Water Resources Board

MINUTES MURFREESBORO WATER RESOURCES BOARD February 26, 2019 The Murfreesboro Water Resources Board met on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 in the conference room at the Operations and Maintenance Building, 1725 S. Church Street. Present at the meeting were Board members: Mr. John Sant Amour, Dr. Al Carter, Mr. Ron Crabtree, Mr. Brian Kidd, Ms. Kathy Nobles, Ms. Madelyn Scales-Harris. Also present were Darren Gore, Doug Swann, Valerie Smith, Michele Pinkston, Anita Heck, David Ives, Steve Tate, Jimmy Stacey, Randy McCullough, Joe Russell, John Strickland, Josh LeMay, Sharon Seibert, Jay Bradley, Mike Bernard, Kyle Peters, Travis Wilson, and Ronnie Martin, along with other members of the public. The Consent Agenda was presented for the following considerations: A. Consider purchase of Jet/Vacuum Sewer Cleaner Truck – The current unit has suffered numerous maintenance repairs over the last 10 years resulting in a cost of $153,770.42. This is 40% higher than the average for equipment in the same class. It also has a higher fuel cost per mile than the department’s other vac trucks. Due to the excessive downtime and maintenance cost, staff recommends replacing this unit. Staff located the desired vehicle on the Sourcewell Contract with Atlantic Machinery, Inc. in the amount of $374,700. The total amount budgeted for this vehicle is $375,000. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council to approve the purchase of this equipment with funding coming from the FY18-19 budgeted capital account. B. Consider purchase of Penn Valley Pump System – The Water Resource Recovery Facility utilizes 8 Penn Valley Double Disc Pumps to transfer the sludge that is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process. Currently, over 125,000,000 gallons of sludge are transferred annually to the Biosolids facility for dewatering. In 2016 three Penn Valley Double Disc Pumps Systems were replaced. Now the final of the 8 pumps needs to be replaced. It has reached the end of its useful life and is also obsolete. Since it is obsolete, the entire pump system needs to be replaced in addition to the pump itself. The system’s motor, housing, vacuum assembly, discharge pulsation dampeners and all other ancillary equipment will be replaced as part of this project. New Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts are only available from a single source. The manufacturer’s distributor for this area is Penn Valley Pump Co., Inc. Staff recommended approval to purchase one Penn Valley Double Disc Pump System to replace an existing pump system in the amount of $31,944 from working capital reserves. Page 51 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 2 C. Consider S&ME Task Order for CCTV of mainlines and laterals along Broad St. – The Department currently has a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with S&ME, Inc. approved February 2012. The MSA has been used for various projects, the most recent being the approval of the engineering design of the next Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project approved at the December 2018 Board meeting. For the sewer rehabilitation projects, the Department has provided video and database information to S&ME from our own in-house CCTV crews, but also in December 2016 the Board also approved a Task Order with S&ME for the wet weather CCTV of our sewer mainlines and for the CCTV of the public portion of sewer laterals (between the main and the property line or edge of easement) i.e. lateral launch. The benefit of having wet weather CCTV and lateral launch completed by an outside company, allows our crews to concentrate on operations and maintenance. S&ME has the personnel, expertise and time to make sure the City is receiving a quality finished product, i.e. video and database records of the defects, that will integrate into our current database files including mainline and laterals. These products are the “survey” needed to design future sewer rehabilitation projects. Staff has requested and received a Task Order from S&ME for televising and lateral launch of the sewer mains along Broad Street between Ash Street and Church Street. This sewer main has been rehabilitated in the past, but the sewer services were not rehabilitated or inspected. This CCTV will give staff the information necessary to rehabilitate the sewer services and to plan ahead any necessary point repairs within Broad Street prior to the rehab. Staff recommended that the Board recommend to the City Council approval of the Engineering Task Order with S&ME in an amount not to exceed $20,500. Funding for the Engineering, Construction Administration, Inspection and Construction is approved from a combination of the remaining 2017/2018 Budget & Working Capital Reserves, as well as 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 Budget & Working Capital Reserves. The Department has $720,246 remaining to spend