Title
Communication from Mayor relative to completion of roadwork.
Dear Council:
I have reviewed the Resolve passed at last week's City Council meeting relative to the road work proposal.
I am in agreement with utilizing approximately $300,000 more or $1.2M in Chapter 90 funds to support this year's phase of work. This will complete road design work so that we enter into next year's construction phase with all water main replacement streets being surveyed and designed and ready for bidding for construction. I have reallocated funds that were going to be utilized to purchase a street sweeper for the public works department to accommodate this request. Of course, continuing with the actuals bids and construction will require identifying an additional funding source. I continue to support bonding for this work as an expense of the Water & Sewer Enterprise Trust.
I believe we all share the desire to better equip our Public Works Department to deal with both extreme weather conditions such as this last winter and to better address the day-to-day functions they perform. As such, we have been working to utilize Chapter 90 funds to secure approximately $750,000 in badly needed equipment. Specifically, we will be purchasing a new Vactor Truck, last replaced in 2004, that is used for cleaning storm drains and to provide preventive maintenance on our storm system. The current truck would require extensive repairs to be made operable and this represents a better long-term solution. We will also be purchasing two large dump trucks that will be outfitted to assist with plowing and sanding operations as well as a salt shed to meet Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requirements that salt be contained. This will save us on the cost of salt that washes out when exposed to the elements.
The remaining funds, which I estimate to be roughly $400,000, will be used for non-water main roadwork prioritized by utilizing the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rather than a straight distribution by ward. I believe this better targets those streets most in need of attention at the current time. In looking at page one of the PCI report that lists repairs by PCI, we will be targeting (depending on bid results) Washington Place (10.2), Baincroft Road (10.4), Maurice Street (11.4), Pearl Street (13.16), and add/alternates consisting of Estey Street (13.31), Newman Road (15.21), Gleason Street (17), and Dennis Road (18.18). It should be noted that Baincroft Road will be done in conjunction with Lillian Road (17.17) and Bayrd (33.11) because they are interconnected. Blomerth Street, despite being on the first page of the report, will be pushed out to next year due to the sheer cost estimate of $150K.
I believe the above plan represents a good compromise and a responsible way to proceed. While this is not as aggressive as I would have preferred in terms of moving more streets out of the Failed and Warning Categories, it is in direct response to the Council's stated desire to minimize the non-water main related road work and separately, to augment and improve the equipment available to our public works department.
I appreciate your time and effort throughout this process and I will keep you apprised as this plan is implemented in the coming weeks. Please contact me if you have any questions at 781-397-7000, option 6 or email me at mayor@cityofmalden.org <mailto:mayor@cityofmalden.org>. Thank you.
Sincerely,
GARY CHRISTENSON, Mayor