03-16-2009 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Road Advisory Minutes-March 16, 2009 ROAD ADVISORY COMMITTEE MARCH 16,2009-2:00 PM 1. MEETING TO ORDER Commissioner Scott Wagner called a meeting of the Road Advisory Committee to order at 2:00 PM on Monday March 16, 2009, in the Commission Room, Cass County Courthouse. Members were present as follows: Vern Bennett, Ken Pawluk, Scott Wagner, Darrell Vanyo, Keith Berndt, Robyn Sorum, Rich Sieg, Jurgen Suhr and Mark Johnson. Scott Saewert was absent. 2. 2009 BID RESULTS AND PROJECT RECOMMENDATIONS & ECONOMIC STIMULUS FUNDING, Discussion Mr. Berndt distributed a handout outlining bids that were opened on three projects for the 2009 construction season. The projects include work on Cass County 26 to include bridge work near Wheatland, which would be awarded to Central Specialties, Inc.; road maintenance/ crack clean/seal project and pavement marking projects. Mr. Berndt recommended holding all projects as funding is uncertain at this time. Mr. Berndt wrote and presented a letter to the committee. The letter addresses Governor Hoeven's original budget proposal to transfer 120 million dollars to the Highway Distribution Fund. Mr. Berndt requested and received permission to submit his letter to The Forum for publication as a letter to the editor. Mr Berndt includes in the letter that The State of North Dakota is projecting a general fund budget surplus of one billion dollars this biennium. Originally the Governor planned to transfer 120 million dollars to the Highway Distribution Fund to be used over the next two years to fund state, county, city and township, road and bridge projects. Mr. Berndt stated this was a progressive step toward maintaining aging infrastructure. Governor Hoeven along with at least a portion of the house members has withdrawn their support for the 120 million dollar transfer opting instead to support a 20 million dollar transfer. The original proposal would have transferred 12% of the surplus for transportation investments. The amount has been cut to 2%. Job Service recently reported the state's unemployment rate has exceeded 5% for the first time in 15 years. At this time there is a need for jobs and no better way to create jobs than investing in transportation infrastructure. The Federal Stimulus funding is thought by some to solve the transportation funding crisis at both the national and local level. There is a misconception that a large percentage of the 780 billion Federal Stimulus is designated for transportation. Three and one-half percent of the stimulus funding is designated for transportation and only 1 % is earmarked for city and county transportation projects. Mr. Berndt pointed out the object of the Federal Stimulus was to spur new projects, not give state officials an alibi to cut funding supported before the stimulus funding was put in place. The State of North Dakota is receiving 170 million in Federal Stimulus Funding for transportation projects. This sounds like a large sum of money, however, the stimulus funding in combination with the original general fund transfer would not replace buying power lost due the inflation of construction costs in recent years.