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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-04-08 - MinutesCity Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page I of 7 Member Aldermen Mayor Dan Coady Ward 1 Position 1 — Adella Gray V10 Ward 2 Position l - Kyle rt Cook CityAttorney Kit Williams � 1 Ward 3 Position 2—Robert Ferrell Ward 4 Position 2 - Lioneld Jordan City Clerk Sondra Smith ARKANSAS City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Water & Sewer Committee Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Water & Sewer Committee was held on April 8, 2008 at 5:15 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; Alderwoman Adella Gray OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Alderwoman Brenda Thiel; Alderwoman Nancy Allen STAFF PRESENT: David Jurgens; Ron Petrie; Gary Dumas; Tim Conklin; Paul Becker OTHERS PRESENT: Mike Johnson, University of Arkansas; Stephen Davis, Davis Business Planning (representing the cities of Farmington and Elkins) Chairman Kyle Cook suggested, because of the length of this agenda, that a separate meeting be scheduled to discuss impact fees (Item 3 on this agenda). Stephen Davis requested that representatives from the cities of Farmington and Elkins be allowed to participate in any meeting set to discuss impact fees. 1. Approval of Minutes Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes of the Water & Sewer Committee meeting held on March 11, 2008 be approved as submitter. Alderwoman Gray seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 2. WSIP Update David Jurgens said the West plant will begin receiving water in 52 days. The plan now is exactly as it has been for this project since we awarded the bid in October 2005. We will have water coming into the plant at the end of May. He explained the process involved with getting to the point of discharging wastewater in the first week of June. In answer to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said our permit allows us 90 days to make the entire changeover. The critical items should be done in less than 30 days. The clean 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page 2 of 7 up (which includes abandoning the old pipes appropriately) may be stretched over six months or so. Mr. Jurgens updated the Committee on other projects on the WSIP. He said the Farmington line projects (gravity line and force main) have now begun. a. WL -2 Change Order Number 2 David Jurgens said this change order on the contract with T -G Excavating is for the reconciliation of unit quantities. After this reconciliation the project will be complete and we have permission from ANRC to release the retainage. Over $200,000 remains in the contingency for this project. This money will go back into the total project contingency. b. WL -4 Change Order Number 3 David Jurgens said this change order will need to go to the full Council because it exceeds the approved contingency. He asked for the Committee's approval to put this on the May 6 City Council meeting agenda. In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said the engineer's inspector validates the quantities on these contracts and Lynn Hyke, our construction manager, spot checks numbers and also validates any numbers on which there is a question or dispute. There was agreement among the Committee members to forward this on to the full Council. C. WL -12 (Farmington Lift Station) bids (Item to be discussed later with supplemental agenda) d. OMI Tie -over Out of Scope Letter Agreement David Jurgens said employing OMI for this work has been the plan since the beginning of the WSIP because of their familiarity with the project. He reviewed some of the actions that need to take place with the "flipping of the switch" to reroute flow from the Noland plant to the West Side WWTP. He said this letter agreement was mentioned in the OMI contract approved in December but we didn't have a dollar amount at that time. In answer to a question from Alderman Ferrell, David Jurgens said that although we knew from the beginning that we were going to have to do this, we couldn't define the scope of work because we didn't know each specific task that would need to be done. He said the money for this is budgeted in the WSIP project. He said we plan to bid out everything we can but this first piece is critical and we have to have someone who really knows the project to be there. Alderman Ferrell asked how long this tie over will take. David Jurgens said he expects this initial critical cut -over piece to take less than 30 days. In response to a question from Alderman Cook, David Jurgens said that though OMI will be responsible for all the items on the list provided to the Committee, City staff will be available to make decisions and City equipment and crews will be on standby in the event of a problem. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page 3 of 7 In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, David Jurgens said this is a time and materials contract without bids, based off the base contract we have with OMI Alderman Jordan said he has some concerns about no -bid contracts. Alderman Cook said he also agrees with Mr. Jurgens that there aren't going to be very many people who will be knowledgeable enough to do this work. David Jurgens said OMI will have to be there anyway in order to handle the things they have to handle. For instance, no contractor can come in and operate the SCADA system. He said he doesn't see any alternative to this part of the project. We are going to bid out everything else we possible can. Alderman Ferrell moved that this letter agreement be forwarded to the Council. Alderwoman Gray seconded the motion and it passer. Alderman Jordan did not vote. David Jurgens said a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on