03/18/1997 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 3/18/97 3) The Law Director attended a conference at Kent Law School in Chicago dealing with the 1983 federal civil rights actions. Many of the issues discussed at the conference have been faced by the city in various cases. The conference was helpful as it brought him up-to-date on current 1997 cases as well as the cases that have been taken into the U. S. Supreme Court for the current session. Finance Director Burns: 1) He has distributed to Council a revised schedule of the debt service that is required to be paid out of the General Fund. The first draft had been completed last October using preliminary figures. It is interesting to note that because of the way last year's bond issue was structured, we will require $327,000 less this year out of the General Fund than was originally projected on the first draft. Also, we will require $40,000 less to be supported by the golf course. In future years, the lowest the savings ever gets is $130,000, and the lowest that the savings for the golf course gets is $20,000. The reason for the savings is primarily because of the way the bond was divided into three sections. The middle section was sold at a premium so that it carried the highest interest rate; the last section was sold at a discount so it would carry a lower interest rate. This method caused the overall interest on the bond issue to be approximately $800,000 less than if it would have been alevel-debt type principal issue. Mr. McKay, Chairperson of the Streets & Drainage Committee: 1) The committee met on Monday, March 10, to discuss the improvements on Porter and Mill Roads. Present were Council President Boehmer; Council Members Lind, Nashar, Limpert, Musial and McKay; Service Director Bohlmann; City Engineer Deichmann; Assistant Engineer Griffith. Also, twenty-three residents were in attendance. Mr. Bohlmann gave a history of the project, and Engineer Griffith gave the results of a traffic survey. The study included the traffic count, two-way stop sign analysis, signalized intersection analysis, comparisons and accidents. It is believed that by adding turn lanes, accidents can be reduced and efficiency improved. With the present level of traffic and without any increase in traffic, the installation of a traffic signal would cause a delay in movement from 4.3 seconds to 6.2 seconds. We also must take into consideration the Water Tower Square is only 60% occupied with the potential to increase traffic. Crocker/Steams will not be opened until the year 2002. The normal traffic growth is 3.5% each year. Installation of a traffic signal should increase the safety of pedestrians and also give a break to the flow of traffic and will permit residents to exit their driveways in a more efficient manner. Mr. McKay made a motion that Council support the addition of a turning lane and a traffic signal at Porter and Mill provided the traffic signal does not cause a delay in service. (There is a possibility that the delay would not occur if the signal went on a yellow flashing mode in the beginning; then, as traffic increased, it would become a full traffic signal.) The motion was seconded by Mr. Nashar. Roll call: McKay, yes; Nashar, yes; O'Grady, yes; Musial, yes; Limpert, yes; Lind, yes; Saringer, no. The motion passed with six affirmative votes and one negative vote. 3