Subject: News from New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers

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FHWA MUTCD Compliance Dates

 We recently sent correspondence to the USDOT regarding fast approaching MUTCD compliance dates for traffic control device upgrades in response to the FHWA's request for comments in a recent version of the federal register. As some of you may know the 2009 version of the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) posed mandatory compliance dates regarding certain traffic control devices. One of which was the sign reflectivity and having to replace signs that did not meet these new reflectivity standards. This will pose a financial hardship to all New Jersey Municipalities especially in these tough economic times. We requested postponement of these dates especially since our state has recently been placed under a 2 % Cap increase to Municipal budgets as mandated by the Governor's office. We will continue to monitor this situation, work diligently and respond in the best interest of New Jersey Municipalities.

 

 

Membership Meetings in 2011

 

Our four (4) planned general membership meetings for 2011 will all be accredited with the State of New Jersey to include PDH credits toward our continuing education for Professional Engineers. Each meeting will include a technical topic and will range from 1 to 2 PDH's per meeting. Please pass along the word and we hope to see a good attendance for these meetings.

 

 

 

 

 

Asphalt Handbook Update

 

As you may be aware we recently published a new version of the New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineer's Asphalt Handbook for County and Municipal Engineers. This version is dated April 2010 and members who attended the April 2010 General Membership Meeting received their personal CD of the new handbook. This version was recently updated to be consistent with the Residential Site Improvement Standards (RSIS) published by the State of New Jersey and required a minor edit regarding minimum pavement thickness for asphalt surface courses. The new version is now posted on our website for downloading purposes (www.njsme.org). The date of the document will remain the same (April 2010)

 

 

 

New Law - Public Works Bids May Be Withdrawn Due to Error

 

Bids for Public Works contracts may be withdrawn by the bidder due to a mistake in the bid per proposed Senate Bill 514. The contract withdrawal may be valid due to either an unintentional clerical error, substantial computational error or an unintentional omission of a substantial quantity of labor or material.

 

 Under this new bill, the bidder will have five days from receipt of the bids to make a formal request to the governing body to withdraw the bid. To request a bid to be withdrawn, the bidder must demonstrate the following:

 

*  Evidence the bid was prepared with reasonable care.

 

 

* The mistake relates to a material feature of the bid.

 

*  Enforcement of the contract was unconscionable.

 

*  The bid withdrawal would not significantly impact the governing body beyond the loss of the bargain.

 

Upon acceptance of the request by the governing body, the bid guarantee would be returned to the bidder. The governing body would then proceed with the award process from the remaining bid submissions. If the project is re-advertised, the bidder with the withdrawn bid submission would be disqualified for any future bidding on the same project.

 

The new law was signed into law on January 4, 2011 and becomes effective 60 days from its enactment.

NJSME General Membership Meeting Feb 9, 2011

 

 Program:

Best Management Practices

 

 Open Space, Stream & River Banks, Parks and Public Properties

 


This program presents municipal and county engineers with strategies and practices for stormwater management and land management that will address new stormwater requirements, create more efficient programs and provide the flexibility to assign staff more strategically with reduced program costs.

 

 Speakers:

 

Judy Shaw, PhD., AICP, EJ,  Bloustein School of Public and Policy Planning

 

Chris Obropta, Ph.D., PE, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

 

 Note: NJSME is an approved Continuing Education course sponsor. This program has been submitted for one credit hour accreditation.

  

Sponsor:

 

 NJ Bid, LLC

 

Stephen McGlynn, Principal, will discuss the NJ e Procurement Program which enables electronic document and bid management.

 

Register Here

 

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Congratulations to the 2010 NJSME Project of The Year Award Winners

 

Municipal Construction Projects - Pop. Under 20,000

First Place - Christine A. Ballard, Water Treatment Plant Improvements

Honor - Andrew Previti, Sea Isle City Public Marina

 

Municipal Construction Projects - Pop. Above 20,000

First Place - James A. Priolo, Photovoltaic Solar Power System

Honor - David J. Samuel, Dey Road and Scudders Mills Road Improvements

 

Municipal Parks/Recreation Projects

First Place - Donald J. Norbut, Waterfront Park

Honor - Christopher J. Noll, Fort Medford Playground at Bob Meyer Park

 

Municipal Management Projects

First Place - Michael J. McClelland, Emergency Mgt. of an Essential Utility

Honor - David J. Samuel, Preservation of Municipal Open Space

 

Municipal Construction Management Projects

First Place - Francis A. Guzik, Meadow Road Extension & Duck Run Sewer

Honor - Vincent J. DeNave, Chatham Borough Streetscape Improvements

 

Municipal Projects Involving Intergovernmental Cooperation

First Place -Gregory R. Valesi, Scout Lake at Holiday Park Improvements

Honor - Chris Theodos, Amherst Beach Inlet Protection & Shore Stab.

 

Other Award winners:  Municipal Engineer of the Year:  Tom Zilinek, PE

Municipal Engr of the Yr 2010

President's Distinguished Service Awards as Presented by Robert Vogel, PE:

 

Carl Peters, PE, LS

Winner Carl Peters

 

Pete Ten Kate PE

 

Winner Pete Ten Kate

 

Dr. Claudia Knezek

Claudia Knezek

 

Assemblyman Louis Greenwald

Greenwald

 

Special thanks to our Awards Chairman Bob Kiser:

Bob Kiser

 

And with great appreciation we salute our Annual Luncheon sponsors:

 

South State Inc.

T&M Associates

Top Line Construction

Pennoni Associates Inc.

Matina & Sons Utility Contractors

Intercounty Paving Associates, LLC

 

*For more details and photos from our annual luncheon - please visit http://www.njsme.org/photos.html 

 

This email was sent to mhalpin@njpsi.com by llee@njpsi.com |  

New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers | 414 River View Plaza | Trenton | NJ | 08611