Water Resources Board

MINUTES MURFREESBORO WATER RESOURCES BOARD March 3, 2020 The Murfreesboro Water Resources Board met on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 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. Brian Kidd, Ms. Sandra Trail, Mr. Kirt Wade, and Ms. Madelyn Scales-Harris. Also present were Darren Gore, Valerie Smith, Doug Swann, Michele Pinkston, Adam Tucker, Roman Hankins, Anita Heck, Steve Tate, Jimmy Stacey, Matt Powers, Joe Russell, Brent Fowler, Jay Bradley, Lynda Sullivan, Randy McCullough, Adam Todd, Andy McCrary, and Travis Wilson along with other members of the public. The Consent Agenda was presented for the following considerations: A. Consider SRWTP Commercial Structures & Facilities Painting Contract Extension and SSR RPR Task Order 19-41-024.0 – In December 2018, staff brought the bids for repainting of the Stones River Water Treatment Plant and Auxiliary Intake Building over the next four years. The approved bidder was Commercial Painting, Inc. They started their painting in FY19 and this is the extension for the painting during FY21. FY21 is budgeted at $445,000. The work will start after July 1, 2020. The current cost of the FY21 project is $397,200 for painting and $43,100 for coating inspection from SSR and $4,700 for contingency. Staff recommended that the Board recommend to the City Council accepting Commercial Painting, Inc. second amendment for the painting contract and SSR coating inspection RPR task order. B. Consider SRWTP Chemical Bid Extensions – Bids were publicly opened on July 1, 2017 for water treatment chemicals to be used at the Stones River Water Treatment Plant. Section 1.3.4 of the bid documents states “the successful bidder shall provide the chemical(s) as specified. Pricing shall be effective for the term of the contract, which is through June 30, 2018 with the option to renew for up to three additional one-year terms.” The following companies have now renewed their contract for the third term through June 30, 2021. The bids are as follows: American Development Company: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Sodium Hydroxide $0.168/lb $ 5,000.00 Brenntag Mid-South: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Citric Acid 50% $5.58/gal $ 16,000.00 Page 24 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 2 Univar: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Sodium Chloride $0.16/lb $ 70,000.00 Bids were publicly opened on April 9, 2018 for water treatment chemicals to be used at the Stones River Water Treatment Plant. Section 1.3.4 of the bid documents states “The successful bidder shall provide the chemical(s) as specified. Pricing shall be effective for the term of the contract, which is through June 30, 2019 with the option to renew for up to three additional one-year terms.” The following companies have now renewed their contract for the second term through June 30, 2021. The bids are as follows: American Development Company: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Hydrogen Peroxide $0.33/lb $ 26,000.00 Gulbrandsen Technologies, Inc.: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Polyaluminum Hydroxichloride $0.1977/lb $ 20,000.00 Bids were publicly opened on March 25, 2019 for water treatment chemicals to be used at the Stones River Water Treatment Plant. Section 1.3.4 of the bid documents states “The successful bidder shall provide the chemical(s) as specified. Pricing shall be effective for the term of the contract, which is through June 30, 2020 with the option to renew for up to three additional one-year terms.” The following companies have now renewed their contract for the first term through June 30, 2021. The bids are as follows: American Development Company: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Calcium Thiosulfate $0.508/lb $ 12,000.00 American Development Company: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Phosphate $0.842/lb $ 45,000.00 American Development Company: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Sodium Permanganate $0.762/lb $ 285,000.00 Polydyne: CHEMICAL UNIT PRICE EST. ANNUAL EXPENSE Polyelectrolyte Coagulant Aid $0.91/lb $ 40,000.00 The price of the chemicals will be reflected in the FY 2020-21 Operating Budget. The contract price will be good through June 30, 2021. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council approving the renewal of the chemical bid extensions as provided. Page 25 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 3 C. Consider AMI Server Software Upgrades – The AMI servers are currently running on Windows Server Edition 2008 which has met its end of life effective January 14, 2020. Also, MWRD is currently running Itron Fixed Network version 5.1. We need to upgrade to version 5.4 to resolve communication and time sync issues between the servers and the field devices. Staff recommended upgrading the Windows Server Operating System from 2008 to 2016 (end of life 1/11/2027) and Fixed Network from version 5.1 to 5.4. Fiscal impact will be a total of $63,780 from FY20 rate-funded capital budget. This will