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, May
24, 2011 at 3:05 p.m. at the District Office, 10300 NW 11th Manor, Coral
Springs, Florida.
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Robert Fennell President
Sharon Zich Vice President
Glenn Hanks Secretary
Also present were:
Kenneth Cassel District
Manager
Dennis Lyles District Counsel
Jane Early District Engineer
Dan Daly Director of Operations
Kay Woodward District Accountant
David Macintosh Wastewater
Department
Ed Stover Water Department
Randy Frederick Drainage
Supervisor
Cory Johnson CH2M Hill
Carl Easton CH2M Hill
Michael Bone Lanzo Construction
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr. Cassel called
the meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of the April 18, 2011 Meeting
Mr.
Cassel stated on the top of page five it should be “Mr. Lyles responded”. The other one was on page 15. Was it you again?
Mr.
Daly responded no. It was someone unidentified.
Mr.
Cassel asked do you remember who it was?
Mr.
Daly responded Mr. Steve Siegfried. He
is our field manager. He will be
appearing nightly and at our meetings.
On
MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the minutes of the
April 18, 2011 meeting were approved as amended.
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisors’ Requests and Audience Comments
Mr.
Bone stated I guess I can start with Plant F.
I had hoped to have good news for you and that we would be starting it
up at the end of June. We discovered some bad paint chips on
Friday. We had CH2M Hill, the
manufacturer and the subcontractor out there.
The paint is coming off in big pieces.
The manufacturer is supposed to write a report and have it back here
with a recommendation. If you ask the
painting subcontractor, it does not seem to be that big a thing. Mr. Cassel and I walked the job. Mr. Easton has been out there. Some of it does not make sense.
Mr. Hanks asked do you think it is a
priming issue?
Mr. Bone responded it looks to me
like it is the lamination. One coat is
coming off of another coat. In an epoxy
based paint environment, when you let it dry to long, you have a window to
apply a chemical softener to it. It
could have been there was some dust or sandblast residue. It is not isolated in one spot. These spots are occurring in a number of
different places. You have to do a pull
out test. If you get 600 to 700, it is
in the realm of acceptability. You will
get one that is 900. Then you walk to
another area and it is 300. I took some
samples and we are going to have them evaluated. I would think you would go in and profile the
top coat, which is a brush blast and reapply another coat. It is a pretty big area. If we have to redo the whole interior of the
tank, it is going to be six to seven weeks.
Right now the center, we put the
arms back in. We had the representative
from Westech out there today to accept them so we could pour the new concrete
and grout. I think they are going to
have to re-blast the interior at least four feet up to get us started. That will put us a week behind. I need to get the manufacturer to certify
what he has. We are going to have to
review their position. Some of it is not
even applied directly.
Mr. Fennell asked how important is
the paint to the integrity of the tank?
Mr. Bone responded you paint it to
prolong its life. You want to start with
a good coating.
Mr. Cassel stated my concern is
pieces peeling off and getting into the pumps and lines, which can transfer
issues to other pieces of equipment. I
believe it is a critical element for the coating to be applied properly and
that it stays on there.
Mr. Hanks asked is the solution Mr.
Bone presented for the means of remedying the situation acceptable to our
engineer?
Mr. Cassel responded they are not
proposing.
Mr. Bone stated we want to see the
manufacturer’s recommendation. CH2M Hill
will look at it as we will. I think we
should test the entire interior of the tank, do a brush blast and see what pieces
come off. It is past the point of us
showing them where it is bad. It is at
the point where they need to show us where it is good. This just happened Thursday in the
afternoon. We only had a couple of days
to work on it. We only had one real
meeting out there and had the manufacturer as well as the painter out there
twice. The engineer went out once.
Mr. Hanks asked how is the welding
coming?
Mr. Bone responded the welding is
fine. We got all the x-rays and we will
have all of the certifications.
Mr. Easton stated it seems to be
flaking, peeling and delaminating at various spots throughout the tank. It could be for a number of reasons. They did some testing today. Some of them looked like they were reasonably
good. Some of them looked like they were
low.
Mr. Fennell asked given it has to be
fixed, who will fix it and who will pay for it?
Mr. Bone responded you will not. The painter was at one time the third largest
painting company in Florida. They were
big. I do not think they are going to
get up and walk away from it.
Mr. Daly asked have they been paid?
