HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-08-17 - MinutesCity Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 1 of 8
Member Aldermen
Mayor Dan Coady Ward 1 Position 1 - Robert Reynolds
V10
Ward 2 Position 1 - Kyle rt Cook
CityAttorney Kit Williams 1 Ward 3 Position 2—Robert Ferrell
Tave e Ward 4 Position 2 - Lioneld Jordan
City Clerk Sondra Smith ARKANSAS
City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Water & Sewer Committee
Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Water & Sewer Committee was held on August 17,
2006 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 111 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West
Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Alderman Kyle Cook, Chair; Alderman Robert Reynolds;
Alderman Lioneld Jordan;
Staff Present: David Jurgens; Dan Coody; Gary Dumas; Susan Thomas
Chairman Kyle Cook called the meeting to order.
1. Approval of the Minutes
Alderman Reynolds moved that the minutes of the July 11, 2006 and July 27, 2006 Water/Sewer
Committee meetings be approved as distributed. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and itpassed
unanimously.
2. WSIP Update.
David Jurgens reviewed the WSIP projects (tabulated list of information below). The force mains from
Hamestring Lift Station to the West Side plant are 80% complete. The Noland plant is 65% complete.
Work on the Hamestring Lift Station will start in September, right after Labor Day. The pre-bid meeting
for wetlands mitigation was today (August 17) and the bid will be opened in two weeks. He said Bruce
Shackelford, our environmental consultant, is in attendance and available to answer questions as
requested. Because of the weather and the condition of the plants and soil on site, the contract has been
broken up and it looks like we can save some money by doing the project in phases as opposed to doing
one bulk wetlands development and planting project. Herbicide spraying will be done first and will be a
small bid (under $10,000). The first phase of the actual contract will be preparing the soil and doing the
initial planting. We will then follow up with the second phase sometime in the spring.
Contract
Description
Contractor Cost
% Complete
WL -4
Gregg to Hamestring
Oscar Renda $10,441,319
6.08°/
WL -5
Force mains Hamestring - West Plant
Gamey Const $ 4,582,537
80.24%
WP -2
West Side WWTP Const
Brasfield & Gorrie $59,994,710
12.30%
WL -1&3
Porter- Hamestring & Old Wire—Gregg
Oscar Renda $ 7,014,948
26.64%
EP -2
Noland WWTP Renovation
Archer Western $14,644,000
65.09%
WL -6
ramestring Lift Station
Brasfield & Gorrie $ 6,130,000
0.00° 0
WP-2b[Wetlands
Mitigation, WWTP Site
Bid 31 Aug 06 $ 287,040
0.00%
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 2 of 8
Alderman Cook asked what had happened with the conversation with Arkansas Natural
Resources about potentially taking over some of the wetlands.
David Jurgens said Arkansas Natural Resources was looking at doing several thousand acres of
wetlands banking in that area, including some on the WSIP site and areas to the south and west
of there. When they went through and detailed the plans with the Corps of Engineers, the Corps
said the site is not suitable for wetlands banking so that potential project is gone.
Alderman Ferrell said he noted that the construction of the West Side plant (Brasfield & Gorrie
contract) is 12.3% complete. He asked where we were expected to be on this project at this time.
David Jurgens said we are right on schedule. If you break down the project by sub -components,
there are some pieces that are dead on -schedule and some pieces that are a little ahead of
schedule. He said two remaining projects on the west side have not yet been bid — the Gregg
Ave. Lift Station and WL 9. We have intentionally not bid the Gregg Ave. Lift station because
we want to make sure the warrantees are correctly timed. WL 2 will be advertised in September.
In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said two easements on the west
side are in condemnation right now. One is the property north of Mt. Comfort Rd. near the
Hamestring Lift Station. The other is the drive-in which is just west of the bypass. He said we
have all rights to move on the property and start laying pipe right now according to a Court
order. In both cases, the City offered the property owners full fee simple and they wanted more
money.
