Capital Improvement Committee

CITY OF LACONIA CIP MEETING OCTOBER 7, 2015, 6:30 PM CONFERENCE ROOM 200A Mike Foote called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Roll Call by Recording Secretary: William Contardo, No Response; Robert Hamel, Present; Mike Foote, Present; Paul Lambert, Present; Gail Denio, Present; Ava Doyle, No Response; Hamilton McLean, Present Absent: William Contardo, Ava Doyle Staff: Kristine Snow, ZBA Technician, Recording Secretary Minutes: The committee was in agreement with the minutes from the meeting of September 29, 2015 and they were adopted as written. M. Foote let the other committee members know that the presentations for the evening were Water, Fire and DPW. He asked Water to begin the evening. WATER DEPARTMENT: Seth Nuttleman appeared for the Water Department proposal. He is also representing the Board of Water Commissioners. He asked the committee to look at the spread sheets they received with their submission. All of these are from the Enterprise Fund. He said he would break his discussion into two sets; first are the streets and upgrades of water infrastructure, and second are the regular capital purchases. Lakeside: There is a history of water main breaks in this section. They actually started the process of planning for the work when it was scheduled through other departments. He has this listed under current revenue but there are different ways to fund this. This is about half a million dollars. They are replacing around 1800 - 2000 feet of all cast iron pipes. This has been coordinated with DPW. Also in the next two years they plan to do Tremont, Merrimack, Morningside, a portion of McGrath, and N Main Street all in conjunction with DPW projects. N Main is broken down in two years for budget purposes. There are problems in that area. The sewer, at the lower section near the fire station, will have an upgrade. This is another large project for the future. Road upgrades are being done as there is a history of problems with pipes here. These are 2” iron pipe, which breaks down. They are trying to get the small streets caught up. After being fixed a few times it isn’t cost effective as they could have re-laid them. The rest are on the radar to keep an eye on. They keep records on problems. Funding and activities of DPW make a big difference as 1/3 of the cost is asphalt so they pair up whenever possible. S. Nuttleman moved on to the second sheet, starting with pump replacement/upgrades: They have 2 pumps that can do the same job in case of a failure. They have a pump at the treatment plant where the casings are going and that is 23K. Gate/hydrant upgrades: The gates work but the operating nuts rust. Painting, cleaning, aprons, and all moving parts which need more energy to maintain. They are upgrading this every year. Painting Long Bay tank: This is due for a paint job. They have the rough numbers to do it and are trying to save funding to do this. The interior is in better shape than the exterior. Sun is hurting the dome. This is a 3 year project. ¾ ton pickup: This is a service truck with a utility bed. They experimented with a foreman truck last time, and it worked ok, so there were some savings there. They may go that route again. Gail Denio asked year is the truck that they plan to replace and was told it is a 2006. Unit 1: This is a 2003 and it is getting tired. There is rot underneath. They are trying to keep it in the rotation. Unit 9: This one has high mileage and is a 2004. SCADA radios: This is for the control system from the booster, tank elevations, and plant, which are all connected with radios. There have been frequency changes, and they can’t get backup/support/repairs on about ½ of the units now. Mike Foote asked the age and was told they are over 10 years old. Hamilton McLean asked if these have any connection with the LPD radio upgrades. S. Nuttleman said frequency changes took place, and they did that last year. This is just for SCADA. H. McLean wondered if this signal can be programmed into LPD and was told this is for metering and control. The signal goes one-way. H. McLean said the Police are upgrading to digital and wondered if these can use the same radio system, use small bandwidth. Fire and Police are doing an upgrade. S. Nuttleman said he doesn’t know, but he will ask. M. Foote asked if these are the ones that sit on the tower and send data, and was told yes. He asked if they are replacing anything new on the post and was told no. He asked how many units there are and was told around 15 total. H. McLean asked if there is one central monitoring station, and was told yes, and that is 24/7. There is a repeater on the Long Bay tank to the treatment plant. All alarms are monitored through the treatment plant. Alarms go through a call