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, January
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
Ed Stover Water Department
Cory Johnson CH2M Hill
Walt Schwarz 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 December 20, 2010
Meeting
Mr.
Lyles stated I have one minor change in the middle of page 14. The word ‘flushed’ should be ‘fleshed’.
On
MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in favor the minutes of
the December 20, 2010 meeting were approved as amended.
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisors’ Requests and Audience Comments
Mr.
Bone stated you are probably wondering about your roof. The roofer who sat before you at the last
meeting and swore the deck was ordered and would be onsite the following week
has been terminated. We have a new
roofer, Deck Tite Roofing. We have a
permit application and the deck on the way.
We will probably see the deck this Friday or no later than Monday. The roofer who sat here lied. He lied to me. He lied to our president. He lied to you. He never had the deck ordered. This goes back to before Christmas. It goes back to the week after Thanksgiving. I cannot tell you why. I cannot tell you what is wrong with
him. All I can tell you is my option was
to remove him from the job and we did. We
have another roofer out there.
I think at the last meeting we
decided it would be done at the end of January.
It will probably be a couple of weeks later than that; maybe mid
February. The revised schedule we
submitted adjusting the programming from 150 days, which is in the contract, to
75 days put us running the plant in June.
Mr. Cassel, Mr. Johnson and I met earlier today on the remediation of
Tank F. We got some direction. We are going to meet again on Wednesday to
discuss the tank wall. We are doing some
more research on the grout. Although we
might not agree in total and we are not quite satisfied with all we are going
to do, I assured Mr. Cassel it is our goal to continue the work through any kind
of dispute we might have. We are close
enough on what we are doing now and we certainly have the owner’s
position. There is just a little more
research we need to do on some of the structural sections and types of wells we
need to replace.
We should have some kind of meeting
of the minds the end of this week or the beginning of next week. We will be able to have a steel crew onsite
replacing the wells about three weeks from that point. All of the steel work should be done within
five and a half to six weeks. It depends
on what added things we are going to agree upon. It should be painted out about two and a half
to three weeks after that. We are
looking at two months from the time we get started with the steel work. We are researching the air header now as to
the best way to replace the defective wells and whether to do it
mechanically. Based on the delivery of
those items we have not defined yet I will be able to more adequately give you
a timeframe. It should be close to two
months to two and a half months from the time we get started.
Mr. Fennell stated that is
encouraging.
Ms. Zich stated if it happens. I hate to say this, but everything is going
so slow here.
Mr. Bone stated Mr. Cassel has
diligently pursued some solutions and recommendations. It has taken him more time than he probably
anticipated just for us to get to that meeting today. You are the owners. You sit there and see the problems are not
resolved. I can sympathize.
Ms. Zich stated I hope going forward
there are remedies to all of this.
Mr. Cassel stated I think we are at
a point now with the extra consultants the District has brought in looking at
the proposals from the contractor and pushing CH2M Hill very hard, they have
raised it up their level of chain to look at what we have. I think we are at a point where we have
progressed from, it has to be 5/16 to 1/4 will work but needs the welds to be
at 90% or greater on the verticals. It possibly
needs some extra wind girder support, but the 1/4 inch tank CH2M Hill doing an analysis
of it are comfortable with it and our other consultants have determined the 1/4
inch can ultimately work. We can make it
work. I think that is where we are at
now. We are working on how we take what
we have and make sure it can work.
Ms. Zich asked are we still at
contract prices on these? Is this
costing us any more?
Mr. Cassel responded no. The correction of the welds is an issue that
is a contractor weld issue. I do not see
any additional costs at this time. Lanzo
will send a claim for delays. We will
send certain letters because everyone has to do that in the process. Will we end up with the claims as they are
presented initially? Probably not. There will be something different. Will we have to maybe pick up something? Possibly or possibly not. Will we charge them something? Possibly or possibly not.
Mr. Bone stated other than us
submitting a letter for delay of time based on this remediation process and
ambiguity, there was nothing Mr. Cassel and I talked about that is an additional
amount of money. We still have to
identify the size of the wind girder section and there is one other weld. We want to assess the financial impact of
that versus what we already submitted.
Mr. Lyles stated let me try to help
answer your question. I think your
question is; are we going to get charged for additional work and additional
material? The answer to that is no. There is no way the District is going to pay
for more work or more material. As
always we are continuing to insist we receive the benefit of the contract that
we had after the bidding process and that we get a tank that is within
specification as those specifications were determined by our engineers. What Mr. Cassel refers to and what you are
hearing now is an issue of days; delay days, delay damages and those
things. There will be some discussion
over how many days the two sides are dealing with. I do not expect we are going to be in receipt
of any requests for additional material or additional labor, nor would I ever
recommend that you ever pay that sort of thing.
That is not how this is going to get resolved. We are going to get the project we bargained
for ultimately. There is going to be
some time increment that has to be dealt with, but not cost or labor increases. Is that a fair summary of where are as of
now?
Mr. Cassel responded I think the
only thing on that are the additional wind girders that are in the discussion
right now. They were not part of the
original design. They were not part of
the original submissions, but it is part of the solution. They are going to look as to whether they can
pick that up or not and how. It is a
negotiating point as to whether it is one or two wind girders that we still
have to negotiate through with them.
Mr. Lyles stated the point I was
making is to get the facility to the specifications we have in the contract
which meets the four corners of what is called for, I do not believe we are
going to be expected to pay. If the wind
girders provide a better, longer lasting, stronger project than what was in the
original four corners of the contract; then there may be some negotiating over
it. The information I have had up until
the last week or ten days is that all of the remediation efforts were designed
to make it meet specifications and satisfy CH2M Hill as well as the other
consultants Mr. Cassel referred to. If
we end up with more than what we bargained for, then there is always the issue
of what is that worth. That is not what
we are insisting on. We are insisting on
what we bargained for.
Mr. Bone stated after the conclusion
of our meeting today I went back over
and set forth in motion things we need to do to get this done. It is in motion now.
Mr. Fennell asked what do you do to
ensure the welds will be that good?
Mr. Cassel responded they get
x-rayed.
Mr. Bone stated we have a CWI,
welding inspector, and then we have the x-ray.
I talked to Mr. Cassel about this earlier as well as Mr. Johnson. I had our people examine x-rays the District
paid for thinking that maybe relying on someone else’s recommendation might not
have served our purpose the best. Once
we looked at them we could not find any that were adequate; 100% of the welds
that were x-rayed had a little dark spot in between. You weld each side and they are supposed to
meet in the middle. It just did
not. There is no question the vertical
welds are defective.
