[00:00:03]
[I. Call Meeting to Order]
GONNA GO AHEAD AND CALL THE TO ORDER.AND IF YOU WOULD CALL ROLE IF I COULD.
I JUST WANTED TO INTRODUCE CYNTHIA GONZALEZ.
SHE IS OUR DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY.
SHE'S FILLING IN FOR JENNIFER, SO SHE'S GONNA BE CALLING THE ROLE.
JUST WANNA MAKE SURE I INTRODUCED HER FOR YOU.
[II. Approval of Minutes]
UH, NUMBER TWO, APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.IF, UH, Y'ALL HAVE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW, IF I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION.
THERE'S A MOTION AND A SECOND.
IS THERE ANY DISCUSSION? IF NOT ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE.
UH, NEXT IS THE CITIZEN COMMENT, PERIOD.
ARE THERE ANY CITIZENS HERE THAT WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK? DID I HEAR SOMETHING STILL BE? YES.
[2.
Award a contract to AMERICAN STRUCTUREPOINT, INC. Austin, TX in the amount of $614,397.20 for the development of a 30% schematic design for the Kohlers Crossing Intersection Improvements. ~ Leon Barba, P.E., City Engineer
]MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER FOUR.UH, NUMBER TWO, AWARD A CONTRACT TO AMERICAN IN, UH, STRUCTURE POINT, INC.
AUSTIN, TEXAS IN THE AMOUNT OF SIX THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED FOURTEEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED NINETY SEVEN AND 20 CENTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A 30% SCHEMATIC DESIGN FOR THE KOHLER'S CROSSING INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS.
MR. BARBARA, EVENING MANAGER, CHAIR COMMISSIONER LEON BARBER, CITY ENGINEERING.
OR WE START LIKE TO MAKE A COUPLE OF COMMENTS.
ONE IS THAT, UH, CYNTHIA WAS WORKING FOR US IN THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT AND WE, SO IT'S GONNA BE WALL DEPARTMENT.
SO THANKS FOR THE WORK THAT YOU DID, CYNTHIA, STOLEN AND, PARDON? I THINK IT'S STOLEN.
I DIDN'T WANNA SAY THAT, BUT I DID.
AND THE OTHER COMMENT IS THAT, UH, STEVE VOKI IS A PROJECT MANAGER FOR AMERICAN STRUCTURE POINT.
HE'S HERE TO ANSWER ANY, UH, TECHNICAL DETAILS IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
SO I JUST WILL LET YOU KNOW HE IS HERE TONIGHT.
UH, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND GET STARTED.
THE BOARD APPROVED ISSUING THE RFQ FOR THIS PROJECT.
ON JULY 21ST, 2003, WE RECEIVED SEVEN SUBMITTALS.
AND, UH, ON SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2023, THE BOARD, UH, SUGGESTED RECOMMENDING AWARD TO AMERICAN STRUCTURE POINT TO BE AWARDED THAT CONTRACT.
THERE'S TWO, TWO, UH, DOCUMENTS IN YOUR BACKUP.
THERE'S THE, UH, MASTER AGREEMENT, THE ACTUAL CONTRACT, AND THEN THERE'S TASK ORDER NUMBER ONE.
UH, TASK ORDER NUMBER ONE IS GONNA BE THE PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING REPORT.
BEAR IN MIND, THIS IS ROUGHLY A 30% DOCUMENT.
THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S THE COMPLETE SET OF PLANS.
THERE'S NO CON CONTRACTED ADMINISTRATION INVOLVED IN THIS PARTICULAR, UH, TASK ONE.
SO IF AS THIS PROJECT MOVES FORWARD WHEN THIS TASK IS COMPLETED, WE'LL, UH, REVIEW THE, UH, UH, SUBMITTAL THAT THEY GIVE US, THE, THE PROJECT THAT, UM, THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT.
THEY WILL, UH, MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS, GIVE US COST ESTIMATES AND, UM, THERE'S A LOT OF WORK INVOLVED WITH JUST GETTING THAT LEVEL OF, UH, OF, OF, UH, REVIEW.
THEY'RE GONNA BE DOING SOME ENVIRONMENTAL WORK.
THEY'RE GONNA BE DOING, POSSIBLY DO SOME, UH, PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT, COLLECT A LOT OF DATA AS FAR AS TRAFFIC'S CONCERNED.
