R2002-169A AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF AN AGREEMENT

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r � � • ' September 10, 2002 ENGINEERING & INFRASTRUCTURE MEMORANDUM NO. 2002 - 68 MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Steve Garman, City Manager John Smith, Assistant City Manager for Public Service Stephen Swanson P. E., Director of Engineering & Infra tructur�� Keith Alexander, Director of Water Management � SUBJECT: Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended by City staff that the City Council approve a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute a membership agreement with Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators (JULIE) and a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with Great Plains Locate Service, Inc. to provide underground utility locating service fo�the City of Decatur which enables the City to comply with the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act. BACKGROUND: The Illinois General Assembly enacted an amendment to the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act that became effective July 1, 2002. A copy of this amendment is attached for information and reference. The amended Act imposes a fine of $100 per day on the owners or operators of an underground utility who do not join the State-Wide One-Call Notice System by January 1, 2003. The Illinois Commerce Commission has accepted the Joint Underground Locating Information for Excavators (JULIE) as� the one-call notification service for all of Illinois, except for the city of Chicago. The State's Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act became effective January 1, 1991. The basic purpose of the Act is for the protection of underground utilities (i.e., electric, gas, water, sewer, communication lines, etc.) from being damaged by contractors making , excavations. When underground utilities are damaged, the public's health, safety and welfare may be placed in serious jeopardy. This Act was subsequently amended in 1995, 1997 and 2002. The 1997 amendment resulted in removing a legal objection to the Act that was the basis for several cities, including Decatur, to not join JULIE. The legal objection related to the Act failing to limit a municipality's liability as entitled under the TORT laws. The City was not subject to any fines for not joining JULIE until the 2002 amendment. The matter of the City's membership in JULIE was discussed in budget preparations by the former Department of Public Works beginning in 1997 as a new level of service. The decision was made not to join JULIE primarily for reasons of budgetary impact. This related to the expected staffing needs and associated costs to receive, process, respond and document more than 2,000 locate calls as estimated at that time. The number of requests that the City could Page 1