Mr. Hanks asked was there anything
else you want to share with us that will help the rest of the Board understand
better what the process or what the next steps are going to be in terms of
getting Plant F wrapped up?
Mr. Bone responded CH2M Hill is
going to research the sections out of the calculations that we need for the
additional wind loading so I can search for shapes that meet that section and
their availability. Mr. Cassel is going
to research the necessity that they feel they may need to be replaced. Our remediation proposal did not offer to
replace the horizontal welds because they are not in the group stress analysis
that we furnished. Hopefully this will
not be the sticking point. Mr. Cassel,
Mr. Johnson and I are scheduled to meet Wednesday after our monthly meeting and
discuss this. We have further soundings
to do on the grout, which we will probably do tomorrow.
Mr. Hanks asked do you think it is
fair to say where a two or three months ago you were at polar opposites in
terms of what was done, now we are basically of the same general opinion as to
what needs to be done and we are just working out the details at this point or
how would you characterize the progress so far?
Mr. Bone responded we had to get to
a point that we went through this remediation process in order to get the
District’s position. We had the
engineer’s position, and obviously they were protecting their position, we had
the contractor’s position, and we were protecting our position. Until we got to today we really did not know
what the owner’s position really was. One
of the biggest things was the 5/16 plate.
You do not replace the well if you want the whole thing torn down. Right now we are at a point that is so much
closer to the conclusion of this then we were two months ago.
Mr. Hanks asked so if I was to
summarize that all three parties, the contractor, the engineer and the
District, have reached enough agreement on the major points so that each party
can go away and do the research or develop proposals as far as what needs to be
done for the next step so we can continue this review and process to bring
Plant F online?
Mr. Bones responded right now we are
moving forward with the correction of Plant F.
We were not doing that any other time since the beginning of
October. We are now moving forward.
Mr. Cassel stated the short answer
is where we were in two totally opposite camps; I think we are at a point where
there is a solution that has been narrowed down.
Mr. Hanks stated where before we
were not even hearing each other; we are now within chatting distance.
Mr. Cassel stated actually, we are
sitting at the table talking.
This
portion of the minutes could not be transcribed due to failure of the recording
equipment.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Bids for Culvert Inspections
Mr.
Frederick stated Industrial Divers has done work for us for 30 years on and
off. There were some issues a few years
ago, but they have been resolved. We are
going to have a representative onsite the whole time this diving is being
done.
Mr.
Hanks asked did all of the responsive bidders meet the insurance requirements?
Mr.
Frederick responded yes.
Mr.
Fennell asked how much did we pay last year?
Mr.
Cassel responded we did not do it last year.
Mr.
Hanks stated that was a removal and clearing.
Mr.
Cassel stated the last time it was done I believe it was removal and clearing.
Mr.
Frederick stated it has been a few years since we have done it.
Mr.
Hanks asked what sort of magnitude was the cost at that point?
Mr.
Daly responded we have to go back and research the invoices.
Mr.
Frederick stated this is just an inspection.
They are also supposed to confirm pipe size, type of pipe, footage and
they are supposed to take photographs of the damage. We are getting quite a bit of work for that
price.
Mr.
Fennell asked are the pump stations getting inspected?
Mr.
Frederick responded yes. The only
problem I know you are having at the pump stations is the concrete pad
underneath the pump.
Mr.
Fennell stated that is what we said the last time. Did we fix it?
Mr.
Frederick responded I do not know how you are going to fix it. You have to pump that whole thing dry. We had the rack repaired, but the concrete
underneath is starting to deteriorate.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor the bid for culvert inspections was awarded to
Industrial Divers Corporation.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff Reports
A.
Manager
·
Consideration of
Changing Telephone Service Carrier
Mr. Dan stated for so many years we have been
host to so many other districts who piggy backed off of our phone system in the
northern office as well as the southern office.
There was all of that rigmarole with the bill. I went through the bill and got a hold of a
phone broker so we would not have to bid it.
She can place us with ten different providers. It looks like it will be approximately $650
or so a month for 24 lines, there are 40 DID lines for voicemail, we are going
to get Caller ID, and the list goes on. When
we look at the current provider we have had for the last 30 years, we are
paying about $2,300 a month. The reason
I looked at it is because we do not have the same volume we had before, but we
never really did the test. I did a
traffic pattern test to find out what the worst case scenario is on our busiest
days.
Mr. Hanks stated so we are looking
at half or better.
Mr. Daly stated maybe 2/3.
Mr. Cassel stated 2/3 savings.
Mr. Daly stated we are looking for
you to allow Mr. Cassel or me to sign this at the opportune moment with this
company. We will enter into a three year
agreement. We have asked the current
provider for some credits. In going through
the phone bill we found out we were paying some taxes. They have 20 different bills that come
in. As things were changing throughout
the years, no one checked how it was set up.
You have to pay some taxes, but not all of them. We are petitioning for credits, which could
add up to more than $1,000. If we change
now, they will not entertain it.
Mr. Hanks stated it is interesting
that this came in the agenda package.
Mr. Daly asked did you see something
in the internet?
Mr. Hanks responded no. I had to loan my phone to the other person I
share office space with because his Windstream account was down again. It was out entirely between Christmas and New
Years and it has been out for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today.
Mr. Daly asked is this a landline?
Mr. Hanks responded landline with
either DSL or T2.
Mr. Daly stated we are not going to
do anything with the internet. We still
have the cable for internet. This is
only for the landlines.
Mr. Hanks stated it was the landlines
that were down now.
Mr. Fennell asked who is Windstream?
Mr. Hanks responded I think they
used to be Florida Data Telecom or something.
Mr. Daly stated they were something
before this.
Mr. Fennell asked do they string any
cables or are they just a broker?
Mr. Daly responded they are just a
broker. It is all the same lines.
Mr. Fennell stated maybe they get
some sort of deal from AT&T who still has the lines in here.
Mr. Cassel stated actually I think
it is Bellsouth who actually owns the copper and AT&T goes over the copper.
Mr. Hanks asked my question is what
kind of reliability do we have? I only
know the experience the person I share space with is having.
Mr. Daly stated and you know it
firsthand. It just happened.
Mr. Hanks stated yes. It just happened. I would like you to look before we say go
with it. I would like you to do some
digging and find out how reliable they are.
Ms. Zich asked do you know anyone
else who is on the system?
