By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
While the City of Burlington Common Council may have been discussing a more than $157,000 change order to its city streets project Tuesday night, one item dominated the discussion.
And, yes, it had to do with the horns blasted by trains passing through Burlington and the measures the city has taken to try and regain its quiet zone status from the Federal Railroad Administration.
Close to $56,000 of the change order involved the installation of the medians at Jefferson and Adams streets, Milwaukee Avenue and Robert Street.
City staff anticipates the medians will effectively lower the city’s risk threshold enough to regain the quiet zone status, but the fact that the city had to do all of this – and may yet have to do more – irked at least one council member.
“Can we send a letter to the federal government saying this is ridiculous?” asked Alderman Bob Prailes.
Mayor Bob Miller agreed that the four options the city was presented with – which included the medians, closing the streets, putting air horns on the crossing gates or installing a quad gate system – were difficult. However, he suggested that a letter should wait until the city’s quiet zone status has been determined.
The council also briefly discussed the quad gate system and its potential costs. It could cost between $300,000 and $500,000 to put in the interlocking gates, and another $25,000 a year in maintenance.
“I think it’s ludicrous,” said Alderman Tom Vos. “I think it’s highway robbery.”
When City Administrator Kevin Lahner mentioned that a similar small city in Colorado is trying to address quiet zone status issues for the smaller city, Prailes suggested sending a letter to them – and have them forward it to the federal government.
In spite of the discussion on the median work, the single largest cost of the change order is for $65,766 of work on the Jefferson Street storm sewer. Director of Public Works Craig Workman said the work turned out needing to be done sooner rather than later, since the storm sewer flooding is affecting the basement at the City of Burlington police department.
During the COW meeting, the council also discussed adding a truck to leaf collection this fall. The truck would be leased from ASDA at $35 an hour, run by city staff, and used when the city needs an extra truck to help with the pickup.
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Let’s not lose sight of the fact that KEVIN LAHNER and his incompetency caused this debacle.
Jay, apparently you must be aware of some investigation that no one else knows about. Lahner initially stepped up and said he, as administrator, is ultimately responsible for missing the deadline for safety upgrades at train crossings…probably the result of a typo on planning calendar. Whether that’s true or not is up to the mayor and city council to determine….and they don’t seem too concerned about Lahner’s competency. Your comment only reveals you as a Lahner hater and has nothing to do with facts. I do agree it’s a debacle, but it appears its more due to a simple but VERY unfortunate mistake rather than incompetence.
How the scam works.
1. Feds trump state train horn laws.
2. Train horns whistle whip people into submission.
3. Railroad comes in and makes a fortune in overcharges and stolen signal equipment (OURS).
4.Somebody (not railroads) has to pay for ridiculous priced liability insurance so railroad is hold harmless.
5.The crossings for GPS crew-less trains hid behind the curtains not a problem for railroads.
6. Warren Buffett starts his 41st vault of silver.
Get over it! Why are a city in Colorado and Burlington the only ones with this problem? Could it be the others cities complied with the regulations. We aren’t the only ones with crossings. Did the city get any reminders of the time to complete, or just ignore them? We’ll never know. Just get it done! Everyone is just going to pass the buck on who’s fault it is. One letter about this from the railroad since 2007, Ya– right. We’re not stupid. Maybe the railroad found a problem the way it was and are trying to fix it.
Perhaps the city should initiate a special tax zone within a thousand feet of the crossings to help pay the costs to maintain the quiet zone status. I’m about 3600 feet from the crossing and the horns didn’t bother me or my family. If someone wants to live that close, let them absorb the costs!