June 12 at 3:00 at the West Side WWTP. At that time we will have reached substantial completion. However we will not have reached final completion of the project so some work will still be going on. e. WL -6 Change Order Number 5 David Jurgens said this change over will be coming forward soon and is a reconciliation with a net reduction. U Power Secure Change Order Number 1 David Jurgens said this change order will also be a net reduction because it was deemed smarter to do some of the work under the WL -6 contract. This change order will be coming forward in about four weeks. g. EL -1 (Malty Wagnon LS) Change Order Number 1 h. Ell -2 (Happy Hollow — Noland WWTP) Change Order Number 1 David Jurgens said these are no -cost change orders that involve increased construction time due to the rain we have been having. i. Contract Legal Review — West Plant Construction Contract David Jurgens said this contract is expected to come in at under S 10,000. The focus will be on lessons learned from this type of contract and making sure the reconciliation with the West Plant occurs appropriately. He hopes to bring the contract forward very soon. k. WSIP Easement Update David Jurgens said there are still nine easements to be obtained on EL -3 and EL -5. Some are only temporary construction easements. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page 4 of 7 3. Impact Fee Discussion Meeting scheduled for April 29, 2008 in Room 326 following the City Council Agenda session and Equipment Committee meeting. 4. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project Update a. Farmington Area David Jurgens said we have the final change orders for both the T -G Excavating dig -and - replace contract and the Insituform contract. Both are contract reductions. b. Basin 15 and minisystems 2, 5, 6 and 13A manhole rehabilitation David Jurgens said the notice -to -proceed on this contract was issued March 26. Work will begin within the next couple of weeks. C. Minisysems 5, 6,13A, 20 and 32 sanitary sewer evaluation study David Jurgens said the engineering selection committee has selected the RJN Group for the next sewer rehab area which includes the southern part of town and Greenland. This will funded in part with a STAG grant and in part with City funds. 5. 36" Water Line Improvements David Jurgens said this project has been hampered significantly by the rain. We have a change order with Black & Veatch for an increase of about $36,000. However, we will be assessing liquidated damages against the contractor because he has taken too long and is outside the scope of the contract. There will be a net no -cost to the City but this change order will have to go the City Council. 6. Water/Sewer Committee Meeting The next Water & Sewer Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2008 immediately following the Council Agenda session. A meeting is scheduled or April 29, 2008 for Impact Fees discussion only. WATER/SEWER COMMITTEE AGENDA SUPPLEMENT 1. WSIP WL -12, Farmington Lift Station David Jurgens said this is for the cost share for building the lift station at Double Springs Road and the vicinity of Goose Creek Road. The bids have come in and two were below the engineers estimate. The low bid was $1.7 million Q.L. Bryson), of which our share is $482,000. Alderman Cook asked if J. L. Bryson has done any work for the City in the past. David Jurgens said they have not done any work with the City. We will check references thoroughly. He said they have done some work for McGoodwin, Williams & Yates so we will 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page 5 of 7 check with them for references. He said the bid was just opened today so staff will still need to check all the figures. Assuming that everything works out with the bid, he requested that this be placed on the agenda at the first Council meeting in May. He said the Council will be approving the dollar amount of the cost share with Farmington. The Farmington City Council will be approving the contract itself because the contract will be with them. Alderwoman Gray moved that this item be forwarded to the City Council for approval. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 2. Sanitar-V Sewer Rehabilitation Engineering Selection David Jurgens said a map with the areas included in this rehab program was attached to this agenda. It will cover Country Club hill, the area around the airport and the Greenland basin. There is also one area just west of the University at which we will be looking. 3. Decentralized Sewer Discussion David Jurgens said when this subject was discussed by this Committee around a year ago the conclusion was that we really don't want decentralized sewer systems in Fayetteville. The discussion came up again at the last City Council meeting and seemed to go in many directions. He thought this Committee might want to discuss the issue again and see if any minds have changed. He said the public system is significantly better than any decentralized or septic system. The decentralized system is better in the short term than septic tanks because you have oversight and it is checked, inspected and permitted. However it is his opinion that in the long term they will end up costing more. He said the systems make it difficult to extend sewer because with them there there is no incentive to extend sewer. In twenty years when all of the rules have changed as to what you can discharge, the POA's probably won't be able to afford the cost of upgrades to meet the requirements. Staff feels these systems are better than septic systems but they're not nearly as good as municipal sewer. In the long run he doesn't feel it is in the City's best interests to have them inside the city limits. Alderman Cook said he believes this Committee has made that comment