The time is now 6.30. We'd like to thank you all for joining us for the special council
meeting on this Monday, January the 12th. We kindly ask that you please turn off your cell
phones and mobile devices. At this time, we'll turn our attention to councilmember Greg Hill.
Let us together stand.
Thank you.
It's a slight change this evening.
We're going to move to the consent agenda. We're going to move to the consent agenda first.
Ms. Rios, can you read that item number one?
Your item is consider approval of the acceptance of public improvements for the HEB project.
Thank you, Ms. Rios.
Council, would you like this item pulled for further discussion?
Okay.
If not, I'll entertain a motion.
So moved.
We have a motion from councilmember Trailer to approve consent agenda item number one.
Do we have a second?
A second from councilmember Solgado.
At this time, we'll call for a vote.
Motion passes.
We'll now move on to our presentation.
Assistant City Manager, Carl Zody.
Good evening, Mayor and Council.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the Encore switch project that's happening down at Trinity.
We have Brad Davis here tonight to speak for Encore just to give a brief history of what's been transpired so far as last summer.
They started the first stages of this was a daytime operation of hauling the material to build up the base of the switching area.
It was causing a lot of disruption on Trinity and intersection at Boadark.
And to try and mitigate that, we had set up some crossing guard arms to help let the trucks in and out.
It was creating more backup on Boadark.
Staff meant internally to discuss switching to a nighttime operation.
In October 27th, there's a summary in front of you that meeting with local residents to discuss this transition.
There's a summary of what was discussed.
And we did try to meet the obligation we met of assessing this before Christmas and making a termination.
We weren't able to do that with a lot of people in and out for the holidays.
So we're here now to provide a status of where we think we need to go forward from here.
It's probably about three weeks left on the operation based on what we have done over the last two months has been very productive.
We just feel like it would be in our best interest to keep this operation going at the same pace and get this thing done to get out of here.
So I'm going to open up for Brad to come up and answer any questions we might have on this.
As Mr. Zook said, my name is Brad Davis.
I work with Encore, the area manager for this region.
So I'm mayor and council.
I appreciate you having me here this evening.
First off, I just wanted to say thank you to our residents here.
I know that that's been kind of a thorn in the side to have to deal with.
I know that's not something that they probably knew about.
That was the only pathway that we could take to get to this particular site.
But as you know, as the economy continues to grow in this area, residents move in, businesses move in,
the requirements for us to grow our grid, our facilities increase just as much.
So I appreciate their patience.
I appreciate them working with us.
I appreciate the city, the city staff and the chief.
For visiting with me on a frequent basis to make this happen.
But as Carl said, we've moved everything to nighttime.
We've had approximately 200 loads of dirt.
What we're trying to do is raise the grade up a certain amount to levelize it to where it's usable for us.
Since the last time that I had sat down to visit with the residents,
approximately 200 trucks per day was going in and out.
So that's 400 trips total.
We have since reduced that because now we're working more on the base.
The amount of trucks going in and out has cut that about in half for right now.
We've only got a couple more weeks to go until we feel like that's going to be finished.
After that, somewhere in the middle of February,
we look to move into the concrete work that we need to do.
I know we still have to submit for permitting and get all of our P's and Q's together for that.
But just so everybody's rested assured,
the amount of traffic that the residents of the city has been experiencing during that process
is not going to be anywhere close.
We're expecting approximately 10 to 15 concrete trucks a day.
As you can imagine, if you can just picture it, these dirt haulers come in, they dump their load, they go.
So they're frequently coming and going.
With concrete work, it's totally different.
You're coming in, you have to set up, you're guiding that concrete around to where it needs to be,
to where it's usable, and then whenever they're finished, they'll leave.
So the amount of traffic and the inconvenience for this particular area should be reduced substantially.
As a matter of fact, we are going to ask if we could then, since we won't have near-the-truck traffic going in and out,
if we could at that point eliminate the overnight shift and we'll recommend going back to daytime
if at all possible, if we can work out scheduling that's appropriate for schools and everything else that's involved.
So outside of that, that's pretty much all the specifics that I've got.
But I'm willing to take any questions that you may have.
So my questions are, when it comes to concrete trucks, I know there's only so much time you have from the time those guys leave.
I think it's like there's a stop clock, basically.
So I know one of the concerns that's come up, and I experienced this recently in my neighborhood,
is that when you have concrete trucks sitting out there, they block the traffic.
I mean, those guys are big boys.
