welcome to another exciting up so spotlight on maplewood i'm your host joe madison and city manager today our special guest is michael thompson our city engineer and assistant public works director welcome michel good to be here thank you now before we get to a number of questions i you know you've been a valuable team member of the city and i have a very interesting background and so if it's our you'd like to ask a few  maybe personal professional questions i know you're a native of red bluff california this is true born and raised there and i know you're originally a  true true for those that's a preacher's kid michael michael's father is a well known minister up in red bluff and i understand that you went to probably the number one party school in the country for your  undergraduate yeah i think it got that rating sometime back but yeah i graduated from california state university chico with my civil engineering degree and then i know you  t the engineering training and passat and then you have to work for years and then you have to take another test to become a professional engineer and so then you can have the comma after name michael thompson comma  up that's correct so i took my professional engineering exam out in california so i had my license both out there and here in minnesota so i have a dual license that you know that's that that is really unique because you know i i spent some time in california and i know that there is no reciprocity in california with the rest of the world and so to have your engineering license in california and then being able to i don't think our viewers know that that even though you are from california your graduate of the university of minnesota yeah that's right back in two thousand and nine i got my master's degree from the university of minnesota in infrastructure system engineering and i was kind of a two year program and i was very beneficial to just developing relationships and learning a lot about engine irina and in the management side of the baffles me because i'm not sure anybody can work exceptional with that but i know you have and and are doing a really good job with them but we digress we'll get to that at the  maplewood operates its improvement programs street improvement program or infrastructure improvement programs and so the first question is what exactly does this street improvement consist of and then later on what are we doing this year yes so improvement is really going into those older name hoods were the streets are deteriorating there is drainage problems in really bringing those up to an acceptable standard a new standard with new pavement new concrete curb and gutter pipes to carry the water away rain gardens to treat water fixing the utilities so really it's just making an investment into a neighborhood some of the projects that are planned for this year we are doing an overlay of roughly six miles of streets so some are more higher volume streets like roselawn avenue conway south lawn over by the mall and then we do have a kind of what we're talking about here a reconstruction street improvement that's the bartleby meyer neighborhood between many haha and stillwater just on the east side of mcknight and that's a neighborhood where we're doing all those improvements and you know we're really excited we've been working with the residents so and then lastly we were doing some improvements in the gladstone redevelopment area so we're finishing up the new bridge the frost avenue bridge and we're doing a mill an overlay and also some pedestrian improvements yeah you know that's that's a pretty aggressive work schedule i know we've been working graphs ability last number of years to bring our streets back up to a rating of over already i think a seventy percent isn't it and we're getting close but not there yet that's correct we're getting close our goal is to have seventy five percent of our streets at a rate you know seventy or above in really a bad street is one in a brand new street is one hundred so we're trying to bring that level la up and we do have one hundred thirty five miles of street so it has taken some time to bring that standard up but we're getting closer but like basically street has got to the point where the maintenance just isn't working or just one bad money after good and so we go into the full reconstruction and i believe our policy is we  according to the statute we need to assess twenty percent or something like that of the cost to the homeowner or the property owner i should say and that equates to around what this year six thousand dollars or so yeah in the range of about six thousand dollars in a again we we do a benefit appraisal to actually see you know the market value improvement of the property so you have the twenty percent is  a statute and we typically do meet that but really setting that assessment level is based on an analysis by an appraiser and then the mill an overlay i think that's running about two thousand dollars per property owner this year correct that's correct yeah and you know i'm i know there are some people that protests that and and you know i guess i have you know i  can understand the concern but we do have mechanisms for for people have extraordinary concerns or hardships so that that they're basically not taxed out of their homes so to speak  another exception for property that's not developed or will not be developed that that so if somebody has a piece of property that they don't plan in developing they're not they're not required to pay for the  r the street improvement and i probably missed one or two others yeah no that's right the undeveloped deferral is essentially there's an assessment on the property and if they don't develop within a certain time period that assessment goes away and there are other  so somebody that's part of the military reserves called active duty also somebody with a disability so the city what's important to note is we're very flexible in working with those type of hardships and we're willing to sit down with people and work through but they have to be legitimate because the rest of the the cost improvement is borne by the rest of the taxpayers in the community so you know there is no such thing as a free lunch so to speak somebody has to pick up the cost absolutely and we see this is people that are directly benefiting from the project their pain is shared you're right you know if they're not paying then it goes to the rest of the taxpayers and i for one you know i am sure some people like to have potholes and have a lot of these streets because that's probably one of the best traffic calming measures but it certainly does not enhance the value of the property and so i know that's a very contentious issue with several of our citizens but  an understanding of what to expect as their street is brought up to the priority yeah so example if the neighborhood that we're proposing to reconstruct next year in two thousand and thirteen what we'll do later this summer is we'll set up a first kick off neighborhood meeting likely at the community center a fire station and bring the residents in really get some of that preliminary feedback