01232024 Board of Public Works Meeting

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AGENDA REVIEW SESSION JANUARY 18, 2024 6 The Agenda Review Session of the Board of Public Works was convened at 10:30 a.m. on January 18, 2024, by Board President Elizabeth A. Maradik, Vice President Joseph Molnar, and Board Members Gary Gilot, Murray Miller, Briana Micou, and Board Attorney Michael Schmidt present. The Board of Public Works Clerk, Theresa Heffner, presented the Board with a proposed agenda of items presented by the public and by City Staff. AGENDA REVIEW SESSION ACTION ITEM APPROVAL OF LICENSE AND PERMIT APPLICATIONS The following license and permit applications were presented for approval: Applicant Description Date/Time Location Motion Carried March for Life- South Bend Street Closure for Special Event January 19, 2024; 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Sidewalk from Knights of Columbus to Federal Courthouse VP Molnar/ Mr. Miller Board members discussed the following item(s) from the agenda. AGREEMENTS/CONTRACTS/PROPOSALS/ADDENDA Assistant City Engineer Leslie Biek was present to discuss item 8.D: Wayfinding Sign Agreement with Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). She explained that it is nothing controversial, but it is not something that the City has done before. She noted that the City usually just goes to INDOT for right-of-way permits and they review them independently, but now we have an agreement with them to install new downtown wayfinding or directional signage so, we will just need to amend the agreement whenever we want to install new wayfinding or directional signage. Attorney Schmidt advised that the City already has a contractor who is doing this work so we are going to make sure that the requirements in this contract are also met by the contractor who is doing the work for us. TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES Mr. Miller asked about item 10. B. New Installation of two (2) no parking right-arrow signs here to corner. He noted that there are a lot of locations all over the City that could probably use this type of signage; specifically, on Western Avenue where bump outs were installed. He added that cars park up to the intersection and it makes it hard to see around them. Assistant City Engineer Biek advised that the City has an ordinance for no parking up to intersections, but it is a problem we continue to run into. She advised that she would look at Western Avenue. She explained that Engineering reviews the requests they get through 311 to try to address the issues, but they tend to linger because it is widespread throughout the City. Mr. Gilot advised that traffic safety comes down to education and enforcement stating the City tries to do so much with signage, which is the most expensive of the three (3), and we do not do much with the enforcement side of things since the SBPD is a little light in the traffic division, but the education piece is crucial. Mr. Gilot stated it strikes him as a problem when you think about how many intersections where people have the opportunity to park too close and you think about the cost of installing “no parking here to corner” signs on every one (1) of those using the engineering solution instead of the education of residents solution. Mr. Gilot argued a well-worded announcement going out to all the neighborhood associations to educate residents, and in the most egregious cases, we would go with the engineering approach and put signs up. He continued to note that signs are tax dollars and that adds up to a lot of money if we have to put a sign everywhere instead of teaching people through driver education to be smarter, be courteous, and be thoughtful. Assistant City Engineer Biek advised that the traffic division at SBPD has been expanded, so they are starting to add more police officers to the field.