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2005-07-05 Regular Meeting Monashka Bay Service Area Public Meeting at Bayside Fire Station Meeting Minutes July 05, 2005 \D)llE ~ ~ U W IE rm lr\1 OCT 1 9 2005 lW BOROUGH CLERK'S OFFICE 1. Call to order - 7:30 II. Roll Call- Darlene Turner, Chaz Glagolich, Dave Sundberg, Bruce McNeil, Andrew DeVries III. Minutes - Dave makes motion to approve minutes for June 21 st, 2005' s meeting. Bruce seconds motion. Motion approved unanimously. IV Public Comments Frank Bishop lives on top of Marmot and would like to see a culvert crossing the street from his property (town side) towards the landfill side. His culvert has been filled up for years. And as another alternative, he is not against redirecting it down his property (toward town) into the creek that leads towards the pond on the bottom of Three Sisters. He understands that the maximum width for a driveway on the Borough roads to be around 40 - 50 feet. Many times people park on his property when the road gets icy and too rutted up. The base of the road is the biggest problem. The water runs on top of the ash and then backs up after the first hill on Marmot. The road becomes saturated and the water has no where to go. His wife ran a day care for twenty years and he doesn't ever remember clients not being able to get down the first part of Marmot. Granted it does get slick in Kodiak and weather can change pretty quickly, but the property owner have no right to say that the contractors are not doing their job. Six thousand dollars was a budget for around the 1970's. We can expect someone to do this job for that today. We need to have communication with everyone. Jim McCullough disagrees about the plants coming back on their own. A 2:1 or even 3:1 slope is not attainable where the survey line is on his property. The road has shifted and it is pretty much bare cliff without vegetation. Randy Spivey wants to know if catch basins are going to be installed. Because of the erosion, water is being deterred. And he would like to be notified before hand if any more ditching is to be done. He plans on planting grass and wild flowers and doesn't money and time wasted. Randy wants us to look at another contractor. He asked, "How much are they doing over the winter?" Perhaps they need more equipment if they aren't getting to our roads till the three in the afternoon when they have been called out that morning. The speed limit is 15 mph and still when it's icy out cars are side-swiping each other. People are driving on the wrong side of the road just so the can get up. Of course, the roads as they stand don't help the matter. Martha McKinney has lived in our district for twenty one years and she strongly advises the board not to award the contract to Brechan. There is n~< rea;on, in her opinion, for the salmon berry bushes to be cut back the way they were on Forest Drive. She would appreciate more talking to homeowners before any stashing and burning. The pot holes have been in the same place since the early eighties. The road needs to be dug up and a proper base needs to be put in. Every year, there is always driving off the road. Weare in bad need of improvements. Property owner seem to read the signs, but the visitors perhaps need more signs. Brechan will take what ever we have and she recommends not having a fund balance for that reason. It is unfortunate that others backed out. She compared Brechan's contract to "The Emperor's New Clothes." She stated that she was really upset for what was done. She would like to reiterate that the board was set up for community. And in her opinion we were charged more for what we didn't need. Shawn Dillon in the past sat on the board twice. He would like to empower homeowners with the simple things like brushing and limbing. To help with communication problems, a newsletter was started by Roger Blacket years ago to keep in touch with the property owners. He said, "It seems like the board is talking more about road construction, rather than input and maintenance." Sean didn't recall anyone asking to pay more. Years ago the mill rate would go up to 2 mills when big projects came around then it would go back to 1 mill. By laws are for the simple things, and he would like to see the board go to the people for the more important things. To get a backhoe on Marmot, he used to go door to door and collect $10 from everyone on Marmot. For a hand full of years, Island Sanding and Gravel would charge $6,000 per year for winter services. In his opinion, Brechan has used up valuable time and money. We still have the same pot holes. The pot holes weren't addressed correctly and he believes that we should have better control of our contractor. Sandy Solenberger lives with her husband close to the end of Marmot. They regularly fill in pot holes with buckets of gravel. She suggested that we leave a pile of gravel at the top of Marmot for the citizens to have an opportunity to become more pro-active. Perhaps it would be a short term way until the organic materials in Marmot could be removed. Louise Ball Stutes wrote in to say that she would have liked to have been at this meeting. And her husband and her "do not want anyone from the Service District, Borough, or