Rural services manager outlines capital‑project scoring, suggests five‑year project book

Rural Services Manager Michael Bradley told the Assembly Road Service Area Committee on Jan. 13 that the borough maintains a formal process to accept, score and rank capital improvement project requests from road service areas and that staff could compile a periodic “project request book” to present to the interior delegation, the assembly and the mayor’s office.

Bradley said the scoring committee typically includes a rural services service‑area technician, a civil engineer from design and construction, a civil engineer from rural services and the borough traffic planner; the committee evaluates submissions and ranks projects, emphasizing safety and access. Bradley noted the last time the borough produced a formal project request book was 2018 and said the last state road funding the borough received was about 2013, a factor that has slowed regular publication of a request book.

The presentation outlined that service areas submit candidate projects, staff score and rank them, and then staff recommend a set of funded projects plus alternates in case additional funding becomes available. Bradley said some projects on the list are carryovers from a 2022 submission and suggested the committee consider repeating the request‑and‑score cycle approximately every five years and publishing a consolidated project request book for legislators and borough officials.

Committee members asked whether staff inspect candidate road segments before scoring. Bradley said the scoring group members generally have “firsthand knowledge” of many projects and that staff will reach out to commission chairs or others to verify details and pricing when necessary. When asked about how alternates are handled, Bradley identified the next project on the listing as the Chino Hills Road project for Forest Drive.

Committee members also raised governance questions about whether the RSAC should compile or endorse such a book. Member Robert Roterman (committee member) warned that many RSAC members are also road service area chairs and that involving them directly in ranking could create conflicts of interest; Bradley agreed the scoring committee as currently constituted avoids those conflicts. Other committee members suggested the RSAC consider whether it should continue in its present form given limited funding and administrative changes.

There was no formal motion or vote taken on compiling a project book; the presentation concluded with Bradley noting the project list’s legend (green entries indicate funded projects; pink entries indicate alternates). The committee set no formal deadline or directive to prepare the book during the meeting.

The RSAC adjourned at 6:34 p.m.; the next scheduled meeting is May 12, 2025 at 6 p.m.