6.2. SR 07-21-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item # 6.2. Howard R, Green Gompany July 14, 2003 File: 819300J-0325 The Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 RE: COUNTY ROAD 44 RECONSTRUCTION Dear Council Members: Attached is a draft contract proposal that City staff received from Dave Schwarting, Sherbume County Engineer, for the purposes of having the City take the lead on the design and field services for the reconstruction of County Road (CR) 44 (Upland Avenue/Meadowvale Road) from Trunk Highway 10 to CSAH 1. City staff met last Fdday, July 11, 2003, to review and discuss this proposed contract. We believe the contract is unacceptable to the City of Elk River for a number of reasons. The main points of our discussion were as follows: The proposed contract attaches Sherbume County's Cost Participation Policy as Exhibit A. If the City were to enter into this agreement, they are essentially "buying" into the Cost Participation Policy for this project. In the past when the County's Cost Participation Policy has been discussed, City Council and City staff have expressed some reservations regarding it. In the same attachment to the proposed contract, Exhibit A, items number 5 and 6 state that the County will reimburse the City eight percent for design services and eight percent for field services. The eight percent is only calculated on the County's cost participation in the construction cost. However, if you review the County's Cost Participation Policy, nowhere in that policy is engineering overhead discussed. In other words, it is silent and assumes that the County will pay all of the engineering overhead, and the cost participation between County and City is only relative to construction cost. With this agreement the County is shifting the burden for the engineering overhead to the City for the City's Cost Participation Policy items. The total of 16 percent overhead for the engineering design and field services is a reasonable percentage for strictly the design and field services, assuming as the proposed contract states that the County will provide the base topographic information and the right- of-way research. Items that would not be included in the 16 percent overhead would be a feasibility study, public/assessment hearings, assessments of the project, public informational meetings, and right-of-way issues. 3. There will likely be some widening of CR 44 as it crosses the railroad tracks. The County Cost Participation Policy is again silent on the cost of expanding a railroad crossing and moving the in-place safety equipment. As the City knows from the Tyler Street project, this cost can be quite significant. City staff is concerned that with the City in the lead on this project, the City could end up responsible for any costs associated with the wider railroad crossing. The wider railroad crossing will likely be necessary because it is reasonable to anticipate that the County will want to see a turn lane just south of the railroad crossing Ltr-071403-Council 1326 Energy Park Drive · St. Paul, MN 55108 · 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389