Mr. Bone responded they were paid
100% for the wastewater plant. They have
not been paid for the sandblasting of the welds. I am hoping the paint manufacturer will get
involved. I have seen this happen many
times. I have seen it in areas. I have seen it fall off the walls. I have seen one coat fall off the other, but
I have not seen it so sporadically. Something caused this. They may have gone home for the weekend and
let it dry too long, but this looks like there is something wrong with the
paint.
Mr. Fennell asked how are the air
handlers doing?
Mr. Bone responded I gave Mr. Cassel
the report on Friday. In the initial
review we found the environment described does not exist mathematically with
the humidity.
Mr. Fennell stated we have current
air handlers out there now. We were
working on having all of them replaced.
Are you saying they are good now?
Mr. Bones responded my initial
remediation response was to leave those in place. There were enough welds, and all of the
calculations were submitted, to let the pipe be tested to four or five times
the operating pressure. There was a type
of welding material, 308L, and a type of pipe material, 304L, which was created
to support carbide precipitation. That
was my presentation. Mr. Cassel
mentioned a metallurgy report that he had done, which stated fear of corrosion
from the inside. I sent my letter
accepting the set before I saw that letter.
I did not have a chance to look at it.
We proceeded with replacing the pipe.
The drawings are at CH2M Hill right now for a brand new pipe. I have to proceed with what I think is
right. We submitted the shop
drawings. They were approved. Hopefully we have met Mr. Cassel’s concerns
with what we have there. I hate spending
$130,000 to replace something that is more than adequate.
Mr. Hanks stated so we are going to
pull this back down to a couple of points.
When you agreed to replace these components you were not privy to the metallurgist
report. You had a chance to review it
and have your consultants review it. You
do not agree with everything in the metallurgy report and you are presenting an
alternate finding back to our District manager and our engineers that say you
think it is okay. Is that correct?
Mr. Bone responded it was
unofficially submitted to Mr. Cassel on Friday.
Mr. Cassel stated I sent it over to the
metallurgist we used before for him to review and report back to me.
Mr. Fennell asked have the pipes
been pressure tested?
Mr. Bone responded no. I do not believe so. I think our report says they were not and
that they could be pressure tested up to 25 PSI.
Mr. Cassel stated I think I remember
seeing 25 PSI somewhere in there.
Mr. Fennell stated we have not
started.
Mr. Bone stated we did not
stop. CH2M Hill has the new pipe
drawing. We issued a purchase order to
Filter Fab. It is moving forward.
Mr. Hanks stated so you initiated
some of the process. You just do not
want to send it the rest of the way in case it comes back, we do not want you
spending your money unnecessarily. At
the end of the day it needs to be done right.
We will listen to our engineers and come to an agreement on it.
Mr. Fennell asked did you read the
metallurgy report?
Mr. Bone responded yes.
Mr. Fennell asked what is your
conclusion from that report?
Mr. Bone responded the pipe that is
up there is fine. It is not going to
corrode from the inside.
Mr. Fennell asked the metallurgy
report says that?
Mr. Bone responded yes.
Mr. Cassel stated their
metallurgist’s report says that. Our
metallurgist raised a concern because it was not a full penetration weld that
the potential for corrosion in the seam was significant that it needed to be
full penetration welds to make sure you do not have the issue of having a place
for the moisture to lay.
Mr. Bone stated the first
metallurgist said this situation could exist, might exist, maybe it will. You did not pay $20,000 to have it done. Mr. Cassel sent that over to have your
metallurgist review it. If he spent more
time and effort in this, he might see the light.
Mr. Daly asked what was the contract
for? What kind of weld?
Mr. Johnson responded full
penetration weld.
Mr. Cassel stated all of the
approved drawings say weld air tight and no questions were raised.
Mr. Bone stated the welds are more
than adequate to supplant all of the pressure.
The environment that the first metallurgist indicated could be possible
does not exist.
Mr. Hanks asked as it stands right
now, with the paint issue inside of the tank, do you see the pending issue with
the welds impacting the overall schedule for getting Plant F up and running at
this point?
Mr. Bone responded we are
pushing. CH2M Hill is reviewing the
drawings for conformity with the specifications. It will be a good six weeks to get that pipe
back.
Mr. Fennell stated so there is an
issue coming up. You still have the
initial solution going on, but it may be possible we will not have to replace
it.
Mr. Cassel stated it depends on how
Mr. Grate reads their metallurgist’s report; whether he concurs with it or
disagrees with it. Then we will go from
there.
Mr. Fennell asked what did your
metallurgist do that the other metallurgist did not?
Mr. Bone responded I do not
know. We took temperatures, measured
humidity and pulled off pipe caps on the existing air header on Plant E. We put television cameras up there and
x-rayed a number of welds on both Plant E and Plant F searching for the
similarity of a weld to view it. I can
print one for Mr. Easton in color or I can email you all. There was no corrosion present in Plant E on
any weld; whether it is a full penetration weld or an 80% weld.
Mr. Hanks asked how long has Plant E
been up and running?
Mr. Bone responded I want to say
seven years, but it might be longer.
Mr. Hanks asked CH2M Hill; are there
any questions or concerns?
Mr. Easton responded we are pretty
well documented on our opinion, but we will take a look at whatever Mr. Bone
has for us to look at.
Mr. Hanks stated because at the end
of the day we want to be fair.
Mr. Fennell asked is there anything
else on Plant F?
Mr. Bone responded no. The nano plant; I printed the start up sheets
and it has a schedule in the back. We
have been using these in our start up meetings and it shows when each of the
pieces of equipments are going to be done.
I think we will have substantial completion by August 5, 2011. I know different people have different
opinions.
Mr. Johnson stated we do not share Mr.
Bone’s aggressive enthusiasm about his schedule. Their electricians have not begun pulling the
control wires. There is a lot left to do
in there. We think September may be
achievable, but October may be more realistic.
Mr. Fennell stated they are starting
to wire up all of the main banks into the motors. That can actually go fairly quickly depending
on how many people you have working on there.
Mr. Bone stated on an average five,
but there have been as many as seven.
Mr. Fennell stated it looks like all
of the main panels are there.
Ms. Zich asked is the building
completely enclosed now in the case we have a hurricane?
Mr. Bone responded no.
Ms. Zich stated we are now in
hurricane season.
Mr. Fennell asked will the doors
come down?
Mr. Bone responded yes.
Mr. Fennell stated the big doors
will come down. That is a big deal. We have outside doors.
Ms. Zich asked if we find out a
hurricane is coming next week, can we enclose it enough?
Mr. Hanks responded we have not
taken possession of it. We do not have
to worry about it.
Ms. Zich stated that is just my
thought because hurricane season is upon us.
Mr. Fennell stated they are moving
pretty quickly right now.
Mr. Hanks asked did the roof issue
get resolved?
Mr. Bone responded yes.
Mr. Fennell stated they do not have
all of the tin on the roof yet.
Mr. Bone stated no. I would say 80%. They are moving along. In the next week we should have tin up
everywhere.
Mr. Fennell stated my guess is they
will be substantially done with the wiring by July. I think probably the short end of the
schedule is once they start turning things on and they do not work.
Mr. Bone stated the initial tests
are all done with full load electric. It
is not control. Once this whole system
gets up, I am thinking late June. We
have another month probably to get done with the control wiring and the
lights. I do not think the lights in the
offices will be done for a month.
Mr. Fennell asked who is actually
doing the programming of this?
Mr. Johnson responded Hillers.
Mr. Fennell asked have they done
something similar to this before?
Mr. Johnson responded they have a
good resume and we have worked with them on a number of projects.
Mr. Cassel asked what are you guys
going to do to make sure you hit this August 5, 2011 date?
Mr. Bone responded work harder and
smarter.
Mr. Cassel asked what are you guys
going to do to make sure you meet that date?
Mr. Bone responded we have
identified all of the tasks involved with that and have the man hours. We check them off everyday. We started at 30 days and we are down to
14.62 days.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Cassel, do you
have any issues or questions?
Mr. Cassel responded my concern is
the disparity of the timeframe and estimates from CH2M Hill and Mr. Bone. We talked about dates. They seem to come and go. I need to know how we are going to get it
done. I do not care what you have to
do. You have to hit your August 5, 2011
date. I know you have several items that
are critical path items. Make sure they
are there. I have seen things drib and
drab in. There are some other things,
such as how the piping is run, which give me concerns with regard to
access. They need to be looked at so
they do not have to redo something because it was done in a manner where you
cannot get behind something.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Johnson, are
there any issues you have seen there? Is
CH2M Hill on top of the observations you need to be on top of so down the road
you do not have something that has been forgotten?
Mr. Johnson responded I would say we
are on top of it. I have complete
confidence in Mr. Easton.
Mr. Hanks asked is the product being
produced out there of acceptable workmanship quality for the District to take
on? Are there issues we need to be aware
of?
Mr. Johnson responded I would say it
is a high quality product.
Mr. Easton stated that is not to say
things will not come up, but this is part of the process we go through. We cannot check it out until it is put
in.
Mr. Hanks stated I understand
perfectly. I just want to make sure we
do not come up with an issue down the road, which derails the schedule.
Mr. Easton stated we do not know of
anything that will surprise anyone.
Mr. Cassel stated besides Mr. Easton
walking it, Mr. Stover, Mr. Daly and I walk it.
We point out things such as access issues. They are making sure we have access and they
are trying to address all of those things.
Mr. Fennell stated I think progress
is being made out there and I want to thank you. Keep going and thank you for your
efforts. I think the positive thing here
is issues are being found and issues are being addressed.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Permits and Plat Waivers
A.
Permit for Fiber
Optics Installation at University Drive and Canal L-106
Ms. Early stated this is a typical
right-of-way permit. It is going to be
attached to the bridge, but they are underground in our right-of-way until they
get to the bridge and then they will attach it to the bridge. That is why I put some language in there that
we are in no way approving any structural design.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Cassel, do you
have any issues with this?
Mr. Cassel responded no. I do not have any issues with this. I looked at it. It seems like a standard installation to get
across. I just wanted to make sure the
engineer did not have any issues with it.
Mr. Hanks asked Counsel?
Mr. Lyles responded no.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor a right-of-way permit to install Fiber Optics at
University Drive and Canal L-106 was approved.
B.
Ratification of
Plat Waiver for Ramblewood South Plat
Mr. Cassel stated I spoke to Mr.
Fennell last week. This was bouncing
around and needed to get back to the law firm to get the property to change
hands. This is to ratify the approval
which was given by the President.
Ms. Zich asked who is asking for
this?
Mr. Fennell responded it says it is
to accommodate a new free standing bank building. Is there not a bank building there?
Ms. Zich responded there is. That is why I am wondering.
Mr. Cassel stated Ms. Early; you
looked at the deeper information.
Ms. Early stated yes, but I do not
recall if it is changing hands.
Mr. Daly stated I spoke to the city
and they said when a lot of these people purchase a property, they want to
purchase the entire property and not just the building. As such, they also want it re-platted.
Mr. Hanks asked what are the impacts
to having multiple owners on a stormwater management system?
Mr. Cassel responded that was one of
the things Ms. Early pointed out. They
need to make sure their flowage easements and five-year stormwater permits are
maintained as part of this waiver.
Mr. Fennell stated I think you told
me there were not going to be any physical changes to the drainage.
Mr. Cassel stated my understanding
is that it sits as it is. In changing
the hands, it will be tied in.
Mr. Hanks asked is this the one with
the retaining wall on Atlantic Boulevard?
Mr. Cassel responded it is on the
corner of Riverside Drive and Atlantic Boulevard.
Ms. Early stated if they make any
changes, the city will make them come back for a permit.
Mr. Hanks asked Counsel, do you have
any issues?
Mr. Lyles responded we are not
giving anyone a waiver of anything. They
are asking the City of Coral Springs to grant a waiver of platting requirements
given that everything has already been platted before. There was a little bit of a clerical error in
processing this and they got behind.
That is when they called me.
Their processing people and their real estate paralegal asked me to
consider going ahead and getting us to sign off on it. The easements in place for utility purposes
are sufficient for our purposes to provide water and sewer utility
services. We are confirming through the
engineer that the easements of record are sufficient for our purposes so they
can go ahead and process their plat waivers.
Mr. Hanks asked are we saying we
have no objections?
Mr. Lyles responded that is
correct. We have what we need to service
the property. That is all that was
involved in this request to CSID. The
big task will be at city hall and getting a plat waiver.
Ms. Zich asked is that just for the
bank?
Ms. Early responded yes.
Mr. Hanks asked do we need to
mention in there as an advisory or side comment that the drainage easements should
be obtained and recorded?
Mr. Cassel responded if you look at
the letter from CH2M Hill we mention the surface water permit.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Ms.
Zich with all in favor the Ramblewood South Plat Waiver was ratified.
C.
Plat Waiver for
Portion of Parcel ‘M’ of Maplewood Plat
Mr.
Fennell asked is this the Walgreens?
Mr.
Hanks responded yes.
Mr.
Fennell stated it is already there.
Mr.
Hanks stated I guess they want to buy it.
Ms. Early stated they want to buy it
and they want to have their own piece of property.
Mr. Cassel stated this is the same
scenario.
Mr. Fennell stated we went through a
discussion of this about a year ago.
What are we doing here? What do
they want?
Mr. Cassel stated it is a similar
scenario where we acknowledge that they do not have to get it re-platted.
Mr. Lyles stated we are being asked
to consent to the plat waiver being issued by the City of Coral Springs. We are saying that for our purposes the
utility easements in place are sufficient so they can go ahead with the
process. This one was not time critical
as the previous one was. This is coming
to the Board for discussion and approval rather than ratification.
Mr. Hanks stated so basically we are
saying we have no objection to it.
Mr. Lyles stated we are going a
little further and saying we have no objection because the easements depicted
in the plat that currently exists are sufficient for our purposes.
Mr. Fennell stated so Permit 2010-1
was already issued and sufficient.
Mr. Lyles stated and remains in
effect. The permit you are referring to
was issued by this District by vote of this Board. We are being asked to indicate to the City of
Coral Springs that we have no objection to the plat waiver that is being processed
there because the utility easements of record are sufficient for our
purposes.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor the plat waiver for a portion of Parcel ‘M’ of the
Maplewood Plat was approved.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Bids for Culvert Cleaning
Mr.
Fennell stated the lowest price is Fish Tec.
Ms. Zich asked how can there be that
much of a discrepancy?
Mr. Daly responded it is
amazing. Fish Tec has done work for us
before so we know the quality.
Ms. Zich asked are we familiar with
the other companies?
Ms. Early responded I am not.
Mr. Hanks asked is it the staff’s
recommendation to award the bid to Fish Tec?
Mr. Cassel responded yes. Fish Tec has done work for other projects we
had in the past. One of the things we
had done, Industrial Divers beat out Fish Tec.
Mr. Fennell asked how much do we
have budgeted for this?
Mr. Daly responded we have culvert
cleaning in there for $150,000 every year.
Ms. Woodward stated we are
covered.
Mr. Cassel stated we did the inspections
a few months ago. We inspected them all
and found the ones needing to be cleaned.
We are taking out the downstream issues as well.
Mr. Hanks asked are we doing
anything to address some of the outfalls into the canals where they have been
banged up a bit? I am not sure that
those are even our responsibility or whether they are the responsibility of the
city or county as it is their drainage system discharging into our canals.
Mr. Cassel responded we will look
into it, but I would say those pipes are probably their responsibility to
maintain to get the water to us properly.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor the bid for culvert cleaning was awarded to Fish Tec
in the amount of $99,000.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff Reports
A. Manager
Mr. Cassel stated there is one item
that is not on the agenda I would like to bring up at this time. I would like to request we have a workshop
meeting with the Board sometime in the near future to discuss several issues;
one being the project itself and all of the surrounding issues with it.
Ms. Zich asked when would you like
to do this?
Mr. Cassel responded I would like to
do it Friday, June 3, 2011 or Monday, June 6, 2011.
Mr. Hanks asked how long do you
expect this to run?
Mr. Cassel responded an hour to two
hours depending on how much we get into.
Mr. Lyles stated I have a conflict
June 6, 2011 in the afternoon that requires me to be in Orlando. Is there a problem with June 7, 2011?
Ms. Zich asked what about June 3,
2011?
Mr. Hanks responded I am good on
Friday.
There was consensus to have the
workshop meeting on Friday, June 3, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.
Ms. Zich asked where will the
meeting be held?
Mr. Cassel responded upstairs. Prior to the meeting I will brief the Board
individually on some of the issues we will be going over.
·
Monthly Water
& Sewer Chart
Mr. Fennell asked how do we know how
much water we have in the water table and how much water is going to the
Biscayne area? We have people coming to
us telling us we cannot take out this much water and all kinds of issues like
that. I know Hollywood and other areas
down south have spent several more millions of dollars trying to go to the Floridan
Aquifer because somebody says the aquifer we have is low on water. My question is; how do you know that?
Mr. Hanks responded they have done a
lot of studies on this.
Mr. Fennell asked where is the data? I have not seen a piece of it and I have been
asking for it.
Mr. Hanks responded they have a lot
of presentations on that.
Mr. Fennell stated I have seen a lot
of those, but I do not see it. The
reason I asked the question is because we have been chasing this water
intrusion problem. If that is really
true, what is the water level? What is
the actual height of the water underground we are talking about and how does
that actually vary through the season?
Mr. Hanks asked are you referring to
where the combining layer is down below?
Mr. Fennell responded the top of it
even. Is that really it? Do you really think the canal level tells us
the level?
Mr. Cassel responded it tells us the
groundwater level.
Mr. Hanks stated that is basically
your surficial aquifer. There is not
much of a separator between that and the Biscayne Aquifer, which extends down
60 to 120 feet for this area.
Mr. Fennell asked is there a
separation? There is no layer between
this water level and aquifer. When you
get the Floridan Aquifer there is. You
have to drill to get to the Floridan Aquifer.
There is an impenetrable layer between them. If you want us to take water out of the Floridan
Aquifer, how does it get replenished?
They do not know.
Mr. Hanks stated it gets replenished
up in the central part of the State and extends down south. They already tapped out the Floridan Aquifer
in some locations and have placed limitations on it. Since you are withdrawing brackish water in
this location it is not impacting anybody.
Mr. Fennell stated I am really
questioning that someone actually knows what is in the Biscayne Aquifer, how
much is flowing through it, and where the test points are at. Where is it relevant? This top layer is affecting our wells. I do know when our wells draw out; we are
actually drawing water towards us. There
is something we should be keeping track of.
I do not know if we do. I know
one time when the drycleaner spilled some chemicals there were monitoring wells
looking at it to see which way the water was flowing. The water was actually flowing towards our
wells. It seems to me what we are
missing is actually understanding what our water height is around here and how
much of the aquifer actually flows through it.
I do not see that in our charts.
When I go through and try to draw a correlation between what we have
here, it seems we are not correlating it to the water table. I think we need to know that.
Mr. Cassel stated I think we are
correlating to what we are concerned about and what the regulatory is concerned
with us is what our permitted withdrawal rates are and if we exceeded our
permitted withdrawals.
Mr. Fennell stated we need to
understand in our own area what our water table is and what the impact is we
have in the wells so we can have a conclusion of what the water is in our own
area.
Ms. Early stated I think the
hydraulic model Mr. Bulman did should tell you a lot.
Mr. Fennell stated I would think
some of that would be in there. All of
the extra water we are processing has to have a correlation to the water
table. We have it correlated to rain,
but we do not have the water table.
Mr. Hanks stated from that
perspective you will probably not see much because that additional flowage for
the area we are dealing with is not that much.
It is not going to represent a foot or two of water.
Ms. Early asked was it not a bath
tub full? Was that the whole argument?
Mr. Cassel responded the total draw
we were potentially impacting the perimeter canals to the District between us
was less than 40,000 gallons a day. It
was a very small amount of water and that was in theory.
Mr. Hanks asked do we have a
treatment plant capacity of $3 Million?
Mr. Cassel asked water or
wastewater?
Mr. Hanks responded wastewater.
Mr. Johnson stated 7.2 and the new
nano plant is going to be 6.5.
Mr. Fennell stated I think there is
a need for that information so we can understand what our water levels are
across the area. There has to be a higher
correlation for that than just the rainwater.
What they are really implying is that the rainwater is somehow affecting
the water table. I would like to
actually see that. I think there are a
lot of fights yet to come on water levels and water rights that we just have
not fought yet, but I think they are about to happen.
Mr. Hanks stated so be thankful we
are located where we are. We are not
within the saltwater intrusion area and that we have our own sewage treatment
plant. This gives us a lot of opportunities
that are not afforded to other locations.
Mr. Fennell stated I am asking staff
to come up with a recommendation on how we can get that type of data. Do we need it or what? I want to understand this. The last thing is after I took the trip to
South Miami and saw their water treatment plant as well as what they have to
do. They have 19 injection wells. They had to put in a tremendously big sand
filtration. We are almost done with Plat
F. We have a couple of other small
plants out there that we were thinking of knocking down.
Mr. Cassel stated we already knocked
down A and B.
Mr. Fennell asked do we need to look
at those as possible post filtration areas in case we run into a problem with
filtration of water or can they be used in some way that will clean up the
water even more? I am anticipating an
issue that sometimes we might have to clean up the water more. Can those things be used for that?
Mr. Daly responded A and B were
demolished already. That is where Plant
F now sits.
Mr. Cassel stated if you had to clean
the water more than what you are cleaning it now to put it down the well, you
would end up having to build another facility to do secondary treatment of
it. We looked at that and even when we
looked into the reuse pressure they were putting on us, it is not even close to
being cost effective.
Mr. Hanks stated nor is it
environmentally sound because of the carbon footprint for the additional energy
it would take just to clean it up to that level.
Mr. Cassel stated plus you do not
necessarily have an end user.
Mr. Fennell stated but if something
happened to our well, we could be forced to do that. There are still a couple of small facilities
out there.
Mr. Cassel stated no. A and B were taken down at the beginning of
the construction for Plant F. They were
falling down.
Mr. Fennell stated I thought there
were a couple of small ones left.
Mr. Cassel stated C, D, E, F, the
surge tank and the two digesters. What
it does with our capacity with F when we get it online, it does allow us to modify
our process so we will be able to reduce our solid contents by being able to
let the digestion process occur for a longer period of time. That reduces your solids, which reduces our
hauling charges and our disposal costs.
This will help bring our overall costs down because you can let the ‘bugs’
do their job better.
Mr. Daly asked did they not say it
was going up about ten times?
Mr. Macintosh responded it is not
ten times, but it is going up quite a bit.
Mr. Daly stated the hauling company
came by and said there are new regulations.
They spent millions of dollars on their own new plant and they wanted us
to sign up in advance. We told them we
will wait until the regulations change in 2012.
They wanted us to pay more now.
We are going to budget for it no matter what.
Mr. Macintosh stated with Digester
#1 being in operation now we are sending about three trailers a week, which is
down from five trailers a week.
Mr. Fennell asked where is this
going?
Mr. Daly asked do you mean how is it
getting eaten up here?
Mr. Fennell responded yes.
Mr. Macintosh stated by allowing the
microorganisms to stay in the digesters.
We have wastewater that is coming in from the city. They are all feeding on themselves.
Mr. Fennell asked it just
disappears?
Mr. Hanks responded it comes off as
Carbon Dioxide and other byproducts.
Mr. Cassel stated the bottom line is
instead of having to press some stuff and having the amount of solids we used
to have to haul because we did not have the extra time for the bugs to do their
work. Now that they have more time to
act as they should be acting we get less waste product and more product can be
sent down the well without hauling away the solids. As Plant F comes on it will be better. We can keep working to reduce our solids and
hauling expenses.
Mr. Fennell stated I would really
like to understand the water table. I
think there are some other issues besides the canal in general. I know we had a presentation several years
ago.
Mr. Cassel stated the modeling we
did for our permit extension on the increase for water permit, which is a 20
year permit, we do not have to address for 10 years. That has the modeling information in it. I can get you a copy of that report.
A. Utility Billing Work Orders
These items are
for informational purposes only.
B.
Attorney
Mr. Lyles stated
we have nothing to report this month.
Mr. Fennell asked is there any
shakeout from the State on how we are doing?
Did you hear anything more with the SFWMD?
Mr. Lyles responded there are bills
that are still not clearly going to be signed by the governor. The legislative session is over, but the
legislation is not complete yet. It is
my intention to report on this at the next meeting. I may have an item to bring up at the
workshop meeting as well. As of right
now I do not have final information to give you.
C.
Engineer
·
Monthly Aerial
Photographs
·
Project Status
Report
Ms. Early stated the project status report is
in your agenda package. This is a
summary of where we are at with the culvert.
We have the surveys. We have the
easements from the surveyor. We plotted
those out to see how many conflicts there are.
We have come up with a couple of different proposed routes. We actually contacted the school Board and
they are willing to potentially work with us to let us put the culvert in on
their side of the property. If we do
that, I think the cost of construction will decrease considerably because of
all of the conflicts with the other areas.
The other thing we are considering
is just going straight down Ramblewood Drive rather than removing trees. Even though we are ripping up asphalt, it is less
expensive than the trees and utilities. We
are meeting with the city tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.
The drycleaner you said had some
contamination had a contractor do some type of remediation. We just got the report this afternoon. We do not think it is going to affect where
we want to put our culvert. We are going
to get a schedule of when they are going to do their remediation. We will coordinate, but we do not think it
will affect us.
Mr. Cassel stated one of the wells
is pretty close to where we were going to put the pipe. If we end up relocating the well, it should
not be a big issue.
Ms. Early stated we are finding out
what they are actually doing with that first.
There is a lot of coordination.
We do not want to finalize and draw up the proposed route until we
coordinate with everyone. We want to try
to go the least expensive route we can.
Mr. Fennell asked you cannot just
buy the house there, can you?
Ms. Early responded would be nice.
Mr. Fennell stated it probably cost
about $200,000 to $300,000.
Ms. Early stated I wonder if we
could buy an easement.
Mr. Fennell stated if you bought
that house, it is probably worth $300,000.
Would that save you a lot of money?
Ms. Early responded yes. It would save us more than $300,000.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Lyles, can you
think about this please?
Mr. Lyles responded I do not know if
they would consider this converting it from residential use to a utility use as
opposed to a line in a utility easement.
We may have a zoning and a land use problem.
Ms. Early stated I will bring it up
to the city tomorrow and get their opinion.
Mr. Cassel asked have you gotten
back from Mr. Williams something in writing regarding timeframes? We did not get their information back until
March.
Ms. Early responded from the time
they signed it, that was like 20 months.
I think it had a date of November of 2012. From March that was 20 months.
Mr. Cassel asked since we did not
get the signature back and the approval back from them, does it start from our
date of signature or from their date of signature? I need clarification on that. If it starts from their date of signature, we
have more time at the tail end. I do not
want us to get caught all of a sudden. We
need to make sure we have it in writing from them that it is from the date they
signed it and not us. If we do need a
time extension, we need it in writing from them as soon as possible.
SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of March Financials and Check Registers
Ms. Zich stated the financials are
in great shape. Everything looks good to
me. It is routine this month.
Mr. Fennell stated I was surprised
at how much the electric bill was down.
Mr. Daly stated it is down from the
budget. That is because we expected to
be online with the nano plant.
Mr. Fennell asked would we be smart
to keep one of those sand filter things going?
Do we need a back up?
Mr. Stover responded we are using
the whole plant as a backup.
Mr. Daly stated we will keep one
around.
Mr. Fennell stated I was thinking
those filters wear out and they wear out quickly.
Mr. Stover stated you can usually
get three to five years out of it. With
the water we are drawing from the Biscayne Aquifer I cannot see it being any
more less than five years.
Mr. Fennell asked is there a benefit
for us to go through early filtration?
Mr. Stover responded we already have
sand filters built in to the new system and then you have the cartridge
filters. That will alleviate all of the
solids and take you down to the microbes and the bacteria.
Mr. Hanks stated we were having
trouble with the maintenance on those two older filters anyway.
Mr. Stover stated we rehabilitated
two and three.
On MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor the financials were approved.
Mr. Fennell asked are there any
other inputs?
Mr. Hanks responded hurricane
preparedness. We are getting into
hurricane season. Are there any actions
that have not been taken and need to be taken?
Mr. Daly responded I do not believe
there is. We have a meeting planned for
next week. We already tested our
satellite phones. Everyone is right on
cue with what to do as far as fuel and things like that. We have a booklet on how you notify someone
if there is a boil water advisory. There
is a whole procedure.
Mr. Cassel stated we already looked
at the hurricane plant again to revise and make sure we had all the correct
numbers. All the department heads have
taken a look at it. We are ready to go.
Mr. Hanks asked how are our pump
stations?
Mr. Daly responded they have never
been better.
Mr. Hanks asked what was the end
result of the discussions with the telemetry?
Mr. Daly responded they said they
could set us up with the system and take what we save in electricity. I told them the problem was I could not go to
the Board and say it is a great deal because I do not have anything else to
compare it with. I would like them to
tell me how much to lease, how much to purchase and how much if we were going
to rent it, in addition to the cost savings they offer. They are one of the only companies out there
that offer this. They will set the place
up and finance it for you for an extended period of time.
Mr. Hanks stated it sounds like we
have opportunities in our budget as it stands right now for financing it.
Mr. Daly stated it does. I am waiting for the information to get
here. I want all of the numbers. We also contacted some people that have
similar product.
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Adjournment
There being no
further business,
On MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr.
Hanks with all in favor the meeting was adjourned.
Kenneth Cassel Martin
Shank
Assistant
Secretary President