Water Resources Board

MINUTES MURFREESBORO WATER RESOURCES BOARD May 28, 2024 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Murfreesboro Water Resources Board met on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, in the conference room of the Operations and Maintenance Building, 1725 South Church Street. Present at the meeting were Board members: Mr. Ron Crabtree, Ms. Kathy Nobles, Mr. Warren Russell, Mr. John Sant Amour, Ms. Madelyn Scales-Harris, and Ms. Sandra Trail. Also present were Darren Gore, Valerie Smith, Michele Pinkston, Doug Swann, Alan Cranford, Donald Hughes, Matt Powers, John Strickland, Steve Campbell, Josh Upham, Joe Russell, Linda Sullivan, Brent Fowler, and Joe Leonard, along with other members of the public. The Consent Agenda was presented to the Board for approval: A. Consider AMI purchase of Temetra Portal B. Consider Change Control #6 for 316 Robert Rose Drive C. Consider renewal of Memorandum of Understanding with MTSU D. Consider Cumberland International Contract 2nd Amendment E. Consider Unifirst Contract 1st Amendment F. Consider Boozer & Company proposal for easement appraisals Ron Crabtree made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda as presented and it was seconded by Warren Russell. The motion carried unanimously. The April 23, 2024 Board Minutes were accepted as presented. The Board considered the 2nd Amendment to the ADS Professional Services Contract. The Department is contracted with ADS, LLC to operate and maintain the 19 permanent sewer flow monitors and seven rain gauges, to analyze data recorded from these monitors and to report on this data annually. These annual reports assess wet and dry weather capacities and rain dependent inflow and infiltration (RDII) for 18 flow monitor areas. ADS is also contracted to perform temporary flow monitoring, analyze the temporary data recorded, and report findings as well as perform field investigations. The current Professional Services Contract is nearing the end of its second year which is June 30, 2024. There is an option to extend for two additional one-year periods, this being the second renewal, with pricing for Year 3 being established on the consumer pricing index (CPI-U) for the southern region. The proposed extension adjusts pricing 3.3%. Staff desires to continue to contract their professional service as we have in various forms over the last 29 years. The contract amendment for the extension has been approved as to form by Legal. Staff recommends accepting the renewal of the ADS contract for an additional one-year period. The use of the quantities/units listed in the contract will be within the estimated budget amount for 2024- Page 80 Water Resources Board Minutes May 28, 2024 Page 2 2025 of $330,000. Typically, the Long-Term Monitoring and Temporary Flow Monitoring quantities/units are completely used; however, the field inspections change from year to year, so this portion of the total is used within the budgeted amount. Sandra Trail made a motion to approve. Kathy Nobles seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered the recommendation to approve the contract with Reeves Young, LLC (RY) for the Full-Scale Biosolids Thermal Dryer project at the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF). Bids were received on May 16 from two bidders out of a total of five initial plan holders. The bid preparation time was extended twice to allow more time to formulate bids and to avoid losing bidders. RY is the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of $33,100,000. SSR has worked with RY previously in 2023 on a project in which they completed with success for Metro Nashville. The Department may front-end fund the project until the issuance of bonds through the City to finance the project. Legal has prepared a refunding resolution to formalize. Staff recommends approval of the construction contract to RY. The bids exceeded the estimate of $28M by $5.5M. It is assumed that the difference is due to inflation, equipment and material shortages and the construction market overall. Sandra Trail made a motion to approve. Warren Russell seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered SSR T.O. 24410340, WRRF Upgrades Resident Project Representative (RPR) Services. In addition to Geotechnical services, staff requests approval of construction inspection, via Task Order w/SSR. This type of RPR for Building Infrastructure not only exceeds the expertise of our in-house resident inspectors, but the time necessary for the project would take them away from the inspection of the many development projects in Murfreesboro. The Department has always relied on outside services for inspection of the construction of our large pump stations as well as inspections for upgrades to the WTP and WRRF. This RPR Task Order is in addition to the Engineering Task Order, in the not to exceed amount of $853,350 based on 960 calendar days, 885 days of continuous construction, or 40-45 hours per week. This Task Order is intended to cover the Dryer project as well as the Wet Weather Improvements & Headworks Recommissioning all at the WRRF. Final costs will be determined based on actual time on the jobsite at the submitted unit rates for RPR. The Geotechnical Testing services of this project is requested to be funded from Working Capital Reserves. Kathy Nobles made a motion to approve. Warren Russell seconded. The motion unanimously passed. Page 81 Water Resources Board Minutes May 28, 2024 Page 3 The Board considered TTL Geotechnical Services T.O. #9, WRRF Full Scale Biosolids Dryer. As required by contract, MWRD is required to hire a firm to perform construction inspections and testing to ensure that Reeves Young, the contractor, conforms to the project specifications. The firm will have a special inspector that will perform various inspections in addition to the testing. This is a requirement of the 2018 International Building Code (IBC). The Inspector shall document all inspections and tests providing daily reports and a final engineer stamped report of all tests per IBC. TTL has worked for the Department on several geotechnical and materials testing projects in the past, the most recent being the Overall Creek Pump Station Upgrades and has a Master Services Agreement with the City. TTL has always performed to the satisfaction of the Department, therefore staff requested this Task Order utilizing the City’s MSA from TTL, Inc. A proposal was received in the not to exceed amount of $127,500. However, because of the long nature of the project, there may be revisions to the schedule of fees in the future. Final costs will be determined based on actual time and materials and number of material tests performed per the submitted unit rates. Staff recommended approval of TTL’s geotechnical and testing services. Sandra Trail made a motion to approve. Kathy Nobles seconded. The motion unanimously passed. Staff requested revisions to Chapter 33 of the City Code to clarify water and sewer connection fees as it relates to Assisted/Senior Living as well as large Commercial Buildings over 35,000 square feet. This request for Code revisions is a follow-up from the approval of the fees for the Hawthorn Retirement development (Hawthorn) last month. In review, Hawthorn does not fall within a specific connection fee customer description within the City Code. Hawthorn Retirement development was approved to be charged under the Hospital/Nursing Home category within the City Code customer description in lieu of the Apartment customer description. The Overall Creek special sanitary sewer assessment district fee was assessed using the average water usage provided from several of their pre- existing facilities. Assisted/Senior Living developments are increasingly becoming popular and there is typically a justifiable rationale by the developers of these facilities use less water and sewer than an apartment. In meeting with the Legal Department, it has been decided that best practice would be to define Assisted/Senior Living and to add it to the Connection Fee Chart with Hospital/Nursing Home as a charge per “bed.” Legal defined Assisted/Senior Living, for water and sewer purposes, as residences that do not have individual oven, stove, or laundry equipment within the residence. The difference between the water and sewer connection fees as an Apartment opposed to Assisted/Senior Living is $660 and $1,750, respectively. Page 82 Water Resources Board Minutes May 28, 2024 Page 4 In addition, and unrelated to the Hawthorn retirement development, Legal and staff propose to modify Chapter 33-Section 2(D) related to water connection fees and Chapter 33-Section 50(A)(3) related to sewer connection fees. These sections currently require any Industrial use or Commercial space over 35,000 sf to be established by City Council upon recommendation of the Water Resources Board. The request is to remove the Commercial space requirement as most Commercial spaces of this size are either large retail spaces that use small amounts of water or large office space which is a routine calculation based on historical usage and square footage. The process of approval of fees for Industry will remain the same as stated in the revised City Code language below: “The water/sewer connection fee for water/sewer service to any industrial use shall be fixed and established by the City Council by Resolution upon recommendation of the Board after considering and taking into account the location, size, extent, nature and requirements of such customer, and the estimated cost of furnishing such sewer service to the customer, and further considering the estimated usage, occupancy, and plumbing fixtures to be installed.” Approval of these revisions to Chapter 33 of the City Code will be made by Ordinance 24-O-17. Sandra Trail made a motion to approve. Warren Russell seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Board considered the FY25 Water Resources and Stormwater Funds draft budgets. The Water Resources FY25 draft budget is balanced and is not expected to deviate significantly from the overall revenue and expense total of $63,480,000. This amount is $3,762,000 over the FY24 budget and $2,367,500 less FY24 projected revenues. The FY25 total budget increase equates to a 6.3% increase. The % increase represents increases based on metered water sales and sewer sales. Tap receipts, or system development charges, based on one- time revenue associated with growth is budgeted to increase by $250,000, or a 4.1% increase from FY24, representing a conservative outlook on FY25’s growth trends. $2,875,000 of sinking funds are being earmarked to assign the excess revenue for future construction or repair and replacement; additionally, $840,800 has been reserved for future unforeseen capital expenses. The use of sinking funds reduces the need to incur debt thereby alleviating the need for future rate increases. The FY25 total operating expenses, including benefits and payroll, increased $3,762,000 or 6.3% over the FY24 budgeted amount. Total expenses including transfer to reserves increased 6.3%. The total budgeted costs associated with salaries for FY25 is $10,949,100. This salary budget represents a 5.3% increase from FY24. FY25 factors in a 1.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase and a 2.5% increase in salaries effective July 1, 2025. Page 83 Water Resources Board Minutes May 28, 2024 Page 5 The rate funded capital budget is $8,788,000, which is a decrease of $2,500 from the FY24 budget, a 0% increase. MWRD’s goal is a minimum of $5 million per year for routine rate-funded capital purchases (i.e., vehicles, equipment, and repair/replacement projects). Warren Russell made a motion to approve recommending the Draft FY25 Water Resources Budget to City Council. Sandra Trail seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The Stormwater Fund budget is independent of the Department budget. It is funded from revenue based on a user fee of $3.25 per single family equivalent. The fund will be in its 16th year in FY25. No change is recommended to the fee. The net revenue generated by the stormwater fee is budgeted at $3,860,000 with operation expenses budgeted at $3,118,066, stormwater repair and replacement at $250,000, and rate funded capital expenditures at $400,000. The anticipated excess funds above operating expenses and rate funded capital expenditures are $91,934. The stormwater fund has developed a Capital Improvements Plan, currently totaling $6,601,000 from FY24 through FY28. A five-year pro forma has been developed to demonstrate the banking of excess revenues to pay for these proposed capital improvements without incurring any debt. Financial policies for the stormwater enterprise fund were adopted by the Water Resources Board and City Council on May 21, 2013 and July 11, 2013, respectively. An amendment to these policies was approved in FY18 to allow the minimum working reserve balance to be lowered to no less than three months of operating expenses, or $779,960 for FY25. The fee has grown by approximately $70,000 each year through new commercial, industrial and residential development within the City. That is equal to approximately 1,795 single family unit equivalents annually. The average impervious square footage is equal to 3,470 square feet per single family unit, which equates to the City adding approximately 143 acres of imperviousness annually. These impervious areas have been required to meet the City’s permanent stormwater runoff treatment standards since 2008. Warren Russell made a motion to approve recommending the Draft FY25 Stormwater Budget to City Council. Sandra Trail seconded. The motion unanimously passed. Staff presented the Water Resources Dashboard Performance for April 2024. Staff presented the Financial Reports for ten months ending April 30, 2024. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. _____________________________ John Sant Amour, Chairman Page 84