Mayor Coody explained that in cases of condemnation, normally Kit Williams will file an order
with the Court with the fee we think the property is worth. We will then have access to go do the
work and worry about whether the fee is acceptable later. But once we file with the Court, we
have access to go on the property and start work.
In response to a question from Alderman Reynolds, David Jurgens explained that on the drive-
in property we will be coming up on the south side of the property and then going north along
the east side of the property. We will not be cutting across the middle of the property.
a. Resolution Updating Arkansas Natural Resources Revolving Loan Fund
Signature Authority.
David Jurgens said in order to execute any ANRC revolving loan fund documents, we have to
have updated signature authority authorized by the City Council. We need to give signature
authority to our new Finance Director, Paul Becker, to replace Steve Davis and staff requests
authorization to bring this to the full Council at the Sept. 5 meeting.
Alderman Ferrell moved that staff be authorized to bring this to the full Council. Alderman
Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
b. WSIP Historical Time Line.
David Jurgens said that Lynn Hyke was brought on board several weeks ago as construction
manager for the WSIP. He has experience with large wastewater projects and used to work for
Little Rock Wastewater. He is doing an excellent job getting familiar with all the construction
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 3 of 8
sites and has met all the construction superintendents and inspectors. He has already begun to
deal with complaints and is handling things very well. Nita Horn, the administrative assistant
was brought on board in June and she has begun to gather information from the past. One result
of that effort is a preliminary time line of a list of key events on this project and what happened
when. This timeline was distributed to the Committee and Mr. Jurgens briefly reviewed some of
the events leading up to today, including application for the 404 permit, the language for the
engineering contracts, the design -build -operate question, awarding of each engineering design
contract, value engineering reviews, health department approval, etc. He said a series of things
had to happen before other things could happen. For instance, easements could not be acquired
until approval was received from the health department because we didn't have a final design
with routings. In January 2005 the City made the decision to not use RLF funds for the Noland
WWTP and that project was put out to bid. At this point we still didn't have the green light to
use RLF funds for any project because we did not yet have a document called "Finding of No
Significant Impact". In March 2005 we received the Corps of Engineers permit which was the
critical path for constructing the West Plant. At that point many parallel tracts met and
everything was lined up so we were confident we could move forward. At this time we also
received the 404 permit and in May 2005 we finally got the green light with the "Finding of No
Significant Impact". This allowed us to proceed with borrowing RLF money and advertise the
projects (you are not allowed to advertise a project that you might pay for with RLF money until
you have the FONSI). To get the FONSI you have to have all of the approvals from the Natural
Heritage Society, Fish & Wildlife, etc. as well as the Corps of Engineers permit. In addition, all
the DEQ and EPA permit limits have to be identified and established. Bids for the West Side
plant were opened in July 2005 and from then on most of those present have been actively
involved in the project.
Bruce Shackleford talked about the process involved in developing a wetlands mitigation plan
and how it tied into the permits required for this project. He talked about the design time required
before the City could get the final permit. He also talked about the nationwide permit for the east
side. There were several regulatory program changes through the middle of this process. He said
when they first started in the preliminary phase, they prepared the EID with the goal of being
granted the FONSI. At that time the regulatory agency involved was the DEQ. In the midst of the
project it was transferred to Arkansas Soil & Water, which is now Arkansas Natural Resources
Commission. They managed the program a little differently. At this time we had developed the
conceptual mitigation plan and they agreed to that plan. However, as the City began expounding
on that plan, ANR changed their mitigation policy and implemented a new program called the
Charleston, where instead of an acre -for -acre mitigation requirement they implemented a new
program where you had to look at the function and value of the wetland. There was a 10 -page
criteria exercise you had to go through to apply to the impact of wetlands and then you plugged
that into the mitigation side to demonstrate to them that you are indeed generating credits to
offset the debits that you've generated. That was a learning curve for everyone and Mr.
Shackelford spent a tot of time talking to the Corps of Engineers regarding interpretation of
individual requirements which slowed down the whole process. The City dealt with a lot of
moving targets during this time and just had to expedite and prioritize things as quickly as
possible.