replace a SAN (Storage Area Network) budgeted at $60,000 which is not necessary at this time. D. Consider a Proposal from Jobe, Hastings & Associates for the Water Resources Department Audit and the Stormwater Fund Audit for the Year Ending June 30, 2020 – Jobe, Hastings & Associates submitted a proposal to perform the annual audits of Murfreesboro Water Resources Department and the Murfreesboro Stormwater Fund as of June 30, 2020. The proposed fee is $28,500. As the audit is performed during the subsequent fiscal year, funding will come from the Professional Services expense account in the FY21 budget year. This quote reflects no increase in the audit fee from FY19. Staff recommended the Board recommend to City Council accepting the proposal as presented. A motion was made by Madelyn Scales-Harris to accept the Consent Agenda as presented and it was seconded by Dr. Carter. The Board voted unanimously to approve. The January 28, 2020 Board Minutes were unanimously accepted as submitted. Staff presented the FY2019 Cost of Service for Water and Sewer Funds to the Board for their review. The Murfreesboro Water Resources Department was provided a cost of service study (COSS) from Jackson Thornton Utilities Consultants for FY2019. Jackson Thornton provided a presentation to the Board summarizing the FY19 COSS. Next month, a pro forma for FY24 will be presented in conjunction with a discussion and analysis on rate design to meet the Department’s 5-yr projected revenue requirements. The COSS was reviewed in a historical perspective; looking back at where the Department was in 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 and where the Department is as of 2019. The objectives of the COSS are to make sure there is enough revenue to meet the needs of the system, ensure fair and equitable rates as well as customers’ ability to pay; thereby making the rates defensible. The COSS develops the process to determine revenue requirements, develops revenue requirements by rate class, develops recommended rate designs, and recommends potential rate changes. MWRD defines five customer classes. The customer classes are generally defined as follows: 1) Residential class includes detached and attached residential units, duplexes, mobile homes and apartments. Page 26 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 4 2) Small Commercial includes churches, hotel/motel and other retail/service establishments that have a meter smaller than 1 ½”. 3) Large Commercial includes Middle Tennessee Medical Center (MTMC) as well as the same categories as defined in small commercial but having a water meter 1 ½” or larger. 4) Industrial includes all industrial water and sewer users in MWRD’s water service area and all sewer users in CUD’s water service area. 5) Government includes MTSU, the VA hospital, schools and all internal Murfreesboro accounts. When reviewing the Department’s recovery of cost in total, the following chart summarizes the Department’s history over FY07, FY11, FY13, FY15, FY17 and FY19 as pertaining to Total Rate Requirements and Total Rate Revenue. The Department started in a 20.7 percent under recovery in 2007 and is currently in an 11.2% over recovery (in total). When looking at the increase annual sales in sewer, staff believes the reason it only shows a 3.7% increase is due to General Mills discharging 49% less sewer on average to the City’s collection system after installing a new irrigation system in April 2017 to land apply their highly treated effluent on Indian Hills Golf Course. TOTAL WATER AND SEWER RATE REQUIREMENTS AND RATE REVENUE +11.2% $45,000,000 +7.3% $40,000,000 +8.7% -5.8% +10.0% $35,000,000 -20.7% $30,000,000 $25,000,000 - $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 2007 COSS 2011 COSS 2013 COSS 2015 COSS 2017 COSS 2019 COSS Total Rate Requ'mnt $29,650,005 $31,328,535 $31,244,197 $35,175,522 $38,816,282 $38,916,760 Total Rate Revenue $23,498,628 $29,507,833 $34,353,148 $38,243,420 $41,639,144 $43,265,652 The Department is well positioned in understanding the cost, funding and rate structure to construct future improvements to meet customer demands and regulatory requirements. The FY24 pro forma will be presented in the Board’s March meeting and the associated 5-yr revenue requirements. Staff will also review potential rate designs that will ensure future cost of service is recovered through rate revenue. Page 27 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 5 Continued cost of service studies conducted biannually will guide management in making adjustments to rates so as to ultimately attempt to recover 100% from all customer classes; thereby preventing to the greatest degree possible any subsidies from one class to another or from the water utility to the sewer utility. The Board considered sewer charges in CUD dual meter billing. MWRD uses the following guidance on billing for multiple meters on a service: - If there is a large meter and a small meter (Compound or High-Low), MWRD charges water and sewer minimums for the larger meter and consumption on both meters. - If meters are similar