a few times. Gary Dumas said he thinks there is a bigger policy decision this Committee needs to think about. He said the area recently annexed in the west part of the city is not currently served by sewer. If you do not allow decentralized sewer, you will be allowing septic tanks on some size lot. Growth will continue on relatively large lots just as is happening in the County today. Decentralized sewer would allow those large lots to be smaller to get more urban density. He said growth will happen. If you try to stop it, it will just move further out. If you ever want to take the municipal system to those areas, the only way to do it in a reasonably cost effective way is off a decentralized sewer system. The infrastructure is already in place and you have one hookup instead of a hookup at every house. He said when this came up (a year ago) the staff and this committee all argued against decentralized sewer systems. He believes everyone still thinks these systems are a bad thing. But maybe septic tanks are a worse thing. Alderman Cook said he thinks he can agree with Mr. Dumas' analysis. However he also agrees that if there is a decentralized system, the homeowner has no incentive to connect to the municipal system. He wondered if during the planning process we should require them to agree that when the sewer system comes to that area they have to connect. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page 6 of 7 David Jurgens said we can make them do that and we have. He said we make them design it so there's a single point of connection. What can happen though is that there is never any incentive for the sewer to extend that way. There is no reason for the transmission line to be built if we have several decentralized sewer systems in a row. Alderman Cook suggested an improvement district so that as it builds out you slowly collect the money and then build the line. Ron Petrie said you would have several hundred people very much opposed to an improvement district. Gary Dumas said if you have four decentralized systems in a row and one fails, that group of property owners is going to demand something. Whether the City chooses to respond to that demand or just ask them to fix their own system will be a decision made by a future Council. He said there's no right or wrong answer in this discussion but a policy decision needs to be made. The discussion at the last Council meeting included the possibility of a waiver system to allow these decentralized systems in certain locations. A requirement to tie in (at the customer's cost) to the public system when it becomes available might be included in this waiver. Alderman Ferrell said he doesn't feel it is fair to not allow people to live where there is no public sewer system but he is not opposed to requiring residents to tie onto the system when it becomes available. He asked if it is correct that we have an agreement with the County to provide inspection of these systems. David Jurgens said the County provides administrative oversight but he doesn't believe they go out and inspect the systems. They check the records from the contractor who does it for the POA. His concern is what happens if the contractor goes out of business and there isn't anyone to do this. Alderman Ferrell said when we annex property there is an implied intent to provide facilities. If we can't provide facilities he doesn't believe we can hold them up until we can provide them. It shouldn't be hard to come up with some way to make sure they tie into the sewer once it is there. Gary Dumas suggested that Tim Conklin could put something together that would talk about what would happen when failure occurs and what the options and tie-in requirements will be when sewer is available. This could be a discussion item for the next meeting. In response to a question from Alderwoman Gray, David Jurgens said he believes our ordinances currently state that residents have to hook up to the City's system when it is available. Alderman Cook said what makes him nervous is the reality of when a step system fails and the homeowners (who may not know the history of this) are told they have to pay to fix it or they have to somehow come up with the money to bring a sewer tine there. Gary Dumas said this is an extraordinarily complex issue. Staff will bring something back to the Committee for further discussion. 4. Maintenance Bond Discussion 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes April 8, 2008 Page 7 of 7 David Jurgens said the Ordinance Review Committee met recently to discuss maintenance bonds. Their recommendation was to change how maintenance bonds are structured. Information about how they are currently structured and changes to the code were attached to the agenda. Effectively the recommendation is to change the bonding period from one year to two years (which he wholeheartedly supports) and change the dollar value from 100% to 25%. He said the potential for a 100% catastrophic failure of an entire development's infrastructure is remote. Requiring 25% of the entire development's value allows plenty to cover if one subsystem fails. He said he is comfortable with this change. Alderman Jordan asked for further clarification. Gary Dumas explained that the current requirement is if the infrastructure on a subdivision costs a million dollars, the developer would have to put up a million dollar bond for a year. The change would be to extend the bond to two years and instead of a million dollars, the bond would be worth $250,000. The reasoning for this is that a catastrophic failure involving streets, sewer and all other infrastructure is extraordinarily remote. Alderman Cook asked if staff is comfortable with the change to 25%. David Jurgens said they are. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org