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Home My WebLink About09/13/12 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER September 13, 2012 City of Eugene thnd 125 East 8 Avenue, 2 Floor Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541) 682-5010 (541) 682-5414 (FAX) www.eugene-or.gov IN THIS EDITION DOWNTOWN LIBRARY SPRUCES UP VIDEOS SHOWCASE RECREATION ACTIVITIES MAINTENANCE OVERLAYS HELP ADDRESS REPAIR NEEDS ON UNIMPROVED STREETS NATIONAL PUBLICATION OFFERS SIX TIPS FROM CITY FLEET SUPERVISOR DEMONSTRATION GARDEN GREAT PLACE FOR IDEAS AROUND THE CITY Downtown Library Spruces Up Although most of us still think of it as being new, the Downtown Eugene Public Library is almost 10 years old. During its lifetime, it has been one of the busiest and most heavily used buildings in the City. As an investment in maintaining this important community building, parts of the exterior and interior are being cleaned and re-painted. Exterior surfaces, such as window sills, have gathered dirt and moss and will be cleaned and re-sealed in August and September. Inside, many wall surfaces will be re-painted to freshen up the surfaces that come into contact with the patrons and staff most frequently. Interior painting is usually done in-house by the City’s Facilities staff. However, the larger scale of this project required that the work be awarded to a painting contractor. The contractor will do this work after-hours, so the Library will remain open to the public during the project. For more information, contact Meredith Fox, Project Manager, Facility Management Division at 541-682-8829. Videos Showcase Recreation Activities Videos offer the perfect format to show off the action-filled programs of Recreation Services. With videos growing in popularity and increasingly easy and inexpensive to produce, Recreation Services includes them as a key component of the division’s marketing efforts. One recent video called “Dance” shows three- and four-year-olds in Pre- Ballet and Hip Hop & Bop tots classes at Amazon Community Center. The instructor talks about the goals of the class and parents comment about how much their children have developed over the seven-week course. Besides being entertaining, the video is testimony to how Recreation’s activities build bodies and brains. This and future videos will be available on the City’s and Recreation’s homepages at Vimeo.com (search for “Eugene Recreation Dance”), and on program Facebook pages. In addition, “Dance” has been converted into a 30-second public service announcement that is expected to air on locally available channels this fall. As part of the division’s integrated marketing EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 September 13, 2012 efforts, the cover of the fall Recreation Guide featured a photo of a similar dance class (with the same teacher) and the September edition of Rec eNews included an article about the video. For more information, contact Kathy Madison at 541-682-6342. Maintenance Overlays Help Address Repair Needs on Unimproved Streets More than two dozen unimproved streets in Eugene were repaired this year under the City’s enhanced street repair services program. Unimproved streets are those with soil, gravel or asphalt mat surfaces that typically have not been structurally designed and have few, if any, drainage facilities and no curbs or gutters. There are more than 52 centerline miles of unimproved, asphalt-surfaced streets in Eugene’s 533-mile street system, and about 40 percent of those streets are rated in poor condition. Unimproved streets generally receive a low level of maintenance, usually limited to emergency pothole patching. But, in recent years, thanks to initial funding support provided by the Eugene City Council, Public Works Maintenance has been able to make some headway on the problem through its enhanced street repair services program. In 2012, the program was able to provide maintenance overlays on 15 unimproved streets, including segments of Jay, Rutledge, Ellworth, Vincent, Leigh and Hughes Public Works crew applies maintenance overlay on Devos Street. streets, Firwood Way, Arcadia, Cherry and Morningside drives, Pioneer Pike, Walnut Lane, Van Avenue, Oakway Terrace and Lorane Highway. A maintenance overlay treatment consists of placing one to two inches of asphalt on top of the existing surface. While this is considered a temporary treatment because it does not address underlying problems such as deteriorated road bases or poor drainage, it does provide a smoother driving surface for several years. Additionally, Public Works Maintenance in 2012 also graded, and in some cases paved, nine gravel streets: Miami thrd Lane, Olive Street, Devos Street, Jefferson Street (Lorane Highway to West 29 Place), Honeysuckle Lane, East 43 Avenue, Ash Street, Lewis Avenue and North Seneca Road. Total cost of the 2012 overlay and grading work was $370,000, which was funded with two years of funding allocations. City crews did all the grading work. About half of the maintenance overlays were done by Maintenance staff; the rest was done under contract by Eugene Sand & Gravel. “Prior to this program, maintenance crews repaired several thousand potholes a year,” says Public Works Maintenance Surface Operations Manager Eric Johnson. “Seventy-five percent of those potholes were on unimproved streets. We determined that instead of fixing individual potholes it was more efficient to provide a maintenance-overlay on some of the more deteriorated streets.” Between 2008 and 2012, Public Works completed nearly 14 miles of maintenance overlays on Eugene’s 52 miles of unimproved streets. Despite this accomplishment, the need – currently estimated at $11.3 million just for surface maintenance on unimproved streets – far exceeds available resources. To continue at least some level of maintenance overlays and similar repairs, Public Works has set aside $200,000 a year for the next six years in its road fund. “Enhanced street repair services is one of the most popular programs we have,” says Public Works Maintenance Director Jeff Lankston. “Citizens really appreciate it.” For more information, contact Lankston at 541-682-4800. National Publication Offers Six Tips from City Fleet Supervisor Six purchasing tips are provided by Fleet and Radio Communications Supervisor Keith Nicolson in the current issue of a national public works publication. Nicolson offers the following tips in the September 2012 issue of the American Public Works Association (APWA) Reporter:  Understand the purchasing rules and regulations  Involve the employees  Research available equipment  Determine the right equipment size EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 September 13, 2012  Develop specifications  Determine the purchasing avenue Nicolson has worked in the fleet industry for more than 23 years, 11 of which have been with the City of Eugene. He has also been certified as a Public Fleet Professional with the APWA. For more information, please contact Nicolson at 541-682-4867. Demonstration Garden Great Place for Ideas A recently completed video highlights the Water Wise Landscape Demonstration Garden in Alton Baker Park. The video, available at http://vimeo.com/49022449, provides an overview of the garden, which showcases a water-saving landscape design and sustainable stormwater solutions for residential use. Those with an interest in learning more about water-efficient plants and lawns, rainwater harvesting, swales, rain gardens and a watering system with a Smart Controller could likely find some useful ideas in this garden. Plants can be identified with a numbered marking system that corresponds to plant names on the plant list handout. Two large display signs provide an overview of the garden and how the features work together. Brochures include a detailed plant list and a rainwater harvesting FAQ. This project was made possible by several partners and many garden benefactors. The garden is located in Alton Baker Park, on Day Island Road, next to the community garden and the park host house. The video was produced by Metro Television as part of the “Working City” series. For New “Working City” episode focuses on “water wise” garden. more information about the garden contact Public Information Specialist Kathy Eva at kathy.a.eva@ci.eugene.or.us or call 541-682-2739, or Green Building Analyst Jenna Garmon at jenna.r.garmon@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5541. Additional information can also be found at www.eugene-or.gov/waterwise. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 September 13, 2012