Turlock OKs road repair planning contract after delay. What’s the new timeline?
A divided Turlock City Council on Tuesday approved paying consultants nearly $1 million to develop a five-year plan to fix roads, evaluate street conditions and research financing options.
The council passed the contract about two months after some residents raised concerns about bond financing examples, so consultants provided a new timeline for road planning.
Michael Baker International and Public Facilities Investment Corp. (PFIC) initially told the council they could arrange beginning repairs on 15 Turlock streets as soon as November. Their latest proposal says they can select up to 15 streets to rehabilitate in the 2022 construction season within 30 to 60 days. The consultants’ timeline document shows overall project management starting Dec. 1 and finishing May 10.
Council Members Andrew Nosrati and Nicole Larson voted against approving about $930,000 in Measure A sales tax funds for the consulting services. Both took issue with proceeding when the city lacks a permanent city manager and a city engineer. Turlock has not had a permanent city manager since the council put Toby Wells on investigative leave in January, while Interim Development Services Director and City Engineer Nathan Bray resigned Oct. 1.
“We don’t have at this point the proper engineering staffing, nor city management staffing, to make this large of a supportive recommendation on this large of a commitment,” Larson said. “It’s a long commitment, and it should be. It goes all the way into next year. I don’t see any reason to push this forward in November when we could have a city manager and city administration staff in February or March.”
The agreement includes steps and services consultants propose starting as late as April. Using lasers to collect data on road conditions can start next month, per the timeline, while preparing the five-year plans may begin in March. Other aspects of the contract, such as council and public meetings to collect residents’ input, are scheduled to begin Dec. 1.
Despite Turlock lacking a permanent city manager, Council Member Pam Franco said it has a roads manager and can take advantage of engineers at Baker International.
“This is something that we have to do in order to take the next step,” Franco said. “If we do not start serving our roads, we’re going to push this out another month, another month, another month. We’re going to go for two or three years without doing anything, and I’m not willing to do that.”
Contract helps Turlock mayor’s roads goal
Mayor Amy Bublak in her State of the City Address in May announced a goal to fix within five years all Turlock roads in need of repair. The contract approved Tuesday aims to help achieve the goal because Bublak and others have said the city lacks the in-house staff to complete necessary planning independently.
Before voting against the contract, Nosrati said political will, rather than a city manager and engineer, is driving the roads initiative. Bublak disagreed and said the council has the opportunity to prepare for repairing roads while hiring a city manager.
“Every single one of us have heard over and over again, ‘Fix our roads! Fix our roads!’” Bublak said. “And here we are trying to do that. It’s not political.”
Two other consulting groups responded to the city’s requests for proposals and information regarding fixing roads within five years. But the council majority opted to move forward with Baker International and PFIC after a Sept. 1 workshop.
PFIC President Jeffrey Tamkin in the Sept. 14 council meeting said he has been working on the Turlock roads project for almost a year, despite Measure A passing in November 2020. The city sales tax is widely regarded as the main funding source for road repairs.