Mr. Daly responded yes. There are a lot of school districts. I think it is in there. I asked them to provide some firsthand
cases. There are school districts and I
think the Orlando Magic. They just took
over that account.
Mr. Fennell asked does Comcast
actually give you your data connection?
Mr. Daly responded not Comcast. We have Advanced Cable. They do that on purpose because if the phone
lines are down, we can still get out. We
have Nextel. We try to divide it so we
always have some form of communication.
Mr. Hanks asked what would be the
downside if we lost our landlines?
Mr. Daly responded customer
service. We could deal with email for
accounting and payroll.
Mr. Hanks stated it would be a bit
of a challenge if there was a break and someone needed to notify you.
Mr. Daly stated that is
correct. It would be a challenge.
Mr. Fennell asked do you understand
if you have Advanced Cable, you can also have voiceover IP. Do you have that?
Mr. Daly responded no we do not and
we do not want it. We want to split it
up. Do you know how many times a cable
has been broken out there? I could not
tell you how many times it has been down in the last two years. You are left with a decision to bundle it and
then they have you tied up because if you do not like the service for part of
it, but you do not mind the service for another part, what do you do? You cannot go somewhere else. We made a decision over the years to keep it
divided in case one thing went out.
Mr. Fennell stated I would say; get
a competitive bid with just AT&T.
Tell them you want a T1 bundle and see what they come back with.
Mr. Daly stated I did.
Mr. Fennell asked what did they say?
Mr. Daly responded they said they
would get right back to me with a contract.
When I initiated this I decided I wanted a traffic report. We changed our business profile and what we
do here. I wanted to see what our
traffic is. We did that and after that
they came back and our bill has been about $300 more a month. I called up and asked what was going on. They told me our contract had recently
expired. That is a lie because it
expired ten years ago and they caught it because I drew attention to our
account. There were a bunch of questions
and answers back and forth. I have asked
three times via email for the contract and have not received a response. I just heard it through the grapevine the
woman working with me was fired. That is
when I started looking elsewhere.
Mr. Hanks asked what kind of
obligations do we have in terms of the bidding thresholds?
Mr. Lyles responded this is not a
project, which is one of the things we are required to bid. If we were going to build it, improve it or
buy materials for it. It is a service. I checked while we have been talking
today. We just get the best deal the
Board feels is appropriate for the District.
Mr. Daly asked is this gentleman in
your office? Does he have landlines from
Windstream that go into your office?
Mr. Hanks responded I have AT&T
lines coming into the same office. They
come through the same panel right next to each other. My phones work. Of course on different occasions mine have
not worked and his have.
Mr. Fennell stated I think that is a
good question. What does Windstream
actually bring to the party? What is it
they actually do?
Mr. Daly responded it basically, I
think, channels it through their equipment.
Mr. Fennell asked where is their
equipment located?
Mr. Daly responded I do not
know. I would have to take a look.
Mr. Fennell stated the level of
service could be an issue. My
understanding is there is supposed to be competition for AT&T. They had different phone groups start
up. What they essentially did was buy
the services from AT&T and then sold it at a cheaper price. They did not actually do anything. Then they got access to AT&T’s office and
put in switching equipment. That is
about it, but they hardly have any service people running around. So if you have a problem and your phones go
down, who are you going to call? That is
a real issue.
Mr. Hanks asked can you go ahead and
do a little more digging?
Mr. Daly responded yes.
Mr. Hanks asked do you understand
our concerns?
Mr. Daly responded of course.
Mr. Hanks asked is it going to
impact your ability to take action on this if we defer action on this matter
until next month?
Mr. Daly responded no. We probably need another month just to deal
with AT&T and see if we get the credit for the taxes we paid.
Mr. Fennell stated I think it is a
good idea to look at this. See if you
can get a more competitive bid from AT&T.
The T1 Bundle is a pretty good bundle.
Mr. Daly stated I have AT&T.
Mr. Fennell stated you get plenty of
data in and it is just voice. I think it
is 24 lines.
Mr. Daly stated that is correct.
Mr. Fennell stated that is a lot of
phone lines.
Mr. Daly stated it is what we always
had here. During shutoffs we will
probably have 20 to 23 of them coming in waiting or going out. We are doing other business here too.
Mr. Hanks stated you have to have
enough to make sure the rest of the operations do not get sunk.
Mr. Daly stated the other thing is
you do not want it to end up being like a cable company where you are always on
hold or cannot get through. Ms. Philips
who is at the front desk still answers it and says it will be one moment. It is not like you are in this tunnel loop
where you had an automated attendant. It
is a little better.
Mr. Fennell asked who owns the
onsite equipment?
Mr. Daly responded we do.
Mr. Fennell asked is that the one
AT&T was hesitant about?
Mr. Daly responded actually all of
our phone system is ours. How they got
it here and any breakers they put in along the way is theirs.
Mr. Fennell asked are they going to
come rip it out if you change vendors?
Mr. Daly responded it does not
matter. The new company will put in
whatever they need to get our phones working.
I never asked that question. The
equipment is 15 or 20 years old. That
was the last time we got a major upgrade to the lines here. If that is the case, I think I would rather
have new equipment and it is all on the backs of Windstream. The representative said she would be happy to
speak to the Board.
Mr. Fennell stated I would like to
make it a one year contract that is renewable each year. You could be stuck three years with this
stuff.
Mr. Daly stated you are stuck with
three years of paying them off at 1/3 of the price. We would not be in any worse shape than we
are now.
Mr. Hanks stated it is not a bad
price for 24 lines.
Mr. Daly stated it is $609 for PRI
service through AT&T. Then there is
long distance involved. There are DID
lines involved. We have nine copper
lines coming in here for fax machines, emergency telephones, the Board room and
things like it. That is $429.
Mr. Fennell stated so you are saying
AT&T wants $1,200 and these guys want $750.
Mr. Daly stated yes. I will make sure I get some answers to your
questions.
Mr. Fennell stated so we will delay
this until…
Mr. Daly stated February, which we
meet the fourth week. Is that correct?
Ms. Zich responded yes; after
President’s Day.
·
Monthly Water
& Sewer Chart
Mr. Cassel stated the next item is
the water and sewer charts. Then I have
a couple of other things I want to discuss with the Board.
Mr. Fennell asked are we going to
talk about I&I?
Mr. Cassel responded yes. That is under the engineer’s report. The 13 month average we are running is 9.72%
loss. That is the closest we can
calculate at this time.
Mr. Fennell asked are there any
questions on the charts?
Mr. Hanks responded no. Thank you for adding the running average.
