HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-12-28 - MinutesCity Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes
December 28, 2006
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Member Aldermen
Mayor Dan Coady
City Attorney Kit Williams Q� r•QCity Clerk Sondra Smith Tave
[ if 1 L ARKANSAS
City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Water & Sewer Committee
Meeting Minutes
December 28, 2006
Ward 1 Position 1
- Robert Reynolds
Ward 2 Position 1
- Kyle B. Cook
Ward 3 Position 2
— Robert Ferrell
Ward 4 Position 2
- Lioneld Jordan
A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Water & Sewer Committee was held on December
28, 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 Ferrell
MEMBERS ABSENT: Alderman Robert Reynolds
STAFF PRESENT: Ron Petrie, Tim Conklin, David Jurgens, Gary Dumas
Chairman Kyle Cook called the meeting to order.
1. Approval of Minutes
Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes of the Water & Sewer Committee meetings held on
November 2, 2006 and December 5, 2006 be approved as submitted. Alderman Jordan
seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
2. WSIP Update
David Jurgens distributed the most recent update for the Westside WWTP. The project is very
much on schedule. He also distributed an update on the Hamestring Lift Station. This is also on
schedule. In fact, it is scheduled to be completed a little ahead of what we expected. We will
delay acceptance until we're ready for it to avoid losing part of the warranty period.
In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens explained that the City had to
bid the project to allow enough lead time to get all the large equipment needed in place in case
anything went wrong. The warranty will begin at substantial completion of the project. It is
necessary to build in enough time to make sure it is done on time but if it is done too early, the
warranty will begin running before we're ready to use the equipment.
Alderman Cook said his main concern is the warranty and he just wanted to be clear about
when it would officially start.
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David Jurgens said he believed the warranty would start at substantial completion. He doesn't
remember exactly what the contract says but that is the way it is on the pipeline jobs
Gary Dumas said there are actually two warranties. There is a warranty from the contractor as
well as a manufacturer's warranty.
David Jurgens said because staff knew that construction would be staggered, we have a two
year warranty from the contractor to us. Mr. Jurgens also distributed the regular update on the
WSIP project. This information is updated every two weeks on the City's website and is also
published to the newspapers every two weeks. The report gives an update on each project in the
WSIP. As of early this month, almost $53 million has been spent on the WSIP and we have
obligated $133 million. He said the staff and contractor are already thinking through all the
initiation and start-up procedures and sequences. The project manager's schedule is that all
hardware and shipments of materials will be on site by the end of June 2007 in order to have the
project on-line and substantially complete in May of 2008. This will give them plenty of time to
trouble shoot.
In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said we have not asked for their
procurement schedule.
Alderman Cook asked what the status is on the staffing for this project (per conversation at an
earlier Committee meeting).
David Jurgens said he had about forty-two applicants for the administrative assistant position.
He has interviewed one. He said they are strongly considering an in-house transfer from another
division. They are looking at keeping the position as a contract position with the same end -date
as has always been discussed. However they will allow the employee to keep tenure with the
City if they move to another position.
In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens explained that the job will end
but the incumbent will have time to look for another position in the City if there is one available
for which she is qualified.
David Jurgens in continuing to review the WSIP update information noted that the WL -3 line
(the sewer line that runs from the Porter Road Lift Station along Clabber Creek to the
Hamestring Lift Station) is more than 95% complete and we are doing a partial release. The
Trails crew will be coming in right behind the sewer contractor. Two crews will be coming in
next week to begin work on WL -2, the line from North Street to the Poplar Street Lift Station
that parallels Skull Creek and the railroad tracks. They have also been working with the Trails
people on this and they will be laying that trail as soon as possible as well.
a. Subproject WL -5
This subproject is complete and closed out.
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b. Subproject EP -2, Noland WWTP Renovation
David Jurgens brought the Committee's attention to Change Order #1 which is a cumulative
change order for all of those things identified that needed to be done on the Noland Plant
improvements contract.
Alderman Cook asked what we ultimately ended up paying for the generator mentioned in item
#1 of the change order.
