES TO THE AGENDA

MINUTES

Moved by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to approve the minutes of the Public Works Meeting of February 1, 2017. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion Carried

PENDING

NEW

1. Storm Response - Status Update

Mr. Drsek reviewed work that occurred throughout the month: • Flood Control locations were visited twice due to several days of rain. • A crew cleaned debris out of the inlets at a Cannon Road and US 422 triple culvert pipe. • The Sanitary Vactor crew responded to 14 sewer calls. Twelve were on the resident’s side. A storm main had to be jetted on SOM Center Road and a tee was excavated and replaced on Green Ridge Avenue. • Sanitary preventative maintenance main cleaning was completed on Carriage Park Drive, Maple Drive, North Huntington Drive, Huntington Drive, Woodbury Drive and Ashton Lane. • The Storm Vactor Crew completed preventative maintenance basin cleaning on Penfield Lane, Delamere Court, Aberdeen Lane, Ridge Lane, Birch Circle, Quartermane Circle, Partridge Lane, Angela Court, Heather Lane, Hollyhill Lane and Fairfield Oval. They also jetted a rear yard easement at 5077 Stansbury Drive. • The television crew checked 12 laterals on the preventative maintenance lateral list.

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 2 • The CCTV crew performed preventative maintenance, televising in the Oakview subdivision. They also dye tested three sink holes. • The catch basin crew sealed a catch basin in an easement and installed a new drain at 30905 Stratford Lane.

2. Traffic Signal Project – Status Update

Ms. Welch gave a presentation to the Committee updating them on the status of the City Wide Traffic Signal Improvement Project. The project was funded at an 80/20 split, federal/local. Forty-six traffic signals in total were upgraded, 16 were new and 30 were upgrades. The work also included a central base system which provided a coordinated signal system for select corridors such as SOM Center Road, Aurora Road, Cochran Road and Solon Road. The coordinated signal system includes fiber optic interconnection, infrared sensor detection, PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras, some emergency preemption equipment and a battery backup system.

In January the City experienced a few power outages due to weather related issues. The battery backup system serviced 15 intersections without any signal interruptions.

Ms. Welch stated a great deal of success resulted with this project. The old traffic signal system had aging equipment, loop detection, and coordination only along the SOM Center Road corridor. The main objective of the new signal system is to provide coordinated signals along the major corridors.

A coordinated system groups together traffic signals along a corridor to allow vehicles through multiple intersections. The intent of the traffic signal coordination is to provide smooth traffic flow along the streets. It does not mean that travelers will never stop at a traffic signal. The design and operation of every signal is different and each intersection has its own demands. The City’s traffic engineer designs the timings and coordination patterns to link the systems to work together and provide the most efficient flow of traffic through those main corridors. Along the SOM Center Road corridor, as an example, each intersection has a cycle length of 120 seconds to service each phase of that intersection. In the morning the northbound traffic is prioritized and in the afternoon the southbound traffic is prioritized. During that time the side streets must wait while the signals are coordinated before the phase is serviced. Sometimes residents will pull up to a side street signal and feel like they are not being detected by the cameras that were installed. That is not the case. If it is coordinated it must utilize the timing for the signal to be serviced. We have made some changes in the off peak hours to some of the side street corridors so they are serviced quicker. Arthur Road and Cromwell Drive are examples of that.

Signal timings do not address capacity issues where there is too much demand for the existing lane configuration. That type of issue exists at several intersections where the capacity exceeds the number of lanes.

There are different types of detection. Most cities use video detection at some intersections. Prior to the signal project the City had a couple of intersections that had video detection. Issues at those intersections occurred because snow, ice, sun

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 3 glare, shadows or wires that are in the video site can cause either false calls or no calls. If sun glare is the in camera it cannot detect the vehicle and the cars remain non-serviced. Infrared detection was chosen because it uses heat sensing technology to activate the detection. Some issues have occurred with snow and fog causing the signals to go into a failsafe mode, also called recall, where it services all the phases of the intersection. Although recall mode is not efficient, it is safer. The SOM Center Road/Aurora Road intersection still has loops that have some recall faulting issues. When problems occur at that intersection they must be physically reset. The upcoming SOM Center/Aurora Intersection Improvements Project will be changing the signals for the entire intersection. Additionally the signals at the intersection of Richmond and Aurora Roads are not the City of Solon’s therefore the City of Bedford Heights must be contacted to resolve any issues there.