A LOT OF SURVEY AND MAPPING TO, AND, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THE SUE AS WE CALLIO SERVICES, THE SUBSURFACE UTILITY ENGINEER, THAT'S GONNA HELP US IDENTIFY UTILITIES THAT ARE UNDERGROUND SO THAT WE DON'T START PUTTING POLES AND, AND, UH, COVERING UP, UH, AND, AND DRILLING INTO LINES THAT WE DON'T NEED TO BE, UH, DRILLING INTO OR, OR DESIGNING OVER.
WE NEED TO TRY TO MAKE SURE WE MISS THOSE LINES AS WE DESIGN OUR PROJECTS.
WE HAVE A COUPLE OPTIONS FOR YOU.
ONE OPTION, OF COURSE IS TO APPROVE THE MASTER, UH, AGREEMENT AND TASK ORDER NUMBER ONE.
THE OTHER OPTION, OF COURSE, IS TO NOT APPROVE, UH, THE, UH, AGREEMENT OR THE TASK ORDER.
OUR RECOMMENDATION, OF COURSE, IS TO APPROVE BOTH THE MASTER AGREEMENT AND TASK ORDER NUMBER ONE, TO DEVELOP THE 30% OR WHAT WE CALL THE PRELIM PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING REPORT AND, UH, THE AMOUNT OF $614,397 AND 20 CENTS.
UH, IF THERE ARE NO QUESTIONS FROM ANYONE, DO I HEAR A MOTION I'D LIKE TO MAKE? I HAVE QUESTIONS.
[00:05:01]
GO AHEAD.WELL, BECAUSE IT'S INTERESTING 'CAUSE THERE WOULD BE THREE ROUNDABOUTS IN SEQUENCE ON THAT ROAD.
ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS, I GUESS, IN SPEEDING AND SLOWING DOWN AND IN SPEEDING AND SLOWING DOWN AGAIN? UM, ARE ANY, WOULD THERE BE ANY SAFETY ISSUES, UM, IN THREE ROUNDABOUTS? NOT, NOT VERY SPACED OUT.
JUST HOW DOES THIS, HOW DOES THIS WORK? THREE, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'D GET OUT OF ONE, GET A LITTLE FURTHER ALONG, GET BACK INTO ANOTHER ONE, THEN TO GET INTO ANOTHER ONE.
SO I'M JUST HAVING A LITTLE TROUBLE PICTURING IT ALL.
SO ANY, ANY THOUGHTS ON THAT, LEON? I MEAN, HOW WOULD THAT WORK WITH TRAFFIC FLOW COUNCIL MEMBER? JUST ON THE STUDIES THAT I'VE DONE OF THESE ROUNDABOUTS, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TO DO WHEN YOU, YOU HEAR ROUNDABOUTS, YOU HAVE TO SLOW DOWN AND THEN AS YOU LEAVE, YOU OBVIOUSLY NEED TO SLOW DOWN AND THEN YOU CAN PICK UP SPEED.
IF YOU GO THROUGH KOHLER'S CROSSING TODAY, YOU'VE GOT NO, THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC SIGNALS.
IT'S PRETTY MUCH PEOPLE ARE MM-HMM.
AGAIN, THERE'S ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WITH, YOU KNOW, STOPPING AND STARTING, UH MM-HMM,
THEY JUST ROLL THROUGH THE INTERSECTION.
SO, AND IT'S BEEN PROVEN THAT THE ROUNDABOUTS ARE MUCH SAFER OPERATION.
SO IN MY OPINION, IT'S GONNA BE A LOT BETTER FOR THE SAFE, SAFE OUR COMMUNITY TO DRIVE THROUGH THOSE THREE ROUNDABOUTS RATHER THAN TWO OR THREE TRAFFIC SIGNALS.
UH, IF, IF YOU COULD TIME THE TRAFFIC SIGNALS TO WHERE YOU CAN DRIVE 28 MILES AN HOUR AND HIT ALL TRAFFIC SIGNALS, THAT'S ONE THING.
BUT THEN YOU'RE STILL GONNA HAVE, UH, YOU'RE STILL GONNA HAVE TO STOP ON OCCASION FOR THAT TRAFFIC SIGNAL AND THEN EVERYBODY STARTS BACKING UP.
