Board of Works

BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY MINUTES February 2, 2016 Regular Session: The Board of Public Works and Safety met in regular session on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. in the Common Council Chambers. Members present were: Gary Henriott, Cindy Murray, Dawn Ross, Norm Childress and Ron Shriner. Ed Chosnek, City Attorney, was also present. President Henriott called the meeting to order. The Pledge of Allegiance was given to the flag of our Country. MINUTES Mr. Childress moved for approval of the minutes from the January 26, 2016 regular meeting. Mrs. Ross seconded. Passed. NEW BUSINESS Engineering Twyckenham Road Reconstruction from Poland Hill Road to South 9th Street Jenny Leshney, Public Works Director, presented to the Board and recommended approval of the Twyckenham Road Reconstruction from Poland Hill Road to South 9th Street with INDOT. The project will replace pavement on Twyckenham Road from Poland Hill Road to South 9th Street. The funds in this agreement are for the engineering portion of the project. There is $360,000.00 in Federal funds which is 80% of the total cost of the project. Mr. Shriner moved for approval. Mrs. Murray seconded. Passed. TBird General Services Contract Mrs. Leshney presented to the Board and recommended approval of the TBird General Services Contract for On-Call Services as needed. Task Orders will be issued on this agreement as needed and can be funded out of the Engineering budget. Mrs. Ross moved for approval. Mrs. Childress seconded. Passed. Task Order#1-Durkees Run Interceptor & Earl Avenue Reconstruction Mrs. Leshney presented to the Board and recommended approval of Task Order #1 for Durkees Run Interceptor & Earl Avenue Reconstruction Project with TBird. This reestablishes the survey monuments on Earl Avenue. Mrs. Murray moved for approval. Mr. Shriner seconded. Passed. Board of Public Works and Safety February 2, 2016 Page 2 Lafayette Housing Authority Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions-1105 Weaver Court Valerie Oakley, Lafayette Housing Authority, presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions for 1105 Weaver Court. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mr. Shriner moved for approval. Mrs. Ross seconded. Passed. Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions-1121 Weaver Court Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions for 1121 Weaver Court. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mrs. Murray moved for approval. Mr. Childress seconded. Passed. Release of Mortgage-32 Strawhat Drive Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Mortgage for 32 Strawhat Drive. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mr. Shriner moved for approval. Mrs. Ross seconded. Passed. Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions-32 Strawhat Drive Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions for 32 Strawhat Drive. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mr. Childress moved for approval. Mrs. Murray seconded. Passed. Release of Mortgage-104 Washington Street Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Mortgage for 104 Washington Street. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mrs. Ross moved for approval. Mr. Shriner seconded. Passed. Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions-104 Washington Street Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions for 104 Washington Street. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mrs. Murray moved for approval. Mr. Shriner seconded. Passed. Release of Mortgage-100 Washington Street Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Mortgage for 100 Washington Street. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mr. Childress moved for approval. Mrs. Ross seconded. Passed. Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions-100 Washington Street Mrs. Oakley presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Release of Covenant for Deed Restrictions for 100 Washington Street. Mrs. Oakley stated that they have satisfied the period of affordability. Mrs. Murray moved for approval. Mr. Shriner seconded. Passed. Board of Public Works and Safety February 2, 2016 Page 3 Mrs. Oakley announced that Lafayette Housing Authority is starting the 2016 application process for CDBG and HOME funds. The first public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 4:00pm in the Common Council Chambers, City Hall. CLAIMS Mike Jones, Controller, presented for Board approval, Claims in the amount of $2,557,287.54. President Henriott asked if there were any further questions and there were none. Mr. Childress moved for approval. Mrs. Murray seconded. Passed. MISCELLANEOUS Special Event Request-Race for Kids 5K President Henriott presented to the Board and recommended approval of a Special Event Request for the Race for Kids 5K to be held on June 4th, 2016 from 8:30am-10:30am near Unity Healthcare and the surrounding neighborhood. Mrs. Ross moved for approval. Mr. Childress seconded. Passed. Taxi Cab License Patrick Flannelly, Police Chief, presented to the Board and recommended approval of two (2) taxi cab permits for Michelle Lindstrom and Antonio Swisher. Mr. Childress moved for approval. Mrs. Murray seconded. Passed. DEPARTMENTAL UPDATES Engineering Jenny Leshney gave the following update: Last year was another record year for building permits and inspections, and this year has started off with several large projects; SIA’s continued expansion, the Marq, Poppa Top, Wing Etc., the YMCA, and we expect Home2 Suites and Residence Inn to be submitted soon. Despite the continued fast pace of private development and demand for permits and inspections, we continue to work on department projects 1. Began implementation of the new inspection, code enforcement, licensing, and permitting software, Tyler MUNIS. Complete implementation of the new inspection and permitting software, go live in 3 weeks. Work toward a citizen self-service portal for permitting and inspection. 2. Continual update of new department page of the City Website. 3. As we work on projects we continue the implementation of the City-wide bicycle and pedestrian m a s t e r plan. 4. Continue to work on tree plantings, ash and dead tree removal and an Adopt a Tree program, our urban forester has hired a work study intern from Purdue and continues to work and with Purdue students and professors to enhance our efforts. 5. Strengthen our Code Enforcement efforts related to property maintenance, unsafe structures and abandoned properties. Our new code enforcement position and building inspector position will be in place this spring. 