In response to a question from Alderman Reynolds, Bruce Shackleford said the FONSI stands
for `Finding of No Significant Impact'. He said under the NEPA (National Environmental Policy
Act), which is required for federal funding, the RLF people have to evaluate all the
environmental issues. Their definition of environmental issues includes economic impacts so you
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 4 of 8
have to look at median household income, affordability, etc. The agency reviews the EID and
that is submitted with the facility plan. There is then one of two ways they can go: if they
determine that there will be a significant impact, they will issue a "Record of Decision" that
basically says you have to do a full blown environmental impact statement. That requires a lot of
money and a lot of time. The second avenue they can take is the FONSI, which is a document
issued in a public notice and is a "finding of no significant impact". That is what they issued in
our case.
David Jurgens said the FONSI is very interesting reading and he can get copies for the
Committee members. With the timing issue, he said it is important to note this nexus: designs
had to be complete before the wetlands mitigation could be done, which was before the 404
permit could be issued, which was before the FONSI could be issued. Each action in that
sequence had to take place in line.
In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said the final designs were
approved by the Health Department in the months preceding October 2004. There were several
different sets of plans that had to be approved and they weren't approved all at one time.
Alderman Cook asked if that was an acceptable timeframe.
David Jurgens said having looked at every piece of steel in the plant, the thickness of the
concrete, the strength and type of concrete, etc. he feels it is reasonable. He said the fact that the
construction is going so well is attributable to the excellent design done by McGoodwin. They
designed a top-notch plant.
Gary Dumas said this timeline shows that there was no major delay anytime in this project.
Everything was moving forward as quickly as it could. There were just things that had to occur
in sequence for it all to come together.
In response to a question from Mayor Coody, Bruce Shackleford said there was no holdup
from the City at all from his standpoint. This has just been a complex project with many moving
targets and things have had to be re -prioritized from time to time. He said the City has been very
cooperative and understanding to let them do what they needed to do to get the job done.
In his opinion the initial schedule was overly ambitious.
Hugh Kelso, RJN Group concurred.
There was general discussion about the project and its history, the increase in the cost of
materials over the past several years due to the hurricanes, etc. and how that has affected the cost
of this project. There was also discussion about the importance of this project and that it must
move forward. We have to build this wastewater treatment plant and we will have to pay for it.
136" Water Transmission Line.
David Jurgens said there have been several major water leaks in the 36" water transmission line.
Staff brought forward a contract a couple of years ago with Black & Veatch to evaluate that pipe
and try to see what is causing the leaks. We needed to find out both how to mitigate the potential
damage from the leaks and see what work needed to be done to prevent future leaks. The final
designs have now been submitted and there are three components to the recommended plan:
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 5 of 8
- Paint the transmission line surge tank;
- install SCADA control on selected valves and a flow sensing unit on the 36" line; and
- install flow control/flow isolation valves on both the 36" and 42" transmission lines.
The component involving painting the surge tank is ready to go to the Council and will cost
around $89,800. This is a 100' tall tank and will hold about'/4 million gallons of water. It is
generally empty and was last painted in 1972. Mr. Jurgens talked about the SCADA control
system and explained the benefits to the City when we have water leaks. He said it saves our
water, saves system -wide water pressure, it keeps storage in the tanks, prevents the system from
potentially going dry and it minimizes damage from the water downstream. With regard to the
third component, installing flow control/flow isolation valves, Mr. Jurgens talked about the fact
that this water line is higher than the level of our tanks which means that when no water is being
pumped from Beaver Water District, that water line goes dry. This was unexpected and came as
a surprise to the staff. It doesn't meet Health Department requirements because you have to keep
your water lines under pressure at all times. You keep them under pressure to keep things from
getting into them. The fix is to install a flow control/flow isolation value on both the 36" and the
42" transmission lines. That will also help with reducing the hammers and surges that come into
the pipes that are contributing to the breaks. But since this was completely beyond the scope of
work we designed for and what we intended when we put the budget together for the project, the
budget is about $650,000 below what Black & Veatch estimates it will cost to complete the
project. He said he has talked to the finance staff and they believe we can handle this additional
cost from the fund balance but he wanted the Committee to be aware of the situation. He said we
really need to do this work and it needs to tie into the valve work that is being done on these
water lines so the work can be done at the same time. It is a related job and one contractor can do
all of it.
