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street Keconstruction .eage 1
<br />Gordon Heitke
<br />From: Smith, Chris [CSmith @imnc.orgj
<br />Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4 :16 PM
<br />To: Gordon Heitke
<br />Cc: Chamberlin, Tracie
<br />Subject: Street Reconstruction
<br />Attachments: Why Should You Have Street Maintenance Poiicies.pdf, What To include in a Street Maintenance Poficy.pdf
<br />TO: Gordon Heitke, Administrator, City of Lino Lakes
<br />FROM: Chris Smith, Risk Management Attorney, LMCIT
<br />CC: Tracie Chamberlin, Loss Control Manager, LMCIT
<br />DATE: March 28, 2007
<br />RE: Street Reconstruction
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<br />This e-mail is to follow -up on our phone conversation last week. As I understand the issue, under the city's home rule charter,
<br />city must hold a referendum to do street reconstruction, if any city funds are to be used. In other words, unless the city specia
<br />assesses 100% of the cost against the property owners, the city must hold an election. As a practical matter, this charter
<br />provision has greatly limited the city's ability to do street reconstruction, as the ballot issue rarely receives public approval. In Fr
<br />of this fact, you were seeking information on what steps the city can take to help ensure that it does not get sued because city
<br />streets are in poor condition.
<br />The first step is to have a street maintenance policy or pavement management program which you said the city has. The city
<br />already rated the condition of all city streets and has developed criteria for street repairs and reconstruction. The most impo
<br />thing the city can do is to follow that policy. If the policy sets up unrealistic standards that the city cannot meet, then the city
<br />should amend its policy. Having a policy and following that policy will entitle the city to discretionary immunity for most claims I
<br />related to the condition of the city's streets. I have attached the following LMCIT memos which discuss these issues further
<br />What to include in a Street Maintenance Policy and Why Should You Have Street Maintenance Policies ?.
<br />«Why Should You Have Street Maintenance Poliicies_pdf» «What To Include in a Street Maintenance Policy.pdf» 1
<br />If you have streets that are in need of reconstruction, then pursuant to your city's charter and your policy, the city should hold a
<br />referendum on the issue. How often must you hold an election? I suggest that this question should be answered by your stre
<br />maintenance policy (if it is not answered by your ciity's charter). My suggestion would be to hold an election once a year.
<br />Although the city could hold more frequent elections, there is also a significant cost factor to holding elections. The cost is an
<br />appropriate item for the council to consider when deciding how frequently to hold street referenda.
<br />As a side note, 1 think it would be appropriate for the city's Charter Commission to at least consider removing or amending the I
<br />referendum requirement for street reconstruction. As a practical matter, it really seems to limit the city's ability to reconstruct its
<br />streets, and in the long run may actually increase the costs to the city to maintains its streets. Simply trying to maintain the strE'
<br />for years may end up costing more than reconstructing the streets at an appropriate time.
<br />Although one might argue that the city can always assess 100% of the costs to the property owner, that presents another
<br />problem. The amount of any special assessment cannot exceed the benefit to the property. In other words, if you assess a
<br />property owner $10,000 for a new street, you need to show that the value of the property increased by at least $10,000. It is o
<br />hard, if not impossible, to show this increase in market value, and may be subject to expensive litigation. Thus, the city could bE
<br />stuck in a situation where it cannot legally assess the entire cost and cannot get public approval, effectively making street
<br />reconstruction impossible.
<br />Because street referenda usually fail in your city, it seems likely that some streets are likely to be in poor condition. That raises
<br />issue of what the city should do to wam of dangerous streets. Again, that question should be answered by your policy. It is
<br />probably not possible to wam of every condition. And if you tried to do so, a motorist might sue the city for failing to place a
<br />warning device. First, I suggest that a waming should be placed anywhere there is a hidden condition from the motorist. And
<br />second, the city based on available resources (Le., money and employees), should establish in their policy what streets or
<br />conditions will receive wamings, perhaps only the street rated as poor in you pavement management plan. in addition, the c
<br />may wish to pay special attention to areas involving complaints or accidents. The city's policy should have procedures for
<br />responding to notice of complaints and accidents. If the city ultimately decides that no action is necessary, the city should at le-
<br />3/29/2007
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