MINUTES
OF MEETING
CORAL
SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
A regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Coral Springs
Improvement District was held on Monday, April 20, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. at the
District Office, 10300 NW 11th Manor, Coral Springs, Florida. Prior to the regular meeting the Board
met at 3:00 p.m. for the groundbreaking ceremony.
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Robert Fennell
President
Sharon Zich
Vice President
Glenn Hanks
Secretary
Also present were:
Kenneth Cassel
District Manager
Sean Skehan
CH2M Hill
Gerrit Bulman
CH2M Hill
Cory Johnson
CH2M Hill
Brenda Schurz
Severn Trent Services
Dan Daly
Director of Operations
Jim Aversa
Chief Operator, Wastewater Plant
Doug Hyche
Utilities Director
Randy Frederick
Drainage Supervisor
Kay Woodward
District Accountant
Jan Zilmer
Human Resources Manager
FIRST
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Roll Call
Mr.
Cassel called the meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Groundbreaking Ceremony
Mr. Fennell stated for the record we had a groundbreaking ceremony just a
few minutes ago. We all went out
and took pictures. We are well
underway to our next construction project, which is the filtration plant. Congratulations to everyone who has been
a part of this.
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Approval of the Minutes of the March 16, 2009
Meeting
Mr.
Fennell stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the March 16,
2009 meeting and requested any corrections, additions or
deletions.
Mr. Cassel stated on page 30 we could not make out from the recording
what Mr. Hillers was saying. It is
highlighted. We will have to get
the exact wording from him as to what he was trying to explain there. There were a couple of items we could
not pick up on the recording well.
I listened to it, two different recording secretaries listened to it and
none of us could figure out what he was
saying.
Mr. Fennell stated okay. In
the last paragraph of page 30 ‘capacitive’ should be ‘capacitors’. On page 33, up at the top, “you can
overcorrect” is what I meant. That
should be an exact balance of the power factor. A couple of lines down it states,
“No. It will actually make our
generator power less demanded.” It
is actually less demanding.
Mr. Hanks stated on page 39 it says, “Mr. Bulman responded easily. These are low compared to what you will
get on the east coast or in Miami Dade.
They will go up to 100,000 feet up.”
What?
Mr. Bulman responded 100,000 feet per day is a measure of hydraulic
conductivity.
Mr. Fennell stated it is looking like in some of these cases some of
these molecules are moving 40 miles per day. You do not actually mean that; 40 miles
would be like a river flowing.
Mr. Bulman stated that is a measure of hydraulic conductivity. It is not a rate.
Mr. Fennell asked so it means 100,000 something per day, 100,000
what?
Mr. Bulman responded 100,000 feet per
day.
Mr. Fennell asked is it the
conductivity?
Mr. Bulman responded it is the hydraulic conductivity of the material
itself.
Mr. Fennell asked and that is given on what square
area?
Mr. Bulman responded it is not.
Mr. Hanks stated that is why it is a fee by day. It is really volume per square feet, per
head, per second, you know.
Mr. Bulman stated they have another parameter which includes thickness of
the transmissivity and there you have to be squared per
day.
Mr. Fennell asked are there any other
corrections?
On
MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Ms. Zich with all in favor the minutes of the
March 16, 2009 meeting were approved as
amended.
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Distribution of the Proposed General Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 2010 and
Consideration of Resolution 2009-4 Approving the Budget and Setting the Public
Hearing
Mr. Cassel stated this is in front of you because for the general fund we
need to have the information to the county no later than May 15, 2009. We do not meet until after that. We meet on May 18, 2009. We brought it to you at this meeting to
set the preliminary fund budget at this
time.
Mr. Hanks asked is this impacting the bond with US Bank at
all?
Mr. Cassel responded no.
Mr. Fennell stated there are copies of the proposed budget in here. Basically what I saw is we are going to
keep the rate at approximately the same thing. I guess it will be slightly lower by a
dollar or two.
Mr. Cassel stated yes.
Mr. Fennell stated you have $185 versus
$186.79.
Mr. Cassel stated it is about $1.79 less.
Mr. Fennell asked some of the money is for additional expenses, but most
of it is going into the reserves again,
right?
Mr. Cassel responded yes.
Mr. Fennell stated we are expecting to put another $750,000 in
reserve.
Mr. Cassel stated that is correct.
Mr. Fennell asked what will this bring us
to?
Ms. Woodward responded I do not have the exact number with
me.
Mr. Fennell stated there was that one project we were contemplating,
which was interconnecting two different canal systems on the east basin.
Ms. Early stated we were going to add a 54 inch culvert.
Mr. Daly stated with Dunkleberger and the integrity of some of the canal
banks we really did not know where we would be with regard to cost going into
the future or how much it would impact us.
It might not just be eight houses.
It may be a component on top of that.
Mr. Hanks stated it may be nothing.
Mr. Daly stated or it may be nothing. The most prudent thing to do is to have
that money available for the what if’s and I do not know yet. We have a study going on to tell us
which direction to go.
Mr. Fennell stated if we want to do that one project, which I still think
is prudent, it costs us $2 Million, it is too little money to float the bond
issue for.
Mr. Hanks stated agreed.
Mr. Fennell stated so the only thing we can really do is store up the
money or I supposed we could borrow it in some kind of note.
Ms. Zich asked do we have $2 Million there
now?
Ms. Woodward responded you will have $2 Million there. One of the other issues I think we had
discussed in the past is not just that you would have $1 Million for hurricane
reserves, but part of the concern was that there are certain items of repair and
renewal which do not occur on an annual basis. It is like every five years you need to
spend $300,000 to get one particular item done. You also want to have a reserve
established for the non recurring or infrequently recurring repairs.
Mr. Hanks stated those repairs which are not easily represented on an
annual budget.
Ms. Woodward stated that is correct.
Mr. Fennell stated although are pump stations are in the best shape they
have been since they have been installed.
Ms. Zich asked when are we going to do this project if we do it, the $2
Million one?
Mr. Fennell responded we will probably go out for a contract on it
sometime later this year.
Ms. Woodward asked do you mean later on in this fiscal year or in this
calendar year?
Mr. Fennell responded within 2010.
Mr. Hanks asked where do we stand in terms of the design and any matching
funds or the stimulus package which is out
there?
Ms. Early responded it is not under design yet. We have to acquire easements. We would not be able to get any of the
stimulus money because it is not shovel
ready.
Ms. Zich stated but we are pretty sure we are going to be doing
this. Maybe we should make the
reserves a little bit bigger.
Mr. Fennell stated I guess what we are asking is where the current
reserves are and where we are going to see them be built. If you do the math, are we going for the
right amount of money?
Ms. Early responded I will send all three of you by separate email,
remember there were like nine or ten different culverts we evaluated that would
improve the system. The 54 inch
would make the biggest impact. I
will send out the map and the cost breakdown so you could see all the ones we
were proposing.
Mr. Fennell stated but we need to make some kind of decision here
today.
Ms. Zich stated because he said he has to have the numbers over to the
county by May 15, 2009.
Ms. Early stated I was actually meeting with Mr. Cassel tomorrow at 2:00
p.m. to try and figure out the numbers.
Ms. Woodward stated if you look at your financial statements and you look
under the balance sheet, the second page where it has fund balance/ net assets, as of today we
have designated funds of roughly $1.6 million. That means most of the $300,000 budgeted
to be set aside this year is in fact already included in that number. If you look at the budget you were given
today, you will notice what is projected through the end of this fiscal year,
meaning September 30, 2009, is there may be as much as an additional $400,000
that will drop to the bottom line, unexpended, and is available to become part
of that designated balance. Between
those two you are right at $2 Million.
Mr. Fennell stated by September and we went up another $750,000.
Ms. Woodward stated not quite.
There will be another $300,000 that is definitely being set aside for
next year. The $450,000 is actually
just a flip flop from one year to the next because the general fund is funded
basically from tax roll revenues.
We always make certain we have a quarters worth of expenditures set aside
in cash in case we are slow to collect money from the county. That $450,000 is for operating funds for
the next year.
Mr. Fennell stated on this page you have designated at approximately $1.6
Million.
Ms. Woodward stated yes.
Mr. Fennell stated it means that is funds we are going to spend one way
or another is the upcoming year for our
expenses.
Ms. Woodward stated not for our upcoming year. That is for the long term infrequently
recurring items.
Mr. Fennell stated but it is not really designated for anything
specifically. It is just in
case.
Ms. Woodward stated it can be used for anything you want to. This is not a formal reserve that has
been contractually agreed upon. You
can change in your minutes or in your discussions every single month what you
wish to do with it. We do have sort
of a start up list of things we were considering; everything from every so many
years culverts need to be inspected and repaired, even though our pump stations
look terrific and they are up to speed now at some point funds will need to be
put into that to make sure they are maintained at that level of cleanliness and
operation.
Mr. Cassel stated part of a capital maintenance and capital improvements
ongoing program which we are trying to make sure we can fund as many as we can
in the ongoing budgets and as they come forth in years for engine replacements,
etcetera, without having to go out for bond money to be able to do
it.
Mr. Hanks stated so you kind of have taken a look at what the
improvements are that we have in place, what are the life spans of those assets,
what the replacement costs are for those assets and what the maintenance costs
are associated with them.
Mr. Cassel stated that is correct.
We are trying to make sure we can even out as much as possible, instead
of having a spike situation and an even flow of X dollars per year that we would
be expending which would actually capture the majority of the repair costs and
maintenance costs of large capital items over time versus having fluctuations in
your budget.
Mr. Fennell stated okay. So
in total we have $3.2 Million for everything. That is not inclusive of operations,
right?
Ms. Woodward responded well the undesignated is available for
operations.
Mr. Fennell asked is the money we need to operate all year listed
anywhere here in the assets?
Ms. Woodward responded no.
The money you use to operate is basically what we had for assessments for
the year, which was just over $2 Million.
If we have assessments at roughly $2 Million a year, assuming nothing
unusual occurs in our daily activity it allows you to automatically, every year
out of that $2 Million, operate the general fund every year the way you need to
for daily operations. In addition
to that, it allows you to set aside definitely $300,000 per year for future
events you might need or future repairs where you might need to pull those
monies out and use them for something else. It also allows, because we are trying to
make sure we are not budgeted right to the “enth degree”, that to the extent we
can manage the other operating expenditures and have funds left over, it will
allow additional monies to drop to the bottom line and also be available for
future items. At a minimum, you
will be putting away $300,000 per year.
Mr. Fennell stated and possibly
$700,000.
Ms. Woodward stated that is correct.
Mr. Fennell stated it looks to me, if I am reading this right, given we
keep this thing under $2 Million, we essentially have $3 Million there already
up through September, we can add anywhere from $350,000 to $750,000 in the next
year. That should get us up to $3.5
Million. If we take away $2 Million
for the projects, we still have $1.5 Million left over.
Ms. Woodard stated one of the things you have to do is out of that $3
Million you are looking at, you need to deduct your future expenses for the next
six months. They have not been
deducted from that total.
Mr. Fennell stated that would be another $500,000. Do we need to raise additional monies
this year? I think we need to do
this during 2010. It is already
2009 and we need to get the design going.
By the time we actually get this thing going it will probably be the end
of 2010. Do we have enough money to
do it? It looks like we are awfully
close to being able to do it. We
could probably get the design project.
Mr. Hanks stated we have the laundry list of stuff out there. I think what we need to do is we need to
go ahead and pull that list of items that we have of stormwater improvements,
take a look at them again and see if there is anyway we can get double the bang
for the buck. Can we make some
combinations? Is there something we
can do which will help improve and offset some of our increased water
demand? If we can spend $1 and get
$2 out of it, or even $1.50, it will be better for us. I do not want to go running into it, but
it is time to dust off those projects, take another look at them and see if we
are heading in the right direction.
Mr. Cassel stated if you did have to go out for a bond of $1.6 Million or
$1.8 Million to do the actual interconnect, that amount of money over a long
period of time is not that much of an increase on the assessments.
Mr. Hanks stated I do not want to rush into any one particular
projects. Let us identify what it
the level of service is we want to be providing and identify which projects can
get us to that point; if it is two projects, three projects or four
projects. Let us make those
decisions in a careful and thoughtful manner.
Mr. Cassel stated exactly.
Mr. Hanks stated like you said, we have the option of a bond at that
point. This is just one little
improvement with some benefit to the District.
Mr. Cassel stated one of the meetings Mr. Hyche, the engineers and I will
have after the staff meeting tomorrow is to look at all these projects, make
sure we have them all prioritized and make sure we have the right numbers
allocated in the timeframes to nail this down closer.
Mr. Hanks stated do not underestimate the time involved in acquiring the
easements either.
Mr. Cassel stated understood.
Mr. Hanks stated under this economic time I do not want to increase the
assessments. Can we maintain them
at last year’s level?
Mr. Fennell responded that is what we are doing.
Mr. Hanks stated I thought we were dropping a
dollar.
Mr. Fennell are you saying keep it at
$186.79?
Mr. Hanks responded yes.
Mr. Daly stated it will give us another
$11,000.
Mr. Fennell stated yes. I
would say to keep it at the same amount, $186.79. The only other thing I would say is I
think we need a line in here for engineering expense for projects looking out in
2010.
Mr. Daly stated all of the engineering costs which go along with a
project get in that project. They
do not come under general engineering.
We found in the past years it was a dumping ground. You never really knew why, you said
“okay it is going to be $50,000”, but it was really $150,000. You really could not decipher that. Ms. Woodward has set up every project we
have with its own ledger number and all items associated with it go to it. All you do is pull up one account and
everything that went into that, including cost for engineering, come right up
and we know exactly what the whole project really cost us.
Mr. Fennell asked somehow we still need to budget for it, do we
not?
Mr. Daly responded yes.
Mr. Cassel stated if we are going to do Project A, what do we estimate
the engineering fees to do project A on, that becomes part of the cost of that
project from the beginning. When we
start the preliminary engineering work, regardless of where we pull the fund, we
charge it against that so we can take the full accounting at the
end.
Mr. Hanks stated we have enough in this budget where we can start the
engineering project.
Mr. Cassel stated that is correct.
Mr. Fennell stated I guess the issue here is what needs to be
reported. We have to turn this in
to the state, right?
Mr. Cassel responded into the county. We have to decide if you want the rates
to be $186.79 or do you want it to be the $185. That is all you have to set today. You can always set it higher and go down
at the end, but you can not go up.
Ms. Zich stated I think we should just keep it at what it was last year,
if it is just a little bit more. If
we are looking at a lot of expenses for next year and we do not want to raise
it, there is no point in lowering it.
It is not going to do us any good to lower it. Just put the extra in the
reserve.
Mr. Fennell stated I guess what we are going to be looking for is the
capital improvement budget.
Mr. Cassel stated that is what we are hammering out the final details
on.
Mr. Fennell stated as opposed to an operating budget. We need to do it. We have known for a while we need to do
this. We need to get it going. Is it going to be four years this
fall?
Ms. Woodward responded I believe four years ago we started this.
Ms. Zich asked Ms. Woodward, do we have additional in here for
hurricanes?
Ms. Woodward responded no.
Hurricanes are included in there.
Ms. Zich stated that is what I was afraid
of.
Mr. Fennell stated that is why you need to have $1.5 Million set aside.
Ms. Zich stated if hurricanes are included in that, I thought we were
trying to build up for hurricanes.
Mr. Fennell stated we have.
Ms. Zich stated I know, but now if we are talking about using this for
something other than the hurricane, then that is what makes me wonder.
Mr. Fennell stated the money we were putting aside for the hurricane was
the clean up after the hurricane.
What we want to spend money on now is preventing hurricane
damage.
Ms. Zich stated right.
Mr. Hanks stated not necessarily hurricane damage, but risk
reduction.
Ms. Zich stated I am concerned we are now going to be using that money
not for the hurricane we were thinking it was set aside for. Now you are taking the money we thought
was going to be set aside for hurricane and using it for something
else.
Mr. Fennell stated I think we need $1 Million to $1.5 Million for
that. This is why we are trying to
get it to a $3 Million to $3.5 Million number.
Ms. Woodward stated we are getting there very quickly because two years
ago that was down to $500,000.
Mr. Fennell stated we got the hurricane fund back. Now it is the case where the lessons we
learned from the hurricane, we really need to operate on those and make the
changes we went and looked at. I
think there is a good chance we can do those, at least the preliminary steps,
without a bond issue. Are there any
other questions or comments?
Mr. Hanks responded no.
Ms. Zich responded no.
Mr. Fennell stated other than the fact we want to modify the
amount.
Mr. Hanks stated $186.79.
On
MOTION Ms. Zich seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the assessments will
remain what they were last year at $186.79 per
unit.
On
MOTION Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor Resolution 2009-4,
approving the proposed budget as amended and setting the public hearing for June
15, 2009 at 3:00 p.m., was adopted.
Mr. Fennell stated what came out of this is we are looking forward to
coming back in June with a preliminary capitalist expense budget of those key
projects that we think need to be done to improve the integrity of our water
system. We need a budget estimate;
obviously, we want to maintain somewhere around, what did we spend the last
time, $1.3 Million?
Mr. Daly responded a little bit more than that. If I am not mistaken there was a
lot. We have been really lucky over
the past four years.
Mr. Fennell stated we did get paid back a fair amount. Anyway, the question will be what is the
proper amount to reserve? Please
look at that again. There might be
some other way to do this to. I do
not know; like an insurance policy or something. Can you take out insurance policies for
a whole water system?
Mr. Daly responded I looked into it and the answer is no. It really would have helped
us.
Mr. Hanks stated the other side of it is if you put that money in and
they decide not to do anymore of those things, where does that money
go?
FIFTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Engagement Letter with Keefe. McCullough & Co., LLP
to Perform the Financial Audit for Fiscal Year
2009
Mr. Fennell asked is the other letter here a letter from another
accounting firm testifying to how good the first accounting firm is? Is the letter from Abbot, Jordan &
Koon, LLC stating they think Keefe, McCullough & Co., LTP are
good?
Ms. Woodward responded the audit firms are required when they put out
engagement letters to indicate they have been examined by their peers.
Mr. Fennell stated so who will guard the
guards.
Mr. Hanks stated I think they have done a good job with us in the
past. Mr. Cassel, is this
consistent with prior year scopes and fees?
Mr. Cassel responded yes.
They are up a little bit I think.
Ms. Woodward stated last year it was a total of $17,000 for the audit
fee. They are up this to $17,500,
which represents just under a 3% increase.
Mr. Fennell stated actually, the last audit was really well
done.
Mr. Daly stated it had continuity with it. The same guy who did it last year was
the same guy who came in half way through the year before. He knew what he was looking for and what
he was looking at. Everyone jumped
when he snapped his finger because there is nothing more important than getting
the audit before the book.
Ms. Zich stated I think the price sounds good to me. There are a lot of things they have to
go through here to do it. We need a
lot of good expertise when they are doing it. I think it sounds
good.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Lyles, do you have any thoughts on this at
all?
Mr. Lyles responded I can tell you, not as an expert, but just
empirically I see a lot of small districts that have a total budget of a couple
$1 Million, including their bond and indebtedness, and a typical audit fee on
those is simple districts are in the $5,000 to $6,000 range. I would just echo the comment that the
price seems, in light of the complexity and amount of work, to be very
reasonable.
Mr. Hanks asked what about in terms of their engagement
letter?
Mr. Lyles responded it is a standard form of engagement letter. We are in the three year process were we
do an audit selection committee, which you have been through. This is a continuation of the selection
committee process. We are in the
three year period. This is just
their renewal for the next year with their $500 increase in
fees.
On
MOTION Ms. Zich seconded by Mr. Hanks with all in favor the engagement letter
with Keefe, McCullough & Co. LLP, at an amount not to exceed $17,500 was
approved.
SIXTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Increase of $600 in the Proposal Submitted by Dunkelberger Engineering
and Testing
Mr. Cassel stated his item comes up with an additional $600, but in
discussions with the attorney and Dunkelberger, in order to get extra coverage
on liability and risk it will cost us another $400. So it is actually $1,000 more than what
he proposed last month.
Mr. Fennell asked where do we stand with getting the work done? Is it almost
done?
Mr. Cassel responded we had the issues with the insurance company. He did not want to go until he made sure
the Board was okay with the changes we made of the extra $600 plus the extra
insurance we are asking for.
Mr. Fennel asked are you waiting for us to say
yes?
Mr. Cassel responded that is correct.
Mr. Hanks stated we had phone calls and emails back and forth. There were some issues with the terms
and limits on liability that Mr. Lyles had brought up to protect the District
and put us in a better position.
From an engineering perspective there were some additional drawings to
help augment the data which was originally proposed. I am comfortable with what we have.
Mr.
Hanks MOVED to approve the change in geotechnical costs proposed by Dunkelberger
and Ms. Zich seconded it.
Mr. Fennell asked does this bring the total to
$16,620?
Mr. Cassel responded no, $16,020.
On
VOICE vote with all in favor the motion as previously stated was passed.
SEVENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Award of Bid for Purchase of
Forklift
Mr.
Fennell stated there is a memorandum that was sent out
later.
Ms. Zich asked are we going to buy it or lease
it?
Mr. Cassel responded it is a lease purchase. It is a 60 month lease purchase. At the end of the lease we buy it for a
dollar.
Mr. Fennell asked what is the advantage to
that?
Mr. Cassel responded all of the maintenance is included, we get to use it
for 60 months and at the end of it we pick it up for a dollar. If you do an outright purchase, most of
the routine maintenance is additional.
Mr. Hyche stated not in National Lift Truck Service. National Lift Truck Service is including
all the PM services and a five year extended warranty for $62,100. It would be an all out purchase. It eliminates 6.5% interest you would
incur.
Mr. Fennell asked so which one is the lowest
bid?
Mr. Hyche responded the lowest bid is National Lift Truck Service.
Mr. Hanks asked is each one of these proposing a different
vehicle?
Mr. Hyche responded it is a different type of vehicle, but it is all the
same model. It is the same size,
same engine size, it is just different manufacturers.
Mr. Hanks stated I did not even recognize any of the names. What are we
getting?
Mr. Hyche responded you are getting a very good piece of machinery with
National Lift Truck Services.
Mr. Hanks asked what about the availability of
parts?
Mr. Hyche responded they are all shelf items.
Mr. Hanks asked are you convinced this is an essential piece of equipment
for the operation of the District?
Mr. Cassel responded yes.
Mr. Hyche stated yes.
Mr.
Hanks MOVED to award the bid for the forklift to National Lift Truck
Services.
Mr. Cassel asked do you want to do it as a lease purchase or do you want
to do it as an outright purchase?
Mr. Fennell asked is that one an outright
purchase?
Mr. Hyche responded the $62,100 is an outright purchase
price.
Mr. Cassel stated or you can lease it for $1,259.16 a month for 60
months.
Mr. Daly stated it is about a $13,000 difference on the interest over the
five years.
Ms. Zich asked how much maintenance do you think we would have to do in
five years? Do you think it is
$13,000 worth?
Mr. Hyche responded whatever it is it is all included in that
price.
Mr. Hanks stated as long as National Lift Trick Services is still
around.
Mr. Fennell asked are there two choices
here.
Mr. Cassel responded yes.
Mr. Daly stated if you take your $1,200 per month times 60 months, it
comes up to $73,000 and change.
Mr. Fennell states this says lease amount, $62,100. Is that what the lease amount comes out
to be?
Mr. Hyche responded no that is less the trade in. The original amount of the piece of
machinery is $67,000, less $5,000 on the trade
in.
Mr. Fennell asked so what are my choices
here?
Mr. Cassel responded an outright purchase for $62,100, which includes the
warranty. I was not aware of that
until a little bit ago.
Ms. Zich stated so we get the warranty either
way.
Mr. Cassel stated warranty and PMs either way with this company, or the
60 month lease with the dollar buyout.
The carry cost of the 60 month lease is about $13,000. So if you want to go ahead, we have the
sufficient funds to buy it.
Ms. Zich stated I say let us just buy
it.
Mr. Cassel stated we can do the outright purchase at $62,100.
Ms. Zich stated you are talking about $13,000 in interest over the next
five years and we are trying to figure out where to put our money. We are putting it in banks and CDs we
are making nothing at.
Mr. Fennell stated that is
interesting.
Ms. Zich stated I would just but it.
Mr. Fennell stated I think you are right. The interesting thing is it is better to
buy something than it is to lease it.
Ms. Zich stated as long as we have the cash available. I would rather have it in the forklift
than in a CD where we are not making any money. I say let us buy
it.
On
MOTION Ms. Zich seconded Mr. Hanks with all in favor the bid for a forklift was
awarded to National Lift Truck Services at an outright purchase in the amount of
$62,100.
Mr. Fennell asked did you guys have to rent one last month or how did you
get buy?
Mr. Hyche responded we continued to use our forks on the
back.
Mr. Fennell asked do you have a trade in value of
$5,000?
Mr. Hyche responded yes.
EIGHTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of 1992 Bond Payoff
Mr. Cassel stated the next item
we need to do is the bond prepayment.
Mr. Fennell stated the idea is we have a bond issue coming due next
year. Ms. Woodward and Mr. Cassel
have found out if we pay it off now, we can save over $94,000 in interest
payments which we would pay over the next year. It is legal for us to pay it
off.
Mr. Cassel stated that is correct.
Ms. Zich stated I am enthusiastic about this one.
Mr. Fennell asked what do you think?
Ms. Zich responded I am so impressed Ms. Woodward found this. I am all for it. If we can pay it off a year early, look
at all the money we are saving.
Ms. Woodward stated this bond issue pays 6% interest. You know what is available for us to
actually generate interest income.
We are very limited on what we can get. If you are lucky, on a good day, you can
get 2% annual interest. Usually, it
is 1% and 1.5%. It is a one shot
deal because this bond matures a year from this June anyway. The funds we would be using to pay it
off, we would not be using for anything else during the year because you have to
make sure it is available. It is
money in your pocket.
Mr. Hanks asked what if we were to have a 10% reduction in our revenues
over the next year in the enterprise fund?
Ms. Woodward responded I would still have to pay this bond
off.
Mr. Hanks stated you would still have to pay this bond
off.
Ms. Zich stated in one year.
Mr. Hanks stated and we would have to skimp and save some place else to
do it.
Mr. Cassel stated exactly.
Mr. Hanks stated so we have this money going out the door in the next
year, regardless. This is even a no
brainer for me on the financial side.
Ms. Zich stated there is $94,000 in savings if we pay it off this
year.
Mr. Fennell stated we have the money set aside anyway in order to pay it
off.
Ms. Zich stated we can either save $94,000 this year or spend it next
year.
On
MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr. Hanks with all in favor the Board approved
paying off the 1992 bond issue in June of 2009 and authorized the proper
District officials to execute all necessary documents in connection with
exercising the optional redemption payoff on June 1,
2009.
Mr. Lyles stated we are going to have to get something in writing
reflecting the motion and the authority to the bank to do this. I just want to get that in the record to
cover the bases.
Ms. Zich stated thank you Ms.
Woodward.
Ms. Woodward stated you are welcome.
NINTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Underwater Shoreline Survey from Industrial
Divers
Mr. Cassel stated this is a follow up of the other four locations we had
dove. If you remember, initially
there were eight locations. We dove
four of them with industrial divers.
These are the other four which were dove for us. I will let Ms. Early address it, but as
with the last set of reports the diver did not understand the instructions. He made recommendations which he is not
certified to make recommendations to do.
Ms. Early, I will let you pick it up from
there.
Ms. Early stated as Mr. Cassel said these are the remaining four sites
that at the last Board meeting we awarded Industrial Divers to go ahead and
complete since he had done the original four. They really do not show any undermining
or anything different than what the cross section showed that we had done a few
months ago. The next step is the
Dunkelberger report. We are going
to do some drilling and we are going to try and determine what the erosion
problems are. With these four sites
I think there are two which are potentially a problem where as two I do not
really see what the problem is. I
do not think NW 113th Way is a problem.
The 18th street and Classic Drive may be a problem. I do not think the 7th Street
is too bad either.
Mr. Fennell stated I am not seeing a problem other than the houses seem a
little closer.
Ms. Early stated exactly.
One of them is a little steep under water, but there is no
undermining. It just does not make
sense so we are going to have to wait for Dunkelberger to see if he can come up
with anything different. Like I
said, two of them I do not see a problem at all. Even if you look at NW 113th Way, the
photograph, it does not look bad on the surface.
Mr. Cassel stated it looks like they moved their fence all the way out
over the lawn.
Ms. Early stated but on NW 113th Way the underwater cross sections have
the safety shelf. We are not
encroaching into their property.
You probably do not have the original cross sections that we had done,
but the actual cross sections with the property do not show any erosion into the
property. There is a little bit of
erosion, but we still have the safety slope there. I am sure maybe they thought their
property was bigger because it was under dug.
Mr. Fennell stated there fence is actually in our right-of-way. Is it not? I think that is the
problem.
Ms. Zich stated and the tree looks too close
also.
Mr. Fennell asked where is the property
line?
Mr. Frederick responded that is the property line where the fence
is.
Ms. Zich asked did we check that out?
Mr. Fennell asked do we own that canal or is that a
right-of-way?
Ms. Early responded if you look at this section, they probably did have
some more property on their house.
The property line way back here, we still have our slope. We are not encroaching onto their
property.
Mr. Hanks stated we are going to be getting a report back from
Dunkelberger assessing what is the potential for this problem to increase, to
become more of a problem. That is
what he is going to get back on.
This is useful information.
Mr. Fennell stated I want to understand where the property line is on NW
113th Way.
Mr. Schooley stated her main concern is that her fence is going to end up
in the canal.
Mr. Fennell asked do we own the canal or is it actually a
right-of-way?
Ms. Early responded I believe we own that canal.
Mr. Hanks stated I think on all of these situations what we are going to
need to do is, we have the underwater dive report to help identify what the
subsurface conditions are, the geotechnical engineer is going to take that
information combine it with their localized borings in the backyards to find out
what the local soil conditions are on the surface down to six feet below surface
and also take a look at it with the deep borings located in the front yards and
trying to establish whether or not the shoreline is stable, if it is going to
continue to recede or what the conditions are we are likely to expect.
Mr. Fennell asked is there a specification on how close you can build a
building to a canal?
Mr. Hanks responded that is probably governed by the City of Coral
Springs building code. You have
some zero lots out there. It all
depends on what zoning section your are in and what size structure your are
dealing with.
Mr. Fennell stated 12244 Classic Drive, that wall is within 20
feet.
Ms. Early stated Classic Drive is a problem area. We are not encroaching into their
property yet, but it is steep there.
Mr. Fennell asked why would you build something that close to a
canal?
Mr. Hanks asked have you seen the size of the
house?
Mr. Fennell responded no.
Mr. Hanks stated with Eagle Trace, that canal was over excavated. Was it
not?
Ms. Early responded yes, in areas.
Mr. Hanks stated seriously.
That is probably the area we will have to focus a lot of our attention
on.
Mr. Fennell stated it could be, but my first impression is they built the
house in the wrong spot.
Ms. Zich stated it is amazing.
If you go around our District, there are plenty of them built like
that.
Mr. Fennell stated I can understand zero lot line next to a house, but
next to a canal.
Mr. Hanks stated that is not too
prudent.
Mr. Fennell stated I do not think so. I guess we will not get into that
discussion here, but certainly I have to believe the canal was there before the
house. What about the first lady
that came in?
Mr. Daly responded she is waiting for us to contact
her.
Mr. Fennell asked did we find out anymore information under her
area?
Mr. Daly responded not to my knowledge.
Ms. Early stated we have the survey and we have the underwater. Now we are waiting for the geotechnical
report.
Mr. Hanks asked are we as a District going to be notifying the property
owners and requesting permission to enter for drilling? Is that how that was finally worked
out?
Mr. Lyles responded I think that is the practical administrative
approach. I think the agreement
also says the District will secure permission to come on the property from the
residents within the District.
Dunkelberger is depending on District staff for
that.
Mr. Hanks stated I understand.
We might have some fun with Eagle
Trace.
Ms. Early stated her survey is not that bad. I do not feel it is. We are just going to have to wait, like
you said, and see if they feel it is going to get worse.
Mr. Lyles stated in light of the fact, if your discussion is through on
this Industrial Divers issue, that Dunkelberger is going to rendering an opinion
which has not been researched or delivered yet, my suggestion to you is to
accept these four surveys, but to specifically reject the third and final
paragraph which contains the recommendation that is beyond their expertise and
for which we did not hire them. If
you want to accept the surveys and let it go forward with the transmittal
letter, that is fine. I suggest you
reject the third paragraph in each of the four letters directed to the District
from Industrial Divers.
Mr. Hanks stated because they are not an engineering
firm.
Mr. Lyles stated they are making recommendations about installing
shoreline remediation repairs. They
were not asked to do that. They are
not competent to do that and I do not want your record to be even slightly
confusing with respect to this Board believing that is the case. We do not believe that is the case and
we do not want it as part of our record.
On
MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the four
underwater shoreline surveys by Industrial Divers were accepted only as it
applies to the reporting of observed conditions and rejecting paragraph three of
each letter.
TENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Award of Contract for Injection Well System (IW-1 and IW-2) Mechanical
Integrity Testing Project
Mr. Fennell stated this has been going on for a while. Is that
correct?
Mr. Cassel responded yes. We
finally got the bids back and took care of it. Mr. Bulman and Mr. Hyche were wrapped in
the middle of this and can answer your questions on it.
Mr. Bulman stated this is unrelated to the current construction going
on. This testing takes place every
five years for the actual injection wells themselves; injection well one and
injection well two.
Mr. Hanks asked is this the five year testing
program?
Mr. Bulman responded that is correct.
Mr. Hanks stated I have some concerns just on the face of it. When I look at the bids in from
contractors, I have my engineer’s estimate, if I have one that is really low I
wonder what they missed. We are
talking $35,000 less than the next lowest bidder and you are at about 60% of
your engineer’s estimate.
Ms. Zich stated I am glad you brought that up because when I saw it I
said the same thing.
Mr. Hanks stated All Webbs Enterprises, Inc. has been around for
years.
Mr. Bulman stated I do not believe they have missed anything. I believe this is maneuvering between
contractors in a very competitive environment. I am not sure if Mr. Skehan wants to add
anything, other than the fact they are very capable of doing the work.
Mr. Skehan stated a similar project was bid recently where one of the
competitors who is on this list, Youngquist Brothers, Inc, they bid the MITs for
$44,000 for each well. This went in
the range of $42,000 for each well.
In further discussion with All Webbs Enterprises, Inc., they had expected
to see Youngquist Brothers, Inc. much more competitive this time. He does not understand why he decided to
be that much more expensive this time.
They are going back and forth with each other on costing these
projects.
Mr. Hanks stated they are just trying to keep you on your
toes.
Mr. Skehan stated they are trying to keep each other on their toes. They are after each other right now, all
over. There is another contractor
in Atlanta called Layne, which is becoming more competitive also.
Ms. Zich stated I just think this is a good environment for us to be
doing things.
Mr. Skehan stated it is a fabulous
environment.
Ms. Zich asked do you think that $80,439 bid is a legitimate good
bid?
Mr. Skehan responded if we went back three years that would have been a
typical price. Over the last three
to four years pricing for mechanical integrity testing has gone up
instrumentally. For the longest
time Youngquist Brothers. Inc. was the only contractor in the game who did it
effectively and efficiently. Now
you have other contractors who are coming in and they are interested in
competing. Layne is competing, All
Webbs Enterprises, Inc is competing and it is making it that much better for
anyone who is looking to do this kind of work.
Mr. Hanks stated you said Layne.
I do not see Layne on here.
I see Diversified Drilling Corporation and Southeast Drilling Services,
Inc.
Mr. Bulman stated Layne decided not to
bid.
Mr. Hanks stated okay.
Mr. Lyles stated before you take up the awarding of the contract I
recommend you concur with the engineers as to the two minor irregularities and
you take up a motion declaring those two items; mobilization cap and submitting
the experience modification rate for the three most recent years, which is
rectified, declare those to be minor technicalities that you as a Board wish to
waive and then take up the matter of awarding the contract on the basis of the
low bid.
Mr. Hanks stated so All Webbs Enterprises, Inc. omitted the experience
modification rate on their initial bid.
You contacted them and they submitted it right
away.
Mr. Bulman stated yes.
Mr. Hanks stated now unit mobilization price, they are 8.4% of total cost
versus 7%. You are still talking a
lower mobilization cost than the next lowest
bidder.
Mr. Bulman stated the difference equates to
$1,107.
Mr. Hanks stated lower by $1,107.
Mr. Bulman stated well All Webbs Enterprises, Inc. was 8.4% so they were
higher than our 7% cap, but what it added
to…
Mr. Hanks stated I am talking absolute
dollars.
Mr. Bulman stated absolute dollars they were $35,000
lower.
On
MOTION Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the Board accepted
All Webbs Enterprises, Inc’s mobilization cap and the experience modification
rate as being minor irregularities which they wish to waive
Ms. Zich stated I am impressed with how much money we are saving
today.
On
MOTION Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the contract for
injection wells one and two mechanical integrity testing project was awarded to
All Webbs Enterprises, Inc. for a total cost of
$80,439.
ELEVENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Staff Reports
A.
Manager
·
Manager’s
Report on Annual State of the District
Mr. Daly stated the Board had asked management to take a look at some of
the things we wanted to get accomplished.
We are going to continue to monitor and conclude some of the house
initiatives we have taken part in or taken initiative on which are: backflow
inspection program, meter replacement program, hydro inspection repair program,
valve exercising program, five year pump renewal and safety program. We initiated a lot of different programs
which are ongoing and which the managers of these departments are in charge
of. They come up once a week in our
staff meetings. They take bows
because of all the progress they have been making with each and every one of
them, which is terrific.
We are going to continue to promote forward thinking and awareness in our
weekly manager’s meetings as opposed to just discussing what we did and did not
do last week. We have a meter
replacement program this year just for example. We spend a small percentage of the
$70,000 we had out there. This is
because there were a lot of different things happening in the field which got in
our way of making progress. So
these are things we are going to be thinking about to make sure it is taken care
of. We are going to continue to
hold meetings to evaluate the progress of the departments. Those are the things we are looking at
and it is being discussed openly.
We are going to continue to work with management to find better ways of
having new and improved communication between the two organizations and improve
our working relationship.
Ms. Woodward stated my basic concern on an ongoing basis is to continue
to concentrate on financial planning and projections as well as to find new ways
to maximize revenues and minimize expenditures. In addition to that, which is my core
responsibility, I have identified three other areas I would like to concentrate
on in the upcoming year. One of
them is to complete and continue to accumulate a record retention library here
at CSID so when we are trying to research things we have them at our
fingertips.
Mr. Fennell asked what do you need to do
that?
Ms. Woodward responded she is sitting right here. We have already started the
process. Basically, technology has
made this a much easier task than it could have been in years past. We are trying to scan and make sure
Severn Trent and CSID both have identical libraries in case of a storm or other
issues come up. We want to be able
to rely back and forth on each other to make sure information is available. We are going through on everything from
budgets, all resolutions, all financial statements and items relating to
employee records. We are making
sure the items which are currently available do not accidentally get lost or
misplaced, but are in fact in place so we can research and use them if we need
them.
The second area I wanted to concentrate on is under contracts and
agreements. Basically, I want to
build a database on contracts and agreements which would highlight deadlines and
requirements for contract termination as well as for initiating new bid
processes so we are in a position to set those items in motion in sufficient
time for them to be taken care of.
Instead of having a deadline pass where we are stuck having to renew on a
contract automatically, we actually have the calendar set up far enough in
advance so everyone gets notified and we can set everything in
motion.
Mr. Hanks asked can you tie that in with human
resources?
Ms. Woodward responded yes.
The third area I identified is asset identification and tagging. We want to revive and improve the asset
identification and tagging program that had been set up here apparently years
ago and coordinate this information with insurance coverage and within the
presentation and audited financials.
Those are my goals for the new year.
Mr. Fennell stated sounds good.
Mr. Cassel stated the asset issue we already started when we had Mr. Daly
with Mr. Hyche and the crews go through the entire plant and outside facilities
to put together asset manuals listing every pump, compressor, air conditioner
unit, when it was purchased, what the cost was and the manufacturer. We have all those assets identified now
so we can utilize that for the insurance if we have a catastrophic loss. We have all the data right there. Plus we can make sure every time
something is changed, the book gets changed. We have an updated asset
management.
Mr. Hanks stated you should probably look, or maybe have Ms. Early or Mr.
Skehan look, there is a program ASCE puts out. It is tied in with their water CADD and
sewer CADD and it ties with asset allocations and asset management for water and
sewer systems.
Mr. Cassel stated it might make it easier and digitize.
Mr. Fennell stated Ms. Woodward, that is great. Are you taking on more responsibilities
here?
Ms. Woodward responded I think it was always intended that this was one
of the areas I would be expanding into.
Obviously the first goal was to make sure the financial records were
brought current and were cleaned up so they were more usable, more readable and
more useful to the Board. As that
becomes an easier process that makes me available to do other things Mr. Daly
identifies.
Ms. Zich stated typically most companies do have asset management. They are usually files and numbers on
every piece of asset.
Mr. Daly stated the problem with that is it was started and stopped
several times. It is a matter of
starting all over from square one and you go forward.
Mr. Fennell stated I think it is the right thing to
do.
Ms. Zich stated I am surprised we did not have
that.
Mr. Cassel stated the information was around. From my observation it is not that the
information was not there. The
information was there, but we had to figure out where it was. That is what we have consolidated
now. We pulled all the information
from all the different repositories, making sure we can have it at our
fingertips here for rapid access to do what we need to
do.
Ms. Zich stated as you buy all of these assets over the years you always
have the invoices right then and there.
It is a matter of if you put them in a location where you can find them
and where they are readily available.
The problem is everything is kind of out there, but you have to organize
it and get it all set up. Ms.
Woodward is so good at organization I am sure we are going to have a great
system here going forward.
Mr. Fennell stated I think so.
Do you need any software or additional computing power to do
this?
Ms. Woodward responded I cannot answer that right
now.
Mr. Fennell stated if you do go ahead and do it because I could see where
this would be a service for not only our District, but other districts. I think Mr. Petty was trying to do this
with NSID at one time. I think he
ran into the same kind of problem.
He was trying to find assets and he could not find
them.
Mr. Daly stated well a lot of it had to do with GASB and with 20 miles of
water pipes in the ground. He
actually wanted to use that for the depreciation. It was much more grandiose than the
nickel and dime stuff we are doing here.
I just think we need to get the foundation laid and then we can put the
next layer on top of it.
Mr. Fennell stated I applaud the effort. I think it is great. I think it is also a service we could
sell. There is a difference between
having someone come in to just do an audit and there is another issue between
just having a bookkeeper write in things than having a well structured company
that knows where its assets are. It
takes a lot of effort to do it. It
takes some knowledge of the business.
It is one of those things that because of our size we have been able to
help other districts do. If we had
this as one of the kinds of functions and part of our computer system that was
there, we would go a long way.
Mr. Aversa stated the new installation of Plant F. We are going to monitor the installation
of the new systems and watch how everything is being put together. It is going to be pretty much the same
as Plant E. The operation of it and
how we run it should be pretty close to how Plant E is. We just need to educate everybody on
what the current and future needs of that plant are and continue to comply with
the permits and the regulations.
I want to start a tagging system on all the valves from the deep wells;
number them, log them, every time we exercise them write down who, when, any
maintenance we do to the valves and keep a log book on all of that. Follow up on the safety meetings and
inventory checks of equipment. Try
to keep the operators always thinking safety. We have been pretty good for a long time
I am pretty sure. I want to try to
reduce the hauling and polymer costs on the sludge process by just operating it
a little bit better if we can. Some
of the equipment is new. I think we
can get better because it is still new to us and reduce the polymer and hauling
cost.
Mr.
Fennell asked is there anything we can do for you to make things easier in your
job or make things better?
Mr. Aversa responded no.
Mr. Fennell stated thank you very
much.
Mr. Cassel stated Mr. Frederick.
Mr. Frederick stated we are going to try to do more improvements at the
pump stations in the next coming year.
Some of the things we did not get done in this year we are going to
continue to do next year. We
implemented a safety system for the crews.
When they are on the rack cleaning they are attached to a harness now so
if for some reason they did fall over, we do not have to worry about them
getting sucked up into a pump. In
the past we did not have that. It
is possible in the future we might have to put some kind of railing system
up.
We have gotten better in our maintenance program on the engines at the
pump stations. We are doing our
yearly five year inspections on the pumps, the engines and everything. That is coming up, we have not gotten
that done yet. We are getting some
new culverts put in on the pump stations.
Supposedly next year SFWMD is going to be doing Pump Station No. 2. They are currently doing Pump Station
No. 1. They are also going to redo
the whole area which has been eroded out there. We will continue to give the best
service we can to the customers.
The canals are looking good.
Mr. Fennell stated it has been four years since the hurricane. I can see some of the trees are starting
to grow back. What can we do about
those?
Mr. Frederick responded we try to keep most of the nuisance trees
down. It is funny because the city
had taken the ficus tree off the nuisance tree list when we started taking out
trees and now it is back on the list.
Mr. Hanks stated just take advantage of it. Have you seen the one over by
the Coral Springs Auto Mall?
Mr. Frederick responded yes.
I have called code enforcement on that
again.
Mr. Hanks stated that was part of the
agreement.
Mr. Frederick stated I know and they cleaned all of that up. Now they are letting it go
again.
Mr. Hanks stated code enforcement has gotten absolutely atrocious in the
city.
Mr. Frederick stated that was part of the agreement for them to get their
CO to get that parking garage.
Ms. Zich stated I think we should send a letter to them and tell them to
please maintain them. I think that
is important.
Mr. Hanks asked do you want to maintain them or do you want them
removed?
Mr. Frederick responded I agree.
Ms. Zich stated but they need a letter because then it will be
formal.
Mr. Frederick stated those homeowners will be really upset if they are
removed.
Ms. Zich stated I know because I live there.
Mr. Frederick stated they like those trees
there.
Ms. Zich stated they do.
They should be maintained.
Mr. Frederick stated I agree.
They were doing that. When
they needed something they were doing it.
Now they do not need anything so they are not doing it.
Mr. Fennell stated I think we need to apply continuous pressure to clean
up the trees. Some of them are on
our property and we can just go out and get them. Others we need to send letters. I think we need to start doing them now
and on a continuous basis.
Ms. Zich stated I can understand why those homeowners want the
trees. I have heard them unloading
cars first thing in the morning and it is really loud. I am not right across from them, but my
neighbors across the street are. It
is nice to have that as a buffer, but it needs to be maintained.
Mr. Frederick stated they do not need to cut them down they just need to
trim them. They need to trim the
lower level ones where there is a wall behind there and then trim what is
hanging over the canal. The canal
is almost completely covered.
Mr. Fennell stated Mr. Cassel, I think we need to start doing this. We need to put a constant
pressure.
Mr. Cassel stated we will identify them and send them
letters.
Mr. Fennell stated we need to keep after them so it does not get away
from us again. It is pretty easy to
do that.
Mr. Daly stated that is a good point. We should monitor all canals for
anything which is growing and send letters.
Mr. Fennell asked do we actually have equipment that can cut stuff down
for us from the canal side?
Mr. Cassel responded no.
Mr. Frederick stated just with
chainsaws.
Mr. Fennell asked should we have something
more?
Mr. Hanks asked are people trained on using
chainsaws?
Mr. Frederick responded yes.
Mr. Hanks stated because not too many people down here know how to use a
chainsaw.
Mr. Fennell asked are there any other
comments?
Mr. Cassel responded Mr. Hyche.
Mr. Hyche stated my goal is to see that we continue with the expansion of
the plant that the Board has seen fit to give us and to make sure our operators
are educated enough to operate these plants once they come on board. I have taken some courses myself to make
sure I can be there in case that happens.
Luckily I have run membrane treatment plants before. Also, I assist Mr. Daly in making sure
all the valve replacements, meter replacements and this other stuff gets
done.
Mr. Daly stated he is the one we talk to every
Tuesday.
Mr. Fennell asked do we have a training
budget?
Mr. Hyche responded we have money inside the budget for schools and
training. It used to be $1,100 per
employee. I do not know what it is
now.
Mr. Daly stated it is about the same.
Mr. Fennell stated Broward College is putting together four year programs
now. One of the four year programs
is taking the associates degree, having that count for two years and they laying
on top of that the normal college requirements, some business courses and then
10 to 15 hours within a very specific field. So you may end up with a degree in
technology management for computer systems for example. Given that start there is a possibility
that there could be a very specific program set up for areas with people who
have associates degrees, management training as well as other things which would
be specific. Would that be of
interest?
Mr. Hyche responded of course.
It is already offered through the licensing of new operators. We have management courses that we
take.
Mr. Fennell asked does it end up in a four year degree at
all?
Mr. Hyche responded it does not apply to a degree. It is just continued
education.
Mr. Fennell stated well there might be a possibility to put that together
if there was enough of a demand.
Talk to me later if you think it is something worth doing. I know that Broward College is looking
for ways to enhance the community with additional training as well as four year
degrees. Believe it or not it is a
class two college. I happen to be
in an area where we are going to have a four year degree for computer
technology. It is something to
think about. I obviously encourage
training. Do you think we need to
fly somebody in when we get this plant going up and have a week or two training
on how to run membrane plants?
Mr. Hyche responded I am sure the engineers will have someone here for
us.
Mr. Fennell stated we should do that and maybe it is needed for
everybody.
Mr. Daly stated Mr. Zilmer.
Mr. Zilmer stated first I want to tell you I have been here almost 22
years and I think this operation is running better than it has ever run. It starts right from the top. I think Mr. Cassel is a fine District
manager. Mr. Daly and Ms. Woodward
are doing a wonderful job. We are
really heading in the right direction for positive things. There are a couple of things I am
currently working on. One is a new
personnel handbook. I think it will
be a better handbook than we ever had.
We got all of the managers involved in it this time, which was really
helpful. Everyone can put in some
experiences so you can fine tune them.
We have it in place and sent it to Mr. Lyles for review. Once he has made his comments we will
bring it back to you to approve.
Another thing I was working on last year was a new safety manual. That is the way we are going this
year. As some point we will have to
be OSHA compliant or at least be much more in line with OSHA regulations. We have another employee who has been
here almost 22 years and we put him in the position of Safety Director. He is taking a lot of courses in OSHA
rules and regulations. We are going
to take everything he is putting together and apply it to the safety
manual. It will be a really good
manual.
Ms. Woodward was mentioning the image documentation. Last year we had a hurricane
preparedness meeting and Mr. Cassel suggested we begin the process. I am taking all the personnel files and
copying them into data so you can recreate the file from anywhere.
Mr. Hanks asked are you still keeping that information
secure?
Mr. Zilmer responded yes.
Mr. Daly stated all I have to say is it is a pleasure working with all
the managers here and the management.
It gets better every day.
Mr. Hanks stated the word out on the street with construction sites is
OSHA has cracked down because they do not have as many construction sites. They are making more of an appearance at
the construction sites. There have
been rumors of making sure everyone has hard hats and steel toe shoes,
etcetera. I just want to make sure
we have the appropriate safety protocols in place and our engineers are watching
out as well so we all stay on top of the contractors for
compliance.
Mr. Zilmer stated I cannot speak for the contractors, but as far as the
employees go we recently did an inventory of all the safety equipments which
were on the trucks, personnel and in the shop. We got an inventory of what they had and
what they need. We then supplied
them. Most of our guys have some
kind of a bag with everything in it; the eyewash kit, ear plugs, hard hats. Their trucks each have a first aid kit
and fire extinguisher. I created an
inventory sheet which list by employee, by truck, what that current employee has
and each month the managers are doing an audit so if they lose it we can replace
it and make sure everyone has been given the proper safety equipment. I think we are really good
there.
Mr. Daly stated we have a risk management company which coincides with
our insurer. They have come in and
done some risk management classes with us.
They already applaud us for all the programs we had in place and gave us
areas on which to improve. We are
well within being able to be OSHA compliant.
Mr. Fennell asked anything else?
Mr. Cassel responded it has been a real pleasure working with all of
you. Everybody is really coming on
board with the vision of how to operate the facility as a class A facility to
make sure we know what is going on. Everyone is taking ownership; I think all
the way down through the crews.
They all understand this is how we really need to run it. It has shown. I have seen a lot of positive
feedback. I have seen a lot of
working with each other, which was kind of in a little bit of disarray when I
first came on board. I am glad to
see everyone is moving forward and going down the road together.
Mr. Fennell stated good. We
are glad to have all your input. We
are doing quite well despite the bad economic times. You have to run the place
right.
·
Consideration
of Payment for FPI Invoice in the Amount of
$23,000
Mr. Cassel stated this is way before my time. We are just trying to figure this out and
make sure it all gets ironed out.
As some of this information came in my first questions to Ms. Woodward
were; did this work really get done, do we owe this money and what is this
for? Ms. Woodward put together a
lot of this. I am going to Mr.
Hyche and Mr. Frederick do the background on this as to what we did and did not
do. Mr. Daly can then pick up on
whether we owe the dollars because the work was
done.
Mr. Hanks stated so in answering your questions the work was done.
Ms. Zich asked was the work authorized at all?
Mr. Hyche responded yes.
Ms. Zich asked by who?
Mr. Hyche responded this Board.
Mr. Hanks stated we owe the money.
Counsel, do you have any input on
this?
Mr. Lyles responded once you make the record you just did; there is not
much for me to say. You have
established there was a contract awarded by the Board. The work was done. It was maybe authorized in a less than
traditional and paperwork bound way, but phone calls and verbal authorizations
seemed to have been given. It was
all within the four corners and the scope of work which was approved. This is a left over item and I think
staff is cleaning up the paperwork at this point. Since there is another check which needs
to be written it is being brought the Board so questions can be answered. I do not think there is a whole lot we
can do about it.
Ms. Zich asked why did it take four
years?
Mr. Hyche responded it is a mystery. This one goes back to the five inches we
bought from Farmer’s Pump to replace in pump station # 1 and #2. Two were delivered, one was installed
and the other one sat outside.
Three were not delivered. At
the time Hurricane Wilma hit.
Farmer’s Pump then went to New Orleans. None of the engines were delivered to us
for a period of two years. There
was some delay costs incurred at that point. Mr. McKune, at the time, along with the
representative from Farmer’s Pump and engineers working on the pump decided that
in lieu of collecting delay costs against Farmer’s Pump, they would perform some
of the work on the pump stations for free.
All the District would do is buy the materials. This $23,000 is that amount for the
materials.
Mr. Hanks asked so what do you need from us Mr.
Cassel?
Mr. Cassel responded approval of the $23,000 payment to FPI to close out
the work which was done.
Mr. Hanks asked is there any discussion before I make a
motion?
Mr. Fennell responded no.
On
MOTION Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor payment in the amount
of $23,000 to FPI for outstanding invoices was approved.
Mr. Hanks asked are the procedures tightening up a little
bit?
Mr. Hyche responded yes.
Ms. Zich asked are we not going to have one of these happen
again?
Mr. Hyche responded we are watching the best we can to see it does not
happen.
Ms. Zich stated good. I am
surprised this happened with you out there.
Mr. Hyche stated this happened before me. All of this was done under Mr. McKune’s
watch and Mr. Petty’s. Mr. Moore
was the initial person.
Mr. Frederick stated it all got screwed up when Hurricane Wilma hit.
Mr. Cassel stated the processes, procedures and what the staff and I have
been working out for the past year is going through and cleaning up the
potential for this. We are not
doing business this way. We are not
just creating change orders, instead we are doing a separate project. We are closing out the project and
moving forward so we do not have this stuff we had in the
past.
Ms. Zich stated I just want to let you know I do not like this kind of
stuff. I like it
closed.
Mr. Cassel stated I hate it.
·
Discussion
of Energy Saving Proposals by Hillers Electrical
Engineering
Mr. Hanks asked what do we have as far as Hillers Electrical
Engineering? I did not see it in
the packet. Did I overlook
it?
Mr. Cassel responded it was not put in the package. It was a mistake and it will be in next
month’s agenda.
Mr. Fennell stated the only thing I have. I said it before. There is a memorandum in there from Mr.
Moore from 2005. If you change over
to the last page there, you get to the sixth order of business. It actually does not have anything to do
with this stuff. This is how
history keeps repeating itself.
Mr. Cassel stated I noticed that.
Mr. Fennell stated at the time I was noting we had a lot of money set
aside and we were only getting 1% or 2% on our money. This is the same stage where we were
trying to maximize our money. At
the time we were saying why do we not just get some T-Bills.
Mr. Hanks stated your still on the T-Bill
thing.
Mr. Fennell stated I am saying at the time, this is like two years ago,
you could have bought a six month T-Bill for about
5%.
Ms. Zich stated two years ago, it is four years ago.
Mr. Fennell stated this is 2007.
It is two years ago. This is
just about six months before they went bust.
·
Monthly
Water Charts
Mr. Cassel stated you have the water reports. Are there any questions for Mr.
Hyche?
Mr. Fennell asked is there any more insight as to where that money is
coming from?
Mr. Hyche responded I only did the rain event we had three weeks
ago. That period is just those four
or five days of the rain event and after.
If you look, you will see how the lift station hours and the influent
flows all follow the canal levels.
You see it very closely. As
the lift station hours fall the canal levels
fall.
Mr. Fennell asked so you do think it is the canal
levels?
Mr. Hyche responded yes. It
is infiltration and groundwater.
Mr. Hanks asked is it to a point where it makes sense to do anything
about it?
Mr. Hyche responded again, this is just that one
area.
The record will reflect the
recording picked up several people talking at the same
time.
·
Utility
Billing Work Orders
Mr.
Fennell asked are there any questions or
recommendation?
There
not being any, the next item followed.
B.
Attorney
Mr.
Lyles stated I have nothing additional to advise the Board about today. I think I covered my
issues.
C.
Engineer
·
Consideration
of Work Authorization #52 (5-18-09) for Bid Documents and Specifications for
Stormwater Pump Stations No. 1 and No. 2
Mr. Fennell stated I thought we were done with
everything.
Mr. Cassel stated when we did the repairs on the racks and everything we
discovered at the ends of the racks there had been a makeshift extra barrier to
keep stuff from being sucked around the trash racks. We are looking at going back in and
putting a screen type of system on the side
there.
Mr. Hanks asked why was this not picked up when we went through a whole
study of the pump stations?
Mr. Hyche responded they were asked to inspect the trash racks, which was
what they inspected and how they were attached to the concrete. They were not asked to look and see what
was around. It was only noticed and
brought to Mr. Frederick’s attention later.
Mr. Frederick stated that design was actually not part of the original
trash rack. It was something which
was added on later by the divers.
It was never designed as part of the rack
system.
Mr. Daly stated Ms. Early’s original recommendation was to replace the
trash racks entirely with aluminum, but it was $250,000. We have wood there we can replace for a
lot less. I believe the new form
would have been there in the new design.
Mr. Hanks stated so as a Board we provided direction not to go with the
expensive option. Here is an added
cost above the low cost option.
Mr. Frederick stated the original thing was to replace the two by fours,
make sure the original rack system was aligned and to clean out in front of the
trash rack and behind it. This was
not part of that deal. This was
something which was discovered after the
fact.
Mr. Hanks asked so is this additional screen something we are not just
going to be able to put in and we have to have a design done on
it?
Mr. Frederick responded yes.
We are looking to have something more permanent than what is there. What they did originally was take
reinforcing rods and welded it in there.
They made some kind of barrier to keep tires and stuff out. We are looking for something more
permanent than that. Because that
bar has just rusted away.
Mr. Hanks asked after how many
seasons?
Mr. Frederick responded I am not sure how long it has been, but it has
not been that long.
Mr. Fennell stated so we are talking about $7,850 to design
something.
Mr. Cassel stated that is correct.
Then we will get the bid for actual construction and installation.
Mr. Fennell asked do you have something in mind
already?
Mr. Skehan responded that is a package Ms. Early will be putting
together. I am sure she has some
ideas based some of the observations she has made in the
past.
Mr. Fredericks stated this is basically to help prevent things like
tires. There has always been a void
at those pump stations in that rack system. We had tires in the past get in there
and we could not figure out why. We
believe this is how it is doing it.
Now since we had that rebar in there we have not had a tire in a while
get through there.
Mr. Fennell asked what happens when one gets in
there?
Mr. Hanks responded it is not good.
Mr. Frederick stated I had a big tire get through years ago. When I went to the pump station the pump
had pulled loose from the concrete pad.
It was bouncing two to three feet in the air. The engine was still running, but by the
time we shut it down the crank shaft was bent and the main bearings
broke.
Mr. Hanks stated that was about six years ago. Was it now Mr.
Frederick?
Mr. Frederick responded longer than that.
Mr. Skehan stated so the cost of doing this saves the cost of pumps and
motors.
Mr. Fennell asked what actually happens down at the trash
racks?
Mr. Frederick responded two guys with long rakes that try to pull as much
as we can.
Mr. Fennell asked is there a better way to do
this?
Mr. Daly responded you could really spend some
money.
Mr. Hyche stated a barge system, but the canals are too small for
barges.
Mr. Fennell asked how do we make it easier for the guy cleaning out the
trash rack?
Mr. Frederick responded they have something at other pump stations that
goes down over the rack, catches so much material and after a while an arm lifts
up and picks all the stuff up.
Mr. Fennell asked do you want that?
Mr. Frederick responded we do not get a lot of stuff like
that.
Ms. Zich stated it sounds like it happens once every great
while.
Mr. Fennell stated once every
hurricane.
Mr. Frederick stated we try to monitor it the best we can, but sometimes
you cannot see it. The tire
situation happened many years ago.
We have not had something like that lately. Once in a while you might get a plastic
bag that will go through. You have
to get a diver to get that off of there.
A plastic bag throws these pumps out of whack.
Mr. Fennell asked is there any other
discussion.
Mr. Frederick responded it is just a preventative maintenance
thing.
On
MOTION Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor Work Authorization #
52 (5-18-09) was approved.
·
Project
Status Report
Mr. Cassel stated Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bulman will brief you on the status
of the deep well injection and the RO plant status. Who wants to go first?
Mr. Johnson stated for the past couple of weeks we have gotten trailers
onsite. We have our construction
manager onsite and we have been demolishing the two tanks, A and B, over on the
wastewater side. We are right now
working towards permits with Broward County and the City of Coral Springs. We already had one round of preliminary
comments from the City of Coral Springs.
We are trying to mitigate a lot of the problems before we actually start
going here. That in a nutshell is
where we are.
Ms. Zich asked when will we really be starting? When do we have the permits to actually
start?
Mr. Johnson responded we are looking anywhere from two to four
weeks.
Ms. Zich stated by the next meeting.
Mr. Johnson stated hopefully, but again the permitting process can be a
bit of a bear. We have our permit
packages together right now. We are
going to sit down with Intrastate later this week to have a coordination meeting
on permitting.
Mr. Cassel stated but on Plant F the demolition and the actual
construction of Plant F is ahead of the filtration
plant.
Mr. Johnson stated yes. That
should be able to begin much sooner.
The Plant F permitting comments were minimal; mostly due to the size of
the project itself. Compared with
the membrane building where everyone has a finger in the pie. It is a much simpler permit to get. We should be able to start on that
sooner than the main plant. In the
interim we will be getting a lot of submittals from the contractor so they can
start issuing POs for equipment.
Ms. Zich stated you know we just want to keep
going.
Mr. Skehan stated absolutely.
Mr. Johnson stated so do we.
Mr. Skehan stated the preliminary permitting is going to be a very
helpful step to have. We have five
or six tables we have laid out as far as what the comments were from the city
and then a specific comment on how it was resolved referenced to that specific
comment, to the plans and then how it is going to be adjudicated. What the city has told us will help us
streamline the whole process. They
have committed to that. The
comments were pretty straightforward.
We have all of the comments included in the plans as they requested. That was one of the key things to get
that taken care of. Those plans are
all signed and sealed, which was another component of their request. They have been delivered to the
contractor and as Mr. Johnson mentioned we will be getting with them to get
those packages off to the city and to the county this week.
Mr. Cassel stated Mr. Bulman.
Mr. Bulman stated the monitoring well number three construction is going
very well. I want to address safety
first. We have a safety protocol we
follow. Everyone signs it onsite
and we keep a hard copy in the trailer.
Layne Christensen Company has their own safety plan, which we looked
at. They also have safety meetings
every morning when they start. We
have been impressed. Everyone has
hard hats and steel toed shoes.
The well is built with concentric casings. The first casing has been installed,
which basically protects the surficial aquifer. One of the wells was turned off during
that time. It has now been turned
back on and put in service. There
were no issues related to that installation. At this point we have drilled down to
1,050 feet, which will be the depth of our next casing. That is likely to occur later this week
until the end of the week. That
will be a 20 inch casing.
Last week on Monday we began 24 hour operations. The contractor is not always working 24
hours, but it allows them to work 24 hours as they have been preparing and
keeping down the high level noise activities. They are working through the night as
they need to in order to keep progress going as needed. So far there have been no noise
issues. They are monitoring
decibels. We have a report on the
project records. They also built a
30 foot high sound barrier. It can
be disassembled if there is a hurricane coming. That is part of the requirement. It does really reduce noise on the other
side for the adjacent property owners.
Mr. Skehan stated when the comment from the property owner in that corner
when the contractor went out to talk to him about working 24 hours, his question
was when are you going to start drilling.
They had already been drilling for two to three weeks at that point.
TWELFTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Approval of Financials and Check
Registers
·
Summary
of Cash Transaction
·
Projected
Cash Flows – Operating
·
Projected
Cash Flows – SIP
Mr. Fennell stated Mr.
Cassel covered a little bit of this already. Is there anything you want to bring to
our attention Ms. Woodward?
Ms. Woodward responded no. I
think you should feel very comfortable with the financials. Because this happened to be the set of
financials we used as the basis for the first draft of the budget, we did an
extra set of review procedures on it to make sure things which need to be
reclassified was taken care of before the financials were prepared. I think you should feel comfortable with
it.
Mr. Fennell asked are there any
questions?
Ms. Zich responded I feel very comfortable with it. I looked it
over.
On
MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the financials and
check registers were approved.
THIRTEENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Supervisors’ Requests and Audience
Comments
Mr.
Hanks stated I have been invited to do a presentation to SFWMD on behalf of the
District coming up on May 27 and May 28, 2009. SFWMD is going to have a bunch of
engineers down. We are going to be
at the Broward County Water Utilities for their stormwater management side of
things. They are looking for a site
tour.
Mr. Fennell asked of here?
Mr. Hanks responded I was not making an offer until I consulted with you
considering I got the email this morning.
Mr. Daly asked how many people are
there?
Mr. Hanks responded I think they said they were having 11 engineers come
down.
Mr. Daly stated if necessary you will need a few of our vehicles to
transport these gentlemen to the pump stations. We will make sure they are
available.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Cassel, do you want to give Mr. Lopez a
call?
Mr. Cassel responded I will give him a call. I know the last time a group of people
came down to do a site visit of one of NSID’s stations they came in a van and
had several other vehicles out there.
We met them at the site and gave them a tour. We can make
arrangements.
Mr. Hanks stated okay. If it
all works out, I will just do the presentation here.
Mr. Fennell stated I think it is a great idea. What is your
plans?
Mr. Cassel responded we are going to work on a PowerPoint, Mr. Hyche, Mr.
Frederick, Mr. Daly and I, for Mr. Hanks to work off from.
Mr. Fennell asked can we have our esteemed engineering group here talk
about some of the studies we have initiated and things we have done? We did the computer program that we did
for modeling. That would be great.
Ms. Early has some great information.
Mr. Fennell stated there is the fact we did a complete survey of all the
elevations around.
Mr. Hanks stated we can take a look at what we have been doing to
conserve the function and protection.
Mr. Fennell stated I think we should also come back and talk about some
of the conclusions we saw which we could in fact do within our water area as far
as trying to have better protection.
Mr. Hanks stated I think we need to have a brief discussion with Mr.
Lopez and find out what their focus is going to be on so we keep it
narrow.
Mr. Fennell asked who is the
audience?
Mr. Hanks responded Mr. Krause with Broward County DPEP and I forget who
else.
Mr. Cassel stated there are about 10 or 11 different engineers from
different areas.
Mr. Hanks stated so I will continue to coordinate with Mr. Cassel and get
this going.
Mr. Fennell stated I would not mind sitting in for that
also.
Mr. Hanks stated to avoid any improprieties with the Sunshine Law I will
get the information to Mr. Cassel.
He will go ahead and coordinate with you. It is May 27 and May 28, 2009. I am not sure when they have scheduled
for presentation and when they have scheduled for site
visits.
Mr. Fennell stated okay.
Mr. Hanks stated permits. I
noticed they are doing some construction at what is supposed to be our new Bru’s
Room at Atlantic Boulevard and Ramblewood Boulevard. My main concern is it looks like they
are expanding the building and I do not remember seeing the permit come
through. Is there any
feedback? Who is going to do a
little digging for me?
Mr. Cassel responded Mr. Daly will dig.
Mr. Daly stated I thought it was just a facade.
Mr. Hanks stated I am curious because they have some columns going up
there today.
Mr. Daly stated I will find out.
Ms. Zich stated they usually have an outside patio at every Bru’s Room
they build. I noticed that
also.
Mr. Hanks stated that is probably it, but even on something like that;
what does it do to the impervious area and how does it impact our stormwater
management system? I would much
rather be in the position where we are getting the request from the City of
Coral Springs Building Department as to what our thoughts on it are?
If I may add one item on the annual state of the District, one thing I
would like to do is put a big push on finalizing the permit criteria manual for
these renovations. Let us get this
done. Let us get it wrapped up so
we are in a good position to deal with redevelopment when the economy turns back
around.
Mr. Cassel stated okay.
Mr. Fennell asked who is working on
that?
Mr. Cassel responded it is Mr. Hanks, Ms. Early and me; after we finish
those issues, Mr. Lyles.
Mr. Hanks stated unfortunately I feel like it is an unfounded
mandate.
Mr. Fennell asked so why do you not pick it as an agenda item and a date
when you would like to see it?
Mr. Cassel responded we will quietly nudge him towards July or
August.
Mr. Fennell stated the Florida Association Special District’s meeting is
coming up in June. Who is all
going?
Mr. Hanks responded I have not given an RSVP to anybody.
Mr. Fennell stated it is coming right
up.
Mr. Daly stated I think you all wanted to
go.
Mr. Fennell stated I did.
Mr. Daly asked did you respond?
Mr. Fennell responded I thought somebody here was doing
it.
Ms. Schurz stated I contacted all three of you, but I did not hear from
back from anyone.
Mr. Fennell stated I will make it official. I would like to
go.
Mr. Hanks stated yes.
Ms. Zich stated okay.
Mr. Fennell stated okay.
Register us.
Ms. Zich asked can we drive up all
together?
Mr. Fennell responded we can.
Mr. Daly stated it is a two to three day
affair.
Mr. Fennell stated it is basically in St.
Augustine.
Mr. Hanks stated it is a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Mr. Fennell stated I do not know the exact times for the different
events.
Ms. Zich stated it starts at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday and the last thing is
Thursday night at 10:00 p.m. I do
not know what in here we need to attend.
Do we need to attend everything?
Mr. Fennell responded no. I
think you pick out the things.
Mr. Hanks stated you get to go to the financial side. I will go to the engineering
side.
Ms. Schurz stated I will take care of
it.
Mr. Cassel stated we will get you registered. Typically in the conferences there are
concurrent sessions. You might go
to one session and not the other session.
Mr. Fennell stated I may drive up there myself because while I am up
there I may sneak off and visit my father.
Are there any other issues?
Are there any other comments from the
audience?
There not being any, the next item followed.
FOURTEENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Adjournment
There
being no further business,
On
MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the meeting was
adjourned.
Glen Hanks
Robert D. Fennell
Secretary
President