In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said the breaks to these lines
have been caused by external soil corrosion on the outside of the pipe. When this pipe was put in,
it was one of the first ductile iron pipes installed in this area. Ductile iron is much stronger so the
pipe well is much thinner. Corrosion actually occurs faster on ductile than it does on the older
cast iron lines. The standards when this pipe was laid (as they still are in the right type of soil)
simply say you bury the pipe and put the original material back in around it. Our specifications
are now tighter than that. We excavate at least six inches below the bottom of the pipe and put in
selected gravel so we don't have that soil chemical reaction with the metal pipe. We also backfill
all the way up and above the top of the pipe to avoid having the original soil in direct contact
with the pipe and we bag the pipe with very thick plastic and seal that at all of the joints. Where
we are doing repairs on this pipe, or any of the pipe that is having corrosion problems, we put in
anodes like the gas company does, that take the charge off the pipe and reduce the corrosion.
In response to a further question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said that the 42 -inch
water line is made out of a reinforced concrete cylinder pipe, but is also polywrapped.
Mr. Jurgens stated that he is requesting that the Committee approve staff proceeding with this
project. He said timing is very important because when we shut down these transmission lines,
we have to do them one at a time and we have to do them at a time when we are not anywhere
close to a peak season — the spring. The surge tank painting could happen in the next two
months. The valves will be ordered and the 36 -inch water line needs to be advertised within the
next thirty days to get the project moving forward.
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 6 of 8
Alderman Cook said he knows this is something we have to do but he is concerned about the
fund balance.
Alderman Reynolds asked what shape the fund balance will be in after taking out the $650,000.
David Jurgens said the financial staff has said we can handle this expenditure from the fund
balance. We will keep at least a minimum balance for debt service.
Alderman Ferrell asked how often you would commonly paint one of these tanks.
David Jurgens said this tank hasn't been painted since 1972. Normally it depends on the water
in the tank and how well it was painted before. He estimated that the tanks are painted about
every 25 years.
Alderman Reynolds moved that staff be given approval to move forward with the project.
Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
4. Water Transmission Some Tank Painting Contract.
David Jurgens said this item had been covered in the previous discussion (painting of the surge
tank). An agenda packet will be distributed to the Committee tomorrow (August 18). Staff
requested and was given authorization to place this item on the Sept. 5, 2006 City Council
agenda.
5. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project Update.
a. Basins 1-5, 18 & 19 Sewer Rehab.
David Jurgens said the work T -G Excavating is doing on sewer rehab is 54.0% complete and
they are proceeding very well. Staff is very pleased with both design and execution on this
project. They have been working in back yards all over the City and very few complaints have
been received from citizens.
b. Farmington Area.
David Jurgens said the design is under way on this portion of the project and there hasn't been
any change since the last report.
c. Insituform Term Contract Renewal.
David Jurgens said he hasn't been working on this but will have a contract renewal for review
in the future.
6. Farmington Contract and WSIP Status Update.
Gary Dumas said at the last meeting RJN was authorized to come up with a cost if we didn't do
anything with Lift Station #12 and what the alternative would be.
