By Brian CHERNICK

On Tuesday evening, Glendale City Council approved establishing a Joint Powers Authority – or JPA – agreement among the Arroyo Verdugo Subregion that would provide the (until now) informal group with the ability to coordinate spending public transportation funds.

The Arroyo Verdugo Subregion is a group of elected representatives from the cities of Glendale, Burbank, La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena and South Pasadena that was formed in 1993 to coordinate regional areas of interests, including intercity transportation initiatives.

According to the items presented to council by the Dept. of Public Works, the agreement formalizes the group and affords it additional powers to “enter into legally binding agreements, acquire property, sue and be sued and hire personnel.”

The establishment of the JPA would require that the city council nominate and appoint two currently elected officials to the group – one as a representative and the other as an alternate. The council chose to shelve the appointment until the currently vacant city council seat is filled.

The need to formalize the group was spurred by the passage of Measure M in the November election that imposed a half-cent sales tax increase to fund a range of transportation projects. The JPA will allow the entity to receive and allocate funds from the measure.

Public Works recommended the city council enter into a JPA over the alternative Council of Governments (COG) due to a greater anticipated influence Glendale would have on how the Measure M funds would be used. A JPA would also have a relatively lower cost of membership.

Mayor Paula Devine stated that establishing the JPA would allow Glendale greater leverage for dealing with the controversial 710 Freeway extension project.

The city council also granted a $517,927 budget for American Asphalt South Inc. to facilitate the 2016-17 fiscal year Slurry and Cape Seal Program. The amount approved includes a $62,151 construction contingency and a $41,434 management cost.

According to director of Public Works Roubik Golanian, the contact is 8% below engineering estimates.

The areas to be addressed were determined by a computer software program that advised servicing of Kenneth Road between Grandview Avenue, Virginia Road and between Ridgeway Drive and Valley View. The side streets of Cleveland Road, Ben Lomond Drive, Ard Eevan Avenue and Ridgeway Drive are also part of the rehabilitation program.

The program will consist of repairing, resealing and replacing concrete pavement around the city with asphalt concrete pavement along with selective removal and repair of broken and damaged sidewalks and the planting of 16 new trees throughout the route.

Due to budgeting, only a limited number of streets can receive a full rehabilitation each year. The process of determining which streets are priority, as described by Golanian, involves creating a computer model which includes the condition, age, thickness of pavement and length of the street as examined by a consultant. Then, depending on road traffic, initial condition and tree roots along the street, the computer will provide a list of streets most in need of repair.

  Brian CHERNICK