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Welcome to this episode of our podcast for St.
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John's County called County Conversations. It's
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a program to help build community trust by expanding
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opportunities for the public to gain access about
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information about the county and promoting awareness
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and understanding of our operations. In episode
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one, I'm very pleased to welcome our Public Works
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Director, Greg Caldwell, to have a conversation
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with you, Greg. about county's infrastructure.
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Welcome to the show. Well, I appreciate being
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on the first show. This is amazing. Yeah, this
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is our inaugural broadcast. So let's jump right
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into it. The topic of this episode is infrastructure.
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Many times, infrastructure is called CIP in government.
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What does CIP stand for? What types of projects
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fall under CIP? It's a great question because
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everybody just uses the CIP reference. It's a
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capital improvement project. A capital improvement
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project is a large investment by the county,
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over $100 ,000, but most of these projects are
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in the multi -million dollars worth of projects
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and infrastructure improvements. We use CIP as
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our catchphrase, but the CIPs are something that
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we use and we have over 100 of them right now,
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and they go in front of the Board of County Commissioners
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annually for the budget. So they understand where
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the funds are going, where they're coming from,
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more importantly, because funds are come from
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so many different streams. They come from impact
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fees, transportation trust funds, grants, other
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areas within the county that are specifically
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set up for improvements for the community. And
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I think it's important to note, too, that when
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we publish budgets, sometimes those budgets are
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spread over several years because you can't build
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a particular road or facility in just three months,
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six months. Sometimes it's multi -year budgets.
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Man, you're getting this already, aren't you,
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Wayne? Absolutely. We spread these over multiple
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years because we don't want dead money. We want
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money to be used wisely. But we also know that
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we can't build all these projects in one year.
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A roadway takes a lot of time to design, acquire
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land, and then construct. So we do spread these
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over multiple years. But with that being said,
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the budget is only set for one year. The board
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approves it annually, so it's not like we're
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set up for a five -year work program, which we
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program funds out, but we still work off a yearly
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approved budget. And when these projects come,
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not only does the budget come before the board
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to approve the entire CIP budget for the upcoming
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fiscal year, but it's important to note that
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each individual contract for these roads and
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facilities comes before the Board to approve
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design phase or construction in other aspects
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of the project? Over a certain period of money.
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So over $500 ,000 we do bring back to the Board
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of County Commissioners. Most of the projects
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in the CIP reach that threshold, but there are
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programs that we have in the CIP. We have our
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countywide sidewalks. We have our countywide
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drainage. All these other countywide programs
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that allow us to react and respond appropriately
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and quickly to maintenance items. on all the
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different infrastructure pieces we have in St.
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John's County. Those are smaller amounts, so
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we're able to respond quickly. You mentioned
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some numbers earlier, but just to give some specifics
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to our audience, currently, as of this broadcast,
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the county has 102 capital projects on the website
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valued at more than $460 million. But it's never
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always been that way. 20 years -ish ago, you
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led a CIP -type program, and the acronym for
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that was DRIP. I think it'd be interesting for
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our citizens to understand where we started and
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how far we've come on all the
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different roads
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and facilities they see today, but 20 -ish years
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ago, you were in charge of something called DRIP.
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It's fascinating. Share that story with us. Absolutely.
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23rd will be my 28th anniversary working for
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st. John's County So I'm a child of the 90s working
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for st. John's County and had the privilege to
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work here for so long I'm back in the early 2000s
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We had this dirt road improvement program drip
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and that was the goal of that project was to
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remove a lot of the dirt roads to reduce our
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maintenance because a lot of our effort and a
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lot of our cost and manpower were going to maintaining
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dirt roads in the county. We had over 150 miles
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of dirt roads in St. John's County. 150 miles
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of dirt road. This isn't one lane or two lane
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you're looking to expand. This is like dirt.
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You're looking to pave this stuff. And these
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were major collectors. Greenbrier Road was a
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dirt road. Roberts Road, Russell Sampson, Holmes
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Boulevard, some of these major roads that we
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use every day. think is paved and has always
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been paved. Back in the pioneer days, there was
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a dirt road. Back in the day, you were going
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down some roads that had some turbulence on them,
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but we were out there trying to maintain them.