size, MWRD charges based on whether each meter serves a single service line to the customer. With regard to CUD billing for multiple meters on a service: - CUD also has High-Low meters. They charge only one minimum on those configurations. - On dual meters of a similar size, CUD charges the minimum charge on both meters, the assumption being that the customer would need a larger meter if only one was being used. This question arose when it was determined that CUD was not being consistent in charging the MWRD sewer minimum for dual meters. On a new customer, CUD began charging two minimums on a dual 6” meter customer. When billing was questioned, and after conversation with MWRD, CUD began charging only one minimum to cover both 6” meters. The customer then asked about a refund for the period that two minimums were charged. Staff feels that dual meter configurations serve as a redundancy for customers and the department, allowing the customer to continue to receive water if one meter fails. Staff requested confirmation (as policy) of our current practice to charge only one minimum on a dual meter configuration. Additionally, in the absence of an adopted MWRD policy regarding charging minimum monthly bills on the dual meter configuration set up by CUD, staff recommended that no refunds be issued by MWRD based on customers being charged sewer per CUD’s policy. CUD currently has nine pairs of 6” dual meters that are affected by MWRD policy. Charging the full minimum on both meters in each pair would result in an additional $9,000+ in monthly sewer income for MWRD. Madelyn Scales-Harris made a motion to approve. Dr. Carter seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered SSR Engineering Task Order 1941016.0, Biosolids Polymer System Replacement and Upgrade. SSR submitted a task order to design the biosolids polymer system replacement and upgrade for the Murfreesboro Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF). MWRD introduced to the Board at the December 2019 meeting the need to replace two existing dry polymer feed systems originally built in 2001 and 2008 that have met the end of their useful life. This Page 28 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 6 project has been included in the Department’s 5-yr CIP and requires approval of an engineering task order to begin work. The polymer feed system injects polymer into the Water Resource Recovery Facilities biosolids in order to optimize their dewatering in the Fournier rotary presses. In addition to the age of the system, the current arrangement compromises the overall capacity and effectiveness of the dewatering system. The polymer system upgrades will address these issues by designing an upgraded system, sized for future solids production loadings with 100-percent redundancy. Equipment planned includes the following: • 2 sets of mixing/aging tanks, each sized for all 8 rotary presses • 2 disperser/mixers (feeders), each sized for all 8 rotary presses • 2 bag unloaders, each sized for all 8 rotary presses • 10 polymer feed pumps (8 duty and 2 spare) MWRD will procure the equipment and develop task orders for John Bouchard and Sons to install the polymer system using the City’s master services agreement. Additionally, MR Systems will provide the integration of local controls and field instrumentation into the WRRF’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) using the City’s master services agreement. The Department has earmarked $1,450,000 in FY20-21 from our working capital reserves to fund this project. Staff has increased that by $150,000 based on the updated summary of costs provided by SSR. Staff recommended the Board recommend to the City Council approval of SSR Task Order 1941016.0 in the amount of $112,235. Brian Kidd made a motion to approve. Sandra Trail seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered development restrictions within Flow Monitoring Basin 10-Upper Reaches. Based on recent temporary flow studies conducted in MWRD’s sanitary sewer service area, surcharge conditions occurred under wet weather conditions that require staff to implement restricted connections to the sewer system. Staff recommended limiting density to 2.5 single family unit equivalents in the following areas: • Flow monitoring basin 10A-3; area south of MTSU encompassing areas south of East Lytle St. to north of East Castle St. • Flow monitoring basin 10A-4; area south of MTSU encompassing areas south of Alumni Dr. to north of John Bragg Hwy and north of University Ridge Apartments. Between December 13, 2018 to January 21, 2019, the Department requested ADS, through our professional services agreement, to install three temporary sewer flow monitors within flow monitor Basin MF10 because a developer was interested in building a hotel north of E. Main Street along Rutherford Blvd. Staff was uncertain whether the downstream sewer main could handle the additional flow from a hotel. Between the dates of December 23 to December 31, 2018, Murfreesboro received a total of 3.24” with the heaviest rain during this period being December 31st of 1.91”. This