SO THIS IS GONNA KEEP TRAFFIC FLOWING THROUGH THERE.
I NOW KEEP TALKING OR YOU HEAR ABOUT THE LEVEL OF SERVICE ON THESE, UH, DIFFERENT, UH, INTERSECTIONS.
AND, UH, AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING, I WILL BE BRINGING TO COUNCIL EXPLANATION OF LEVEL OF SERVICE.
SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT THAT MEANS.
BUT, UH, YOU WANT A LEVEL OF SERVICE A AND THESE ROUNDABOUTS GIVE YOU THAT LEVEL OF SERVICE A MAYBE EVEN AS, UH, MAYBE EVEN A B, BUT WHAT YOU DON'T WANT IS A LEVEL F, WHICH IS REALLY NOT GOOD.
THAT'S JUST TRAFFIC BACKED UP.
SO IN MY OPINION, THE THREE ROUNDABOUTS ARE GONNA HELP MOVE THAT TRAFFIC THROUGH THERE SAFELY.
IT'S BETTER THAN WHAT IF WE JUST TRY TO PUT TRAFFIC SIGNALS OR STOP SIGNS OR EVEN WORSE, PUTTING STOP SIGNS UP THERE AND FOR A FIRETRUCK FROM, TO GET FROM ONE POINT TO THE OTHER.
I KNOW LIKE IF IT'S A STRAIGHT ROAD, VEHICLES WILL JUST PAUSE AND MOVE OVER HERE.
WILL IT SLOW DOWN A FIRETRUCK TO GET FROM A TO C IF THERE WERE FIRE WAS EVER HAPPENING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, THEY WILL HAVE TO SLOW DOWN A LITTLE BIT, BUT, UH MM-HMM.
'CAUSE THEY HAVE TO, IF YOU HAD AN INTERSECTION WITH PEOPLE STOPPED AT THE INTERSECTION FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL THOUGH MM-HMM.
I WOULD THINK IT'S MUCH SAFER FOR FIRE TRUCKS TO BE ABLE TO CLEARLY KNOW THAT WHEN THEY APPROACH A ROUNDABOUT, THEY'RE NOT GOING, THERE'S NO POTENTIAL OF CARS CROSSING THROUGH THE INTERSECTION BECAUSE THEY MAY NOT HEAR OR SEE.
SO I, I WOULD JUST HAVE TO IMAGINE, I'VE HEARD PD TALK ABOUT HOW DANGEROUS IT IS FOR THEM TO ENTER AN INTERSECTION WITH SPEED BEHIND THEM.
THE DANGEROUS UHHUH
I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I ASKED THEM IN THE, IN THE, IN THIS CASE OF THREE ROUNDABOUTS, UM, HAPPENING ON THE SAME STREET.
I I JUST HAVE ONE QUICK QUESTION, BRIAN, FOR OPTION ONE.
IN THE BACKUP IT SAYS, AUTHORIZED MAYOR IS THE MAYOR ARE WHO EXECUTES THIS BECAUSE IT IS PART OF THE TERMS. IS THAT, SHOULD IT SAY MAYOR? I BELIEVE THAT'S THE WAY IT'S BEEN WRITTEN ON THE AGREEMENTS THAT THE AGREEMENT'S BEEN NO, THAT'S, THAT'S INCORRECT.
WE SHOULD HAVE HAD THE, UH, THE CHAIR PER SE CHAIR.
CHAIR OF THE, SO FOR THE CITY COUNCIL TO BE MAYOR.
SO THEN I, I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE OPTION NUMBER ONE TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR OF THE TS BOARD TO EXECUTE THE MASTER AGREEMENT IN TASK ORDER ONE, UM, AWARDING A CONTRACT TO AMERICAN STRUCTURE POINT.
IS THERE A SECOND? SO, OKAY, THERE'S A MOTION AND A SECOND.
ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSION? YEAH, REAL QUICK, JUST LEON, JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT IF WE DO APPROVE THIS, UH, JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT LIGHTING, SIDEWALKS, EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO THIS AREA.
THE LIGHTING'S REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT THERE.
UH, I'VE BEEN IN ON THIS ROAD QUITE A, QUITE A BIT LATELY AND UH, THE LIGHTING IS REALLY, UH, SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO ADDRESS IN THAT AREA.