How can we guarantee that everybody that's on Trinity is going to be able to get into their driveways?
Second thing I want to know, where will they do washouts?
Because the last thing I want is concrete trucks pulling in front of people's yards, cleaning out, dumping and rolling.
So those are a couple things just off the top of my head.
I don't know the specifics on that.
Normally at the batch plants, they'll do their washouts.
There's enough space where we can turn in on-site to do any parking.
I mean, our facility, the property that we own for the switching station is huge.
So personally, I don't, speaking just for me, of course, I'll get with our crews and our coordinators
and everybody that's involved just to make sure that nobody's going to be parking on Trinity.
I think everybody's well aware that that's a no-no.
But we'll do our dead-level best to make sure that the residents and the streets are open to where they won't be impacted by us at all.
Also, I know there's been some incidents, and I know you're working with Carl as far as like the lines, internet lines that have been taken down.
Knowing that the way that those trucks are a little bit wider, the dump trucks that were coming in were flatter.
You know, how are they going to, again, I understand everybody's trying to be patient,
but if my internet went down, I wouldn't be a real patient.
Right, I understand that.
Obviously, we all have clearances that we need to meet.
We've inspected our clearances.
Obviously, a lot of people don't understand that we're normally the one that's higher up.
We often lease pole space as do telecom companies that own poles that lease space to us,
and we mutually connect to those poles.
We try to make sure that our specs are met to where we're out of everybody's way.
If we do notice a low clearance item, then we will recommend it to the telecom company themselves to pay attention to it,
and they need to go out to the field and make adjustments that are necessary.
I do know that we'll have some large equipment items that we'll have to plan for in the future
as we get closer to delivering equipment on site.
Normally, we run out ahead of that, and we'll double check and measure all of the utilities
to see if anything needs to be, like any special accommodations,
need to be made prior to these larger pieces of equipment
that will likely get into the clearance areas of the telecom lines.
So normally, we try to run a scout out ahead of that,
but I do, I can't remember what truck came through there.
It had something a little bit taller than, it wasn't a typical dirt hauler.
If I remember correctly, it was some other piece of equipment that was being delivered and snagged it,
but we've been in communication with the telecom company and trying to get that adjusted,
and that is a good segue to make sure that everybody's aware like this is really important
and that we pay attention to our clearances and get up out of the way.
So we have to abide by all the proper clearances anyway because all this equipment is going down the highway,
so we can't, you know, the last thing we want to do is run up under our bridge and destroy our equipment.
So most of the clearances by any utility company is the same.
I mean, they have to meet those minimum level requirements so we can get proper construction traffic through.
My question was, you said February is when the concrete work starts and they'll be down to like 10 to 15 trucks a day.
How long is that phase going to last?
I don't have a specific timeline on that.
I don't feel like it would be quite as long as the dirt work has been going on.
So several months at least?
It'll be several months, yes ma'am, at least.
I need to talk to some of my people to just see what all we're planning to do as far as the amount of trucks
and how long they're going to be doing everything in phases.
So there may be some weeks where we don't see any trucks out there.
Once we get things established and set, we may bring in some equipment and pay attention to that
and then concrete trucks come in afterwards for phase two.
But I can give you a better idea once we sit down.
I know we're going to try to coordinate a meeting next week to have those discussions
and to where we can kind of rally together and see what best accommodates both Encore and the City.
Okay, and then my other question was to follow up, just to kind of give the residents a preview,
after the concrete work for the next couple of months, what comes after that?
I know everyone's wanting to know how many more phases you know until we're completely done with this.
After the concrete work is done, it's just equipment, trying to get the proper equipment in there.
I really feel like the worst of it is behind us, in my opinion.
I'm hoping, unless there's something that I'm not aware of,
but all of the inconveniences of truck traffic going in and out consistently is no longer going to be necessary.
We will have to make special accommodations just because of the large equipment that we're bringing in.
We're going to have to make sure that we have accommodations for turning radiuses
and probably have to ask some of the businesses to cone off certain areas to where cars can't be parked there
because we're going to need every inch that we can get on these tight streets.
But that's not going to be...
It's not going to be 200 trucks coming in.
A lot of the work after this will be done on-site.
We just need to get some equipment in there once it's in there.
All of our technicians and crews and everything else will be on-site,
out of sight, out of mind working on the stuff, trying to get it ready for operation.