Hugh Kelso, RJN said at the July 27 meeting RJN presented the cost for the solution of putting
in a new interceptor from the Farmington East Lift Station to the Farmington Lift Station 12,
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 7 of 8
relocating it down to the Farmington Branch and Goose Creek, and then replacing that one and
running a force main back up to the new plant. That cost was $7.2 million. RJN was then
requested to go back and look at what the cost would be (to both the City of Fayetteville and the
City of Farmington) if we did not upgrade Lift Station 12 or put in an interceptor. RJN looked at
this in two ways. One was taking what the population would be in 2030 for the Fayetteville area
that would be tributary to Lift Station 11 (or Farmington East) and not providing any allowance
for any additional flows from Farmington (i.e. using the 2005 population). He said this doesn't
mean we are only going to provide the capacity for what they can currently pump because there
are overflows on that system during wet weather and at some point the Farmington Lift Station
12, force main (from Farmington West to Farmington East) and gravity sewer inside Farmington
are going to have to be upgraded. The upgrades will be forced by the regulatory authorities. The
cost for this first option is $3.09 million. To provide additional capacity to get for the estimated
Farmington 2030 population doesn't add too much additional cost. This option brings the total
up to $3.3 million. He explained that the reason for this is that we are not able to use the existing
station. That station has some deterioration problems and it would be difficult to put in new
pumps and connect a new force main to it. Therefore they are suggesting a completely new
station and a new force main to the West Side plant. So in using the 2030 population you are
really only talking about putting in a little larger motor and pump. Ultimate full buildout in
today's dollars would add another $250,000 roughly. He also provided a break out for
Fayetteville and Farmington. For the first option Fayetteville would pay $924,000 and
Farmington would pay $2.1 million. For the second option Farmington's cost goes up and
Fayetteville's goes down because of the ratio of total population. Both options assume a 2030
population for Fayetteville. The first option assumes a 2005 population for Farmington and the
second assumes a 2030 population.
In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Alderman Cook said negotiations with
Farmington will resume probably by September. They requested that we give them some time to
prepare further.
In response to a question, Hugh Kelso said he isn't saying the current pump station isn't worth
fixing. He said it is currently working fine with what we have coming out of Farmington into
Fayetteville. But to go in and attempt to upgrade that when it is undersized and has some
corrosion problems wouldn't be cost effective.
John True from Farmington asked for clarification regarding growth limits for Farmington. He
asked if he was correct in his interpretation that the growth area in which Farmington can expand
their population would be restricted and that they could not go to the west without additional
cost.
Hugh Kelso said that is true. But also there is a much larger cost (not included here) that would
be borne entirely by Farmington. For them to be able to have that growth, they would have to
spend several million dollars to upgrade their lift station.
There was some further discussion regarding the options, how it affects Farmington growth and
the cost involved.
Gary Dumas said he believed that the Lift Station 11 option was short-sighted and he doesn't
think it is in our best interests unless there is no participation from Farmington at all on Lift
Station 12. However Fayetteville can continue its westward growth with the same kind of lift
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org
City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006
Page 8 of 8
station connections we have done in the past. He thinks we should attempt to get Farmington to
participate but he doesn't know how they can do it financially
Hugh Kelso pointed out that if we want this to come on-line when the West Side plant comes
on-line, we are pretty much at the drop dead date. We can buy a little time but we do need to
make a decision fairly quickly. If we don't, he wanted to be very clear for the record that the
costs being discussed now are `today's' costs. They will go up.
In response to a question from Alderman Reynolds, Hugh Kelso said they were hoping to have
this advertised by March. This doesn't allow much design time, particularly if you have to get
easements. The nice thing about the other option discussed at the last meeting (moving Lift
Station 12 down) is that a lot of that work, including permitting, has already been done.
Bruce Shackleford said these lift stations and lines are included on the current 404 permit,
which expires Dec. 31, 2008. It has a clause that an extension can be requested if needed.
Gary Dumas said he would send Farmington a note indicating that Fayetteville and Farmington
must have a meeting before Sept. 12 (the next Water & Sewer Committee meeting).
Scheduling the Next Water/Sewer Committee Meeting.
The next meeting of the Water & Sewer Committee was scheduled for Tuesday, September 12,
2006 in Room 326 at 5:30 p.m.
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax)
accessfayetteville.org