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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-02 - MinutesCity Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 1 of 11 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 November 2, 2006 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Water & Sewer Committee was held on November 2, 2006 at 5:30 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 Lioneld Jordan, Alderman Robert Reynolds, Alderman Bobby Ferrell Other Aldermen Present: Alderman Shirley Lucas Staff Present: David Jurgens, Gary Dumas, Susan Thomas, Tim Conklin The meeting was called to order by Chairman Kyle Cook. 1. Approval of the Minutes Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes to the September 12, 2006 and September 25, 2006 be approved as distributed. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 2. WSIP Update. David Jurgens handed out the latest monthly update with photos on the Westside WWTP. The project is still proceeding very well. He is confident that we will be at substantial completion in May 2008. He pointed out that the matrix on the front of the agenda is based on invoices that have been submitted to the City. Invoices are usually submitted from 20 to 30 days after the work has been completed so there is always a time lag of at least 30 days. We are still tracking right on schedule on this project. The structural portions of the job will probably be completed at the end of 2007 and then there will be a lot of parts and pieces inside the structures to be done to make everything work and the water flow. Mr. Jurgens gave a quick review of the overall WSIP. He said the only thing lacking on the WL -5 Force Mains is installation of odor control structures. The man holes are done and everything else is complete. An inspection was done today from the environmental standpoint but he hasn't yet gotten the results. Regarding other projects, the line going from the Hamestring lift station to the Porter Road lift station is about 95% installed. The pipe is less than 500 feet from the Porter Road lift station. The bore across I540 is complete. The bore across North College Avenue is almost done. They will be working Paradise Valley Golf Course from November through the end of February. As part of the easement agreement with the golf course, they have to get the portion across the golf course done during that time. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 2 of 11 a. Subproject WL -2 Gravity Line from North Street to Gregg Avenue David Jurgens said the bids on WL -2 were opened October 17. TG -Excavating was the low bid at $4.4 million. That item is on the agenda for the November 7, 2006 City Council meeting. The bids were good and the first two were pretty low and close together. TG -Excavating has done a lot of work for the City and they are finishing up a $2.2 million sewer rehab project right now on which they have done an excellent job. Mr. Jurgens requested approval from the Committee to allow the TG -Excavating contract to continue to stay on the Nov. 7 City Council agenda. The Committee members indicated their approval of this request. b. Beaver Lake Watershed Nutrient Reduction Study. David Jurgens said a couple of weeks ago we had only received two responses to the request for qualification on this project and that wasn't a big enough pool from which to draw. Therefore the opening was delayed somewhat. We have since received seven proposals including some nationally recognized firms. Mr. Jurgens is now content that we have a large enough pool from which to make a good selection. The first meeting of that selection committee will be held in a couple of weeks and we will then be proceeding forward with the nutrient reduction agreement. He reminded the Committee that this is an agreement with Beaver Water District to reduce the non -point nutrient load going into Beaver Lake so that we wouldn't have a tighter NPDES discharge permit. Our permit limit for phosphorus stayed at 1 part per million. They were trying to get it to 0.5. This agreement allowed it to stay at 1 part per million by permit. c. Property Sale for Northern Westside WWTP Tim Conklin said Mr. Sloan and Mr. Hayes have applied for a property line adjustment and a rezoning of this property to RSF-8. Mr. Sloan and Mr. Hayes have signed the contract to modify the property sale. The contract has been modified to include an additional 3.184 acres. Staff is recommending that the additional acres be sold at $40,000 per acre, which will add an additional $127,360 to the sale. The original contract was for $1,039,007. The new contract, which he will put on the November 21, 2006 agenda, will be for $1,166,367 and will include an addendum to approve a subdivision on the property. We have already modified the master street plan to reroute Persimmon through the project. They are requesting RSF-8 zoning where the original contract called for RSF-4 zoning. d. WSIP Administrative Assistant Position David Jurgens said we have hired two really good people back to back in the WSIP administrative assistant position and they have both left. With both employees, when they were offered the position they didn't feel there would be a problem with the term contract. However after they were here, found they like the job but that there is no future with the position, it hits them emotionally. He feels this may continue to be a problem. He said for Lynn, who is our construction manager it is less of an issue because it is not as uncommon in the professional ranks of construction project management. But for administrative type folks in an office it is not as common. Teachers have contracts, ball players have contracts but normal folks don't have contracts and seem to find it an emotionally very unsettled position. Several people who didn't accept the position said they weren't comfortable with the limited term. He is requesting that we consider changing the position to eliminate the fixed termination date so he can get someone to help with the administrative work. He said he understands the down side to this but feels we need to have a good quality person filling the position. We are doing an $183,000,000 million project with two full time and three half-time people and the burden is getting to be too much. He is afraid we are going to start dropping things because we need somebody as administrative support. Alderman Cook asked what the job description for the position is. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 3 of 11 David Jurgens said the job description is an administration assistant, NA -9. He said the full council approved it as a term position with a fixed end date and he understands that. He is now saying that we have learned this isn't working and he can't keep turning over a new person every two months. In response to a question from Alderman Lucas, David Jurgens said the salary was graded based on the duties performed. The salary was within the range of the scale for that position. He said he was given the latitude to pay a little bit more than what an entry level person would receive. However, the benefits aren't as good. They do not get any retirement but if they stay for the full length of the term they would get a lump sum payment which would be the equivalent of retirement. This is just not what office staff is used to. Alderman Ferrell asked for a quick description of the duties of the position David Jurgens said the duties include filing everything for all the projects, keeping track of the letters to and from Arkansas Natural Resources, ADEQ, the health department, highway permits and things like that. She accumulates all the files for all the projects, producing letters, agenda packets, etc. and doing those administrative tasks that are project based, receiving all the phone calls from the public and routing them to either David or the construction inspector or engineer as appropriate, setting up all the meetings that are taking place relating to the project, coordinating the required training given by the environmental consultant that is required by each of the contracts, all those types of administrative tasks and the office management tasks of keeping the paperwork straight for all the business that we are doing. The accounting is being done by Peggy Bell in our Accounting division. This is the logistical support and administrative support. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said the position is physically located on the first floor of City Hall. The position shares an office with Lynn Hyke, the construction inspector. Alderman Ferrell reminded Mr. Jurgens that this had been discussed in the beginning and he said his recollection is that the money was coming out of the project funding. Alderman Jordan questioned what will happen when the project is over. Where will the money for the salary come from? David Jurgens said it could be handled so that when the position ends at the end of the project, the employee could apply for another position within the City. It wouldn't mean they would automatically get the position but they could apply for it. However, the position would come to an end. In the City there are different terms of ending employment when it is associated with a reduction in force. The employee could start with the City and be a full City employee, which the person so far has not been. They do not see a future with the City because they are not really a City employee, they don't get the same benefits and feel they are just a little bit different. Alderman Cook said he doesn't see any difference. They would still know their position is going to end and there is still no guarantee they'll get a job in the City. Alderman Jordan agreed. David Jurgens said he understood but he had talked with both employees and they thought this would be better. He thinks it is more emotional than logical. He said he has to figure out a way to do it better or differently. Alderman Jordan said if we say you're a City employee but in two years your job is going to end, but you can apply for other City positions, he doesn't see the difference from what we have now. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 4 of 11 David Jurgens said they would have longevity with the City and have established their position, and they will have a full year in which they can apply for another position and maintain that longevity. Once they know the end date of the contract they can prepare to move into another City position and have a future with the City. The way the contract reads now, they know they are different from other City employees by contract because there is only two of them. He was told by both former employees that emotionally there was a difference. Rationally and logically before they signed the contract, they didn't think it would make a difference. Once they signed the contract they both felt that way. Alderman Reynolds asked if the company who gets the operating contract for the new plant might be in a position to want to hire the employee at the end of two years with the knowledge and experience that employee had gained during that time. David Jurgens said Billy could probably answer that but he wouldn't want to guarantee it. There is the possibility that the new plant would have a position open because you have to have more staff to run two plants. Alderman Reynolds asked if OMI gets the contract if they will have an office out there and personnel on that site. David Jurgens asked Billy Ammons how many full time staff he would have on board at the Westside plant if he is chosen to operate it. Billy Ammons said he expects to have seven people. He said there would be administrative work to be performed. They don't have anyone who only does that work but someone will have to do it quite a bit of their time. He said they would be very interested in a quality employee who has the experience and knowledge that this position would have after two years. David Jurgens agreed and said one reason they don't want to guarantee anything is that if the employee is not a quality employee, we don't want to bend over backwards to keep them employed. Alderman Reynolds asked if the two employees we have lost are still in town. David Jurgens said one of them has taken other employment and one is moving back into the HR field which is what