Aldermen approve spending nearly $1 million on concrete repair; Bergman grumbles about audio on live broadcasts

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council approved Monday spending $973,171 for the city’s 2021 concrete repair project that consists of the patching of concrete pavement, fire hydrant replacement and new sewer manholes at six locations throughout the city.

Jeffrey Conte, director of utilities and engineering, specifically mentioned the intersection of 27th and Cedar. Most of the other projects are on the city’s southeast side.

“The pavements were built 20, 30 years ago. There’s been some damage due to either salt in the cracks or other areas where there’s spalling going on that needs to be replaced,” Conte said. “With the joint damages, the longer they sit, the worse they’ll get. At some point in time, the entire pavement will need to be replaced.”

Crews with Laverdiere Construction in Macomb, which submitted the low bid, will cut out the panels that are spalled and replacing them.

Conte unsure when concrete work will begin

“That will extend the life of that pavement another 40 to 50 years,” Conte said.

Conte doesn’t know when work on the six locations will begin.

“Contractors are very busy,” he said. “There’s lots of projects all around town, and we haven’t been given a start date yet for this project. It’ll take a couple of weeks for the contract to be signed, to execute the contract and get the schedule. We’re still not quite sure. I would suspect a lot of work will carry over to spring because of the the size of the project. There’s just no way for a contractor to get that work done before winter weather sets in.”

Bergman: ‘We can poop in one hand and wish in the other’

The 20-minute meeting was benign until alderman Jeff Bergman, R-2, asked Quincy Mayor Mike Troup if the audio problems plaguing the live broadcast of City Council meetings had been corrected.

Recent broadcasts of the meetings on Channel 15 on Comcast’s cable lineup and Channel 19 on Adams Network’s cable lineup had poor audio. City officials also have provided live video on Facebook Live while trying to repair the issue.

“At what point are we gonna get a fix?” Bergman asked the mayor. “That’s my question. That’s my frustration. It’s not just mine. There’s a lot of people at home who watch this.”

“We ordered some equipment that hasn’t arrived,” Troup replied. “Once it comes in, we believe it’s going to fix that. We don’t have a specific day, because we don’t know when that equipment is arriving.”

“And it is going to fix it, though?” Bergman asked.

“That’s our understanding,” Troup said.

“So there’s no guarantee it’s going to fix it, but we’re hoping it will,” Bergman said. “So we can poop in one hand and wish in the other, and we’ll see which one fills up first.”

“Whatever you want to do,” Troup said.

“Whatever I want to do is get it fixed. The citizens at home should be able to hear the meeting. That’s all I’m saying,” Bergman said. “It’s a real frustration, so the sooner we get it fixed, the better please.”

Aldermen negotiating with union representing police officers

Aldermen also:

• Approved the purchase of 50 shade and ornamental trees from Leffers Landscaping and Nursery for $12,110 for the City Tree Program.
• Approved a special use permit to operate a cafe with options for delivery at the former Adams Elementary School, 2001 Jefferson. The cafe, proposed by Christina Griffin, would seat about 30 people. The proposal recently was amended to prohibit the business from selling alcohol or allowing video gaming machines.
• Approved an ordinance allowing a zoning change from R3 (multi-family district) to D2 (downtown general business district) at 304 S. 10th, 922 York and 300 S. 10th.
• Appropriated an additional $29,000 of motor fuel tax funds to be used for the final costs for the city’s position of the Riverfront Connector Trail from Jersey to Hampshire for construction, a parking lot and other related items.

Troup appointed Catherine Daily, a German teacher at Quincy High School, to serve on the Sister City Commission for a three-year term.

Aldermen went into executive session to discuss contract negotiations with the Police Benevolent and Protective Association Local 12, which represents patrol officers with the Quincy Police Department as well as department sergeants and lieutenants. No agreement was announced afterward.