Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Meeting

April 10, 2023

Consent Agenda

Approval of Claims: 4-10-23 Docket and 4-7-23 Payroll

Docket is $1,317,057.96 and Payroll is $414,751.50.

New Business

Compensation for County Surveyor

Tom Cummins, County Surveyor, has submitted the Section Corner and Regulated Drain Certification Report in order to receive additional compensation as provided for in State Law. Total amount is $2,800.

Proclamation

Public Safety Telecommunicators Week: April 9 to 15, 2023

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (NPSTW) is held annually during the second week of April to honor public safety telecommunicators for their commitment, service, and sacrifice.

NPSTW initially started in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California. In 1994, President William J. Clinton signed Presidential Proclamation 6667, declaring the second week of April as NPSTW. This week is a time to celebrate and thank our telecommunications personnel at the Central Communications Center who serve our community, citizens, and public safety personnel 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Ordinance

Final Reading: An Ordinance Establishing Highway Department Policies for Road Maintenance and Snow Removal

Memo from the Highway Department:

The Highway Department Policies and Procedures were created to have a written policy of why and how the Highway Department maintains roads and conducts snow removal operations. The policy utilizes quantitative data to determine the roads that will receive maintenance.

Paving:

Cold mix and hot mix paving policy.

Cold mix paving:

We use a score sheet that has data including function class, PASER Rating, Average daily traffic, Action Request, attractor, pot hole saturation, and hours of labor spent on the roadway. The data is put into the score sheet and the order of which we pave roads is determined by the score and that sets priority.

Hot mix Paving utilizes funding from a Community Crossings Grant from the State. The roads that are selected based on the following criteria: does it complete the “loop” around Crawfordsville, does it enter/ exit the county? and is it classified as a major or minor road? This data is input in to a score sheet to help prioritize those roads.

Chip seal:

Roads are chip sealed that have been cold mixed the prior year or it is needed for preservation.

Gravel road maintenance:

Covers when to grade and how roads are selected.  The Department has 4 graders and it takes 5-6 weeks to complete an area depending on the weather.  The Highway Department will not grade if moisture is abundant or an abundance is forecasted.   The Highway Department determines gravel material to be applied by the following factors: gravel roads that connect major roadways, apparent traffic, # of homes, and if there are businesses on the roadway.

Culvert Replacement:

Road projects are evaluated depending on the application.  Culverts are always replaced on a road project applying hot mix.  In a cold mix road project, if the culvert has 10 year or less life expectancy, the county will replace it.  If it’s not on a project road, then the criteria are: dangerous, man made changes to drainage, topography, and the amount of water volume.

Speed Limits:

The Highway Department will conduct a traffic study and input collected data into Federal Highway Administration website to calculate the limit.  Road type and crash data are also tools to determine a correct speed limit posting.

Snow Removal:

Policy states that paved roads are a priority. If we have more than five inches of snow and or drifting the graders will be sent directly to gravel roads. During snow events normal start time is between 3am & 5 am. (This is subject to change). The Highway Department uses a 25% salt mixture with sand for roadways. Straight salt is used in housing additions. Shifts are usually 14 to 16 hours. If weather is severe enough, 2-4 snow plow drivers will stay on shift for as long as necessary.