6. Continue to facilitate and assist the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation with riverfront Board of Public Works and Safety February 2, 2016 Page 4 development. Public Works Projects CDBG neighborhood curb and sidewalk projects City-wide street repair and paving projects Final punch list for Old Romney Road Reconstruction th Start construction on the S 18 Street Widening, from VMP to CR430 S Columbian Park Trail Crossing at Scott and South Street John T Meyers and Riehle Plaza Pedestrian Bridges Ramp Project on the John T Meyers Bridge Market Square Signal and Greenbush Street Sewer and Road Projects Alexander Ross Drainage Area Master Plan Sagamore Parkway, All phases. Twyckenham/Beckenham Trail Downtown Streetscape Project Main Street Streetscape Project Long Center Building Renovations Big Four Depot Building Renovations Parking Garage Renovations Traffic Signal at Fastlane Drive and Veterans Memorial Parkway East Water Works Kerry Smith, Water Works Superintendent, gave the following update: 2015 was a year that saw several changes at Lafayette Water Works. We completed a new SCADA system (System Control and Data Acquisition), that has total fiber optic communications, thus eliminating radio communication and line-of-sight telemetry, providing a much more reliable system of communicating between our water towers, booster station, well fields, and treatment plants. In 2015, we also created a computer simulated hydraulic model of our distribution system. This model took into account the approximately 350 miles of water of mains of various sizes, our water towers and tower heights, different pressure zones within the system, high capacity users and times of day they are at their peak usage, etc. The information that this model provides lets us see where our infrastructure needs improvement and where we need to focus our resources in the future. In 2016, we will be finishing up installation of an on-site sodium hypochlorite generator at our Glick treatment plant. Sodium hypochlorite is mild bleach (.8%) used to disinfect our water. In comparison, household bleach is about 6%. Currently we generate sodium hypochlorite at our Canal Road facility and are purchasing a 12.5% solution for use at Glick. Before we started using bleach in 2006, we used gaseous chlorine that was extremely volatile and very dangerous. Were gaseous chlorine to be released, it would cause evacuations of the immediate area and several surrounding blocks. We also fed gaseous chlorine at Columbian Park which is in a very densely populated area, not to mention being adjacent to a city park and swimming pool. By eliminating this threat and switching to this mild form of bleach, we have totally negated any safety risk associated with chlorine. Currently, we are in the middle of a meter change out program. As water meters age, they tend to slow down which then gives a reading of less water than the customer is actually using, which increases our unaccounted for water. Unaccounted for water is the difference between the water we pump at the plant versus the amount of water we sell to our customers. Some of this unaccounted for water can be attributed to our semi-annual flushing of fire hydrants, fire department and street sweeper use, flushing of Board of Public Works and Safety February 2, 2016 Page 5 new mains during construction, and leaks. All unmetered water. Typically, our unaccounted for water is less than 5%. However, that number has been creeping up over the last three or four years mostly due to metering. We are currently hovering around 14%. What does this mean and why is this important? In 2015, Water Works budgeted revenue was $7,800,000.00. For every 1% of unaccounted for water we can account for through metering, translates into an increase of $78,000.00 in annual revenue captured. So if we were to find just 5%, that is $390,000.00 annually. Also, WPCD revenues are based on our meter readings. Their 2015 budgeted revenue was $30,800,000.00, one percent of which is $308,000.00, and five percent would be a 1.54 million dollar increase in annual revenue. Our last meter change out in the late 1990s saw us drop from 18% unaccounted for water down to 6%, or a 12% recapture of lost revenue. Were we able to accomplish that again, that would translate into 4.6 million in today’s dollars annually between the two utilities. So, the numbers can be quite staggering. And because the entire project will cost an estimated 6 million dollars, the return on investment is very short. The last time we changed meters, we went from meters that had to be read manually by opening a meter pit and physically writing the reading down in a book, to meters that could be read simply by touching a pad on the outside of a meter pit lid with a wand capturing the reading and saving it to a handheld device which was then downloaded in the Utility Billing Office. This was a major improvement and much more efficient. The new meters we are installing today are read by radio and are manufactured by a company called Neptune. Instead of having to physically touch each meter pit lid, we can simply drive through a neighborhood that has the new meters installed and capture the readings with a laptop or handheld device as we go. What used to take several hours can now be read in several minutes. Then, in August of 2015, we took this radio reading system to a new level. We installed three “Gateway” collection units within our system. One is located on the water tower on Twyckenham Boulevard, one on a radio tower at Fire Station 7 by the Fairgrounds, and one at Columbian Park on an existing tower. This allows us to capture readings from any meter that these towers can reach, typically within a one-half mile radius, and backhaul that data to UBO via fiber optics to a desktop computer. Currently, UBO is able to read approximately 2,500 meters instantly. This exponentially reduces the cost of gathering meter readings. In 2105 we installed 2,800 new Neptune meters and our goal for 2016 is to install an additional 3,500. This would bring our total to about 15,400, or about 50% of our system. We also intend on installing three more Gateways in locations yet to be determined. The end game of the meter change out program is to eventually read every meter in our system automatically and instantly without the need to send several people out every day in all kinds of weather expending man hours and fuel, while keeping our employees out of harm’s way from being constantly in traffic. In conclusion, it is our greatest goal to find new ways to be more efficient in our day to day operations while improving safety for our employees. Time: 9:26 a.m. BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY Gary Henriott s/s President ATTEST: Mindy Miller s/s Mindy Miller, 1st Deputy Clerk Minutes written by Mindy Miller, 1st Deputy Clerk Board of Public Works and Safety February 2, 2016 Page 6 *A digital audio recording of this meeting is available in the Lafayette City Clerk’s Office. Board of Public Works and Safety February 2, 2016 Page 7