Mr. Cassel stated I received an
email from the engineer for the city on the interconnect. The city got their bids in for the
interconnect on the water. You mentioned
it last month. We did get the
information back. It appears Chaz
Equipment is the low bidder for the city.
I do not have any major issue with Chaz Equipment. I have seen them around doing work in
multiple cities. I had them do some work
at one of my prior jobs. I found it to
be a pretty good outfit to work with.
Mr. Fennell asked what is our part
of the cost in this?
Mr. Cassel responded I think one of
them is approximately $120,000 and one is $40,000 or $50,000; this is for
rehabilitating one and a whole new one on the other. I think there are three interconnects; two of
them are ours and one of them is NSID’s.
It is in the ballpark of what we discussed almost a year ago. We still need to do an interlocal agreement. We could not finalize it until we had the
numbers. Now that they have the numbers
and we can proceed, we will get the interlocal agreement drafted and ready for
your signature.
Mr. Hanks asked what size are the
interconnects?
Mr. Cassel responded I think one is
a 6 inch and one is a 12 inch. Is that
correct?
Mr. Stover responded yes. They do not change it.
Mr. Cassel stated I think the 6 inch
or 8 inch is a rehab and the 12 inch is new.
Mr. Fennell stated so that is going
to go to the City of Coral Springs and then there is going to be another
interconnect on the other side with NSID.
Mr. Cassel stated the City of Coral
Springs would connect to us in two places and also to NSID in one or two
places.
Mr. Hanks asked do we have an
interconnect with Tamarac as well?
Mr. Daly responded a very small
one.
Mr. Hanks asked do you need a
background on what these interconnects do Ms. Zich?
Mr. Zich responded I am not to
familiar with what they do.
Mr. Cassel stated if we lose
pressure and we cannot provide pressure or we are down in our capacity, we can
draw on the city to help boost our pressures to keep it out and conversely; if
they have a major issue, we can supply them with water as well. It creates a loop system within the systems
so if either system has an emergency, we can help each other out for water and you
only pay a small base fee per 1,000 gallons.
Mr. Hanks stated we help each other
out so the City of Coral Springs does not have to provide two times their
annual daily water capacity and we do not have to provide two times. We are able to use some of theirs.
Mr. Daly stated during Hurricane
Wilma we never lost pressure here.
Unfortunately, I think they lost a generator, which made them lose
pressure. We opened it up and supplied
them with water. It worked out well for
everybody.
Mr. Cassel stated the bottom line is
whether it is CSID, the city or NSID, we all serve the residents of Coral
Springs’ entirety so there needs to be consistency in water supply to all of
the residents.
Mr. Hanks asked so will we look at
next month to get the interlocal agreement?
Mr. Cassel responded yes. I will check with the city. Mr. Johnson, I need you to explain to the
Board a couple of things. When things do
not appear to be happening out here, what is CH2M Hill doing?
Mr. Johnson responded Mr. Easton is
here most of the day. He is out there making
sure things are being built correctly.
There are still things going on out there. You will see they actually assembled the
membrane trains. There are a lot of
things inside the building you cannot see going on. They put in the roll up doors. Today they were pressure testing a bunch of
lines. There is a lot activity going on
which warrants a person being here to do inspections. Along with that Mr. Easton is facilitating
RFIs as well as reviewing submittals that are part of what he is doing. There is a significant amount of work
although there is obviously not a roof on there.
Mr. Hanks asked so the physical
activity may not be going on, but there is always a background level of
paperwork?
Mr. Johnson responded exactly. I talked with Mr. Easton this afternoon. He was working on redlining as-built drawings
to make sure those are up to date.
Ms. Zich stated I just question it
because it was supposed to be mostly complete in November and now we are
looking at another six months. That is
an awful long time to spread it out.
Mr. Johnson stated you need to have
a certain level of inspection going on whether there are 3 people working or 30
people working.
Ms. Zich stated if we had finished
it in November, then we would be all done with the expenses.
Mr. Johnson stated today should be
the contractor’s completion date in an ideal world.
Ms. Zich stated I just think of all
of these expenses that keep getting elongated.
Mr. Hanks stated they do tend to do
that and it is not usually the engineers.
They are going to be there and they are going to be addressing these
issues.
Mr. Cassel asked what are you guys
doing to push the contractor?
Mr. Johnson responded there is a
certain amount of correspondence which is ongoing with the contractor. There is a limited amount of things we can do
to force the contractor to move forward.
That is what the liquidated damages are in the contract. It is for that; if the contractor extends
beyond the contract duration, there is a mechanism for the District to impose
penalties on the contractor so they move faster. There is a somewhat limited ability for us to
force them to move any faster. We have
done everything we can during this project to try to move things along for the
contractor such as submittal reviews.
Interestingly enough, we have had a very fast submittal turnaround time
on this project. I think the last time that
I took a look at it we were close to seven or eight days. Those were calendar days not work days. The roof had to go through four reiterations
of submittal reviews on the roof. For
those four it took about 220 days. We
had it for 30 of those 220 days. It has
been in the contractor’s court most of the time.
Mr. Hanks stated out of the seven
months you had it for one.
Mr. Johnson stated exactly. They are quick turnarounds and if we need to,
we do everything we can. We are doing, a
lot of times, advanced courtesy copies of submittal comments or questions so
they can address them and get them back to us.
Mr. Bone has been quicker in responding to our submittal comments than
Mr. Brown was when Intrastate was doing the bulk of the work out there.
Mr. Hanks stated you also have to be
careful and stay within the confines of being the engineer and not specifying
means and methods.
Mr. Johnson stated we have our
limited role in this. If this were done
in a different delivery mode, we would be the ones constructing it as well as
engineering it and it would go a lot faster.
In this instance we are the engineer.
We inform the owner and we inform the contractor when they are outside
the bounds of the contract.
Mr. Cassel stated in that same note
the owner can only say certain things to the contractor without interfering
with means and methods as well.
Mr. Hanks stated or causing
acceleration.
Mr. Cassel stated I know when you
are sitting in the meetings and your expression of wishing it was done today by
completion, you can multiply that five times from the Board, staff and me. We wish it was already producing water back
in November.
Ms. Zich stated but we wanted to be
right also.
Mr. Cassel stated you have been
supplied with a draft of the newsletter.
Do you have any comments on that?
Mr. Fennell stated I am going to
have a new picture put in for me.
Mr. Daly stated the intention is to
have a pullout; the construction page in the middle.