During the winter of 2015 issues with west facing cameras was experienced. Snow was sticking to the lenses and the cameras were not detecting anything. The camera manufacturer, FLIR, acknowledged they had an issue with their heater and offered to replace all of the cameras. The number of sensors replaced to date is 74. There is no charge to the City for the new sensors. Sixty-eight sensors still need to be replaced. Thirty-six will be replaced in March and the remaining 32 will be replaced in early April.

In March of 2016 issues with video quality and false calls occurred. At that time FLIR and their CT technology performed a four day audit. They discovered that it was necessary to make adjustments to the detection zones that were programed within the cameras. They provided software updates for the issues and modified the field of view and focal length for the sensors. As each sensor is being replaced the necessary modifications are being addressed.

During periods of early morning inactivity some video quality degrading has occurred. This scenario seems to be the one that produces the most complaints. The Engineering Department get reports that a signal is cycling when no vehicle is present. It seems to occur in particular at the dual schools on SOM Center Road. FLIR is working to fine tune settings in the cameras.

Other issues occurring are as follows: • A no detection issue has occurred at SOM Center Road/Miles Road. Ms. Welch has asked the manufacturer to set up a camera at that location to video tape the intersection to help determine what is actually happening. • The intersection of Cannon and Harper Roads had some timing modifications done by GPD. • The intersection at Cannon Road and Janet Boulevard had a faulty sensor.

Ms. Welch emphasized how important it is at this point for the motoring public to call in when issues are experienced. The Engineering Department can then ask all the detailed questions in an attempt to diagnose the problem.

Ongoing work performed to improve signal operation is as follows: • Traffic conditions continue to be monitored.

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 4 • Signal timing adjustments are completed as necessary. Improvements have been made to side street wait times as well as changes to some of the corridors and individual intersections such as SOM Center/Bainbridge Roads. • The Engineering Department continues to be proactive with the contractor and supplier to resolve issues. FLIR has absorbed all the costs associated with the replacement of the sensors. The traffic signal project including the sensors to date have not officially been accepted. Once accepted the City will have a two year warranty.

Ms. Welch explained that legislation has been approved for FLIR to install a Trafisense sensor, which is one of their newer types of cameras. It has an additional capability to detect different objects such as pedestrians and bicyclists. FLIR will be installing that sensor at SOM Center Road and Portz Parkway in the northbound direction. They will set it to record specific events such as weather, video quality, things that have been particularly trying for the City and events that have taken place there. FLIR will use that information to optimize algorithms and configurations. Any software updates developed for any situation specific to Solon will be updated to the City’s cameras at no charge.

Mr. Magill asked how increased efficiency is measured and reported. Ms. Welch stated one measure is fewer complaints from the motoring public. The City’s Traffic Engineer, GPD, is constantly analyzing the traffic flow on the corridors. Fewer backups equate to more efficient travel through the City. There were some issues on the ramps at US 422 at SOM Center Road and US 422 at Harper Road in the peak hours. With the coordination and timing changes that have been made, the backups on the freeway are a lot less.

Mr. Magill asked if the infrared cameras, which are heat sensing, will cause a problem with electric vehicles. Ms. Welch stated no such problem has occurred to her knowledge.

Mr. Magill asked if there is an estimated time when the project will be accepted. Ms. Welch said the Engineering Department wants FLIR to replace the sensors and then allow a period of time for monitoring them, so she does not know at this time. Mr. Magill stated a two year warranty doesn’t seem like a long enough time for the size of this project and all of its components. Mr. Magill asked if there was a contingency fund set aside. Ms. Welch said the Engineering Department always has a purchase order with a maintenance contractor.

Mr. Kotora stated he has also received a lot of complaints regarding the traffic signals. Mr. Kotora reiterated the best way to help get issues regarding traffic signals worked out would be to contact the Engineering Department, specifically Ms. Welch. The purpose of the contact is to communicate the specifics about a particular signal problem such as time of day, date, direction of travel, etc. in order to resolve specific issues. Ms. Welch stated that at a Safety & Public Properties meetings it was mentioned the possibility of creating an on-line submittal form that would allow a resident to document all the information regarding a traffic signal outage or issue. For now the best thing to do is to call the Engineering Department so that all the details can be communicated.

