County proposes pushing planned Lincoln chip seal project to 2022

Lewis and Clark County Public Works told the Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council they favor pushing back a planned chip sealing project for Lincoln streets until 2022, to provide time for public meetings and feedback after COVID-19 restrictions ease up later this year.

The discussion dominated the Jan. 19 meeting, which provided the first opportunity to dig into the details of the maintenance project that was slated for this year.

The streets on Lincoln's, Lincoln and Lambkin Rural Improvement Districts were last chip sealed in 2014 and had been set to follow a seven-year cycle for repair and resurfacing.

Public works director Eric Griffin, joined by Special Districts Program Coordinator Jessica Makus and RID Construction Coordinator Calob Marquis, called into the UBVCC meeting to provide information on cost estimates for the project, which will require additional assessments for property owners in the two RIDS.

"It's my opinion, and our opinion, that we wait a year because we can't adequately engage the public up there," Griffin told the council.

Providing a look at what will need to be brought before the public, Makus explained that property owners in the Lincoln RID – encompassing the paved public streets in town south of Highway 200 - pay a baseline annual assessment per lot of $59.34.

The Lincoln RID brings in $20,212 per year for maintenance and future work, and has a balance of $129,834. However, the estimate for the chip seal project for that district came in at $203, 396. Property owners will have to fund a loan to cover the $73,000-plus shortfall, which will add about $40 per lot per year for seven years, bringing their annual combined assessments per lot to $99.

In 2014, the county's resolutions for repair and preservation of Lincoln's roads saw property owners in the Lincoln RID pay a combined assessment of $104 per year.

In the Lambkin RID, property owners face a different situation.

Lambkins RID - which includes the paved streets north of Highway 200 from 6th Avenue North to Sucker Creek Road - is assessed at a baseline of $.001972 per square foot. That averages out to about $32 per lot per year.

In 2014, the additional assessment to fund chip sealing averaged about $78 per lot, with property owners in the district paying a combined average of about $100 per lot per year.

As assessed, the Lambkin RID only brings in about $2,677 per year, and currently has a balance of just $21,087.

"The project estimate for this one came to a total of $58,562 for chip sealing and patching," Makus said. "We estimate a loan would be needed for just under $40,000."

Funding that amount would mean an additional assessment of $.00494 per square foot - or an average of about $81 per lot - for seven years, pushing the annual Lambkin RID assessments up to roughly $113 per lot.

The cost of the new chip seal project may come as a surprise to some property owners in Lincoln. In 2014, the increased assessments were expected to cover that year's chip sealing, as well as the entire cost of a second chip seal project for the Lincoln RID, and half the cost of a second chip seal in the Lambkin RID.

Griffin told the BVD the cost estimates from seven years ago probably didn't account for the increase in costs that have happened since then. "Our opinion of cost was off a little bit."

Additionally, the county commissioners also expected to review and modify the resolutions annually to decrease or increase assessment, as needed, and to explore changing the Lambkin RID assessments from a per- square-foot basis to a per-lot basis.

Griffin told the BVD the idea was probably discussed initially but fell through the cracks. "Up until about a year-and-a-half ago, until we got some staff and were able to hire Jessica and Caleb, there just was not enough time in the day to take on some of these projects," he said. "We have the people now who should be able to look at some of this closely."

During the UBVCC meeting, Makus outlined the actions the county will need to take and why they would prefer to wait.

"The process to move forward with this would be to set up the loan, which would entail presenting these estimates to the public, circulating a petition for support and moving forward with a series of public hearings with the commissioners," she said, "Due to COVID and the meeting restrictions we're under, we feel we can't adequately engage with the public through this process in the way we would like to."

Griffin noted that the preferred timeframe for chip seal projects is every seven to ten years, so there is still time. "The sooner the better, but if we wait another year, it's not going to be the end of the world."

Based on experience, UBVCC chairman Zach Muse agreed that it would be better to wait on the project to let people speak their minds.

Both Makus and Griffin clarified that the RID assessments are designed to cover the cost of pothole patching and chip sealing but doesn't pay for the snowplowing and sweeping Lincoln's streets, which are funded from the county road budget, an arrangement Griffin said differs from other RIDS in the county.

Earlier in the meeting, following an update from Kevin Horne, the county road and bridge manager, Muse recognized the role county employees Pete Dempster and Ron McDunn played in helping the community and the Fire Department following the Jan. 13 windstorm that brought down trees around the area.

"They were out and about pushing stuff off the road," Muse said, noting they gave Fire department personnel time to get out and find other downed trees. It was a huge help for us."

He also thanked Griffin for his effort to coordinate with Northwestern Energy and Asplundh for the removal of the hazard tree that closed a section of Stemple Pass Road in town for nearly a week.