in the 2017/2018 allotment. D. Consider Department participation with Veterans Plaza for sewer main extension at Hwy 96 and Veterans Blvd – At the April 2015 Board meeting it was approved to participate with the Kroger Development, at the northeast corner of Veterans Parkway and Hwy. 96, to upsize and deepen the sewer extension through the site. The 10” sewer main extended from Overall Creek, west to Veterans Parkway and was consistent with the Sub-basin Area Master Plan (SAMP) for sewer service in this area. At this time, a developer, Gresh Martin, owns property on the west side of Veterans Parkway and wishes to extend sewer. Again, to follow the SAMP, the Department should participate with the developer to extend this existing 10” sewer main at a deeper depth than required for the proposed development. Huddleston Steele Engineering, Inc. has submitted a request for participation on behalf of the developer. Page 52 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 3 A few points per the Department’s participation policy, within our approved Policies, Procedures & General Design Requirements adopted in 2009 by the Board & Council are: 1. Prior to dedication and acceptance of the improvements by the City, the Developer requesting reimbursement must present to the City Council a detailed statement of the actual eligible costs and the City Council in its discretion may amend the agreement, and the reimbursement amount, to reflect the actual project costs. 2. Should a project be eligible for participation by the City due to upsizing of a water or sewer line, the Department reserves the right to publicly bid the project or the portion of the project eligible for participation. 3. Participation in the cost to upsize water and/or sewer lines shall be in accordance with established policies in effect. The Department or Developer can prepare a schedule of upsize participation, based on recent bid results or agreed upon unit pricing, which the Department and the Developer may accept in lieu of publicly bidding, subject to approval of the Water and Sewer Board and City Council. 4. The Department will only participate on that portion of sewer deeper than twelve (12) feet deep, if the sewer is upsized and if the material changes. 5. Sewer must extend to the limits of construction at strategic locations for future extension. To determine the Department participation amount, the developer solicited pricing from a contractor to perform the work and H/S has used these estimates. The contractor priced the project to extend the 8” & 10” sewer mains separately in the amounts of $195,250 and $210,800 respectively. The participation amount is $15,550. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approval of participating financially in the sanitary sewer extension. Funding is from the Department’s working capital reserves. E. Consider Change Order No. 2 for Stones River Water Treatment Plant Improvements – The original contract amount for the Stones River Water Treatment Plant Improvements was $674,000 with a contingency allowance of $30,000. Performance of Change Item No. 7 increased the contract amount to $708,000 with no changes to the contingency allowance. The table below shows the details of this project. The remaining contingency allowance of $10,405 was removed from the contract amount for a total of $697,595 for the project. Adjusted Adjusted CI Description Add/Deduct Contingency Amount Contract Amount Original Contract Amount $30,000.00 $674,000.00 1 Relocate Platform Lights/Add Lights $5,298.00 $24,702.00 $674,000.00 2 Application of High Gloss Finish $660.00 $24,042.00 $674,000.00 3 Install Mag Meter Electric Wiring $5,6658.00 $18,384.00 $674,000.00 4 Add Painting of Intake Pump Doors $870.00 $17,514.00 $674,000.00 5 Repair/Replace Chemical Feed Lines $766.00 $16,748.00 $674,000.00 6 Add Platform at Intake Slide Gate $3,300.00 $13,448.00 $674,000.00 7 Repair 2 Sinkholes in Lagoon No. 2 $34,0000 $13,448.00 $708,000.00 8 Install Grating under Traveling Screen $1,520.00 $11,928.00 $708,000.00 9 2-inch Fire Hose Line $1,523.00 $10,405.00 $708,000.00 Change Order No. 2 - Adjustment $10,405.00 0.00 $697,595.00 Staff recommended the Board recommend to the City Council approving Change Order No. 2. Page 53 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 4 F. Consider purchase of Itron Repeater and Collector – In 2015, MWRD launched a meter replacement program known as Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI). All water meters were replaced with meters utilizing radio frequency technology. This new technology improves efficiency by enabling meter reading information to be captured automatically. In certain areas of the city, the radio frequency is difficult to read due to topography or other signal disturbances. In these circumstances an Itron Repeater is required. It is an enhancement to our existing equipment and used to improve communication and the Itron Collector is utilized to capture the readings from the repeater. Staff requested the sole source purchase of two repeaters and one collector in the amount of $16,500 from United Systems. Funding was approved in MWRD’s FY19 Rate Funded Capital Budget for a total of $20,000. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approval to purchase two repeaters and one collector. A motion was made by Ron Crabtree to accept the Consent Agenda as presented and it was seconded by Dr. Carter. The Board voted unanimously to approve. The January 22, 2019 Board Minutes were unanimously accepted as presented. The Board considered 298 Fairmont Drive as an outside the City sewer customer. The existing county subdivision, Fairmont, along Hwy 231 N. (Memorial Blvd) was developed approximately in 1978. In 2004, staff was approached by Mr. George Lamb, who owned Lot 43 of the subdivision, with the request to be served as an outside the City sewer customer. Mr. Lamb had bought this property, date unknown, but could not build a home because the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) would not issue a permit for a septic system due to the change in the design criteria for septic systems from when the subdivision was first developed to the present. The City approved Lot 43 (subdivision) and the grinder pump system/sewer forcemain extension to serve the lots as outside the City sewer customers in January 2005. It wasn’t until June 2015 until the sewer forcemain and homes were built and connected to sewer. A few weeks ago, Ms. Faye Bloodgood, who owns and resides at 298 Fairmont Drive requested to staff to connect to the sewer forcemain in front of her home. She explained that her septic system has failed and instead of repairing the system she needed to connect to sewer. She had been in discussion, as have I, with Mr. Dan Hoover, with TDEC, who stated that repairing her septic system would be putting a band aid on the system and also State Rule 0400-48-01-06(2) of The Regulations To Govern Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems, which applies to repairs and new construction, states "The Commissioner shall refuse to grant a permit for the construction of a subsurface sewage disposal system where there is an accessible public sewerage system". Page 54 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 5 However, Amendment No. 2, Section 1.3.1 & 2 of our current Policies Procedures & General Design Requirements is in direct conflict with this State rule: Amendment No. 2 approved in 2016 states: Section 1.3.1 Inquiry for Service to City of Murfreesboro Water & Sewer Portion of Section 1.3.1 1) Proposed site is inside MWSD’s 201 Planned Service Areas and: a) Is the proposed site inside the Murfreesboro City Limits or favorable to Annex into the Murfreesboro City Limits? Note: Consistent with current state law, a proposed site not currently within the Murfreesboro City Limits must either (i) be contiguous to current Murfreesboro City Limits, or (ii) all owners of all properties between the proposed site and current Murfreesboro City Limits must also consent. b) Is the proposed site inside the City’s Urban Growth Boundary and favorable to be served as an outside the City Sewer Customer? Note: The utility extension policy of the City of Murfreesboro does not afford outside the City properties service to sanitary sewer, except as described in Section 1.3.2. Section 1.3.2 Approval Required for Utility Service Outside the Murfreesboro City Limits Portion of Section 1.3.2 Should annexation not be recommended service as an outside the city customer may be possible by written agreement under the following utility extension policy: 1) Only properties within the Buchanan and Elam Road Interchanges Sanitary Sewer Assessment District, as defined in City Code Section 33-206 will be considered for outside the City sewer service, and 2) Only properties may be considered outside the City sewer customers where providing sewer services is deemed a higher benefit to the public than annexation affords (e.g., parks, schools, etc.). Staff has discussed with City Administration this exception to the rule, to allow Ms. Bloodgood to connect to City sewer as an outside the City customer and they were in favor of allowing her to connect. Ms. Bloodgood would have to go through the normal procedures of requesting annexation, executing a Release and Covenant Not to Sue, which is required when a property pumps their sewer, pulling permits, paying standard connection fees, etc. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approval of this exception, to allow 298 Fairmont Drive to connect to City sewer as an outside the City sewer customer. Brian Kidd made a motion to approve. Ron Crabtree seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered FY19 personnel adjustments. Based on some recent retirements within the Department, Darren Gore requested some adjustments to the FY19 personnel job positions in the Water Resources Department. The positions requested for reclassification are: 1) Full-time Plant Shift Supervisor at the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) to two Part- time Plant Operators 2) Accounting Specialist I to Customer Service Clerk Page 55 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 6 In April of 2018, the conversion of one full-time Plant Operator position into two part-time Plant Operator positions was approved. The move was designed to better accommodate the changing Operational needs of the WRRF, enhance safety, and improve cost effectiveness. The move has been successful on all counts. For example, the added staffing flexibility and agility enabled the WRRF to seamlessly adjust when a Plant Shift Supervisor recently retired. This current retirement presents the same opportunity presented in April of last year; to convert another position to two part-time positions, increasing flexibility and cost effectiveness at the Water Resource Recovery Facility. Three items in the customer service and finance area are prompting the request to reclassify the Accounting Specialist I to Customer Service Clerk position. a. The recent retirement of Carolyn Davidson, a Customer Service Clerk (CSC) b. The recent retirement of Debi Noyce, an Accounting Specialist I, and c. The long-term unpaid medical leave associated with Jennifer McGraw, a CSC with the Department. The current personnel situation leaves the Department with two vacancies available to be filled and a third position that is vacant but cannot be filled. Therefore, Mr. Gore requested that the Accounting Specialist I be reclassified to a Customer Service Clerk. This would allow two internal promotions of Cashiers to Customer Service Clerks within Customer Service and a temporary Cashier be hired to permanent status. With the unknown return of Ms. McGraw, Mr. Gore expects to reclassify her current CSC position to an Accounting Clerk as part of the FY20 budget. Ms. McGraw could fill that position, or staff could advertise for that position externally when her unpaid medical leave expires. Staff recommended the Board recommend the City Council approve the reclassification requests as presented. Ron Crabtree made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board reviewed Customer Service and credit card trends. With the adoption of our IT Strategic Plan in 2012, Murfreesboro Water Resources Department embarked on an ambitious plan to improve various Customer Service systems, including our billing system (CIS.Infinity), online access (Infinity.Link), account access via telephone (Interactive Voice Response – IVR) and mobile service order system (CIS.Mobile). Some of the benefits achieved through implementation of the products and customer options include: • MWRD has seen a 30+% decrease in over-the-counter payments by customers • MWRD has seen a 40+% decrease in payments via mail and night deposit • Of all calls to our Customer Service department in 2018, over 70% were handled via the IVR and did not initially require Customer Service Clerk interaction • In 2018, a total of $7.2 million in credit card and e-check payments were processed • Credit card and e-check payments increased by 7+% from 2017 to 2018 Page 56 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 7 • In 2018, the average credit card/e-check transaction was $88.90 vs $90.59 in 2017 The Board reviewed future recommended engineering task orders associated with MWRD’s Water Resource Integration Plan (WRIP). The Murfreesboro Water Resources Department just finalized its 20-yr strategic planning document entitled our 2018 Water Resources Integration Plan (WRIP). This document sought to capture the strategic cornerstones necessary for the Water Resources Department to prepare for Murfreesboro’s and Rutherford County’s growth through 2035. From that document there were “Action Plan” sections in each chapter with items labeled as “New Initiatives”. Staff believes that several of these items are critical to implement in the next several months for use as tactical guides to chart out MWRD’s priority capital improvements and identify the most efficient and effective development of our water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure needs. The table below identifies those items staff believes are priorities: Proposed Task Order Fee Timeline (from project kick-off) Update 201 Facilities Plan (Sewer Collection and Treatment Projects) 1 $249,860* 360 days Water Resource Recovery Facility Capacity Improvements Study 2 $48,305* 60 days Overall Creek Pump Station Capacity Study 3 $35,908* 45 days Stormwater SWMM Modeling of Subwatersheds 4 $50,000* 90 days Total $384,073 *Hourly Not to Exceed 1 The Tennessee State Revolving Fund (SRF) requires that a utility maintain an updated Facilities Plan that summarizes the tactical activities required to provide service to current and future customers. The last comprehensive update to the document was completed in 2001. 2 The Department has experienced wet-weather challenges at the WRRF. Unless significant decreases in RDII can be recognized, wet weather treatment at the WRRF will be necessary to ensure the facility continues to operate effectively under all weather conditions. 3 The Department has experienced some challenges with surging conditions at the headworks facility of the WRRF. The Overall Creek Pump Station discharges directly to the headworks facility, and with the constant speed drives and continuous on and off operation throughout the day, the station can create flow surges at the headworks. 4 GIS plays a crucial role in managing stormwater. Watershed models like InfoSWMM Sustain performs very sophisticated hydrologic and water quality modeling in watersheds and urban streams and would enable MWRD to maximize water quality benefits and minimize stormwater management costs. The Board reviewed Special Sanitary Sewer Assessment Districts (SSSAD) recoupment as of December 2018. Page 57 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 8 Starting in 1994, MWRD established certain areas that the Department “front end” funded with cash reserves to facilitate growth by installing adequate sanitary sewer infrastructure. That forward- thinking, proactive planning has continued throughout the past 20 years. Setting the proper utility foundation has been a viable model to trigger and support structured growth in “green field” areas within and around the City of Murfreesboro. In addition, the Department’s initial tenets were as follows: 1) The special sanitary sewer assessment districts were established so that the ratepayer would not bear the financial burden of fostering new development. 2) The intent of establishing special sanitary sewer assessment districts was to recoup the Department’s investment; not to make a profit. 3) The initial sewer assessment districts term limits were based on a trajectory or trend of development that the City was experiencing in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The recession that occurred in the latter 2000’s was not accounted for in the timeline anticipated to fully recoup the Department’s investment. As a result of some of the skewed recoupment periods and that some of the SSSAD’s had been fully recouped, the Board recommended in December 2014 and the Council approved in February 2015; 1) Modifying assessment district ordinances that had a specific time limit (e.g. 15 or 25 years) to an indefinite limit based on complete repayment of MWRD’s expenses and 2) Modifying assessment district ordinances that the special assessment cease when all of the district’s construction expenses have been recouped. In September of 2018 the Board asked staff to look at the earnings foregone by making the cash outlay for the sewer improvements associated with the special sanitary sewer assessment districts. As of June 2018, there was approximately $4.64M in foregone interest earned (assuming 1% annually) in the 19 years since the Overall Creek SSSAD was established in 1999. MWRD has invested $35.8M in SSSAD’s since 1999 and have recouped $23.45M (65.5% of total). When accounting for the interest earnings foregone the recoupment drops to 58.0%. Under Other Business, the Board considered Water/Wastewater Mechanical/Electrical Services Contract Task Order No. 19-03. Task Order No. 19-03 is to replace the settled water valve at the Stones River Water Treatment Plant. The existing valve was installed in 2007 as a part of the last expansion. This valve is critical to the operation of the plant and if complete failure occurs will shut the plant down. Under the Water/Wastewater Mechanical/Electrical Services Contract, John Bouchard & Sons (JBS) will provide the following services: • Excavation of valve and removal of valve vault • Removal of existing valve and replacement with new valve • Labor, materials and equipment for the project • Standard markup on materials and subcontractor per contract Page 58 Water Resources Board Minutes February 26, 2019 Page 9 The additional $5,000 is to convert to flanged valve. This would eliminate digging up the valve for future replacement if necessary. The cost to replace the settled water valve, to include labor and materials, is $70,500. Funding for this project is to come from rate funded capital reserves. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approving JBS Task Order 19-03 in accordance with the JBS estimate. Kathy Nobles made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. Staff presented and discussed the Water Resources Dashboard Performance for January 2019. Staff presented the Financial Reports for the year ending January 31, 2019. Staff proposed to reschedule the March 26th meeting to Tuesday, April 2nd and to reschedule the April 23rd meeting to Tuesday, April 30th. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. John Sant Amour, Chairman Page 59