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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-09-12 - MinutesCity Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes September 12, 2006 Page 1 of 4 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 September 12, 2006 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Water & Sewer Committee was held on September 12, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 326 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; Alderman Bobby Ferrell Staff Present: David Jurgens; Gary Dumas; Tim Conklin Chairman Kyle Cook called the meeting to order and, by unanimous vote, called a recess to allow the Compensation Committee to meet. The meeting was reconvened at 7:30 p.m. 1. Approval of the Minutes Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes of the August 17, 2006 Water and Sewer Committee meeting be approved as submitted. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 2. WSIP Update David Jurgens introduced two new members of the WSIP team: Allison Orcutt who replaced Nita Horn as administrative assistant and Lynn Hyke who is the construction manager for the project. David reported that Garney Construction has a little over ten feet of pipe remaining (out of 20,000 feet of force main) on WLS, the two force mains from Hamestring to the west plant. They will complete the pipe work on this project tomorrow morning. There is still some surface work to do but the pipe is now almost all in. He said the bid has been delayed on the WL -213. The actual herbicide spraying could be done faster and cheaper by separating it out and getting quotes. The plantings will still be bid. a. Propertv Sale for Northern West Side WWTP David Jurgens said there are some negotiations going on about possibly amending the contract for the northern property on the West Side WWTP site. There are discussions about changing the area to be sold and increasing the size of the acreage a little. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes September 12, 2006 Page 2 of 4 Tim Conklin said Mr. Sloan and his engineer have been working on their portion of the terms of this contract. The contract was approved almost a year ago. The contract language allowed 90 days to complete such projects as modifying Persimmon and rezoning the property to RSF-4. Mr. Sloan would now like to add some additional acreage. Staff is asking direction from the Committee about whether to continue working with Mr. Sloan and his engineers and ask them to pay for any additional acreage at a higher price than was approved by the City Council for the original acreage. Mr. Sloan is interested in purchasing close to 41 acres; however the original contract is old (past the 90 days). Mr. Sloan also requests that the property be rezoned to RSF-7 to allow smaller, single family lots at four units per acre. The City can choose to waive the "Sale of City Property" ordinance that requires competitive bidding and go through that process again. Or we can continue with Mr. Sloan. Staff recommends that we continue with Mr. Sloan and sell any additional acreage at $40,000 per acre. This would be acreage to the south of the original 35 acres. The City Attorney has talked about amending the contract and we would have to modify the property description. But before anything is done, staff would like to ask for direction from this Committee. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Tim Conklin said the property is currently zoned RA. Mr. Sloan originally wanted RSF-4 zoning and approval of a subdivision on the property. It has not been rezoned and Mr. Sloan has not submitted for a subdivision. Since the time of the contract, he has looked at the property and wants to change the boundary and change the zoning, still build Persimmon through the project but realign it with subdivisions further to the west that are planned out there. He is agreeable to continue forward with the contract, but it would have to be amended and brought to the City Council. The current contract is for $1,039,000, or around $31,000 per acre. Alderman Jordan asked if it is possible to present this at the next Ward 4 meeting for input. He feels it would be better to let residents of the ward look at what Mr. Sloan is proposing and have the chance to give their opinion. David Jurgens said that part of the property is very hard to build on because there is a very unusual gas line there and a creek. Mr. Sloan has agreed to pay more for any additional acreage. Mr. Jurgens believes it is a good thing to consider. Alderman Jordan said he really doesn't have a problem with it but he would like to check with his ward, and with Alderman Lucas, before he commits to it. Alderman Reynolds asked if the real difference is between RSF-4 and RSF-7 zoning. David Jurgens said the reason Mr. Sloan is asking for RSF-7 is that putting the road in the middle creates very narrow lots. The density will remain at `4' but he needs the `7' in order to meet the width requirements. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Tim Conklin said that it is staff's recommendation that we continue with Mr. Sloan and try to work out the details to bring an item to the Council to amend the contract and amend the purchase price. He said he understands that before it comes to the Council for approval, Alderman Jordan would like for his ward to have a chance to see what is being proposed. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes September 12, 2006 Page 3 of 4 b. Sales Tax Election Results and Alternatives David Jurgens said we have the paperwork in hand to proceed whichever way today's election results warrant. Staff has been meeting and making preparations to move forward and the next action should be presented to the Council at the first meeting in October. 3. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project a. Basins 1-5,18 & 19 Sewer Rehab David Jurgens said we are continuing to make progress on these projects. b. 2006 STAG Grant David Jurgens said the 2006 STAG Grant for sewer rehabilitation was signed last week and should be mailed to the City this week. This is the final award of the grant and it should be executed as soon as we receive it. The field study is underway so we should be doing the design contract for this soon. 4. Farmington Contract and WSIP Status Update Alderman Cook said that Farmington has agreed to honor the mediation agreement and will fulfill their side of that agreement. The negotiating team met again last week and he believes we have brought the discussion down to one main issue: funding of Lift Station 12. He believes there is an agreement in principle on every other issue with a few changes in language. The team will meet again on Thursday, Sept. 14. He believes we are close to an agreement. He asked if the Committee wants to see the final agreement before it goes to the Council. Aldermen Jordan and Ferrell agreed that they would like to see the agreement before it is sent to the Council. Alderman Reynolds suggested placing a deadline on when Farmington can come to the City with a contract. He said a decision has to be made soon. Alderman Cook said that September 12 was actually the deadline we gave to Farmington. A meeting has been set up on Thursday to try to hammer out the agreement. He believes Farmington recognizes the need to get this done quickly. It is to the benefit of both cities to get this lift station done. He said Farmington would like to get their rebate for the over charges to their customers since the last rate change. They want to roll back their rates to the rate that HDR computed, which is $4.66. They are paying $7.16 right now. They are asking if the City would be willing to lower the rate immediately to $4.66. He said he is agreeable but he wants them to 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes September 12, 2006 Page 4 of 4 understand that when the new rate study comes through, their rates will change again (at the first of the year. They understand that Alderman Reynolds said he thought the City of Fayetteville had already agreed to a rebate. Alderman Cook said that is correct and is part of the negotiations. However, Farmington wants the rebate to go back to 2004. His stand is that we should go back only to the spring of 2006 when the HDR study brought to light the difference in calculations. That is an issue still being negotiated. David Jurgens explained that when you start calculating a rebate, the further back you go you begin to calculate for customers who are already off the system. Any check that is unclaimed goes to the State of Arkansas. So the further back you go there is not only more potential for error in the computations, but also more money will go to the State rather than to either city or to the individual ratepayer. Alderman Cook said that was discussed at the last meeting by the negotiating team. There had been a discussion about rebating the City of Farmington instead of the individual customer. But he believes at this point the ratepayers have been told that they will be receiving a rebate check so that is the way they want to handle it. David Jurgens suggested possibly rebating all existing customers and any rebate amount for customers that are not on the system right now could be rebated to the City of Farmington. That way some of it would be put back into the wastewater system. Gary Dumas said we could look into that but he doesn't believe it would be possible legally. In further business, David Jurgens said that WL2 will be advertised this month and bids will be opened in October. He handed out the July and August reports from Brasfield & Gorrie on the Westside plant. Alderman Ferrell said he would like to have it on record that we are at or ahead of the schedule for the plant to be completed by May 2008 and we are on budget. David Jurgens said he will continue to update the Committee on all the WSIP projects. A capital project update will also be given to the media every two weeks. This will include every project, when the bid date is scheduled, percentage completion, etc. 5. Scheduling the Next Water/Sewer Committee Meeting The next meeting of the Water & Sewer Committee was set for Thursday, October 19, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org