By Joe Bachman

This month’s public works meeting took place on Jan. 3. Here are some news and notes from that meeting:

2016 Accomplishments

Public Works Director Joe Terry ran down the list of accomplishments for 2016. This includes a wide variety of engineering projects, the operation of maintenance completed on time, even when short staffed, and a multitude of street projects.

Overall, the city saved $1.4 million dollars on construction projects, spanning from sewer maintenance, water main repair, and highway rehabilitation.

Street construction on 3rd Ave. from W. Grand Ave. to W. Jackson St., and work on 1st St. North from Spring St. to Poplar St. turned out the biggest surpluses — saving the city over $400,000 on those projects alone.

Upcoming projects for this year include water main repair from Washington St. from 8th St. North to 12th St. North, and work on 1st St. North from Poplar St. to the North City Limits.

Safety Improvement Project

The Wisconsin DOT Safety Project is still underway, which entails the reconstruction of 8th St. South and E. Grand Ave. $22,000 in roadway items were added to the upcoming project, including water main maintenance, and street lights.

Truck Access Route Signing

An update was given on the progress of truck access route signing — this measure would guide a clear path for truck drivers in the area to use, more notably for the purpose of keeping semi-trucks off of Baker St.

“We hope to get the signs out there and let them sit for a week or so, coupled with enforcement thereafter,” said Public Works Director Joe Terry.

This will also include contacting GPS companies to present specific routes for drivers to use in the area. The signage will be implemented by next Wednesday.

“In our meeting with the police department we had some limitations on what we can do on our state highway, but we have a little more flexibility on our local streets.”

Recycling Cart Delivery Update

The recycling carts for new single-stream service have been all delivered with the exception of residents in the Tuesday westside collection route. More carts are in the process of being ordered, as more are needed.

“The city garage has been getting a number of calls with questions relating to how the service is going to be performed,” said Terry. “In some cases they didn’t receive a cart, or they received a duplicate cart — so staff is in the process of taking care of those concerns.”

The carts will be tagged for record keeping purposes that have been used improperly. Camera feeds on the trucks can identify of any recycling cart misuse that would need to be corrected.

Single stream automated recycling routes will start on Jan. 9.