AND I'M THINKING ABOUT PEOPLE CROSSING, SO CROSSWALKS, EVERYTHING ELSE, EVEN CONSIDERING LIGHTED CROSSWALKS TO INDICATE SOMEBODY CROSSING THE STREET.
SO JUST MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT ALL AVENUES AND ALL ASPECTS TO KEEP EVERYBODY SAFE, UH, WITH THIS HIGH IMPACT TRAFFIC AREA
[00:10:01]
COUNCIL EVER.RIZZO, THAT'S ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS I ASKED OUR PROJECT MANAGER.
I SAID, WHAT ABOUT STREET LIGHTS? WHAT ABOUT SIDEWALKS? AND THEY SAID THIS SHOULD BE PART OF THAT REQUIREMENT.
IT'S, IF YOU LOOK AT THE, UH, TASK, IT DOES INCLUDE EVERYTHING FROM 27 70 TO, UH, UH, UH, TO KYLE PARKWAY.
ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? THERE'S A, THERE'S A PEDESTRIAN, UH, TUNNEL AT BENNER, WHICH I KNOW YOU'RE VERY AWARE OF.
IS, DOES THE SCOPE, UH, OF SERVICES INCLUDE, UM, EXPLORING THAT PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL THAT'S ALREADY THERE? WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO UNCOVER IT? BECAUSE IT, THIS ROUNDABOUT AS IT GOES THROUGH IS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THAT.
I DON'T RECALL SEEING ANYTHING TALKING ABOUT THAT IN THE PROPOSAL OR THE TASK ORDER, BUT, UH, LET ME ASK MR. AK IF THAT'S SOMETHING THEY COULD CONSIDER ANSWER WOULD BE YES.
I THINK THAT NEEDS TO BE A PART OF IT BECAUSE IT'S BEEN THERE FOR, YOU KNOW, 25 YEARS NOW AND OR WHENEVER KOHLER'S MIGHT, MAYBE NOT THAT LONG, 15 YEARS.
BUT IF WE GO THROUGH WITH THIS PROJECT WITHOUT ADDRESSING THAT TUNNEL, WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST FILL IT UP WITH DIRT BECAUSE IT'S NEVER GONNA GET USED.
BUT THAT'S SORT OF TO COUNCIL MEMBER RIZZO'S POINT OF MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE DESIGNING THESE THINGS FOR PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC AS WELL OVER TIME.
DO YOU DON'T MIND IF I MAKE MM-HMM,
THE BIG ISSUE FOR THAT IS GONNA BE, UH, SEE BENNER, AND IT'S GONNA DEPEND ON WHICH SIDE OF THE INTERSECTION THAT IT'S ON.
UM, IF IT'S ON THE WEST SIDE, IT WILL BE, YOU'VE, YOU'VE GOT PARTICULARLY, IT'S GONNA BE UTILITIES IN THE AREA AND IT'S GOING TO BE THE ISSUE OF HOW FAR NORTH.
YOU'VE GOT THE ISD AND THE CITY'S PARCELS ON THE NORTH SIDE.
BUT THEN FROM THERE ON THE SOUTHWEST CORNER, IT WOULD BE THE APPROACH RAMPS TO GET DOWN TO THAT LEVEL.
AND THEN SECONDLY, HOW DO YOU DRAIN IT? AND THEN WHEN YOU COME OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE, THE RAMPING TO COME BACK UP TO THE SURFACE, THOSE ARE THE ISSUES THAT YOU'LL DEAL WITH.
BUT YES, WE, WE'LL LOOK AT THAT.
I'M HOPING WHEN THEY PUT IT IN THAT THEY WERE THINKING ABOUT SOME OF THOSE THINGS AS WELL.
AND SO THERE'S SOME KIND OF PLAN FOR HOW THAT WOULD COME ABOUT.
LIKELY DRAINAGE WISE, OUTFALL, I'M NOT SURE WHERE IT EXACTLY GOES, BUT THERE'S A POSSIBILITY IT MAY REQUIRE A PUMP STATION.
AND IF YOU DO THAT, THAT'S GONNA GET EXPENSIVE AND, AND IT'S, IT'S DOLLARS.
I MEAN, AS ENGINEERS WE CAN DESIGN JUST ABOUT ANYTHING.