a representative there of, on our property, including the pond, without written permission. . ." Mike Martin (representing Brechan) stated that his overall response when he read last meeting's minutes was that he would fire Brechan too. The major problem's, he said, was misinformation, misunderstanding, and lack of communications. He made it clear that as a contractor the board calls us for what you want done. And the citizens in the district direct the board what they want done. Brechan took the greatest effort to do the job in the timeliest manner with the best, most experienced laborers. Mike concluded, "Generally we know what we are doing ... and we have never had this response before." He felt bad and as if they was trespassing and very much offended. According to the contract, Mike personally accounted daily and Brechan was under by $300. He understands that the district needs to watch their money. Honestly, Brechan's contract with the districts are considered "a community service". Last winter Brechan sent Scott their best sander down Three Sister when no one else would do it. If you don't want to award the contract to us it's ok. His advised us to communicate with the people and the board and make it clear to everyone which direction is to be taken. Mike agrees that as far as the pot holes, there is more to it. We need the right crown, the right grade, the right material, the right compaction at least once a year. Brechan has been in business for twenty five years. . Louis Rocheleau agreed with Mike. And he stated that especially on Marmot, we need to first get down to the basic core and remove the organic material. These roads from the start weren't built very well. Old Business Meeting with Brechan Last week Darlene, Bruce and Dave met with Mike Martin and Louis Roshlau. They came to the conclusion that the job was done as contracted. And work was done with two supervising board members. Brushing could have been done with a Hydro Axe, but this would have caused quite a bit of flying debris and been more costly. Brushing and ditching were accomplished at the same time. It's apparent that there was some form of miscommunication on how far this step was to be taken. The budget went over $6,000 so things weren't stopped in mid- ditch. We got what we paid for. Brechan aimed on saving the board and property owners money with the shorter culverts that were placed in the driveways. As a gesture of good faith, Brechan has offered to replace them with longer culvert at their cost. Also catch basins and 3 inch gravel as head walls are to be added. The dirt pile that was removed from the bottom of Three Sisters was not a spur of the moment things and will be replaced upon the asking. The board questioned Brechan about using burlap bags as an erosion deterrent. This is very costly and will not let anything grow unless it is reseeded. At this time, there are no plans to reseed. Perhaps it will take longer than expected, but everything should grow back. And this would defeat the purpose of brushing. Review - Issue of Road Service Contract- Steve Dehart ofB&R Fish called Bruce at 6:30 p.m. July 5, 2005 and withdrew his contract bid. He stated that he probably will not be at the meeting. Bruce who is a close neighbor said he recognized his voice to be Steve Dehart and would go to his house later to get it in writing. Darlene advises the board to proceed with caution that the only other contractor who has bided could very well pull out. She asked to accept a motion to discussion and not to allow any contractors to speak unless directed by the board. Bruce makes motion to accept discussion. Chaz seconds motion. Dave - Road construction and road improvement are closely. And the communication problems didn't help that fact. The board and the residents learned a lot. This was the most efficient method and a good response for the money we spent. Any other contractor with the same amount of money and we could still be waiting. Chaz - I am disappointed that B&R Fish pulled out. But look at his equipment, man power and expertise. We're all neighbors working for the same end. Here on the Island we have extremely limited resources. I invite you to give us an alternative. This is not a negative toward our only contract bidder. I am really receptive to any input that's realistic. The positive is that do have a contractor that historically has served us well. Bruce - I have dealt with snow and ice for twenty years with the State. Conditions can go from poor to bad in 5 minutes. We can't expect them to be there in a moments notice. It has turned bad so fast that I wouldn't have sanded without blades going first. And drainage right now is our most important issue. Without drainage we don't have enough money for all the sand that we would need. Drew - I have heard what Bell's Flat's district thought of Dehart's operation. And I would like to see more residents become more pro- active. The smaller and simpler level of improvement can lead up to the big picture. These are the bigger issues. Everything needs to be brought up to par so that it can just be a maintenance issue. Brechan has had a working relationship with us in the past. And the fact that they are trying to work with us goes a long