tree after a certain time. That tracks through 7 different people until someone responds. They are replacing steel, iron and cast iron in the ground and replacing it with ductile. Plastic was asked about and S. Nuttleman said it is slightly cheaper but is harder to locate, and is not as durable, but not as corrosive. H. McLean asked if they could add tracer lines – would that be a cost effective solution in the future – and S. Nuttleman said he is not convinced. He feels ductile iron is best way to go. It is very durable and the services attach good. PVC is brittle. You can bang off the ductile iron without getting into trouble. Pickup: This is 2 years out. Briarcrest drive pumps: This is about 24 years old, and there have been a few problems. The Briarcrest tank is steel, and there is some corrosion in the interior. They will have to take this off-line at some point, as there is no location for a second tank. They will have to isolate the tank and pump direct into the system. H. McLean asked if we own the tank and was told yes. Mark Mooney put it up to water’s specs, and we took over all the pipes in the Laconia section. H. McLean asked how many pumps we have and S. Nuttleman said, at a guess, he thinks we have between 75 - 100. H. McLean asked if these are constant volume or variable and was told most are constant. He said the remaining requests are for equipment turnovers. Those are another 4 years out. All are in good shape with no problems at this point. H. McLean asked if the water infrastructure in a GIS system somewhere and was told they converted over to GIS but they are also maintaining paper logs. They hyperlinked all the service, hydrant and gate cards. This year they can send guys out with tablet. They just open the tablet, GPS to the location, and they can call it all up, size, age, type of pipe, etc. They can search under address. They are maintaining both at this point. Nuttleman said he is not ready to get rid of paper in case of a computer crash. This is a new system but it has been very beneficial. They are using this for the backflow program, too. They put this in the laptop, load, and even billing is automated. M. Foote asked when they are doing the inside of a tank, what is the process to seal and S. Nuttleman said it depends on the type of tank. The larger ones are gunite, which are sprayed on under high pressure. Cleaning involves chlorine product. Steel tanks are sandblasted. R. Hamel said where the patchwork was done where the fire hydrant let go on Union Avenue, the patch is not done very well. S. Nuttleman said he knows about it and is talking to DPW about when it will be re-done. R. Hamel asked if it would be done before winter and S. Nuttleman said he would check into it. FIRE DEPARTMENT: Kirk Beattie appeared for Fire. Their first request is for Radios. When they went to narrow banding it affected the way they dispatch and receive information. These portable radios will solve a lot of problems. They tested other types that did not work; they still had poor transmission. Lakeport/Weirs/Lakeside is not a good area even using upgraded radios. They went to dispatch and asked questions. They talked to manufacturers. They talked with LPD to see how to make this better. Lines, repeaters, and adding repeaters were discussed. They will add in the Weirs, hospital, and change out on Parade Rd. These are different systems so some of the equipment marries each other and some doesn’t but the installation is the same. It will be the same company. This will be a combination project Between Fire and Police. They have filed for a NH Homeland security grant, haven’t heard back yet on that. This is a safety matter. We need to be able to communicate with crews. H. McLean asked if this will remain analog and was told yes, we have to match Lakes Region Fire Aid. Paul Lambert said the repeater talks to another machine. He didn’t realize they were still analog. H. McLean said LPD will give them some of the old radios if they get their money. He said it is surprising all can’t be on the same system and was told we have to work through the dispatch center, Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid, which is located at the old prison, and handles 36 towns. P. Lambert asked if the repeater is located in the Weirs and was told it is at the top of the Meredith Bay tank. He asked if they did any testing from that area and was told yes. Using different locations, and distances, this one came out the best after testing. H. McLean asked if we avoid a competitive bid process because this is standard and K. Beattie said for the grant we only needed to come up with one. Ossipee Mountain is all state bid, so he thinks we can avoid issues. P. Lambert said there are not very many vendors. R. Hamel said