Mr. Fennell asked do you guys want
to write anything?
Ms. Zich responded no. You are doing good Mr. Fennell.
Mr. Cassel stated I have one other
thing I forgot and it came back to me. You
will remember we did the grant with FEMA for the interconnect of the two
basins.
Ms. Zich stated right.
Mr. Cassel stated my original
concept was to do design build. Then
after reviewing it and discussing it with a few other individuals who provided
some input, I decided we probably do not want to go that direction with that
project. We do want it to go out and I
think for this one we have to do a separate RFQ for engineering services for
the design of the interconnect and piping.
We would do an RFQ as part of the CCNA process for that work. Other jurisdictions have multiple engineers
they use for different parts and pieces.
In the past we have used one engineering firm that did all of the parts
and pieces. I think with some of the
feedback and sense of what is going on, in this particular situation we
probably need to look at an RFQ for that interconnect and put it on the
street. I want to get the Board’s
feedback if you are in that same mindset for this particular project.
Mr. Hanks stated you are saying this
would be for continuous service of an engineer to do the design and permitting
of it. Then once it is designed and
permitted it would go off for bid.
Mr. Cassel stated for a contractor
to come in and actually construct the project.
Mr. Hanks asked how do we go ahead
and around the contractor’s side fulfill the obligations we have under our
governing act and avoid some of the pitfalls we are currently facing on other
projects?
Mr. Lyles responded you can only do
that to a certain extent and that extent is governed by how carefully you
create factors to be weighted in the process.
In essence we are obviously talking about the kind of contract that is
required for competitive billing. We are
going to have to have the contractor supply information about previous
projects, experience in the field, scope and size of projects and things like
that. In essence it gets down to making
sure they are structuring through the help of the design engineer what it means
to be a responsive and responsible bidder on the construction side and what
those factors mean. It is a matter of
putting the bid specification in the right way and a tight way.
Mr. Hanks asked how would we go
about structuring an RFQ for the engineering services?
Mr. Lyles responded the CCNA
process, which is what we will have to follow, is purely experience and
qualifications related. A price is not
part of the initial review that is done.
You ask engineering firms who are eligible to do these kinds of project
for their proposal in terms of what they have done, what their experience
qualification is, and quality issues go into that. Only after they have been ranked in a
numerical order, at least three, on the basis of their experience and
credentials; in other words, quality comes first, to negotiate a fair price is
phase two. That is what is brought back
to the Board.
Mr. Hanks stated if we cannot reach
a negotiation…
Mr. Lyles stated go to two.
Mr. Hanks stated and then go to
three if that does not do; do it over.
Mr. Lyles stated theoretically you
can keep going. You have to rank at
least three. With a project like this
you would think that three is sufficient, but you can actually go to number
four and five if you wanted to. You can
also start over again. That leads into
the emphasis on quality and in terms of the contracting firm itself, experience
and familiarity with the District. Those
types of things which would be defined as a responsible and responsive
bidder.
Mr. Hanks asked who would be ranking
those; staff?
Mr. Lyles responded once they reach
the threshold of responsive and responsible, and that would be a staff along
with the engineer determination, then it is price. They are going to submit a sealed bid, the
way I see process working as envisioned by the manager.
Mr. Fennell stated the problem is
timeframe.
Ms. Zich stated we need to get it
done quickly.
Mr. Fennell stated I understand what
you are trying to say and do. My guess
is it will take us a minimum three months or six months to actually go through
that, get a new engineering firm in here, get the design done and actually bid
the work. I think we only have two years
to do this.
Ms. Zich asked when does this need
to be done by? Is it in October of 2012?
Mr. Fennell responded there is a
timeframe.
Mr. Cassel stated I believe it is 18
to 24 months. We do not have the final
contract document from the Federal Government.
We executed and sent it to them.
We have not received back the final executed contract. Regardless of that, it is a small enough
project that we could probably do the RFQ, have it back, and select a firm
within 30 to 45 days.
Mr. Daly asked does the time start
ticking from the time they sign it?
Mr. Cassel responded I have to go
back and look at the grant.
Mr. Fennell stated it will take us a
minimum to actually pick an engineer.
Then the design has to be done, which is another month or two. Then it will be about six months before we
are able to do any kind of contract to try to get this done. The contract would take a month or two to get
it. Then we have 14 months to get this
done.
Mr. Hanks asked where is it going
across?
Mr. Daly responded St. John’s Woods
through the school.
Ms. Zich stated Maplewood
Elementary.
Mr. Hanks stated so we have to road cross
it.
Mr. Cassel stated crossing
Ramblewood Boulevard.
Mr. Hanks asked is that a county
road or is it a city road?
Mr. Cassel responded I think it is
the city.
Ms. Zich stated yes. The city.
Mr. Hanks stated that will have a
big impact on the permitting.
Ms. Zich stated if it were
University Drive, we would have a lot more problems.
Mr. Cassel stated yes.
Mr. Hanks stated to help speed
things up we have already gone through an RFQ for surveying services. Have we not?
Mr. Cassel responded I will have to
double check.
Mr. Hanks stated that is something
else we have to consider in this project.
The availability of the survey.
Is it going to be included in the engineering services or is it going to
be something the District picks up and provides the information to all of the
perspective entities? That is another
way we can get them a couple of weeks lead time or a jump on things. It will cut time out of it.
Mr. Cassel stated I will have to
check to see if we have a surveyor on board, but I believe we do.
Mr. Hanks stated I think we have two
to three we rotate among.
Mr. Fennell stated I think it is a
great idea. I think we should think of
it for future projects. I think at this
point we need to pull the bullet.
Mr. Hanks asked the next time we
have a project come through are we going to be in any better of a situation in
terms of timing?
Mr. Fennell responded the reason why
I say the timing is critical on this one is because we have an outside group
monitoring our actions within a timeframe.
The Federal Government is going to be watching us to see how things are
progressing. My experience with projects
is if you want to cut down the timeframe, get started now. I know it sounds funny, but it is the easiest
way to take time off a project.
Ms. Zich stated that is the best way
for any project to get going.
Mr. Fennell stated you would be
surprised how many projects you lose three to six months on just thinking about
it.
Ms. Zich stated look at what we have
just gone through.
Mr. Fennell stated I know. That can still happen; even on this
project.
Ms. Zich asked are we sure when the
contract actually passed it?
Mr. Cassel responded I do not have
that with me.
Ms. Zich stated I remember seeing
dates on it. Do we have the plans for
this yet?