David Jurgens said the generator pulled from the contract was not nearly as large as the
generator that was purchased to put in. The one purchased runs the entire plant. The engineer
looked at this and they all felt it was a reasonable and fair price for the deduct for the equipment
that was not installed. The City was not charged any restocking fee. The deducted generator was
priced at about $250,000 and the one purchased was about $750,000 but it was a significantly
larger generator with much more capacity. This is the generator that is creating a little over
$16,000 a month in savings in electrical costs because it runs during peak periods. Mr. Jurgens
continued to review items in the change order. He said there were some changes that had to be
done because what was found underground did not match the as-builts. Fence and gate upgrades
were also added in for security in order to conform with the Vulnerability Assessment Homeland
Security requirements. These guidelines had not been published when the plans were first done.
Alderman Cook asked for an explanation of the water leak (Item COI -10 on the Change Order).
David Jurgens said crews were digging and found water coming from somewhere else and the
leak had to be tracked down. City crews were out there as well as leak detection folks, etc. Since
the plant is running all the time, it wasn't easy to find the source. The leak was causing
significant problems for the construction and finding and fixing it was more than in-house crews
could do on their own.
c. Beaver Lake Watershed Nutrient Reduction Study
David Jurgens said Geosyntec Consultants was selected for this study and the process of
contract negotiations has begun.
Alderman Ferrell said he was on the selection committee and feels this group is pretty diverse
and "green" in their philosophy.
d. Adjustable Frequency Drive (AFD) Purchase
David Jurgens said this drive will be used for two purposes. He explained that since part of the
Gregg Avenue Lift Station up by Mudd Creek in Johnson will have to be taken out of service
temporarily, they will be using only the big pumps. Big pumps put stresses on downstream pipes
and there have already been a couple of force main breaks that may be related to the operation of
these big pumps. Putting on this drive allows us to handle low flow conditions better, removes
the stress on the pipes downstream from this lift station while this construction is underway and
will reduce odors, potential for overflows, etc. When it is no longer needed on the Gregg Ave.
Lift Station it will be taken to the Hamestring Lift Station and used as a shelf spare.
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In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said this item is on the Consent
Agenda for the next City Council meeting
e. Property Sale for Ozarks Electric
David Jurgens said he believes the question regarding this issue has been resolved. We will
proceed forward with waiving the ordinance and bringing the sale of the property to the Council
sometime in February as discussed at the last Committee meeting.
In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said the proceeds of the sale
would go directly into the WSIP fund.
f. Wetlands Deed Restrictive Covenant
Alderman Cook said he didn't believe this item needed discussion. When asked, none of the
Committee members had any questions. Mr. Cook said the changes look good.
g. WSIP Farmington Area Work
David Jurgens said he had expected to be handing out a summary of expected evaluations of
alternatives for this project but RJN is still working on the numbers on the more challenging
pieces. We did have several items of savings and were pleased with the value engineering
process. A summary will be available for the next meeting.
3. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project Update
a. Basins 1-5, 18, & 19 Sewer Rehab
David Jurgens said this change order was approved at the last Council meeting. The owners of
the Doc Murdock building are going to go with the original alignment proposed by staff. This
should be finalized by next Wednesday and it should be underway within the next three or four
weeks.
b. Farmington Area
David Jurgens said construction for the Farmington area rehab should be bid in February.
4. OMI Safety Awards
David Jurgens said the staff of OMI received two safety awards this year from the Department
of Labor and the National Safety Council for the Noland Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Billy Ammons, OMI, said they received two significant awards this year. One was for over half
a million hours (which is a lot of hours for a small crew) of no lost time accidents and one for
over nine years of no lost time accidents. He said they are very proud of these awards and
worked very hard to work safely. Sometimes things happen that can't be controlled but they are
pleased to get these recognitions.
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5. Buried Storage Tank Removal Status Update
David Jurgens said all the buried storage tanks, including three at the Noland WWTP and three
in the wastewater collection system at wastewater pumping stations are now out of the ground.
We are waiting on the results of the final soil samples to come back.
