Highway Commissioner, THOMAS W. GOOCH

Notes from the trenches........

 

Actually, that’s a pretty good way to start this edition.  We spent a lot of time in the trenches this summer installing storm drain- as I write this we have used over 7000 feet of 12" pipe and hopefully have cured a few more drainage issues around the area.  We have a lot more work to do and presently are looking at projects for next summer.  I bet a lot of you have suggestions and, as always, I am happy to hear from you.  I think sometime this winter we will have meetings around the various villages and with homeowner’s associations in hopes that many of you will not bring feathers or tar but, will bring questions and want to meet and talk about drainage and roads with our Township engineer and me.  I thought we could schedule these meetings during winter on a few Saturday mornings so I could hear from you and you could hear from me on some of these issues.  If you are interested in getting your neighbors together at an association meeting or meeting here or in a local Village office, call me and let’s get it scheduled for a Saturday in December or January.  You bring the cookies – I like Oatmeal Raisin –.

 

Speaking of being in the trenches, the college work force had a pretty rugged summer between shoveling hot asphalt and digging up buried utilities.  I suspect they went home tired and ready for bed.....I do know they went home dirty.  I came to work one morning and “the kids”, as we called them, had a sign up: “welcome to the slave ship”.  I know deep down inside they really loved my management style. We hire local students every summer season- by and large the program has been a real success. They work from a week after school ends to 7 to 10 days before classes resume.  You don’t need “connections” or to bring me Oatmeal cookies to get your child hired; I have never played that game and won’t.  I interview following March 15 when I know who is coming back from the previous year.  We accept applications any time.  We generally have a work force of 12 during the summer and every year seem to hire 4-6 new kids due to graduations or non returns. So, if you have an interest in having your child too exhausted to do anything but eat and sleep most nights next summer, by all means get an application.

 

This year we began using a new process called “heated scarification” for re-paving.  It takes the existing pavement and heats it to the melting point, injects rejuvenating chemicals into the hot asphalt and then rolls it back on the pavement .  Over this we place   1 ½" of new surface asphalt.  I had been watching roads in other jurisdictions for the past 3 years where this process was used and they have held up well.  This year we used it and saved about 40% over the old way of re-paving roads.  With asphalt prices hitting almost 100% higher then 2 years ago, we need to continue looking for cost cutting methods like this. As you know, I administer the paving contracts not only for the Township but also for the Villages of Lake Barrington, North Barrington and Tower Lakes. In conjunction with those village boards we decided that by centralizing engineering services and administration we would save costs for all.   Everyone’s re-paving programs have been restricted as the result of costs, every one of us would have liked to pave more this year, but we did what budgets allow.  We will continue to use innovation to get the biggest bang we can for your buck!

 

Maintenance here at the Road District.

 

Gone and not fondly remembered are the days of beating a misbehaving piece of equipment into submission with a large  hammer.................

 

I have been steadily improving our maintenance facilities and services with the intent of accomplishing two goals: first to make the road district much less dependent on outside repair facilities and secondly to create a profit center out of our maintenance facilities.  This process has been ongoing over the past 2 years and I think we will be about where I would like us in another year.

 

One of the problems has been the loss of manpower every time a truck needed to be transported for warranty work or repair (needs a driver and one other person to bring the driver back) and the loss of use of that truck, sometimes for days depending on the work back-up at where ever the truck is taken.  The down time is just as troubling, anyone running a business knows that when capital equipment is down, the efficiency and profitability of the business suffers.  A governmental organization needs to be run on the same principles, this one is.  So, 2 years ago we began having employees attend classes and obtain the necessary certifications to work on our international trucks.  Then we got him the needed equipment to fix our trucks and other equipment.  At this point I had my suspicions confirmed: a hammer is no longer used to make something work by beating it.  Instead, computers are frequently used to diagnose and repair what are now known as “issues” as opposed to the “stupid #@&*@x%#+ thing that don’t work”.  Times do change and we will always continue to change with them.

 

Several good things then occurred: Amongst others, I was able to convince the manufacturers of our trucks to allow us to do our own warranty work and be paid for doing the work.  Secondly, we now have the equipment to repair almost anything right here quickly and correctly and ,thirdly, every month we take in more work from other Township Road Districts and area municipalities which gets their equipment back on the road quickly and helps us amortize some of the costs for our facilities.  The net winner is of course you and me as taxpayers.