Mr. Cassel responded no. That is what we need to have done. We need to have the engineer plans designed
for that pipe if it goes from point A to point B. We have a preliminary route for the
pipe. We do not have the actual plans.
Ms. Zich asked how long does that
generally take?
Mr. Fennell responded I would say a
month or two. If we go out and do a
contract, we have to go out and find the right engineering firm. We need at least three of them. They have to convince us they are good. We have to choose one. They have to become familiar with what we are
bidding on. They have to design it. Finally at that point we are ready to go out
and we have to get a contractor. There
are three steps here. I am saying we are
going to add four months to six months by doing this, which I may have done
except I think we have a deadline. I
have a hunch we are going to need that time anyway for other things.
Ms. Zich asked are we on the clock
now?
Mr. Fennell responded yes.
Ms. Zich asked as far as the project
goes?
Mr. Cassel responded I have to
double check.
Ms. Zich stated we are still in the
thinking stage. That is a really
important item.
Mr. Fennell stated I vote we get
going.
Mr. Cassel stated I will convey to
our engineer the direness of this project on speed, cost containment, on making
sure it happens and on confidence issues.
I will convey it to them and we will proceed to get a work authorization
for the design and move forward.
Ms. Zich stated I am not thinking we
have done too well on the last couple of projects as far as speed goes. That is my problem. I just want to see things done and done
correctly.
Mr. Cassel stated I will convey this
to the engineer and we will proceed forward.
Mr. Fennell stated yes. I think it is important to move on that one
quickly.
Mr. Hanks asked will you be looking
to see what services we have directly for the District under a surveyor?
Mr. Cassel responded yes.
Mr. Hanks stated if this is one of
these turn and burn type of projects, then we should give some serious
consideration to getting the survey initiated on this.
Mr. Cassel stated okay. Will do.
Mr. Hanks asked are there any
easements or right-of-ways we would need to acquire?
Mr. Cassel responded I will have to
check on that.
Mr. Hanks stated if that is the
situation, those always take a while.
Mr. Cassel responded I think some of
that was looked into.
Mr. Fennell stated it is always
longer if you do not ask for them until six months from now then if you ask for
them today.
Mr. Cassel stated I believe that was
supposed to be addressed when we were applying for the grant.
Mr. Hanks stated I am trying to
think of other actions we can take as a District that would be helpful in
speeding up the process.
Mr. Fennell asked would coordination
with the city help?
Mr. Cassel responded yes. I will meet with the city as well.
Mr. Fennell stated I once told Mr.
Gold that we had a plan to do this. He
brought it up to me about a year or two ago asking me whatever happened to the
interconnect plan.
Ms. Zich stated he lives in
Maplewood Isles.
Mr. Fennell stated he is aware of
it. I think it might be good to contact
him or go through him.
Mr. Lyles stated he is recovering
from a serious medical issue. He is
going to be out of commission for several months. It just happened 10 or 20 days ago.
Mr. Fennell stated there is a new
City Manager too.
Mr. Lyles stated Mr. Donmez who has
been the number two guy there for about ten years or more.
Mr. Hanks stated he is new, but he is
old.
Mr. Lyles stated he is hitting the
ground running.
Mr. Fennell stated I met him
twice. He seems to be very competent
with how the city is doing.
Mr. Cassel stated I will meet with
the city.
Mr. Fennell stated we need to tell
him we have a project we think is going to benefit the whole area. At that level I think we can help guide the
process through the city. I know Mr.
Gold was in favor of it.
Mr. Hanks stated if you want me to
attend the meeting with the city’s engineering representatives, let me
know.
Mr. Fennell stated we can do
that. I think it will be a good thing to
do. The city can help us in different
ways to get this thing going. It
benefits them too.
·
Utility Billing
Work Orders
This item is for
informational purposes only.
B.
Attorney
There being no
report, the next item followed.
C.
Engineer
·
Final I&I
Report
·
Monthly Aerial
Photographs
·
Project Status
Report
Mr. Schwarz stated nothing has
changed since we were here in the fall and made the last presentation involving
the data Mr. Daly’s group collected for us and we pretty much verified what we
said in the earlier two memorandums. It
occurred to me that I never really closed the loop and put them all together by
adding some of the discussion items we had here at the last meeting and submit
the final collated reports to Mr. Cassel.
The end paragraph in the last technical memorandum are some suggestions
for you to decide what you want to do going forward. Right now you have an I&I problem, but it
does not really impact other than the cost of your operation.
If you look at the big picture and
the possibility of a new deep injection well or being able to bring in another
major customer, it then becomes an issue for you to deal with. You have some numbers to look at in terms of
budgeting for the long term. Those areas
are not going to get better. They are
just going to continue to deteriorate to the point where you will have more
service issues. I made some
recommendations for you to possibly look at a long term plan to alleviate some
of the I&I in those older basins in the State.
We do not have any real data which
says if we went into basin one, where would we line? With what I know now about those eight basins
I recommend you take a look at one basin or part of one basin and consider a
pilot project. Inspect it, see what kind
of damage there is and come up with a rehabilitation plan. At that point we probably will have a good
measure of what it would take to do the rest of the area and have a better
handle on the finances.
Mr. Fennell asked suppose we took
one of them, are there six of them there?
Mr. Schwarz responded there are
actually eight old basins. We took a
look at just six. Some of the others had
lining work done before. The whole core
area of your District has similar pipe materials installed at the same time and
from the same generation. It would not
even have to be a whole pump station basin if we can isolate a wing of it; a
sub-basin, something you could analyze and see the effects.
Mr. Hanks stated a locally defined
area where you have a means of measuring before and after flows to establish
the effectiveness of the repairs.
Mr. Schwarz stated balance that
against the cost of doing this kind of stuff.
Right now it is really inexpensive.
It is a costly thing to do rehabilitation. There are five or six qualified companies
working in the area. You get good bids
on your project and the more you do the less expensive it gets.
Mr. Fennell stated I think we should
do a prototype project and really understand where it gets in. I suspect it is a lateral spot. I believe it is where the pipe comes in from
the house, into the main, and they are all disjointed right there.
Mr. Schwarz stated it is the first
place that gets damaged from vertical loads.
In a lot of cases, and I have even seen this on recent construction, that
is where they cheat. From what I could
see in the inspection results that were available, they seem to be mostly wide
connections. They really were true
laterals. I do not know if that is true
of every connection in there. If the
area was not completely developed and they did not provide a service when there
was no house there, they came back in and cut it in. It is a grouted connection.