Ossipee Mountain has been around forever. G. Denio asked if both are $385K individually or if this is combined and was told it was combined. For all intents and purposes they are splitting it 50/50. H. McLean asked about the grant and was told it was due at the end of September. He asked how these will work together and was told that Water would benefit from this as well. G. Denio asked if this is a 50/50 grant and was told no, it is 100%. There was a set amount which was already marked for school, with municipalities being a little less. They need to replace the portable radios; most about 10 years old and were purchased through a state grant. The Motorola equipment is out of date, and we will be left on our own. They have been able to replace antennas, and the microphones if under 100 dollars. They do a number of them a year. To repair a radio, the bill starts at 300.00 and works its way up. They keep them even if a screen no longer works. They are trying to buy all new batteries which has helped some. Knobs, screens, and buttons are not cheap to have fixed. H. McLean asked if everyone is issued radio and was told yes, each person has been assigned a radio. They take better care of them when it is theirs. The accountability is there. M. Foote asked on the coast and was told about $4K for new ones. Some money was held in a reserve from last year. He thinks he can get this down a bit if they are placing a large order. Engine 3: He passed out a picture and said that right now this is classified as a spare, and is used as little as possible. It doesn’t meet any of their requirements. It will be 30 years old next year, and carries less than 500 gallons of water. All of the others carries 1000 gallons. There is no compartment space. It was a hose wagon, and carried 2000 feet of 4” hose. They didn’t have as many fire hydrants in the past but with better spacing now they no longer need a hose wagon. They use tankers from other towns more than this. They want to buy new, with the potential for1000 gallons, and compartment space for the Weirs. They will move engine 5 to downtown for a second piece of 100% apparatus. Engine 2 would be kept as 80% ready truck. These can be moved around. Water used to borrow this if they lost their pump. They thought about giving to Water as they no longer need it. R. Hamel asked if they would buy an engine similar to engine 1 and was told similar but they would adjust the layout a bit. After seeing different forms, they have more choices to pull from. Inflatable rescue boat: They had a hand me down the last two times. This has outlived its life span; it is a zodiac style of boat. It doesn’t hold air, and they have to continuously pump. It has multiple holes, due to wear and tear. This has been repaired many times and is seeing the end of its life. Motor is needed as well, as this one has 15 HP, and they want to increase that. They were told it is reaching the end of its life, too. They have boats in Winnisquam and 2 in Winnipesaukee now. This takes care of the river downtown and Opechee. In wintertime/spring/fall this boat is used in open water. They also take it to all winter calls. They take the motor off and can use it during an ice rescue. The trailer goes back at least 3 boats, and has been welded and beat back into shape. They will want to replace that at the same time. M. Foote asked if the replacement will go under the Messer Street bridge and was yes, unless we are in a flood situation. They will purchase one with a low profile. 2017: Portable fire pump for boat at the Weirs docks. They have a small pump now which is hard to use and is not user friendly. It doesn’t flow a lot of water, only about 180 gallons a minute, and we need in the upper 3’s. H. McLean asked how many boat fires they respond to and was told not a lot but there were more accidents this year than in recent past. H. McLean asked if they fight land based fires and was told no, but they could if needed. Mutual Aid would take a while as they have to come from Alton or Tuftonboro. 2017: Skid unit for brush truck. They use this all time. It goes out to brush fires, and can take up to 200 gallons of water, and the hose. The skid unit is over 15 years old, and is nearing the end of its life expectancy. The pump was not part of what was initially bought and is much older. It doesn’t hold together very well. This truck is used often, in and out of town. It sees extensive use during Bike Week during the 4th of July, at any fireworks, and can get into campgrounds and smaller areas. They are using it at Pumpkin Fest this year. 2018: Upgrade Weirs fire station. The station only had 2 personnel when built, now has 3. It is very busy on weekends. They would renovate and add another bay. They run 3 pieces of apparatus now. Just