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Council raises concerns about COG funding changes, geotech delays and engineering costs for road projects
Summary
Trenton leaders told staff to press engineers for geotechnical work and said recent Council of Governments (COG) process changes — including engineer-driven requirements — are making it harder for small towns to secure and execute road projects.
Trenton Town Council members spent a significant portion of the meeting discussing a COG-funded road project, a delayed geotechnical report and the rising engineering costs that councilmembers said threaten small-town participation in the program.
Plans for the COG project were submitted to engineers and contractors named in the project packet, and councilmembers said they were pressing for the geotechnical report so construction companies can proceed. A councilmember said, “We lit a fire on there Monday on geotech,” and reported repeated phone calls to ensure the report is completed promptly so funding is not at risk.
Council members criticized what they described as a shift in the regional program from a money-driven allocation to an engineer-driven process. Members pointed to a resurfacing bid that included about $12,000 of engineering in its cost and questioned whether that level of engineering expense is justified for small resurfacing projects. The council discussed matching requirements (discussed at roughly an 8% match in the meeting) and said the town must remain vigilant to avoid being disqualified for incomplete engineering submissions.
On a specific design question, council members asked engineers to reconsider a culvert replacement shown in the plans at the intersection of 800 East and 800 South; council members said contractors could remove and repack the existing material where possible to reduce cost if the culvert is HDPE and in acceptable condition.
The council did not adopt a new policy at the meeting but directed town staff and their engineer contacts to keep pressure on the geotechnical firm and the COG process to keep the project on schedule.