And you may not know these exact numbers, but coming back to the heavy equipment,
I'm just a general because I know you've got a pretty good grasp of this.
How many trucks, when they're taking this equipment down the street, are we talking maybe two or three?
Is that daily? Is that weekly?
No, I don't think so. I think it'd probably be more on the line of weekly, perhaps.
They're just very specific pieces of equipment, some auto transformers, some switching equipment.
And as we're doing concrete work and the concrete pads cure,
we'll bring in that equipment, set it up,
get that set up and ready, and then there's going to be several of them,
so they'll probably come in in phases.
But like I said, it won't be anything like what y'all have been seeing in the past.
I think that's what everybody's trying to visualize is when you say,
as a concrete sets, we're going to do this section.
Then we'll do this section.
It's not like you're going to go drop all the equipment at once.
No, we won't have room to do that.
I really wish that I could have gotten some pictures of the equipment
that we're trying to deliver. They're massive. They're extremely massive.
So it's not something that you can really haul into a site and have a place to put them.
And then not only that, you have to take them on and off with a pretty large crane.
So we kind of coordinate and organize all that to happen at once in phases that we're ready for it.
So you'll have concrete trucks and then equipment,
and then we can coordinate and communicate with the city
on when all this stuff is going to transpire so everybody's aware of it.
And this may be a question for Carl, but what will be,
if we go back to the daytime hours, what will be the work?
Because I know some of the folks have said they've got bulldozers.
And there are bedrooms and stuff like that. So if we go back to the daytime, will there
be work occurring at night or will it be our more typical standard building hours?
Yeah, I mean, with this truck hauling that we're currently doing at night, once that's
complete, pretty much we don't see much nighttime other than if they just have like a summertime
concrete pour. We typically open up early morning start times for that. But, you know,
this is what we've been doing from 7.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. I'm anticipating by the end of
this month, the earliest couple of days in February, that that is the last of just continuous
nighttime driving up and down Trinity and Vodark. So then again, it's just, it may just be,
we may want to recommend a nighttime delivery on something. Just, it's going to be a one-off.
It won't be a continuous, like what we've been experiencing since the end of October.
And maybe that's kind of my question, because I know you're going to be bringing in huge
equipment, and we're going to probably have to shut down streets. Would that be more beneficial
to do that at night? Because, I mean, I'm just thinking about, I drive down Vodark every day,
and I can't imagine you trying to haul in a massive piece of equipment.
Sure. It's going to be a coordinated effort with the city, because we're going to submit to them
exactly how long these trucks are, how long the turning, like what the turning radius
is going to be, and there probably will be a coordinated effort to shut down some streets
to make sure, because we don't want any oncoming traffic during that, but it's like a one-in
and one-out, like it's not going to last very long, but we just have to make sure that
possible streets are shut down in order to make that, make that route in there.
Once we're in there, it's over, you know, and then everything can be done on site.
It just comes back to the communication, making sure, and that wouldn't be on y'all,
but on us, to make sure that anybody is aware, because they don't need to look out their window
and see basically a transformer going down their street.
And it probably will be, because if there's any cars parked on the street,
we're going to have to ask the residents at that period of time, like, you know,
we don't want any cars damaged, we don't want anything getting in the pathway,
and some mishaps happening, so hopefully we can get everybody on board
and we can coordinate a time and date to where we can have this equipment delivered.
But like I said, it'll come in phases, so.
Any other comments from Council?
What is the feedback loop for residents if they have a complaint or a question
or a concern, how do they get in touch with you guys?
I mean, I know that Zach has created a QR code,
and I think we have a copy of it here in the handouts in the back,
and that's going to be directed specifically for this project.
Awesome.
And so it won't just be just anyone on Trinity,
we're going to try and get emails out to a broader base,
and so they even put it on the website as well.
That's key.
I want to make sure residents have a way of communicating
if something is not going right.
The nature of this meeting, we don't have the opportunity
if we're back and forth with residents,
but we encourage residents to come and show up
to our next Schedule Council meeting where we have open form
and they'll be able to respond,
but they do have an avenue to be able to get in touch with you.
Brad, I know you were very generous with your time the last time.
Will you be hanging around for a few months
because we do have a lot of people who have come to ask some questions,
and I don't want their time to have been wasted just to sit here
and listen to us.
Yeah, for sure.
Great.
Thank you for sticking around.
At this time, I don't believe we have any other items to cover,
so the time is 6.49 and we are adjourned.
Thank you so much for your service.