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City Council :Minutes July 24, 2006 Page 2 the public and to properly represent the city. Chief Beahen emphasized that simply putting additional downtown signage is not the answer as to date, the police department has experienced almost zero-compliance on traffic signage downtown. . Councilmember Gumphrey questioned if downtown traffic control would be necessary if Main Street remained closed until October 1. Chief Beahen stated that it would depend on the construction traffic patterns. He noted that the traffic patterns downtown change daily and that he had not originally anticipated having to have an officer downtown daily for traffic control. Chief Beahen commended the contractors for adhering to their approved staging areas and keeping construction traffic off of Main Street. He noted that he has witnessed some of the construction delays put upon these projects and many of them were beyond the contractor's control. Councilmember Gumphrey questioned given the unforeseen delays, what the contractors are doing to expedite the completion of their projects. Adam Holmes of VanMan Architects and Builders for the Bank of Elk River Project; Paul Lyver representing CSS Builders on the Bluff Block Project; and Ken Hinz of Flannery Construction for the Jackson Block project were present and provided input on their construction schedules. Mayor Klinzing stated that she is not interested in extending the August 11 deadline as the Council promised the downtown business owners that it would be reopened by that date. She questioned why the city is providing police officers for traffic control and why the contractors are not providing the traffic control. Chief Beahen stated that normally traffic control provisions are included as part of a development agreement but no such provisions were included into these development agreements. . Marcy VanValkenburg, Elk River Travel and Keith Holme, Kemper Drug property owner - stated that their businesses are hurting due to the Main Street closure and that they would rather have it reopened as soon as possible even if it has to be closed periodically throughout the day to allow construction traffic to pass. Fred McCoy, McCoy's Pub - stated that he would like Main Street to be opened but has concerns that people may get upset at the condition of the road and be reluctant to travel Main Street in the future. Karen Attia, Olde Main Eatery - indicated that it is ridiculous to assume that the contractors will remain on schedule if the deadline is extended to October 1. Councilmember Motin indicated that he agrees with Mr. McCoy. He would like for Main Street to reopen as soon as possible but that he would rather err on the side of public safety and doesn't believe reopening it is the best thing to do. He stated that he has concerns about the road reopening in poor condition and with people traveling so closely though construction zones. He noted that if the downtown businesses can be legally compensated he would be interested in looking into that. Fire Chief Bruce West explained that it will take the cooperation of all three contractors and the public to ensure that public safety remains the number one concern downtown when Main Street is reopened and throughout all of the downtown construction. .