Carefree Truth

                      Issue #451, January 1, 2016

 

 

Gary Neiss reported that Carefree has the ability to piggyback onto the bike lane contract awarded to Nesbitt by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) for the construction of two turn lanes into the town center.  One would be located at Tom Darlington Drive and Carefree Drive, the other at Tom Darlington Drive and Hum Road.  This produced a price far below what would have been possible had the Town put these turn lanes out to bid independently. 

 

 

 

In order to build the gateway on Cave Creek Road and Carefree Drive, the eastern curb must be flared out  to support the gateway column.  The western side of Carefree Drive contains a confluence of underground utilities coming into the downtown.  The item before the Council is the approval of $30,000, plus a $5,000 contingency, to implement both of these projects.  Completion is anticipated in January.  Funding would be for Capital Improvements, under Economic Development.

 

 

 

During Call to the Public, Jim Van Allen had said all costs should be known before the start of any project.  He complained that the Town was doing the Gateways Project on a piece meal basis, approving parts of the project at different times, rather than approving the whole project at once, for a final known price. 

 

 

 

Mr. Neiss explained that there are separate issues relating to construction projects.  The Gateway Project began with APS, which controls the undergrounding of their equipment.  That must go through APS.  It had to be done first due to the possibility that trenching would be required, depending on the soil and rock content where the utilities were to be buried.  Had the undergrounding been done after the bike lane project was completed at that location, and trenching had been required, the new asphalt would have been torn up to do the job.

 

 

 

The grant for bike lanes came from ADOT and the Federal government, and the project is being administered by ADOT.  The Town had to wait for ADOT to award the contract for constructing the bike lanes.  This had to run through the Federal and ADOT process.  Carefree does not control that process.  Carefree is not looking at the project piece meal.  The objective is to get the best product for the best price possible. 

 

 

 

Many local businesses have volunteered to donate their services and materials.  The next phase of the Gateways Project is the preparation of construction documents, after which the construction of the gateways will begin.  All of these will come before Council to be vetted in the public light.  All checks written are on the register that goes in front of the Council each month, and are public record.  "I challenge you to find another community that does that.  We are very transparent in our process.  We try to get the best product available.  We're doing the right thing, and sometimes you have to look at this process the way the we look at it, because there are different pieces of the puzzle that we have to fit together that we can't control."  "I think we're addressing everything that our citizens expect us to address when we're trying to do the best thing for our community." 

 

 

 

Councilman Glenn Miller commented that this is a really good price adding, "I was shocked".  $80,000 had been budgeted for two right turn deceleration lanes based on past costs.

 

 

 

Jim Van Allen again accused the Town of doing the Gateways Project in a piece meal fashion.  He denigrated Gary Neiss, his presentation, and his explanation.  Mr. Van Allen also again insisted that the 28 new street lights from the previous agenda item were not in the budget (see line 7), and that they could have waited until next year.  Mr. Miller again produced the sheet with the break-down showing the lights in the budget.  Mr. Van Allen asked if that was public information.  Mr. Miller replied, "That's right, public information. Go dig it up."  Mr. Van Allen responded, "I never saw it." 

 

 

 

The Council unanimously approved the funding to construct the two turn lanes and to flare the curb in support of the Gateways Project.

 

 

 

During the general Council update, Councilwoman Melissa Price reported that the Gateway Committee is moving forward.  The utilities are done, and they are now working with the architect and the structural engineer, as well as with Chase Bank, Bank of America, and land owner Frank Andre to make sure all is correct with the easement agreements.

 

https://vimeo.com/user18676056/review/149096303/58900fd8b7

 

 

Lyn Hitchon

 

 

 

Prepared by Carefree Truth

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