In 2005, the city was poised to embark on a 15-year plan to allot $5 million annually for road repairs.
Ten years later, the current administration is trying to pick up the thread after years of slippage. Along the way, the city changed from an in-house engineering division to outsourcing road repair oversight, and passed years with no capital plan in place. In 2008, former Councilman Rashid Burney published the last complete schedule on his web site, which is no longer available. The council also approved a $1 million bond ordinance for a road repair study by the city's outsourced engineering firm of Remington & Vernick and the plan was no longer defined by years, but by "phases."
By 2012, the situation was not much better, as noted in this update on road repairs.
One ray of sunshine was Remington & Vernick's assignment of engineer Jackie Foushee to Plainfield. Ms. Foushee developed an encyclopedic knowledge of city roads and their various conditions, and worked closely with Planning on related concerns. Her talents apparently impressed former Public Works & Urban Development Director Eric Jackson, because when he became mayor of Trenton, he appointed her his own director of Public Works.
Among the chores inherited by the administration of Mayor Adrian O. Mapp on Jan. 1, 2014, the finance team had to sort out the status of various bonds for capital improvements and also review the current condition of city roads. (Some major roads belong to Union County and are maintained separately.) The last major bond issue in 2013 brought questions on its validity.
Mapp has now called a special meeting Monday (April 27) for approval of a $4 million bond ordinance for the 2015 road improvement program, including grants from the NJ DOT and Community Development.Block Grant Program. The meeting is 7 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice
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Remington $$$$$$
ReplyDeleteThis is good news. Let's hope for real progress.
ReplyDeleteOnce again Mapp has to pick up the broken pieces left by his predecessor! And people criticize him for it, too--I guess some would rather just keep the city a mess. Good luck, Mr. Mayor!
ReplyDeleteI guess you can have an in-house engineering department complete with staff, salaries, benefits, etc. or farm out those services. I wonder what the cost benefit analysis showed.
ReplyDelete