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 5 Mr. Kotora stated the City of Solon is not the first municipality in this area with similar atmospheric conditions. Mr. Kotora asked Ms. Welch if she is disappointed in how long it has taken to get some of these situations resolved. Ms. Welch said she has been disappointed with the process but the process is what led FLIR to perform the audit. From that audit where FLIR came in to look at all of the detection zones, they realized that some of the coax cable connections were not exactly right. It has been a long process but a great deal of progress has been made and upon installation of the remaining sensors a vast improvement will be seen. Ms. Welch said she believes FLIR did not realize all of the nuances of their own programing for the kind of conditions in Solon. Because Solon did a wide spread signal update project and has coordinated corridors, problems are more noticeable.

Mr. Pelunis thanked Ms. Welch for her report and addressing some of the problems that his residents have experienced.

3. City of Solon Infrastructure Improvements Report

Mr. Busch stated there were expenditures in Priority II projects, specifically for the Annual Emergency and Misc. Roadway Repairs Program. Additionally bids were opened last Friday for the Miles Road Sanitary Sewer Replacement Project Rebid. The rebid of the Annual Street Striping Program and the bid of the Annual Concrete Repair Program will occur sometime over the next month.

4. Cannon Road Sidewalk Project, Contract 2015.21 – Final Close Out

Mr. Pelunis stated the original contract amount was $148,818.50 and not all of the quantities were used. The final close out amount is $144,622.68. Mr. Pelunis expressed concern over issues raised in the contractor evaluation regarding safety situations. Mr. Busch stated the contractor did a nice job on the project overall and any issues were quickly resolved.

Moved by Councilman Kotora, seconded by Councilman Magill to request legislation approving the final change order for the Cannon Road Sidewalk Project, Contract 2015.21 to close out the contract in the amount of $144,622.68 and to extend the final completion date to December 5, 2016. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

5. 2016 Annual Sanitary & Storm System Repair Program, Contract 2016.14 – Final Close Out

Mr. Pelunis stated the original contract was $400,000 and not all quantities were used. The final close out amount is $338,526.90. Mr. Busch added this is a contract utilized to address miscellaneous sanitary and storm items throughout the City that may be above the capabilities of City staff.

Moved by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to request legislation approving the final change order for the 2016 Annual Sanitary & Storm System Repair Program, Contract 2016.14 to close out the contract in the amount of $338,526.90.

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 6 Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

6. 2017 Annual Street Striping Program, Contract 2017.05 – Reject and Reauthorize

Mr. Pelunis stated the three bids received exceeded the engineer’s estimate by more than ten percent. Mr. Busch received an opinion from the Finance Director and the Law Director and it was ultimately recommended that the bids be rejected and rebid. Mr. Busch added the contract specifications for this contract incorporated changes that affected the mil thickness of the paint being applied as well as the number of glass beads used after the paint is applied. The glass beads create the reflectivity of the stripes. Mr. Busch said he didn’t think that the changes were going to affect the prices as much as they did. The bids received were well over the engineer’s estimate of $160,000.

Mr. Busch said he had a discussion with the Finance Director Rubino regarding the ability to award the contract based on the City of Solon’s Administrative Guide to Procurement which allows the City to entertain bids even if they are over the 10 percent limit of the engineer’s estimate. Follow up discussions with Law Director Lobe resulted in his recommendation to reject the bids and re-advertise the contract due to the Ohio Revised Code section 153.12.

Mr. Magill asked if the estimate will be changed. Mr. Busch said he will be recommending his estimate be increased to $190,000.00.

Moved by Councilman Kotora, seconded by Councilman Magill to request legislation authorizing the rejection of bids received for the 2017 Annual Street Striping Program, Contract 2017.05 and authorizing the program be rebid with a revised engineer’s estimate of $190,000.00 under emergency in order to stripe the City’s streets as early as possible. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

7. 2017 Annual Materials Testing Program, Contract 2017.10 – Bid Tabulation

Mr. Busch said three bids for the Annual Materials Testing Program were received. Geo-Sci, Inc. submitted the lowest and best bid in the amount of $66,700. Geo-Sci, Inc. has performed this contract in 2009, 2011, 2013-2016. Based on their previous experience with the City of Solon their references were not checked. Mr. Busch provided the Committee with the unit base bid breakdown to compare the unit costs bid versus previous years.