COULD YOU COME BACK WITH AT, AT LEAST AT SOME POINT SOME OPTIONS FOR US? ABSOLUTELY.
I DON'T WANT IT TO BE OVERLOOKED AND THEN WE FIND OUT WE'RE DOWN THE, DOWN THE ROAD AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT EVERYBODY WOULD'VE LIKED TO HAVE AT LEAST CONSIDERED.
WE'D LIKE TO BE ABLE TO CONSIDER WHAT WE WOULD HAVE TO DO.
TO MAKE THAT UNDERPASS HAPPEN.
I MEAN, AS AN EXAMPLE ON, UH, BIBE WE LOOKED AT, AT THE FAR EAST END, UH, WHERE THE PEC TRANSMISSION LINE IS, THE RAMPING TO GO UP AND DOWN TO GET UNDER THE ROAD AND WHAT THE IMPACTS WERE.
SO IT, IT'D BE A VERY SIMILAR ANALYSIS.
UH, ANYTHING ELSE BEFORE WE TAKE A VOTE? CAN WE, UH, I GUESS GET PHOTOS OR SOME DRAWINGS OF THE TUNNEL JUST SO US ALL COUNSEL HAS SEEN IT? I MEAN IT'S, I I ONLY KNOW ABOUT IT.
IT'S NOT LIKE I PHYSICALLY HAVE EVER SEEN THE TUNNEL.
I'M, I'M GOING OFF MEMORY COUNCIL MAYOR, I THINK THERE'S FIVE UNDER THERE IN THAT AREA.
SOME OF THEM ARE ON 16TH 26 AND I THINK THERE'S ONE ON, UH, KOHLERS.
AND THEY WERE, WE RECENTLY UNCOVERED THEM AND ACTUALLY SOME OF OUR STAFF WENT INSIDE THE TUNNELS TO CHECK 'EM OUT.
SO WE HAVE SOME PICTURES ALREADY OF THOSE TUNNELS AND THE LOCATION'S MARKED OUT.
WERE THEY EVER, WERE THEY INTENDED FOR PEDESTRIANS OR YES.
INTENDED FOR, FOR PLUMBING PEDESTRIANS.
THAT'S WHAT IT'S DESIGNED FOR.
WHAT THEY'RE, BUT THERE ARE SOME ISSUES WITH, YOU KNOW, THEY'VE PUT SIDEWALKS AND SOME OF THE UTILITY LINES ARE IN PLACES WHERE THEY YES, IT'S, BUT I'D LIKE TO AT LEAST SEE WHAT COULD WE DO, LEON? COULD WE, UH, SET UP A TIME TO GO LOOK AT THEM JUST FOR OUR OWN CURIOSITY INDIVIDUALLY? WE COULD CERTAINLY DO THAT.
IF YOU WANTED TO HAVE THE WHOLE BOARD GO OUT THE BOARD MEETING, WE COULD DO THAT AS WELL.
INDIVIDUALLY, ALL GET DOWN IN THE TUNNEL AND DOING SO WE, WE, WE'D LOVE TO, UH, TAKE YOU OUT AND SHOW YOU SOME TUNNELS.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO SEE SOME TUNNELS.
[00:15:01]
THEY'RE JUST BIG BOX CULVERTS.WELL, I KNOW, I JUST THINK IT'S COOL THAT THEY'S TUNNELS AND THEY'RE LOCKED OFF AND THEY COULD BE USABLE.
I'D JUST BE INTERESTED TO, TO SEE EXACTLY WHERE THEY ARE AND, UM, WHAT THE ACCESS WOULD LOOK LIKE FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OR I GUESS FROM EITHER SIDE.
BUT THERE'S A LOT MORE PEOPLE WHO LIVE ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF, OF KOHLER'S.
WE DO HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND.
UH, IF NOT ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE.
[3. Discussion regarding scheduling the next meeting.]
REGARDING SCHEDULING OF NEXT MEETING.DO WE HAVE DATES OR A DATE? WE DON'T HAVE ONE CURRENTLY.
SO I GUESS YOU'LL JUST SEND THAT OUT BACK TO YOU.
UH, NO NEED TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION.
AND I GUESS, UH, THERE'S A MOTION TO ADJOURN.
THERE'S A MOTION AND A SECOND.
OKAY, WELL THANK, OH, I GUESS LET'S TAKE A VOTE.