let them know what the plans are and then all the way through the winter will hold maybe one or two more meetings during that time we also send out a questionnaire to every single resident on you know things that they see out there that need to be fixed really they are the eyes and ears out there so whether it's  sewer problems drainage problems you know things that they would like to see perhaps like a sidewalk so we really want to try to design a project based on that input and then the official public hearing for a project is usually the december january timeframe and if it moves forward we have another meeting with the residents kind of an open house where they can look at the design and make some final suggestions that we can make changes and then it basically moves into construction in the summer and that's when you mention the assessments for funding there's a final public hearing which is the assessment hearing where we consider awarding the work to a contractor so that's kind of a snapshot but obviously we make site visits to meet with residents they come into our office and so we're always willing to meet with people even on some projects we form citizen committees to delve deeper into some  issues that they want explored so we really just want to bring people together not understand all sides of the issue well that's really very interesting now michael and and let's take a minute to our crack crew has from spotlight as his to streets with john jerry shero in our city engineers and has got some really interesting footage street in these neighborhoods are often plagued with numerous patches potholes and cracks and often lack an adequate street prone to shed water off the street section of the city i'm a port assesses the condition of their streets on a yearly basis to determine which streets are most in need of repair and once we get into a neighborhood like this the typical conditions of the street include a lot of potholes a lot of patching the street and lacks an adequate crown to it which resulted in water ponding in the street section which further deteriorate the street street section and help prevent that freeze thaw damage that we see and so prevalent in the state of minnesota on top of that same sub a section will install an aggregate base to help support the pavement section and on top of that we put the pavement with an adequate street crown which helps to shed the moisture off the street into the curb and gutters at the side of the street the city began its street reconstruction program back in one thousand nine hundred ninety s as part of the city's capital improvement program my name is john hiroshima staff engineer for the city of maple with the public works department today we're in the hills and dales neighborhood which was reconstructed in two thousand and ten this concrete curb and gutters at the edges of the street helped to convey the storm water runoff to the storm sewer system the catch basins the piping systems below the street we do extensive as part of this project will design a full drainage system for the neighborhood including new catch basins new piping and new infiltration basins and ponds another major thing that maple is well known for is a rainwater garden program as you can see behind me we gardens as part of this project and these rainwater gardens help to draw water off the street section infiltrated down to the ground and help remove excess pollutants and nutrients from the storm water runoff improving the quality of the wetlands and lakes in the neighborhoods basically a depression in the ground and we install what's called a curb caught in the curb and it allows the water runoff to come out of the street section get into these rainwater gardens and infiltrate down into the ground into the looser granular soils underneath they help to recharge the aquifers but they help to reduce the pollutants in nutrients excess nutrients and pollutants in the storm water runoff and also an extent aesthetically pleasing addition to any boulevard along with the pavement and the street improvements that we do in part of these projects there's extensive upgrades to the utility system underneath the street as well and one of the first things will look at us will work with the regional water utility to determine whether or not there's any upgrades needed to the water system look at past break data and determine whether or not these streets are required replacement that water main the hills and dales neighborhood here required four thousand when your feet of water main replacement for the sanitary sewer system is another thing we look at as part of these projects before the project occurs the sanitary sewer division will send a camera through the sanitary sewer main line and look for issues with the senator main such as cracking joints anything that would could deteriorate underneath the roadway and look to determine if there's any issues with that pipe it's anything that would require replacement as part of this project program and by reducing the impervious surfaces like street pavement also focuses on improving the biking or walking conditions within the neighborhood by corporate ing additional sidewalks trails and bike lanes in the design the sidewalks are brand new they were installed as part of the twenty a lesson western hills neighborhood streets proof of project corporate in water quality improvements narrowing street with tune reduce impervious surface and calm traffic and to install biking and walking features such as the sidewalk incorporating additional boulevard trees to help provide shade for the street and sidewalk and help reduce the cost for the urban heat island effect all this part of the twenty a lesson western hills neighborhood street improvement project was those great michel  really ask from really great people in our our crew there and john certainly didn't he just get is passes p e exam this spring yeah he just recently passed and he's been with the city for quite a while he actually started out as an intern sown at great engineer for the in the business for over thirty years as a city manager and i've noticed one thing here recently and maplewood is that we've had a couple citizens not even while one of them isn't even a citizen of the city come and protest at these assessment hearings or the improvement hearings and it just kind of baffles me that if they don't have property in the affected area and if they're not even residents that that you know you see them protesting at our hearings i've never ever never seen that happen before i i know that you know you don't have twenty years of experience but  residents during these projects and stuff like that is during the outreach process in developing these reconstruction projects the city will actually hire somebody to televise their private ciena terry sewer service to see the condition and if it's a poor condition the city will actually pay for and replace the segment out from the city's main up to the right of way so that's a great benefit of these projects also and that's the people who are having you know r excessive routes or cracks you know the city will replace that