Moved by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to request legislation awarding the 2017 Annual Materials Testing Program, Contract 2017.10 to Geo-Sci, Inc. as the lowest and best bidder in the amount of $66,700.00 under emergency in order to be able to utilize the testing services as soon as possible. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 7 8. SOM/Aurora Intersection Improvement Project, Contract 2013.16 – Design Contract Modification

Mr. Busch said the Engineering Department is planning to bid the ODOT LPA project this year. The LPA agreement requires that the City have the project bid and awarded by the end of June, 2017. In November of 2016, ODOT submitted a whole host of comments to the City and to the consultant, Euthenics. Based on that list of comments, Euthenics generated their initial proposal of approximately $82,000. Since then the Engineering Department staff sifted through all of the comments and after diligent discussions with ODOT the proposal was subsequently reduced down to $69,000. Over the last month follow up discussions with ODOT occurred which reduced it again to $44,867.85.

Euthenics will stake the right-of-way for the Illuminating Company when the utility poles are to be moved. The cost of that was not part of their original scope.

Moved by Councilman Kotora, seconded by Councilman Magill to request legislation approving a contract modification for the design services by Euthenics Inc. for items requested by ODOT for the SOM/Aurora Intersection Improvement Project, Contract 2013.16 in an amount not to exceed $44,867.85. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

9. Brainard Road Culvert Replacement C1 Project, Contract 2013.25 – Change Order 1

Mr. Driscoll stated that this project was completed efficiently by September 2, 2016. Although the contractor had graded and planted grass at the site during September, there were settlement issues and an acceptable stand of grass was not achieved by the contract completion date. Mr. Driscoll said he would like to give the contractor time to complete the restoration and therefore is asking for a time extension until June 15, 2017.

Moved by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to request legislation approving Change Order 1 for the Brainard Road Culvert Replacement C1 Project, Contract 2013.25 extending the contract completion date to June 15, 2017. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

10. 2016 Annual Sewer Grouting Program, Contract 2016.11 – Liquidated Damages

Moved by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to table Item 10, 2016 Annual Sewer Grouting Program, Contract 2016.11 – Liquidated Damages. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 8 11. Hunt Club Pool Demolition Project, Contract 2015.30 – Liquidated Damages

Mr. Driscoll explained that the contractor had 30 days from the date of the Notice to Proceed to demolish the pool and the associated structures and fill all the holes. The contractor was responsible for notifying the utilities and coordinating the utility shut offs and disconnects. Due to problems with the utility shutoff of two of the utilities the contractor failed to meet the substantial completion date.

The contractor provided the City with evidence that he had notified the utilities immediately and tried several times to be in touch with them to make the disconnections. The contractor kept the City informed regarding the issues but he failed to request a time extension during that 30 day period. It was considered by the Assistant to the Construction Project Administrator, the Law Director, the Contract Compliance Officer and the City Engineer to assess an abbreviated amount of liquidated damages. The contractor has since made a very strong case that all of the problems were really beyond his control. The contractor feels the 30 day time period did not allow him to get the utility coordination completed and no one was adversely affected by the project not being completed in the first 30 days. The contractor was on sight working within a week of the utilities being shut off and the project was substantially complete in 14 days.

Mr. Driscoll expressed his opinion that liquidated damages are important and have their place. In this case, permission is requested to pay the contractor’s full invoice, not charge him liquidated damages and return to the Committee with the regular close out package. At that time the substantial completion date will be extended.

Moved by Councilman Pelunis, seconded by Councilman Kotora to allow Baumann Enterprises to be paid in full without liquidated damages and to allow the contract substantial completion date to be extended to January 6, 2016 at the time of the project close out. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

12. Tree Pruning Contract

Mr. Bandiera stated that tree pruning is typically performed in-house on trees that are in the right-of-way. About 140 trees around the City have been identified as being 50’ to 60’ tall. Trees that tall are outside of the reach of what the City’s equipment and personnel are capable of pruning. When using a tree pruning contract a company that performs pruning on a daily basis will be able to take care of the City’s pruning needs.