way in my book. Role Call Vote to Award ofMBRSD's contract for road service FlY 2006/2007; Darlene - Yes, Chaz - Yes, Dave - Yes, Bruce - Yes, Drew - Yes. Brechan has been awarded MBRSD's contract for road service FlY 2006/2007. v: New Business Post Master Mailboxes Consideration of a 16 unit post office box to be place on top of each road or where units are spoken for. We are entertaining the thought of people interested in a one time fee for a box. This would include ajoint, separate box for out going mail. The unit is $1225 and $75 for the pedestal. Also, it is possible that a contractor could install it for a nominal fee. A brochure was passed around to see who's interested. We should talk about locations and garbage contractors working around it in the future. Meeting Notification To save money, sending out letters will be used for the notification of the bigger projects. From now on public meetings will be advertised in the newspaper, on all three local radio stations, and on a large sign that has been built to stand on the beginning of our district. VI. Board Comments Darlene - This is the best attendance in the last two months. For six year's I have been on and off the board. Two meeting we have sent letters out because issues were coming up and a few people showed up. The realistic approach is that the community elects the board and washes their hands of it. The board's phone numbers are not secret. And we listen to what is asked of us. Really without input it's hard to make a decision. Pam made the suggestion of putting a sign out and we roll with the good ideas. The committee that advises the board is to work of the five year plan. We need more community involvement. We will consider every suggestion. And if you don't like our decisions, I challenge you to become a board member. I won with the most votes ever at 14 votes. Not very many people like to do it. I would love to hear someone else take on the reasonability. Honestly, the stress is not worth it. It's true we need better roads and engineers with detail plans to fix it. Then the public is offended for cutting back salmon berry brushes for drainage so that the road doesn't rut away. Private drive ways are draining into rut in the road and people are driving on the wrong side of the road. We don't want that. Work with us, not against us. Bruce has more road service experience than most and we are all working hard for you. We appreciate each and everyone who shows up for our meetings. Stay with us in our struggle to get up to Borough Code. Presently, we are working on drainage and culverts. We still have pot holes to contend with. Honestly, we will be lucky to get the potential problem better in five years. Brechan answered the question that we wanted hear. Now we have heard both sides of the story. What was done was direction of the board and not a whim. When we need road service it usually means that we needed them 15 minutes ago. We are an immediate gratification society. Bruce goes to work at 4 a.m. and he calls me. Roads can change for the worst in a few hours. I have been a 13 year resident and never had a studs or chain issue. Not all visitors have cautious driving skills. Brushing and ditching was done in safest and most cost effective manner. We no longer have any alders growing in our ditches. From the beginning of this contract we had a board member acting as a manager. Unfortunately the road is shifted and 2: 1 grade at some points are not attainable. Because of the culverts put in, water is not washing the road out. Catch basins should help with the erosion. Weare not reseeding. Brechan didn't do anything on their own authority. The six thousand that we went over would have been spent with July's contractors. Kids could fall off any piles of gravel left on top of Marmot and the board will not take that responsibility. Bruce - I am not going to apologize for trying to make the roads better. The contractor does what he is asked and he has no ideas what is left. We call him out. Drew - Simple things can make a difference. It's nice to see everyone on the same page with common goals rather than back tracking and retracing foot paths. The work that has been done leads up to the major problems with our district. Which are, in my opinion, at the bottom of the roads and on top of Marmot. Mountain View got some real good attention last year, but Marmot has received very little. Look around and see what we can do together. Feel free to call on anyone of us at appropriate times. Chaz - As drainage improves so does the qualities of our roads. We all need to address the problems. Input is wonderful in achieving good communication. Biggest bang for the bucks. Dave - Thanks for everyone giving up another beautiful Kodiak evening. The roads need to get up to decent standards so maintenances will be cheaper. With everyone working together, I'm confident we can do it. VII. Adjournment - 9:30 pm Andre~~~~secreffiry Monashka Bay Service Area Board Members Darlene Turner - Chaz Glagolich- Dave Sundberg - Bruce McNeil - Andrew DeVries- ditumer@ptialaska.net chazman@ptialaska.net dmi577@gcLnet bruce mcneil@dot.state.ak.us andrewdevries52@hotmail.com ph. 486-6390 ph. 486-6930 ph. 486-5327 ph. 487-4952 ph. 486-1422