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So there was a goal back in the day with the
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Board of County Commissioners, with the administration
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and public works to say, how can we reduce our
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future maintenance, as well as improve the quality
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of life for the citizens of St. John's County?
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And they invested between 500 and a million dollars
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annually. So back then that was a lot of money
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and so every year we were programming and we
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were paving roads through a cold mix asphalt
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program and worked very well with the Water Management
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District to get these things accomplished and
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we were making some headway. This spanned about
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five or six years but even St. Augustine South,
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the community, there were a lot of dirt roads
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in there that were paved through this program.
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Are some of those dirt roads that you paved through
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the drip program still are the way they are today,
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some 15, 20 years later? We set it up with the
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idea that we will come back and overlay that
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in the future. So a lot of them are set up the
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same way except without a nice layer of hot asphalt
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on top of it. Fascinating. So from drip... program
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20, 25 years ago to today where you've got, again,
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100 plus projects, $462 million in total value.
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When we talk about roads, facilities, libraries
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and fire stations that we'll get to in future
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episodes, Greg, explain to the audience what
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they may not know. They think, okay, the budget's
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approved by the board, the contract comes before
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the board to approve and hire this company to
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help do the work. than just laying down asphalt
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for a road project, for example. construction,
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and probably the hidden information there is
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people don't understand the right -of -way that
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you have to acquire. Speak a little bit about
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that. Yeah, so there's so many phases in the
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construction of a roadway. It starts out with
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the plan and effort. What is this going to produce?
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Is it going to improve the quality of life? Is
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it going to improve traffic or transportation
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throughout St. John's County? Once we can deem
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that as a benefit to the community, then we move
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forward into the design components. It's not
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just picking somebody to come in here. It's not
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an engineer off the streets. We go through an
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RFP process. We go through our due diligence
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to bring in a very experienced and expert in
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that field that helps us go through the design
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and permitting. So those are two of the big things
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is permitting with the Water Management District,
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the Army Corps, the DEP, whatever agency. is
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impacted by this roadway because it
depends on
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if it's coastal, if it's interior to St. John's
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County or even by the river. And sometimes that
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permitting takes a while and somewhat delays
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the project not because of the county but because
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the permitting agency. I would say the biggest
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controlling points of timing of a project are
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permits and land acquisition. I would say 20
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some odd years ago, there was a lot more people.
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There are a lot less people here that were and
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people that were willing to work with the county
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to provide land or work with us to see some improvements.
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Recently, we are starting to see the land acquisition
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going through a longer process as well as permits.
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The Army Corps of Engineers, you know, specifically
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is challenging. The Water Management District
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has been great to us. They're good partners.
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We have great relationships built with them.
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But those are those two factors that can really
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impact. the design components because land acquisition
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and permitting go hand -in -hand with design.
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We got about a minute left in this episode. Talk
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a little bit about underground utilities. That's
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another factor that plays a role. You're dependent
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upon the utility companies to relocate lines
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and things of that nature to help build these
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projects and these roads. It's funny because
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I always say construction is the easiest part
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of the entire process. Once we start, we're rolling
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all the way through it. What you don't see underground
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what you do see overhead those are very impactful
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and those are very challenging to get it relocated
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Get them identified because 20 30 40 years ago
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people didn't take records or keep records as
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well as they do today So trying to make sure
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that we understand those impacts and get them
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relocated in a timely manner is is one of the
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biggest challenges Well, you've certainly taken
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in your team is certainly taking those challenges
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and turn them into successes. So We have a special
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web page, which I know you're very familiar with
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sjcfl .us slash Featured dash projects where
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the public can go there and look at all the things
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you're talking about Greg Not only in public
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works, but coastal management and utilities.
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So Greg, thanks so much for the conversation
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on this first episode of county conversations
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The public can learn more about this by going
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to that special website But we certainly appreciate
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your time and attention to have a conversation
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with us about infrastructure, also known as CIP.
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The last thing I'd like to say is we're all proud
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of what we're doing and we're here to share it
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and be open and honest about the projects themselves.
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So please go to our website. Thanks, Greg. Thank
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you.