she has done in the past. We wouldn't be able to get them back. Alderman Ferrell asked if the person in the position would be guaranteed a NA -9 position if one is open during the year that they are eligible to apply for other positions. David Jurgens said we will not give any guarantees. Alderman Ferrell asked if they would be seeking an NA -9 position or would they seek any job open in the City. David Jurgens said he thinks that would depend on their individual circumstances. They would certainly want to seek something that is an NA -9 but he knows several employees that have come to his department from a higher grade to a lower grade position. They don't take a cut in pay but they do go into another grade where their top out salary would be less. They came because they wanted to work in that department rather then where they had been. So it is possible they would take a lower grade position. Mr. Jurgens said he has a dilemma and he needs to get a position filled. The administrative business along with running the department is more than he can handle and he is going to start missing things and making mistakes. Alderman Cook said he still doesn't see the difference. Even if you hire a City employee there is no guarantee they are going to stay on. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 5 of 11 David Jurgens agreed with that. But he said one thing this does is open the position up to other City employees, none of whom have applied because they would lose their longevity and all their benefits. Alderman Cook said he does not want to add another City position. In the current budget discussions one of the considerations is not adding any more City positions. If someone in the City wants to move into the position, he would see it differently. But he doesn't want to create another position to fill. Alderman Jordan added that we are studying about giving employees raises we don't know if we can fund and yet we're going to set up another City position. Alderman Reynolds reminded the Committee that the Council did approve two positions. David Jurgens said this position is approved and funded for the next two years. Alderman Jordan said he has been in construction business all his life and if you are a sub -contractor on a construction site you know what will be the duration of the job and that's it. David Jurgens said he understood and he is not trying to change the construction superintendent position at all. He is only bringing forward the administrative position because there are not very many secretaries that work for those construction firms that know their job is going to come to an end in a year or two. Alderman Ferrell said it's not likely someone at the City would want the job because they're not going to be guaranteed ajob after this is over. It would have to be someone that doesn't have to be replaced or that would be adding a position. Alderman Jordan said we had this discussion in the beginning and this is what we agreed upon. David Jurgens said he understood that but what was agreed upon is not working in this instance. Now he needs to try to change it so it will work. He can't keep losing someone every two months. Alderman Cook said he thinks the Committee understands. He knows David understands their position also. He suggested everyone think about it. He isn't ready to make this decision yet. e. WSIP Farmington Area Work David Jurgens said there are a couple of components to this item. The first is the RIN Westside contract amendment. This is for the design and construction supervision and wetlands construction supervision for everything on the west side pertaining to the three project components within Farmington: the gravity transmission line that passes through Farmington, the lift station (a new lift station at a new location west of Farmington), and the force mains going from that lift station to the Westside WWTP. The engineering contract is a little different from the others we have done because it is for both design and construction supervision. Because of the timing of getting the work done in time for the Westside plant to come on line and to have everything flowing within 90 days of substantial completion, it is much faster to do the entire contract at one time. Also, in order to keep it as efficient as possible, we did the construction supervision for the wetlands issues as a subcontract to this contract. In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said the wetlands supervision is included in this contract but will be billed as a separate attachment to the invoice so the costs can be separated out. David Jurgens requested that he be able to submit this as an agenda item for the second City Council meeting in November. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 6 of 11 Alderman Reynolds moved that this item be approved to be forwarded to the full Council. Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion and itpassed unanimously. 3. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project Update a. Basins 1-5,18 & 19 Sewer Rehab David Jurgens said this project is 90% complete. One change order has been processed for T -G Excavating because they hit more rock than was expected and had to install a little more service line than was expected on Mt. Sequoyah. The change order was within the contingency amount so didn't require full Council approval but was provided to the Committee a few weeks ago. b. 2006 STAG Grant David Jurgens said the STAG Grant has been accepted and signed documents were submitted to and received by EPA. c. Farmington Area David Jurgens said the final design for this is 95% complete. The final reviews are being done this week. They will be submitting draft plans and the information to Arkansas Natural Resources for use of RLF or STAG grant funds within the next two weeks. We expect the construction to be bid in February. d. Insituform Contract Amendment David Jurgens said the Insituform contract amendment is on the City Council agenda for the November 7 meeting. It is simply a renewal of the contract we have with Insituform for lining pipe. In response to a question from Alderman Reynolds, David Jurgens said with this contract the work is done city-wide as necessary. They will be doing the service laterals all along College Avenue. They will be doing some work in the northern part of town and other lines as needed for maintenance. He requests that this item remain on the Council agenda. e. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Long Range Plan David Jurgens said he will be bringing the long range plan to the Committee within the next couple of months. 4. 36" Water Transmission Line David Jurgens said the bids for this project have been received. The low bid was Alpha Utilities. The City has not worked with them but did a thorough research on the company, as did Black and Veatch. The result of that research is that staff recommends that the contract be awarded to the low bidder, Alpha Utilities. This job is to install things on the 36" and 42" water lines to bring them into compliance with Health Department and Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said the 36" line was installed in 1967 or 1968. The 42" line was installed in 1994. He was surprised when he found that the pipe didn't have pressure in it the whole way. He is requesting that this contract go forward to the Council at the second meeting in November. Alderman Cook mentioned the clause in the contract for $1000 per day in liquidated damages. He thinks this is a good thing and doesn't understand why we don't charge this on other City contracts. He didn't notice any mention of a rock clause. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 7 of 11 David Jurgens said with this project everywhere they will be excavating, the pipe has already been installed. They are working in the existing ditch and are not expecting any kind of rock. If they run into rock outside the periphery, they will just have to absorb it. But the chances are really slim. Alderman Jordan moved that the contract with Alpha Utilities be forwarded to the City Council. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion and itpassed unanimously. David Jurgens said that as has been discussed before, the work that is required to meet Safe Drinking Water Act requirements and Health Department requirements was not within the original scope of the job There have been discussions with Budget and Accounting and they have identified that there will be a need for a $675,000 budget adjustment to come out of fund balance. That has been included in all the budget work that has been done for the past few months. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said the fund balance is lower than it has been in years. It is still healthy enough to keep the coverage for all bonds but it is not what it has been in the past. He thinks we are still looking at about a $5 to $6 million balance. David Jurgens pointed out that one of the items to be included in this project is materials for some work that Water & Sewer will be doing. They have already installed one valve on this pipe so it is easier when the contractor does his work. The valve is required and we can save money by having the work done in- house. We are having everything done in-house that we can safety do with the skills and equipment we have available. 5. Water Transmission Surge Tank Painting David Jurgens said this project is underway. When sandblasting the tank it was found that the pits in the floor were a little deeper than expected. McClelland Engineering is evaluating alternatives. It may be that we need to weld some steel plates in the floor. He will bring more information forward as we have it. The tank is not too large so he doesn't expect too much additional cost. Work is continuing on the painting. 6. OMI 2007 Contract Amendment David Jurgens said this includes the normal contract amendment as well as a change order for this year's contract. This was discussed in May or June and again a couple of months ago. It is recognized that the Noland plant is operating beyond the point at which it is most efficient causing them to have to use chemicals to treat the water to NPDES permit limits. Also, fuel costs for hauling the sludge have increased and higher electrical costs have increased the overall costs of operating the plant. Originally a $270,000 increase was expected but that has come down and it is now a $153,000. There will also be an increase in contract for next year. Alderman Cook asked for an explanation of the labor markup line that went from 30% to 15%. Billy Ammons, OMI, said OMI has had a long term relationship with the City of Fayetteville and they recognize that they are already asking for a healthy increase. He said he did what he could to convince the company that they need to share the burden of the increased costs on the citizens. It was decided to offer this sharing of labor costs to maintain the good relationship with the City and do what can be done to help. David Jurgens said the amendment being brought forward currently includes both the increase for the 2006 contract and the 2007 Contract. The request is to take this amendment forward to the Council. He talked to Kevin Springer in Budget who believes the amendment for 2006 can be covered within existing water and sewer operations budget where there have been savings in other components. He doesn't think anything would have to come from the fund balance for this portion of the amendment. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 8 of 11 In response to a question from Alderman Reynolds, Billy Ammons said the line item for electricity does include the cost savings for the use of the generator. Without that generator, the cost would have been about $215,000 more. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Billy Ammons said the percentage at which the plant is operating depends on what measurement you use. If you look at it from the percentage of flow, we are at 95%. If you look at BOD (the organic portion of that) we are at about 92%. From the phosphorous level, we are at about 110% and at about 105% at TSS. The bottom line is that the plant is pretty close to the limit of what it can do. He does feel the plant can handle the flow until the new plant comes on line in sixteen to eighteen months. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Billy Ammons said the cost of chemicals being used to treat the sewage is up about 25%. However the amount of chemicals needed has almost doubled because we use chemicals for so many different areas. The cost for this is around $100,000 and is included in this budget. David Jurgens pointed out that some components of the budget are related to the W SIP and are byproducts of that. One of the things promised to the citizens with this project was to reduce odor sources at all wastewater locations. As we have improved odor control at the Noland Plant, the need for chemicals to control that odor has increased. Alderman Jordan asked if we have any idea how many housing units may come on line next year. David Jurgens said he doesn't think we have ever had a year with more than 1500 sewer connections added to the system. There have been between 1200 and 1400 connections in each of the last four or five years. He emphasized that this represents actual sewer accounts added to the system and not houses being built. Alderman Jordan said assuming around 1300 new accounts per year, for the next 17 months we can expect somewhere about 2000 new accounts. He asked Mr. Ammons if the Noland Plant can handle that Billy Ammons said the plant can do it. But he said if we have that kind of growth, at the beginning of the last few months before the Westside plant comes on line, there may be a need to have money allocated for the potential of more drastic measures to keep up with the flow. Although the funds may not actually be used, the additional funding may be included in the 2008 budget in case it is needed. David Jurgens said that there are two separate sewer rehab projects that will be underway this year and will be completed before that time that will probably reduce the flow to the plant in the high flow conditions. That won't help with the solids but will help with the volume of water reaching the plant. Alderman Jordan said he just wants to make sure we are all on the same page and know what to expect. Billy Ammons pointed out that if the new plant was already in operation, the budget would be at least $1 million more, possibly $2 million. So even though what we are doing is hard, it is still not a bad value. And the rate structure was set up to handle this. Alderman Ferrell moved that the contract amendment to moved forward to the City Council. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and ifpassed unanimously. 7. Mt. Sequoyah Pressure Plane Water Storage Tank David Jurgens said in 1988 Fayetteville did the first water system master plan that he has been able to find. At that time it was identified that we needed increased storage capacity on the Mt. Sequoyah 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 9 of 11 pressure plane. This is the pressure plane that services Mt. Sequoyah, the hill at Highland Park, the hill at the center of town on Hillcrest and the top of North Street. Right now we have 250,000 gallons of storage on that pressure plane in the tank that was constructed in 1959 and located in the Mt. Sequoyah Methodist Assembly area. We need more. Alderman Cook said he thought the Committee had already discussed this back when Greg Boettcher was here and that we were moving forward with this project. David Jurgens said we are just now getting to the point where we are putting the project together and getting it done. He is bringing it back up now as an item that needs to move forward. He just wants to keep the Committee informed and will bring forward recommendations in the next few months. There was significant public outcry last time this was discussed. The City owns property currently in the area on top of Highland Park hill but in none of the other areas. Alderman Cook asked if we had used all the tap fee money when we budgeted for the sewer project. David Jurgens said it is not exactly the tapping fee money — it's the impact fee money. He said we did not use it all but the water impact fees are completely independent from sewer impact fees and they cannot cross. He thinks we are at about $1.4 million in water impact fees. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said we should be moving forward on this within the next 90 days. 8. Rom Orchard/Old Wire Road Development City Water and Sewer Connection David Jurgens said he is bringing this forward because the Health Department sent him a letter asking that this be reconsidered. He distributed some backup information. He said from a professional standpoint he concurs with the request to tie into the City's water and sewer system. He said he believes decentralized systems are going to cost the City more money in the long run and will become an environmental issue. The request is to tie the wastewater from this development on to the City's wastewater system. Sammie May with Morris and Shipley Engineers said they have been working on the civil engineering plans for this development. Before they started working on these plans, this development tried to annex and was denied. After a second try at annexation and a second denial, they proceeded with the plans for the decentralized system. David Jurgens said from the water and sewer standpoint the developer was going to be doing a significant amount of offsite water and wastewater improvements in order make the subdivision viable. Gary Dumas said in order to avoid the discussions we had on another sewer extension annexation agreement, he would suggest that if the Committee chooses to approve this sewer connection, they make the annexation occur prior to the extension of the sewer so all the development standards can be up front and all the neighbors can know what is happening. Alderman Jordan said he would not support this connection unless the development applies for annexation. David Jurgens said that they have applied and been denied by the Planning Commission. Tim Conklin said he agrees with Mr. Dumas. We've already been down this road once. They may want to appeal the annexation to the Council and the Council can then make that policy decision about whether to annex and zone. The neighbors should be notified because we will hear from some of the neighbors out there. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 10 of 11 Hugh Earnest said he is no longer on retainer for Hometown Development and is speaking as a citizen. He said he is passionately interested in seeing that every time we have a chance to tie something on to the City sewer system we do it so we can avoid the potential problems of decentralized sewers. Anyone who deals with these systems knows the management and operational problems they cause. He said he fully agrees with Mr. Jordan that we don't want to get into the debate and confusion and misunderstanding that we had on Lierly Lane. There are many neighbors in the area who are going to be adamantly opposed to any change. But the developer will move forward with the development on decentralized sewer. From Mr Jurgens' perspective, this is the last opportunity to tie the system on to the City system. He doesn't disagree that annexation has to be considered. Alderman Ferrell asked Mr. Earnest if he is saying there is not time to go through annexation. He doesn't believe this item will go anywhere without an annexation. Sammie May said that is an answer the developer is willing to accept. They were already heading in the other direction until they got to the Health Department and it was stopped. Alderman Ferrell said he shares the concerns about the borderline areas and the step systems. He would rather have people connected to our sewer. But in this instance, he thinks they need to move forward with the annexation. Hugh Earnest said he would pass that along to the appropriate individuals. All they want is an answer. He understands everyone's perspective that we want to keep this above board so everyone understands what is being done. David Jurgens clarified that the request would be that the developer appeal for annexation to the City Council with no guarantee from this committee that would be supported by this Committee. But that this is the only way to tie on to the City system. Tim Conklin said they have gone through the process once but did not appeal to the Council within the ten days of the decision required by City Code. They probably need to go through the process again. If it is denied at the Planning Commission again, they can bring it forward to the City Council. Gary Dumas said he thinks the developer would like at least some assurance that the Committee is willing to support the annexation at the Council level even though they may not support the proposed development, whatever that is. Alderman Cook said that is not the charge of this committee. Tim Conklin gave a little history and background on the issue. There has been discussion of other annexations in this area. There is always a discussion regarding lot size and density as you move into northeast Fayetteville. David Jurgens said his request is that we identify for them what path they would have to take in order to get sewer. It has now been identified that they should apply for annexation. He can reply to the Health Department with the Committee's decision. Alderman Reynolds moved that the issue he heard by the Committee after the development has been annexed. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 9. Robinson, Stafford & Rude Engineering Contract (Supplement to Agenda) David Jurgens said this is a contract for value engineering for the Farmington and western Fayetteville area WSIP. The contract is for $39,844.00. He has looked over all the cost components and thinks it is 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes November 2, 2006 Page 11 of 11 fair. We would be hiring Robinson, Stafford & Rude Engineering, the same firm who did all the value engineering for the rest of the WSIP. In order to get the timeline correct and keep everything on time, we would be scheduling the value engineering for early to mid-December. He is requesting that he be able to take this to the Council at the second meeting in November. To meet RLF requirements, value engineering must be done under a formal process. Steve Davis said that because Fayetteville has gone through the required process to engage these folks for the other parts of the WSIP, Fayetteville agreed to allow Farmington to use their process so that this money could be paid for by Farmington through their loan agreement. It will not be a Fayetteville expense at all because it is outside the $960,000 engineering agreement. In answer to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Gary Dumas said Fayetteville will contract the project but Farmington will pay for it. There will have to be a separate agreement with Farmington that will say that Farmington will pay Fayetteville after we pay this group. Steve Davis said it could be as simple as when Fayetteville gets the invoice, Farmington writes the check to the vendor. Alderman Ferrell moved that the contract with Robinson, Stafford & Rude Engineering be approved. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 10. WSIP Sewer Lift Station construction Proposals (Supplement to Agenda) David Jurgens said there is no action required by the Committee on this item tonight. Staff is reviewing the lift station work that Garver and Garver has designed on the east side. They believe this work can be cheaper and better in house (with OMI). Garver is doing an engineer's estimate based on current market costs and staff is also looking at this. He suspects that we can save the City money by having OMI complete the lift station improvements rather than putting it out to bid. In the agenda packet he included four proposed out of scope agreements relating to four lift station upgrades and improvements on the east side WSIP for the Committee's review. He will have firm numbers at a later date. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said the agreement would be for OMI to do the work with inspection by the WSIP inspector and by Garver. However, OMI would do the work so we don't have to go out with the formal bidding process. 11. Scheduling the Next Water/Sewer Committee Meeting The next meeting of the Water/Sewer Committee meeting was scheduled for Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org