Mr. Magill asked if an outside tree service has been used before. Mr. Bandiera responded affirmatively, for emergency items. Mr. Bandiera added that he worked with an arborist consulting firm to help with the specifications in the contract. The estimate for this project is $35,000 and is included in the 2017 budget.

Moved by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to request legislation authorizing the Service Department to solicit bids for Tree Pruning Services under emergency in order to meet the time constraints associated with this project.

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 9 Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

13. 2017 Surcharge Rate Review

Mr. Smith presented the Annual Industrial Surcharge Review. By City of Solon ordinance, expenses and cost in the waste water treatment plant are reviewed annually. As part of that review, costs are allocated to the various users in order to make sure the charges are equitable and fair for both residents and industry.

In 2016 there were some declines in expenditures, especially in the 511 accounts. Some debit structure was paid off from the 1993 expansion. Recently, there have been some increases to the 512 account spending because of the upcoming headworks project. In some cases material deviation from the calculated rates to the actual rates has been realized, however changes in the rates are not recommended at this time because of anticipated expenses in the next three years.

Mr. Smith explained that with the construction project beginning this year and continuing for at least one and possibly two fiscal years, if the rates were reduced in 2017 they will likely need to go up in 2018. Industry has historically expressed an interest in maintaining stable rate plans as opposed to having them fluctuate every year. The recommendation of the Water Reclamation Department is to maintain current rate structure for this year and evaluate it in the coming year as the construction proceeds. Mr. Magill stated he agrees that businesses prefer predictability when it comes to rates.

Mr. Solanics reiterated that the Water Reclamation Department recommends the rates remain the same. He felt it was important to show that the debit service is dropping off but it will rise again when the construction project enters the picture over the next two years.

CORRESPONDENCE

OTHER

PROJECTS/REPORTS

14. Engineering Department Study/Design Report

Mr. Busch stated the Bainbridge Road Culvert, C004 plans have been submitted to the Engineering Department and are under review. This culvert is right on Bainbridge Road near the intersection at Harper Road. Due to the traffic issues at that intersection the Engineering Department is proposing to make all the improvements to this culvert through a right of entry from Cleveland Clinic, utilizing their parking lot to make all the repairs.

The preliminary plans for the Copley Road Reconstruction Project are finished and will be sent to the utility companies this week.

G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc Public Works Committee March 6, 2017 Page 10 Bids for the Miles Road Sanitary Project were opened and a bid opening for the Annual Concrete Repair Program is scheduled soon. Those will be submitted for the Committee’s consideration at the next month’s meeting.

15. 2017 Annual Emergency Road Repair Update

Mr. Pelunis stated there were three repairs for water main breaks performed in the month of February for a total amount of $5,278.66. The current balance is $344,748.26.

16. 2017 Annual Sanitary and Storm System Repair Program Update

Mr. Drsek stated the actual invoice amount for a repair on Liberty Road was less than the estimated amount. There are some projects being planned and the estimates for those projects will be submitted by the contractor.

17. Water Reclamation Department Report

Mr. Solanics reported the Water Reclamation Facility Preliminary Treatment Improvement Project was advertised for bid last Thursday.

18. Service Department Report

Mr. Bandiera stated that the Simple Recycling program is proceeding very well.

The Service Department is at a transition period from winter to spring duties. With continued snow alerts trucks cannot be broken down to transition into spring mode.

The durapatcher has been in service on a regular basis and street sweeping had a jump start in an attempt to keep things out of the catch basins.

The Service Department will be planting 84 trees in conjunction with the Emerald Ash borer removal performed last fall as well as tree lawn trees that needed to be replaced throughout the City.

Mr. Kotora asked about the transition in Service Department personnel, specifically Mr. Mark Hawley, Mr. Ron Hradesky, and Mr. Mike Gelardi. Mr. Bandiera said all the managers have a good umbrella view of everything done in the Service Department but tend to focus on their own area. The transition has allowed them to branch out and network with one another. Mr. Bandiera said he has been pleased with Assistant Service Director Drsek and the help he has provided in the transition of personnel.

Motion by Councilman Magill, seconded by Councilman Kotora to adjourn the meeting at 7:32 P.M. Roll call: Aye: Kotora, Magill, Pelunis Nay: None Motion carried

______Patti Henderson, Secretary G:\Engineering\Public Works Committee\Public Works Committee 2017\Minutes\030617.doc