to get the ladder out they have to move the other equipment around. The back of the new bay would help Parks and Rec, and make it easier to go to the new parking lot. They would add a women’s quarters/restrooms. They have nothing there now. They would increase day room and mezzanine areas. This would increase office space, add a fire alarm system and fire protection system. They also want a police section, to allow a substation in basement. What they have is very small, so they would increase that, giving them more office space. P. Lambert asked if anyone has looked at this for future. He thinks it is not worth spending money on, and they should build a new station. He was told that costs more money. P. Lambert said in 10 years the new space will be too small. He was told that plans were built in for long term expansion. They are still looking at a third station north of city long term if there is more growth in that section. The presentation was concluded at 7:30. DDEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: Paul Moynihan appeared for the Department of Public Works proposal. He let the committee know that he did the summary in two sheets, with streets on one, and capital improvement and sewer on another. That is done by Enterprise Fund, which is dealt with by the City Council in their regular budget. Street repairs: They are requesting 1,600,000.00. They are doing over a million for 16th year in row. City Council gave them a special appropriation for this year so they are doing around 2 million this year. They want to do between 5-7 miles a year. We have 85 miles with 2/3 reconstruction on the failure end. The average is 65. If we catch it early the deterioration is cut down rather than put all into failed roads. Last year Union Ave cost $900K and they only got 1,320.000. They have a 3 year list. A lot of work goes into decision on which gets done. Investigate sewer and drainage. He said he will focus on the 2016/17 year but the others are on radar. Lakeside, Court St, items 9a and 9b: These are major roads that need serious work. Next fall they plan to do Lakeside. They will get drainage and water reconstruction in the fall of 2016, and in the spring of 2017 it will be ready for tourists. They will do water, drainage, and base pave in the fall, and do a top course in the spring and it should be ready for Memorial Day. R. Hamel asked if the burying of power lines is included and was told no. They tried to find grants/funds. R. Hamel asked if they were able to get an estimate for that and was told that back in Frank Tilton’s day it was about a million dollars. R. Hamel mentioned that there are other section of boardwalk that is deteriorating and P. Moynihan said that is in the request for next year. The North end was done in 1985. This is over 30 years old and the decking is in tough shape. They will take the decking off and change joists. The frame is metal. 9B: They will do some next year. The closed circuit TV is in, they will clean drains, and rebuild the following year. Court Street investigation are a step ahead, so they will know how much drainage and sewer needs to be replaced. The following year is full reclamation. They might have to break this up, and one year do up to Fair, then Fair to the town line. R. Hamel asked if there is a problem with the gas company and was told they are still dealing with but has to be on the radar. This must be pursued. P. Moynihan said we should pull in gas and have discussion. They are a good crew to work with, and are very responsive but are very busy. They hit oil contaminated soil when coming down Court Street and it got to be a cost factor. 2007/8 and it is a sizable gas line. That main upgrade was a big deal but they could not justify the additional cost at that time. The 1.3 is the best estimate. Bridge repair/maintenance: P. Moynihan said they hired a consultant to look at bridges, and suggested repairs. Academy and Court Street are next. They have been asking for funds to do work on the bridges. Some of these are substantial bridges. There have been major costs in the past. They hired CLD out of Manchester. They are bridge experts, and are reviewing all. The state inspects every 2 years. They use state bridge aid for repairs, which is 80/20. R. Hamel asked which is worst and was told that both Academy and Court were submitted to the state program. The City Council has to approve this but we do need the seed money. It is in the program. Look at # 56, 57, in year 2018, and you will see the consultant for study and reconstruction. In 2020 they are asking for additional engineering funding. That is in 2022 because that is how far out the state is. We put in some engineering money for the bridge study, preliminary design, and then the final design