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Insurance Claim by Leonard DressTHE CITY OF DUBUQUE Masterpiece on the Mississippi Dubuque All-American City 2007 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Leonard Dress Insurance Claim DATE: January 14, 2009 Public Works Director Don Vogt is recommending settlement of the claim of Mr. Leonard Dress, 541 Groveland Place, for vehicle damage. Mr. Dress' claim was originally denied in September of 2008. He had previously cited $675.98 damage to the underside of his vehicle on August 26th due to "ruts" in the alley behind his home. After further investigation and a check of the City's Incident Tracking program, there appears to be adequate evidence that the City received multiple complaints regarding the condition of this alley prior to Mr. Dress' accident. concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM/js Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Don Vogt, Public Works Director TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: Don Vogt, Public Works Director SUBJECT: Leonard Dress Insurance Claim DATE: January 14, 2009 INTRODUCTION The purposes of this memorandum are to provide information and recommend a course of action regarding the vehicle damage claim of Mr. Leonard Dress of 541 Groveland Place. BACKGROUND Mr. Dress' claim was denied in September. He had previously cited $675.98 damage to the underside of his vehicle on August 26th due to "ruts" in the alley behind his home. DISCUSSION Street and Sewer Maintenance Supervisor John Klostermann and I visited with Mr. Dress and his neighbor, Mr. Dion Harrington, on the afternoon of October 31St. Mr. Dress noted that the cited ruts had been repaired by one of our crews subsequent to August 26th. Mr. Harrington said that he had twice complained about the condition of the alley over the last year -once last fall and again in the spring. He said he believed his calls had been received "at City Hall". A check of Incident Tracking shows that our office also received multiple requests to repair the alley over the last two years. It was our impression at the time that the 2007 requests we logged had been addressed after each was received. Incident Tracking also shows two requests for alley repairs were received in 2008 -both on August 25th. The first request was to patch the alley at the new driveway approach at 541 Groveland. The second request, from the Engineering Department's Tom Kopp, was that we "tack next to 541 Groveland approach area in alley". I did talk to Mr. Kopp regarding these two entries in Incident Tracking. His recollection was that he drove the alley on the 25th in response to a request received from Mrs. Dress that the City patch the Dress' new drive approach where it meets the alley. He also recalls calling in the two Incident Tracking requests to our office -the first for the driveway approach behind 541 and the second for Mr. Harrington's driveway approach. He said his request to "tack next to 541" was in reference to Mr. Harrington's driveway approach -not in regard to the alley itself. Our crew that subsequently placed asphalt at the two driveway approaches on the 27th of August, on its own initiative, did place and roll asphalt to repair ruts in the exact area cited by Mr. Dress. This area is approximately 100' north of Mr. Dress' property. In summary, there appears to be adequate evidence that the City received multiple complaints regarding the condition of the alley prior to Mr. Dress' accident. Also, our crew sent to complete the City's portion of Mr. Dress' new drive approach found the alley defect cited by Mr. Dress in his claim serious enough to immediately make repairs on their own initiative. ACTION STEP As a result of the information noted above, I recommend settlement of Mr. Dress' claim in his favor. #44926 06/11/2007 2:42 PM John Klosterman STREET MAINTENANCE: POTHOLE REPAIR REQUEST LORRAINE DRESS 541 GROVELAfJD PL 563.556 8717 541 GROVELAND PL ALLEY, 6-7-07 BEHIND #47330 08/07/2007 2:49 PM John Klosterman STREET MAINTENANCE: POTHOLE REPAIR REQUEST Harrington, Dion 495 GROVELAND PL 553.589.5672 495 GROVELAND PL patch alley. washed out. Whole alley in bad shape. Between Groveland & O'Neill west side. 7/31/07 #43186 05/14/2007 12:24 PM John Klosterman STREET MAINTENANCE: SINKHOLE Jungk, Bill 5G0 GR~>VELAND PL 553.589.4177 ext. ~~;ork 500 GROVELAND PL Sinkhole in alley behind 500 Groveland. Brunswick area. By utility pole. 4 #62721 08/28/2008 9:50 AM John Klosterman STREET MAINTENANCE: ASPHALT CONTRACTOR CURB & DRIVE APPROACHES 541 GRi)VELAND 5h3.000 0000 541 GROVELAND patch at drive approach. 8/25/08 #62722 08/28/2008 9:52 AM John Klosterman STREET MAINTENANCE: ASPHALT CONTRACTOR CURB Ht DRIVE APPROACHES GP~`~VELAfJD 5~ ' 900.0000 GROVELAND tack next to 541 Groveland approach area in alley. per TK. 8/25/08 . CITY OF DUBUQUE PUBLIC WOKS DEPARTMENT DAILY CREW REPORT DATE :~=~ -'"'' ,~/ ..::r ~,,~~' JOB EQUIPMENT LOCATIOWDESCRIPTION TIME MATERIALS NO. HOURS CREW NAME HOURS ~' ~~ .~* ~- ~~ (LIST EACH JOB SEPARATELY)