so no cost to the rise of it but then they also can have their line fix from there right away to their house to out especial  discount price i presume yet in typically as the line moves back to the house we encourage them to get quotes from from plumbing contractors just to kind of test the pricing and really get the best best price so that you know i know when we do street improvements with the driveways and stuff that that people could take advantage of the opportunity unit price seemed to have a new driveway is put in right yeah that's correct we'll actually have one of our technicians come out measure up the driveway and will submit a quote to the resident to see if they want to be part of the city's driveway program and yet typically the city's price is very competitive but we still do encourage residents to get bids from other driveway contractors but yeah we do end up doing quite a few private driveways and the advantages that is a cost savings to residents and also just the neighborhood really being improved in people fixing their driveways so it's convenient absence expected to so that i mean there is some degree of certainty that the work was at least standards and stuff like that that's correct we have a warranty and we had each resident sheet kind of explain what the warranty is and so absolutely we have our inspectors out there you know looking at that we're testing the word just one thought came to mind that that with the complete street reconstruction and once people pay the assessment they're guaranteed for what thirty years that they're not going to be cessed again on their street yeah it's actually they would have to pay for a full reconstruction for thirty five years thirty five years that's correct and with the mill an overlay it's ten years it's actually twenty years twenty years we've committed to twenty years on so i mean there's you know i guess i guess that that's a pretty  decent insurance policy for people who are worried that pay this this year and then five years down the road they're going to get hit again that's that's not the case and may put moving right along because  i have a couple more questions i want to ask you about you know first of all very quickly how do we pay for these projects and we talk about the twenty percent special assessment but and then th the the general levies hit but i know that as part of your job and you've done a very good job and that is securing other funds yeah that's right one area that we really try to concentrate on is grant funding a good example of that is this year for the bartleby meyer project we actually were awarded a little over nine hundred thousand dollars through the watershed they were a conduit and now is take and a new approach to these street reconstructions making them more sustainable in what may these neighborhoods a lot more livable and sidewalks are part of the walkability aspect and thing absolutely so this year we were placing a sidewalk adjacent to each street we're doing some improvements over near our ar calming measures in a row where the flow the traffic down on the street absolutely not only narrowing but doing those bomp out slows the traffic and also in those bump outs we can install rain gardens and that's another offering that this city has at no cost to residents people that sign up for rain garden can have that as part of the project and they actually get a thirty percent credit on their stormwater utility fee in perpetuity as long as they keep that garden so that's about a twenty five c twenty five dollars savings have some impaired water bodies lakes and wetlands in the city and those rain gardens really take out those pollutants and the organics and the absorption it really it cleans that out before it goes down to our waterways and since we're part of the st paul regional water utility we eventually drink that water one where another i suppose it i think it comes through the channel lakes but also there is some river water too i believe there's a mix or something like that a blending that gardens so really the city of maplewood is a leader nationally in the rain garden movement we started in the mid ninety's and you know we get calls monthly from people all over the us on our program and and what they can do to help move a program along that they're looking into is so that's something that i'm really proud of is the rain garden system sustainability and now we're really pushing that to another level with the living streets approach  it just makes sense to rather than just increasing the floor water to the from the streets to the impaired waterways and stuff that it's naturally filtered through plants in other vegetation so our last point and i know we're getting down right to the wire the new interchange of how we thirty six and english is proposed for two thousand and thirteen construction can you give us  e one minute tauriel on that yes so right now we're proposing in two thousand and thirteen the construction of a bridge over the highway thirty six it english street so essentially getting rid of that signal  really bottling up all that traffic causing accidents so there would be a closure to at access to highway at hazelwood in atlantic streets so essentially we would have a bridge in english that would be a new interchange so a full access interchange there and we would also be replacing that pedestrian bridge for the homes for the costing the the total construction cost is right in the seventeen million dollars range so it's a very large project we've partnered with federal highway mendota ramsey county the watershed so really a number of people on this to really pull all the funding together i it's a major highway and it's true we really took the initiative in the lead because we wanted to influence you know some of the decisions to really reflect what are our local interests you know really this this english street access is such a mean access along with hazelwood losing those accesses you know it's difficult for us that's where the city stepped in and said hey we need to find something to really connect the north and south side of maplewood across thirty six not only for safety with our fire station but also for really providing a proper transportation network well you and i know if you hadn't if you hadn't stepped in and took the lead on that  i think proposing to close all the access across so the only access is would have been at white bear and weighed out at sixty one and so you know those businesses like original mattress factory would  no grass and in grass other than those two points which are miles away from where their businesses yeah and that's an important point there in these businesses that i've been working with over the past couple years they're really excited about the access and the ease of access and so they're looking forward to you know the new energy change and really getting rid of that signal well i think everybody because it does slow things down and it sounds like really a great plan i want to thank michael thompson our city engineer and assistant public works director for all the good work he does and we will see you next month on spotlight