but we cannot do the design too far before construction. Messer Street will need rehab too. We are out a few years on that. Fence and guardrail. This has been done for 8-10 years. They use this to rebuild retaining wall, fences, and guardrails. We have a lot of retaining walls and many are getting to the point where they need work. He was asked who owns these walls and P. Moynihan said it is not always clear. They did the one on Baldwin a few years ago, and the one on North St last year. H. McLean asked if they self-perform that and was told that they have gone to a pre-engineered structure, and have been working with a specialist on pre-engineered walls. These are standard packages. R. Hamel said the one on Baldwin Street is a nice job. P. Moynihan said they are aesthetically attractive and the DPW crew does it. They have even been putting in the black metal fences. Vehicle: Item 31: They are requesting a little bit more than in past. They are paying back the bond they got 6 years ago in 2009. Item 32: This is for traffic light improvement. We have 8 signalized lights. Oak at Main was the last one done. Some are 30-40 years old so they must stay at it. We have a consultant, PTOE, for operations engineering. There is a science to get it right. They have been using McFarland and have been thrilled with them. 4 intersections are not working right. Elm is one. Union/Church isn’t working right, as this should stay green at night unless someone is coming out of Church. Loops 1500 per installation, video cameras are$4500.00. This is a single eye camera, and is a new technology. They have a bid for 19K. R. Hamel mentioned the light at Gilford Avenue and said he has seen the camera over the pole and thinks the single eye camera is there. P. Moynihan said he would look into that. They want all 8 intersections to be reviewed. Certain components need to be upgraded, but they are not sure on the overall picture. Moynihan said he wants to see Laconia go into the upgraded program. H. McLean asked if these are all updated to LED and was told yes. He asked if they had any fail and was told that there were a few that finally burned out; the last was Rollercoaster and Route 3. They share that with the state. M. Foote asked if these are controlled by loops and was told yes. He asked about Rollercoaster and Watson and was told it was installed but not upgraded. Drainage study: Items # 45 and 46: They have been doing this for the last 5 years. # 45 is study of areas where we have flooding issues. We worked with a consultant on this. There are 20 areas in the community which are prone to flooding. Preliminary design was given. Chapin, Franklin, School, and Washington Streets have issues. We will work with the engineer to design an upgrade. Again, this is a specialty as there is an engineering component. We have gotten into an improvements sequence that is working well. We are asking for the construction part of it. Chapin Terrace is taking all of the appropriation from last year. 46A: Messer: This is one of the flooding area with issues: Messer across from Dutile Oil. The system is 75-100 years old, and is not working right. It is difficult to repair, and they can’t even clean it anymore. It can handle a moderate storm, but they had to pump last week to keep the tank farm from not being under water. This is a focused project for Dutile. R. Hamel asked if they can redirect this and not go under and was told they can get out from under the dykes and under the tank farms. There is one clean shot but the state touchy. It is on the lake side of Messer that is bad. Tracks, WOW trail, and the sewer system comes down from Lakeport, so it will be a sensitive design. R. Hamel asked the size of the pipe there and was told 24”. The lake draw down is on the 12th for 9 days and they will cut out a piece and replace under the driveway then. They had to check the pipe size then. H. McLean asked if this is coming off the street and was told yes. It begins at Taylor, comes by Irving, down to the old public works, and goes under Dutile’s complex. It used to be a culvert across Messer. Someone built a building on top of drainage which is typical for the time period. They added the Weirs Boardwalk as there was trouble with decking, but this is out a few years. They have concrete crushing to put back in. They have a large yard full of concrete and asphalt, which they have been stockpiling for a dozen years. Busby took and crushed and used for his projects last time. Sidewalk: Court Street and Academy Streets are on the agenda. Parking garage: They have a new challenge. They have been requesting for 3 years, and got small amounts for improvements on the deck/structure. They did not anticipate this level of concern. There is serious deterioration on