rain produced sewer depths Page 29 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 7 from 5” to 20” at the temporary monitor locations. With these depths of flow, the surcharge elevations can be determined within the sewer main and manholes up and/or downstream of the monitor locations. In 2011, upon receiving a Commissioners Order from the State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, staff created a Capacity Assurance Program (CAP) to explain the basis for coordinating capacity decision criteria for each sewer basin within our sewer system. The objective of the CAP was to enable the Department to authorize new sewer service connections or increases in flow from existing sewer service connections while not increasing the likelihood of creating sanitary sewer system overflows (SSO’s). Within the CAP the below table of Collection System Surcharge Condition Criteria was created to give guidelines as to when to disallow additional connections to the system. Collection System Area/ Monitor Basin Surcharge Condition Criteria Area of Limited or No Backup Sewer Hydraulic Gradeline within 1’ of MH Rim Area of Significant Backup Complaints Sewer Hydraulic Gradeline within 2’ of MH Rim Siphon or Other Unique Structure Evaluate Based on Design Criteria Since the creation of this CAP, EPA Region 4 has created a little different guideline specified within different consent decrees given to municipalities within the southeast. The guideline is to disallow additional sewer connections and sewer extensions when sewer surcharges within three feet of the manhole rim. Using this new surcharge guideline specified by EPA, and the recent flow monitoring study information, staff realizes the necessity to restrict development in the temporary flow monitor areas of 10A- 3 and 10A-4. The recently passed Sewer Allocation Ordinance and supporting Resolution has reduced the allowed densities based on the current zonings, however, staff feels the results of the flow monitoring warrant the need to restrict development densities even further in order to allow the vacant properties within these areas to continue to develop. Staff recommended restricting the development in Basins 10A-3 & 10A-4 to those allowable for a Commercial Zoning at 2.5 single family units per acre (sfu/acre) or 650 gallons per day per acre (gpd/acre) no matter the current zoning. Brian Kidd made a motion to approve. Kirt Wade seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered a proposal from CIA for Mercury Boulevard Pump Station and Flow Monitor Basin 9A Study. With the recommendation to limit the density of development within Basin 10A-3 & 10A-4 the Department would like to study the Mercury Blvd Station, within Basin 10A-4, as well as gravity sewer mains and Pump Station #13, within Basin 9A, to determine whether the flow coming to the Mercury Blvd station could be pumped to Basin 9A in order to free up capacity within Basins 10A-3 & 10A-4. Between the dates of December 23 to December 31, 2018, Murfreesboro received a total of 3.24” with the heaviest rain during this period being December 31st of 1.91”. This rain produced sewer depths Page 30 Water Resources Board Minutes March 3, 2020 Page 8 from 5” to 20” at the temporary monitor locations. These surcharge depths came within 3’ of the manhole rim at or near the temporary monitor locations within Basins 10A-3 & 10A-4. This depth, within 3’ of the manhole rim, is a guideline set by EPA to disallow additional sewer connections. Instead of disallowing connections staff would like CIA to study whether flow can be redirected to Basin 9A, and this basin handle the additional flow, in order to free up capacity in Basin 10A-4. Staff recommended the Board recommend to Council approval of the Engineering Proposal from CIA in an amount not to exceed $30,000. This study is not included in the Department’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). It is therefore recommended that the cost come from working capital account. Kirt Wade 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 key benefits achieved through implementation of the products and customer options include: • MWRD has seen a 31% decrease in over-the-counter payments by customers • MWRD has seen a 45+% decrease in payments via mail and night deposit • Of all calls to the Customer Service department in 2019, over 75% were handled via the IVR and did not initially require Customer Service Clerk interaction • In 2019, a total of $8.3 million in credit card and e-check payments were processed • Credit card and e-check payments increased by 15% from 2018 to 2019 • Average credit card/e-check transaction in 2019 was $96.77 vs $88.90 in 2018 • 90% of credit card/e-check payments were made online or via IVR • Customer office visits are down over 30% on average from March 2013 to December 2019 Staff presented and discussed the Water Resources Dashboard Performance for January 2020. Staff presented the Financial Reports for the year ending January 31, 2020. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. John Sant Amour, Chairman Page 31