Mr. Hanks stated I went back and checked
with Mr. Daly on some of our flow numbers to single family homes, which I
believe these neighborhoods really are basically single families. There is only a handful of multi-family. With the single family rates I can take the
12 month running average on the water that goes out to them. We have about 210 gallons per day, per
residential connection out there. In
your report you were referencing 320 or 330 gallons. How did these conclusions change by having a
baseline? Is it that we are just going
to have more infiltration? Does that
change where you think the problem is?
Mr. Schwarz responded no.
Mr. Hanks asked do you still think
it is at the lateral?
Mr. Schwarz responded I agree that
the laterals are usually considerable, from what I have seen in the two areas I
have worked on recently, they are at least 50% of the flow. That is 50% for bad pipes and mostly
joints.
Mr. Hanks asked with them being
lateral connections, is that something we would be better off lining from the
street or going ahead and excavating within the easement?
Mr. Schwarz responded they can be
repaired internally, but there are quite a few different technologies. I have not been able to do a project yet
where I have said you have to line the lateral from the street; you cannot go on
private property because there is only one guy working in South Florida who can
do that. You do not get good bids. Most of them require that you at least have a
cleanout at the property line or be able to get some kind of access up by the
property. I do not know your
system. Do you mostly have cleanouts at
the property line?
Mr. Fennell responded they are up by
the house.
Mr. Schwarz stated there are ways to
install temporary or permanent tees fairly easily at the location. Some places will say they really want to
solve the problem and they want to replace the lateral from the house to the
street. You can get an ordinance in
place that says we will fix it or you fix it.
You can make it so you can line a whole lateral. It just depends on how aggressive you want to
be.
Mr. Fennell stated I think we need
to have a continuous program going on for this given we really need to know
where it is. I think we need a project,
probably in the area of $250,000, that will take one of these areas and then we
will know if it is the laterals. At that
point I think we are going to be spending so much every year just to keep going
from this section to the next section, to the next one, to the next one.
Mr. Hanks stated we can get feedback
from other engineers on this matter to see what their thoughts are; whether
lining the laterals is the way to go or what they think the main step should
be. We should just try to get a
different opinion.
Ms. Zich asked are there problems
like this in the rest of Coral Springs?
Mr. Hanks responded the rest of
Florida.
Mr. Schwarz stated the rest of your
system, from my understanding, is mostly PVC pipe. It is likely that the problems are somewhat
less than what you have in clay pipe areas.
To get the data you are looking for, you can determine whether you have
a lateral problem or where the problem is.
Ms. Zich asked are there other
districts working on these problems.
Mr. Schwarz responded yes.
Mr. Hanks stated Miami-Dade has had
a program for years where they push a lot of it on the private owners, but they
are able to do that because they have the Board of County Commissioners behind
them.
Mr. Cassel stated regulatory
power.
Mr. Fennell stated those clay pipes,
like at my house, what happens is the main pipe is set there before the house
is built. The builder comes in and he
just connects it up. He just runs the
pipe out there. It is sort of a plastic
pipe going into cement pipe or ceramic pipe.
They put one in there and then stuff sinks and the connection just
breaks. After a while roots start
growing in there from the trees. Then
you start having a problem trying to get stuff into the drains because there is
a hole there and roots go after all of that water. It gets clogged up.
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Lyles, is there
anyway, with Mr. Schwarz’s comment about having to go from one cleanout into
the street or having two cleanouts needed to work some of these techniques?
Mr. Schwarz responded they can
inspect from the main without going on private property, depending on the
construction. You usually have the Y and
then you sometimes have two fittings right within the first three or four
feet. We can look at that. If there is more than one fitting and then
the wall itself you probably cannot get a camera up without a cleanout, but you
can tell where the source of the problem is.
Once you get past those three fittings you are usually up higher
anyway. It is the initial fittings at
the bottom that are at the deepest part of the sewer.
Mr. Hanks asked but was there not
something about repairs on private property or something like that?
Mr. Schwarz responded it
depends. The extreme case I was talking
about was a city in Key West. The entire
laterals are below the water table. They
figured they were not going to solve the problem by just fixing it at the
main. They needed to go all the way up
to the house. They wrote an ordinance
saying they had 90 days to fix their lateral or it was going to be fixed for
them.
Mr. Hanks asked can the city do
that?
Mr. Lyles responded a city under the
Florida Constitution has home rule powers.
They can adopt ordinances like that and do anything they want to as long
as it is not prohibited by State Law or the Constitution. We, on the other hand, as a special district
can only do those things for which we are specifically granted the power to do.
Mr. Hanks asked if that was
something that was determined to be necessary, could we go ahead and present to
the city what we want to do and ask them to enact an ordinance?
Mr. Lyles responded it would be up
to the City of Coral Springs to enact that kind of ordinance. Our powers end, basically, at the
rights-of-ways.
Mr. Hanks asked but there are
mechanisms if we needed to go that way that we could pursue that?
Mr. Lyles responded pursue, yes.
Mr. Hanks stated not guarantee that
we would get that.
Mr. Lyles stated we certainly can
pursue that. We would have to do the
work that we are talking about now to make the case which would support the
proposition before the city.
Mr. Fennell asked from an ownership
standpoint, where does it actually start?
Mr. Cassel responded the property
line.
Mr. Lyles stated the edge of the
right-of-way.
Mr. Hanks stated there are typically
two utilities on either side of the dedicated right-of-way.
Mr. Lyles stated they are usually part
of the right-of-way. Are they in
addition to the right-of-way here?
Mr. Hanks responded in addition to
the right-of-way. Let us say you have a
residential on the plat, you have a 60 foot road right-of-way and then 10 feet
on each side.
Mr. Lyles stated wherever that
easement for utility purpose is, or the right-of-way, or both; whichever is
closest to the house.
Mr. Hanks asked is this the
opportunity presenting ourselves where we are not under a timeframe and see
what other companies out there to provide the services?
Mr. Fennell responded unfortunately
it is a continuing long term issue for the next 30 years. What do we need to do with this?
Mr. Hanks asked Mr. Cassel, what are
your thoughts? Is this a project that
would be something suitable to pursue the RFQs for engineering services on?
Mr. Cassel responded there are firms
out there which are repair firms where you can bid the whole thing and they
will come in, clean it, TV it, look at it and they will line part of it as they
go through; rather than going in, doing an inspection and calling someone else
in to tell them how many feet and where it has to be lined. There are turnkey operations out there that
we can go ahead and bid out a section.