ramps. They had 65K, with 15K to engineering. That figure is still being worked on. The 60K will no longer be adequate even with the emergency repairs. R. Hamel asked if this is a band aid or a good fix and was told a good fix; the welding and steel would stay. 70% to that with the other 30% going to timber shoring under the ramps. The concrete has deteriorated. They will rip out and re-pour. They cannot take the time now. The steel repairs will be permanent but the concrete riding surface is a temporary measure. R. Hamel asked if this is the first level or all of it and P. Moynihan said that all of the steel structure should be a permanent repair. The ramps will not be fully completed with what is being done. R. Hamel asked if they can do this over the winter and P. Moynihan said that lots of contractors that do bridge work like this type of thing for winter. H. McLean asked if this is used extensively and was told that the top deck seldom gets used, but the middle is 75-80% every day. He asked if this can accommodate 120 cars maximum and was told that the parking is only in the middle and top. The bottom is retail space. The ownership is intermingled. The ramps are city responsibility, and we own ¾ of the middle and the top deck. The southern stairs are owned by a private entity. He said that the 60K number is small. Hilliard Rd bridge is next in a few years. There are a pair of twin culverts that go to Hillcroft Road and they want this in the state bridge program. Union Ave retaining wall: The height of this if from 3-4’ to 10’, with an average of 6’. This is showing distress. Drainage from Union goes through the wall. Irwin has been complaining for a few years. This is an old system and is difficult. They hired a consultant who did a preliminary evaluation. They are in good shape now and is in early review. Plantation Road: This is a problem will never go away. This was a gravel development, which was built in the 60’s. It never got paved, and has no drainage system. The city has been maintaining it for 50 years. It washes major gravel down to the bottom of the hill. They have to take the gravel back up and rebuild. R. Hamel asked if this is private and was told yes but we have been maintaining it but it doesn’t meet prescription. Even if don’t have layout. Plantation was built in 50’s/60’s. We legally could say you are on your own but that is a real burden to put on these people. M. Foote asked if there is a drawing of a road that was never built or developed and was told yes, Heritage Road. We have nave never maintained that; there are only a few houses. Our attorney said to back off on a few roads. Hillcroft, the end of Hilliard and Harglen, too. Country Club Road is another one. Plantation is a major maintenance cost for the department and we need an engineering estimate. Drainage, public sewer and water are there now. Lakes Region Water Co serves some of them. Things need to be worked out, and we can’t just go in and pave the road. R. Hamel asked if there is enough room and P. Moynihan said he thinks he can get to the 50’. There will be catch basins, drainage, which goes into the state system, and under road to Pendleton Road. H. McLean asked how many homes are here and was told about 30. He asked if we could create a special assessment and P. Moynihan said that could be done. That is a betterment assessment. R. Hamel asked if we did this on Phoenician Way and was told yes, the developer quit. We did Woodwinds Hill, where the owners paid half, over 10 years in their taxes. We need the seed money and a qualified designer. Sewer: 2017: These are most pump station upgrades. SCADA. We now have no weekend overtime, and can monitor. Langley Cove will need pumps, generator valves. Mass Ave and Lakeside Ave upgrades are needed. SSFV: When rebuilding roads we did investigations and found a lot of upgrades are needed. This is coming out of different funding, the Sanitary Sewer Funds. P. Moynihan gave the recommended priority for items 1 – 14. 1: street repairs 2: Lakeside Ave reconstruction 3: Court St reconstruction 4: DPW Vehicle replacement 5: Parking Garage repairs 6: Drainage improvements city wide 7: comprehensive drainage study 8: Fence/guardrail replacement 9: Sidewalk repair/construction 10: Traffic light improvements 11: Bridge repair/maintenance 12: Union Ave retaining wall 13: Messer St drainage improvements 14: Plantation Road, drainage/road assessments. The presentation was done at 8:30. M. Foote reminded everyone that the public input meeting is set for Tuesday, October 20 and that the scoring sheets are due in the Planning office on October 27. Adjournment: H. McLean moved to adjourn, with the second by G. Denio. All voted in favor and the meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm.