Water Resources Board

MINUTES MURFREESBORO WATER RESOURCES BOARD August 27, 2019 The Murfreesboro Water Resources Board met on Tuesday, August 27, 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, Mr. Kirt Wade, and Ms. Madelyn Scales-Harris. Also present were Darren Gore, Valerie Smith, Doug Swann, Michele Pinkston, Adam Tucker, Steve Tate, Ryan Potts, Donald Hughes, Jimmy Stacey, Matt Powers, Alan Cranford, Joe Russell, Randy McCullough, Mike Bernard, Jay Bradley, Ronnie Martin, Mark Baker, Gary Wisniewski, and Travis Wilson along with other members of the public. The Consent Agenda was presented for the following considerations: A. Consider O&M skid steer purchase – In MWRD’s approved FY20 O&M Distribution Capital Budget are line items to purchase a skid steer in the amount of $60,000 and a sweeping broom with dust control in the amount of $15,000 for a total of $75,000. The broom attachment is required to comply with the new OSHA Standards for Silicon Dust Control Regulations. Staff recommended the Board to recommend the City Council to approve the purchase of a Caterpillar 259D3 Skid Steer with broom and dust control from Thompson Machinery from the state awarded contract. The cost of the equipment including broom is $60,289.70 after trade-in of old machine. B. Consider WRRF polymer chemical contract renewal – Invitations to Bid on chemicals for use at the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) were advertised and released in March of 2015. Bids were publicly opened on March 17, 2015. Staff reviewed the bid submissions and determined the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. With the approval of the Board and the Council, Solenis (formerly BASF Inc.) was contracted through FY19 to supply Polymer. The contract included the option for renewal for additional one-year terms. Staff recommended that the Board recommend to City Council approval of a one-year contract extension for the purchase of Polymer from the lowest bidder as referenced below. Supplier Chemical Price/Pound Estimated Annual Expense Solenis Polymer $1.75 $285,000 Page 33 Water Resources Board Minutes August 27, 2019 Page 2 C. Consider JB&S Task Order 19-06 for the Water/Wastewater Mechanical/Electrical Services Contract, RW #5 Rebuild – Staff submitted Task Order No. 19-06 for the Water/Wastewater Mechanical/Electrical Services Contract to remove, rebuild, reinstall and test the #5 raw water pump at the River Raw Water Pump Station. The pump has a leaking seal that is leaking oil and needs repaired to prevent pump damage. Budget pricing includes re-sleeving the impeller, shafts, sleeves, mechanical seal, coupling, spider bushings, brass bearings, pump shaft, bolts, sandblasting and paint (if needed), re-installation, and start-up assistance. The cost to repair the pump, to include labor and materials, is estimated at $28,000.50. The funding is requested to come from working capital reserves. Staff recommended the Board recommend to the City Council approving JB&S Task Order 19-06 in accordance with the JB&S estimate. A motion was made by Dr. Carter to accept the Consent Agenda as presented and it was seconded by Brian Kidd. The Board voted unanimously to approve. The July 23, 2019 Board Minutes were unanimously accepted as written. The Board considered a proposal from ELI for design and bid document preparation for the Joe B Jackson Pkwy gravity sewer and pump station. The City currently has a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with ELI, LLC approved February 2018. The Department has utilized the MSA for various small projects to assist Engineering such as the revisions of our standard water/sewer/repurified water specifications and details, develop a draft set of step system specifications and to develop a Sewer Master Plan for the Joe B Jackson area between I-24 and the Middle Fork of the Stones River. The Master Plan is developed in two phases, and staff is ready to move forward issuing a Work Authorization for Phase I to design and prepare bid documents only. Staff will hold off having ELI send the design out for bids until such time that development in this area is eminent or the City moves forward with locating a Solid Waste Transfer Station in this area. Staff recommended that the Board recommend to the City Council approval of the Work Authorization with ELI, through the MSA. Funding for this design was not funded through the Operating Budget so it is requested to come from Working Capital Reserves in an amount not to exceed $39,000. Brian Kidd made a motion to approve. Ron Crabtree seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered SRWTP Pump Asset Management & Optimization Software purchase. Currently, standard procedure for plant operators to operate raw and finished water pumps is to simply turn on the pump that provides the flow needed for water demand. Operators do not have the tools Page 34 Water Resources Board Minutes August 27, 2019 Page 3 to determine if a pump is operating on its pump curve or if the pump is operating efficiently. A pump operating off of curve will cause pump cavitation and eventually destroy the pump. Additionally, operators have no scientific way of knowing if a pump impellor is becoming severely worn until the pump begins to fail. Staff and SSR have been researching different artificial intelligence programs that are designed to identify worn pumps and make repair recommendations based on financial metrics instead of replacing pumps far beyond their useful life or even after complete failure. This will reduce lifecycle costs and prevent unplanned outages with predictive asset management. It also allows operators to maximize efficiency by selecting the optimal combination of pumps and speeds to maintain level or pressure with a variety of constraints. The pumps can run within their preferred operating ranges (POR) to minimize energy consumption without causing cavitation or other damaging effects. The one program that stood out among three other manufacturers is Specific Energy. Staff requested a quote from the Specific Energy, the sole-source manufacturer of the Specific Energy Pump Asset Management and Optimization software. Purchasing has reviewed the sole source request and documentation and agrees this is a sole source purchase. The cost for purchasing the Pump Asset Management and Optimization Software for the Auxiliary Pump Station is $14,300 and River Pump Station is $15,140. Funding will come from the FY20 Capital Budget. Annual Costs for Annual Service fees for the Auxiliary Pump Station is $6,800 and River Pump Station is $4,640. Staff recommended that the Board recommend to the City Council purchasing the Pump Asset Management and Optimization software in accordance with their quote. Brian Kidd made a motion to approve. Ron Crabtree seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered AMI Itron TCU purchase. 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. The cellular collector unit (CCU) installed atop of the Stoney Meadow Tank is experiencing intermittent failures. Staff is requesting the purchase of a tower collector unit (TCU) to replace the CCU. This upgrade will provide several significant benefits including easier and safer access to the unit as it will be installed at the base of the tower instead of the top, it will extend the reading distance of the collector, and guard against lightning strikes and other weather events. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approval to purchase the tower system and one collector in the amount of $26,000 from United Systems. Funding will come from the FY20 Rate Funded Capital Budget. Kirt Wade made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. Page 35 Water Resources Board Minutes August 27, 2019 Page 4 The Board considered Department participation with Westwind Reserve S/D for installing an upsized sewer main extension. At last month’s Board meeting, staff brought an easement condemnation request for approval for the Lesieur property along Armstrong Valley Road. In that meeting it was mentioned that staff would bring back to the Board, at a later meeting, a sewer participation request to install a larger and deeper sewer main extension as per the 201 Wastewater Facilities Plan (201 Plan). The 201 Plan shows an 18” sewer interceptor extension and the development only needed an 8” sewer main to serve the project. SEC has prepared and submitted a request letter and sewer cost estimate to determine the participation amount. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approval of the sewer participation in the amount of $108,631.05 for a larger and deeper sewer interceptor. Funding is recommended to come from the Department’s working capital reserves. Brian Kidd made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered S&ME Task Order for preparing CCTV inspection bids and project management of Hobas pipe assessment. The Department is currently working to repair our second pipe failure along the Southwest Interceptor Sewer. It was originally thought that this second failure was along a portion of the interceptor that was ductile iron pipe; however, after further investigation, both failures have been in sections that used Hobas pipe. The other common factors with these failures are the depth and their location in relation to the river and ground water. This being the second failure with Hobas pipe, staff is worried that additional sections of our Hobas Interceptor lines could be failing, now that there have been two within 8 months of each other. Through our Master Services Agreement (MSA) with S&ME, Inc. we have asked for three different Tasks. Task 1 is for their assistance to put together specifications, maps and bid documents to bid out televising all of our Hobas pipe within the system that is 15 feet in depth or greater. We have 30,652 feet of Hobas pipe in the system and 24,220 feet of this is greater than 15 feet in depth. This is a larger job, and more precise type of closed-circuit televising (CCTV) than the Department is capable of doing in-house. S&ME is specifying several different technologies so that the CCTV company will be able to provide an accurate enough survey, that if we decide to televise again in a year or two, that staff could make some educated determinations on as to whether the pipe is still in good shape, beginning to fail or failing to the point that it needs replacement or rehabilitation. Task 2 is for overall project management. To include CCTV inspection management, evaluation of the deliverables from the contractor, updates during the work, process pay applications and providing a summary of findings or defects to staff that will merge with our GIS mapping system. Page 36 Water Resources Board Minutes August 27, 2019 Page 5 Task 3 is on an as needed basis and as directed by the Department for emergency assistance if the CCTV reveals another failure is eminent. Staff recommended that the Board recommend to the City Council approval of the Engineering Task Order with S&ME, through our Master Services Agreement, for Sewer Interceptor Inspection, including project management, quality assurance monitoring and GIS integration. Staff also requested preapproval for awarding the bid to the lowest responsive and responsible contractor for the actual CCTV inspection work in the event the bid amount does not exceed $475,000. Staff will notify the Board of the results and take the bids to City Council for formal contract approval. Funding for this Task Order is in an amount not to exceed $50,500. This work was not budgeted and is unforeseen, so funding is requested to come from the Department’s working capital reserves. After discussion, Kirt Wade made a motion to approve. Madelyn Scales-Harris seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered cost reimbursement by the General Fund to Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund for use of soccer fields on the Jordan Farm. It was recently mentioned that the City general fund had never reimbursed the City water resources enterprise fund for the land being used as soccer fields on the Jordan Farm and it was time to reconcile the area utilized and associated land purchase price to appropriately refund the water resources enterprise fund. The City used water resource funds to buy the 200-acre Jordan Farm in 2003 for $6,000,000 ($30,000 per acre). The soccer fields were constructed in 2016 and they take up approximately 26.2 acres of the Jordan Farm. Staff had initially presented to the Board in June 2015 that the City was more interested in forming a lease agreement whereby the City general fund would make an annual payment to the enterprise fund at an estimated amount of $18,000 per year. After researching this refunding mechanism, the City has acknowledged some requirements on grant money obtained by the Parks and Recreation Department that require these soccer fields to be permanent and not temporary. As such, staff believes it better for the City general fund to make the appropriate one-time payment compensating for the 26.2 acres being used as soccer fields. Staff recommended the City general fund reimburse the water/sewer enterprise fund $917,000. This equates to $35,000 per acre for the 26.2-acre area being used as soccer fields. Time value of money places the cumulative price change at around 39% between 2003 and 2019. That equates the cost per acre to approximately $42,000. Staff believes a fair compromise is $35,000 per acre given the improvements that were made in installing an irrigation system on the 26.2 acres, and what was formerly an area on the farm that we were prohibited from land applying effluent is now capable of being irrigated. This helps divert effluent from being discharged to the river which in turn allows for Page 37 Water Resources Board Minutes August 27, 2019 Page 6 additional capacity within the sewer collection and treatment plant and allows new sewer customers to connect the system. Madelyn Scales-Harris made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered a Draft Sewer Capacity Allocation Ordinance. The last 20-yrs of growth in Murfreesboro has dramatically increased the demands on the wastewater collection system. Additionally, the recent Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) expansion coming online in August 2017 opened approximately 8 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater treatment capacity. A draft ordinance has been prepared to allocate sanitary sewer collection and wastewater treatment on a more proportional basis to undeveloped property for the welfare of the City and its inhabitants. Staff presented an addition to the ordinance that deals with vesting rights of sewer. If someone purchases property that has no sewer available and lobbies the City to provide sewer, the Department wants a certain percentage of the connection fees up front, and for those connection fees to be guaranteed for a certain duration of time. Federal and state regulations outside the City’s purview may restrain the City’s ability to obtain additional capacity to support future land use in the City’s urban growth boundary. Allocating wastewater treatment and/or sanitary sewer collection capacity will: • Promote and protect public health and safety • Enhance the economy by establishing reasonable, orderly, equitable and effective means to allocate wastewater collection capacity • Assist in uniform and balanced future development to serve the needs of the community and the City’s tax digest. Staff has prepared an analysis to review the Salem Hwy corridor and sanitary sewer service area that was master planned in 1999 and compare it to the current build-out in 2019 to see how much sewer has been allocated, and consequently determine how much sewer capacity is remaining for the areas yet to be developed in this corridor. MWRD has allowed density of development to occur approximately 12% greater than planned, or 4.3 single family units per acre versus the originally planned 3.8 single family units (sfu) per acre. In order to adjust future density in order to get back to the originally proposed density of 3.8 sfu’s per acre, a 21% reduction is necessary, or maintaining an average of 3.4 sfu’s per acre over the remaining acreage within the New Salem Highway basin. Based on the recent WRRF upgrade coming online in August 2017, the plant has the capacity to treat approximately 31,000 new single-family units. The higher the allowable density, the lower the developable area. Page 38 Water Resources Board Minutes August 27, 2019 Page 7 Allocating sewer capacity to developments with less density may have an impact on MWRD’s connection fees (a.k.a., system capacity buy-in fees) and associated reserves; however, the City’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) has much more area than can be served by MWRD’s current WRRF capacity. Ron Crabtree made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. Staff presented and discussed the Water Resources Dashboard Performance for July 2019. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. John Sant Amour, Chairman Page 39