In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said we are coming under the
approved project budget for the Gregg Ave. portion. There was enough money left over from
that to do the rest of the tanks.
6. Sewer Service to Van Asche/Gregg Avenue Area in Johnson
Dave Jorgenson spoke on behalf of Earl Fochtman who owns a 32 -acre piece of property in
Johnson just north of the Van Asche/Ball Street intersection. He said the property faces Ball
Street and is up on top of the hill looking over Gregg Avenue on the east side. The property has
6 -inch water line service from the City of Fayetteville and the owner is requesting that we also
provide sewer service. He said that Johnson does not have a problem with Fayetteville providing
this service and the owner will provide the total cost for the connection of the sewer into his
property as well as the impact fees that will have to be paid. The benefit to Fayetteville would be
the proceeds from providing sewer service to the property. He said he realizes that the City of
Fayetteville isn't in the business of providing sewer services to adjacent cities and understands
the Committee's reluctance but would like to ask that the request be considered.
Alderman Ferrell asked how many sewer taps would be estimated for this 32 -acre parcel.
Dave Jorgenson said the owner is putting in a couple of offices and some storage units. They
estimate something like 35 gallons a minute peak flow. They will install an 8 -inch gravity sewer
line and they have the difficult task of figuring out how to get under the railroad tracks, under
Gregg Ave., and under the 30 -inch. force main. The alternative to this is to put in a septic
system.
In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Dave Jorgenson said this particular parcel is
zoned C-2 so there will be no residential development. He said the time frame for completion of
the project should be within the next year.
Alderman Cook said he still feels the same way he did at the last meeting. He has an issue with
extending City services outside the city limits. He said his concern is with supporting
commercial development in the tax base in the City of Johnson with City of Fayetteville services.
If we continue to extend our services outside the City, we don't give anyone incentive to come
into the City of Fayetteville. However the final decision will have to be made by the full Council.
David Jurgens said that one of the requirements extended several years ago was that we would
not allow any wastewater to come from this project until after the west plant comes on line and
all the construction from here down to the west plant comes on line so the completion date of the
project will have to be driven by when these facilities come on line. He believed this proposal
had been submitted in 2004 and held until just recently for that reason.
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Dave Jorgenson agreed with that. He said the first time this was presented the west side plant
had not even been started. He said he will understand whatever the decision is but he has been
asked to at least make the request
Alderman Ferrell asked for the administration's view on this.
Gary Dumas said he understands we are making some significant transportation improvements
in this area to get access to our major retail center. He expects that there will be other
transportation improvements on this hillside (there's about 1000 acres there) necessary to get
even better access to this retail area for which Fayetteville will have to be a major contributor.
He said he thinks we should probably get the benefit of whatever development occurs there for
Fayetteville instead of spending money in Johnson.
Alderman Cook said procedurally, the Committee could vote on this and forward a
recommendation to the Council or just send it on to the Council without a vote.
In response to a question from David Jurgens, Dave Jorgenson said waiting for another month
will not be a problem but he hesitates to waste any more of the aldermen's time if they feel this
won't go through.
Alderman Cook said he will not support it.
Alderman Jordan said he was also not supportive.
Gary Dumas said he would suggest tabling the item one more month.
In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Dave Jorgenson said he does not expect any
requests for de -annexation from one municipality to another. He also said he doesn't really think
that tabling the issue will change the vote. But he does believe the City of Fayetteville should
have some kind of policy one way or the other.
Alderman Cook said it is a case by case issue. Requests come before this Committee first and
the Committee makes a recommendation to the Council.
Gary Dumas suggested that there be a discussion over the next 30 days with Mr. Jurgens and
Mr. Jorgenson about the issue. That might help with the decision about whether or not to take
this to the Council.
David Jorgenson said he will do whatever is considered best.
Alderman Jordan moved that the application for sewer service be denied Alderman Ferrell
seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
7. Scheduline the Next Water and Sewer Committee meetine.
The next meeting of the Water and Sewer Committee was scheduled for January 25, 2007 at 4:30
p.m. but may be changed at a later date if deemed necessary.
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