County's approval clears way for streetscape design; maintenance agreement to be signed

Speaker 3 reported that a county ordinance was read for a third time and approved the previous evening, freeing the county to execute a maintenance agreement with the district that the county required to begin streetscape work. The agreement obligates the district to maintain improvements once built and covers the district’s committed share of design costs.

"Design work should start right away because the design consultant is on board already," Speaker 3 said, describing the county’s plan to issue a change order to its consultant and then bill the district for the district’s committed portion. Speaker 3 added the county project manager for the work is Jeff Davis, who recently assumed the role.

Speakers said no new survey is expected and that most near-term engineering work will be electrical engineering and layout of fixtures and planters. Commissioners discussed planter locations and maintenance obligations under the agreement; Speaker 3 confirmed the district had already agreed to bear maintenance responsibilities for planted curb cutouts the county will install.

The commission said it will sign and return the maintenance agreement documents to the county so the county can fully execute them and move the design into the engineering phase. No formal vote on the maintenance agreement was recorded at the meeting; Speaker 3 described the county’s ordinance approval as the key enabling action that occurred outside this meeting.

Next steps: the district will sign the maintenance agreement and the county will issue the design change order and proceed with engineering; commissioners expect the design consultant to begin work immediately.