Mr. Hanks stated so we are not
seeing this to be a design or specification.
Mr. Cassel stated I think on the
pilot project we can probably do a proposal type bid contract with the vendors
out there saying it is this section, you give them a set of the plans we have
for the section, here is the pipe, here is the laterals, here is how much, and
ask for a price to inspect it, clean it, report it and line it as
necessary. You do a pilot project. From there you can go back, and based on the
pilot project, and develop a full blown project saying you want to line the
whole basin based upon this information.
You put that out on the street saying there are X number of feet.
Mr. Hanks asked for next month do we
want CH2M Hill to come back with a work authorization request?
Mr. Cassel responded no. I do not think we need to do a work
authorization request. I think we can go
to the street with a…
Mr. Lyles stated it is really a
maintenance activity, which makes it into our $4,000 bidding threshold. It will have to be bid, but it is essentially
a maintenance package from a service provider; including televising, inspection
and lining where appropriate.
Mr. Fennell stated the only issue
about it is somebody still has to come in and make a decision.
Mr. Cassel stated I think what we do
with that is; let me discuss it offline with Mr. Schwarz and Ms. Early to see
what we would need to look at measuring before and after. That might be necessary, but the actual project
itself would be something you could put on the street and you could get your
four contractors bids.
Mr. Hanks stated the thing I do not
want to have happen is I do not want to be put in this leaving it to a
contractor, then not having supervision and them saying it is good only to come
back in five or ten years after that company is gone, realizing they did not do
anything and they did not really fix the problem.
Mr. Cassel stated I understand that.
Mr. Schwarz stated you need to
define the specifications for your lining.
Mr. Fennell stated what I hope for
is, here is the situation beforehand, here is the lining, and here are the
results afterwards. I am afraid we will
miss the before and after and they will come back with glowing reports about
how they lined everything, but was it materials that actually fixed the problem? That is what I am hoping to see.
Mr. Schwarz asked in terms of the
historical work that was done in the District, is any of the lining that was
done cured in place or has some different technologies been used?
Mr. Cassel responded I have to go
back and look.
Mr. Fennell stated I am pretty sure
it was just the mains.
Mr. Schwarz stated there are
different kinds of materials you can use to line. Some of them are less successful than
others.
Mr. Hanks stated some are a felt
lining and some are thermoplastic that you heat up. This is why I am saying we need to get the
work authorization to define what you think your role is going to be in this.
Mr. Cassel stated we will work it
together to see what we come up with. The
technology continues to improve and continues to change; 20 years ago you had
one U liner and one other product that was out there.
Mr. Schwarz stated a lot of the fold
and form materials have less than a 50 year life that they were projected to
have.
Mr. Cassel stated there are a lot of
things they can do now that they could not do five or ten years ago.
Mr. Fennell stated I think our goal
is to prevent us from having to dig another injection well.
Mr. Hanks asked the other side I
would really still like to come back to is what realistically do you think we
could be saving by going forward with a relining project? How much of this flow are we going to be
saving for every mile of line that is in the ground? Are we going to be saving 1,000 gallons or
100,000 gallons a day? That will help us
establish whether or not that makes sense for us to go forward and make the
project.
Mr. Fennell stated because we have
this other additional improvement we are going to have additional water coming
in that we have to dispose of from the water processing plant.
Ms. Zich asked do we know where the
biggest problem areas are?
Mr. Fennell responded yes.
Ms. Zich asked Ramblewood?
Mr. Schwarz responded Ramblewood and
Shadow Wood.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of December Financials and Check
Registers
Ms. Zich stated I want you to note the
interest on the 2007 Bonds. For three
months we made $10,000, which if you remember I kept saying we need to get some
interest on that money. It just sat
there and we were making nothing. We are
making just a little, but we are still making $3,000 a month on it because we
have it invested in something. This is
why I kept pushing for us to get it invested; because it is a lot of money. It is $10,000 in three months ago. It did pay to get it invested.
Mr. Hanks asked do you have any
concerns Ms. Woodward about where we are financially?
Ms. Woodward responded no. I think we are doing very well.
This
portion could not be transcribed due to the amount of background noise on top
of Ms. Woodward’s voice.
Ms. Zich stated I love your summary
of operations. That is so perfect.
Mr. Hanks asked as far as the
pending projects we discussed today, the drainage interconnect, do we have
funds available?
Ms. Woodward responded yes we
do. The only place we will have to go
back and take a look at is if the Board decides, or when they decide, to go
through with something on the I&I, we will have to address all of the
potential dollars involved.
Mr. Hanks asked as far as the
I&I, is it something we can utilize bond funds for? Do we know where out of
our revenue stream or out of our funds that needs to be pulled?
Mr. Cassel responded we need to look
at the plan. We addressed some of this
on the bonds already. I believe there is
something we can modify to potentially use some of that bond money.
Mr. Hanks stated that will be useful
in helping us identify how much, if any, we need to go forward with.
Mr. Daly stated the Board enacted a
rate increase for three years a road.
That was primarily because of the debt service we already have on the
bonds, so it had no room for an additional project.
Mr. Hanks stated the other side of
the equation is how much can be saved by implementing changes. That may be something to offset as well.
Mr. Fennell stated here is something
else I think we should do. We should
look to see if there is additional funding we can get from outside the
District, just like we got money for the drainage. If I look, just from the water, utility,
general area, besides trying to save water usage; the other thing is trying to
save the amount of water you have to process too. If someone wants to talk about how much water
we can save, that is probably where we can save the most as far as usage and
putting things down wells. That is big,
not to mention it has many other types of benefits. I have to believe there is money out there
available for I&I kinds of projects or water savings; whatever you want to
call it. There has to be something.
Mr. Cassel stated we will
check.
Mr. Fennell stated they want to pay
us to reuse water and to put water in other areas. This would be a smart thing to do; cut down
the amount of water you need to reuse. Would
that not be a smart thing to do?
Mr. Hanks responded yes, but I am
also sure there are a lot of entities looking for those funds too.
Mr. Cassel stated we will check for
grants and see if there are any I&I grants as well. We will look at sources of funds, which may
or may not be there, which ones we can possibly use, which ones we may have to
take other action to be able to use.
Mr. Fennell stated at this point my
feelings are that we should do a prototype project, but I am not going to bite
off any big project until we get all of the other construction done.
On MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor the financials were approved
Mr. Daly asked do I have permission
to print and send the newsletter after Mr. Fennell provides me with his corrections?
Mr. Fennell responded yes.
SEVENTH 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