Sanitary Sewer Board - Regular Meeting

I spoke to at the conference I just returned from. I did get a chance to speak to regulators and uh they were very amendable that and understandable that that's not unusual this type of year or time of year. So uh that didn't seem to concern them at all. So I don't really see anything any issues coming from that. Uh once we regained our footing and brought the process, got it thought out for a better uh uh for a better term, uh we have been running uh stellar since then and we we I believe we'll continue to do so. The facility is just been phenomenal right now. U as a as in anything when you're when it's brand new, there are a few bugs and hiccups that we're dealing with. nothing that uh is major. Uh so we'll continue to work with towards those efforts and feel like that we're all continue to stay on the right path. We're good there.

I have three questions, Tim. Yes, ma'am. Um does does that excursion have any significant long-lasting negative impact on our agreed order performance that we're required to maintain?

Um second, we handled the rain event well with our new capacity. we extremely well. I mean you and you need to keep in in uh the the thought process is and I I think I can put it in terms that will uh really clarify for everybody's uh uh purposes in the old facility and I have to have the purpose old facility we had 45 foot diameter clarifiers the main tanks that that the solids settle in. We have 85 foot clarifiers. Now we only have one online

and we never even one iota floated to the top and that was the problem that we had in the old facility and that's due to hydraulic surge and we seen we seen floats during the slightest rain a bit of greater than 4 million gallons a day. Wow. So uh that it was very exciting. It was it was very pleasing to see that there was no problems. Going to end my statement actually four questions. So the third one was the we had a a large excavating claim for 11,000 at this time. Was that the high street work? You know the excavating um there was like a repair for 11,000 in the claims. I'm assuming that it would related to that high street man that we've been working.

Yes. Yes ma'am. That they had held on Oh, I'm sorry. they had held on to those invoices and and decided to the way we work with a lot of our vendors is that you know instead of sending it a lot frequently they'll wait and see if there's anything and and that's actually their choice. We don't ask them to do that but that's exactly what that was. Yes. Where what's the status with that? Is it are we solid with it now? Is that properly?

Knock on wood we are solid with that area right now. we have addressed any um resident concerns in there. Uh there was a couple of things that were asked of us that we did do and have completed. Um again uh one of the items that I took the opportunity to speak with some vendors at the recent conferences that I was at is I'm trying to develop some options uh of what we can do with that line.

Okay. Um, I know we there's been a lot of talk about a new regional lift station on the Shadow Lake side of of the PL of the city that would eliminate that particular list stations. Well, if things don't work out like we would like, we need another option. One of those options uh could be uh I spoke to a lining company yesterday. That 10-in horse man can be reined. Okay, it would be very difficult. Uh but it is not impossible. Uh as most if not all of you are aware of the the station itself can be rehabbed. It's old but it can be rehabbed.

The biggest concern is that force man which runs right through the middle of town. Right. It goes down Market Street to Walnut Street. Walnut to hide in Market. Exactly. Uh if we come down Spring It comes down Spring Street. Comes down Main Street. It comes down Main Street. Comes through the dog park. comes over to Main Street, makes a ride on Walmart that goes back into the park there. Yeah, that's a horrible corridor to have to tear up,

right? But in talking to the company I spoke with yesterday, that that could be done. And with the new CIP, the the cured in place piping, it's very uh very there's it's very not it's not intrusive at all for the uh the the residents of the area. So, it's it's something that I'm going to continue to work on over the next few months and uh bring back some options for the city that at least give you some something to think about rather than, you know, I I do want to state this. I mean, the best option we have right now is that regional lift station. I think we all agree with that. But feasibility is where we're at. Sure. So,

uh my fourth question that I've decided to add is I was at um I saw Hagerty from Jacobe Tunes and Lands Prime E um at an event and he I asked him about the plant you know and he very complimentary but he said that we were having a major problem with rags right now. So what is your take on that? It's I I wouldn't I think you might have overemphasized problem. Okay, there are a lot of rags y more so than what we incurred in the old plant because of the age and the condition of the old plant.

The original equipment didn't capture it. We're capturing all of them now and it is substantially more. Okay. So, can you maybe work with Brian um on some maybe we need to get some publicity out asking people Oh, absolutely. flush those wipes and contribute to that problem and um some media work. So, he's out next week, so don't don't bother him with it, but maybe when he comes back, we can work on some get out there with the team and kind of do a little um publicity on taking care of the system by not flushing things you shouldn't be flushing. I would be happy to. Okay. All right. I'll quit pestering you now, too. No, no, no, not at all. Let you get on through your report.

No, no, not at all. I mean, well, it's those flushable wipes that are not flushable. Yeah. They say they're flushable, but they are not flushable. But you'd be surprised what people flush down there. I mean, oh, it's shop towels, right? The flushable wipes are the number one concern. But shop towels end up down there. Shop towels are very And kids flush all kinds of interesting things. So, I mean, you you you honestly can't imagine. I I can provide pictures, but I don't think anybody No, we don't need that.

So, but no, no, thank you for all the questions. And I think that leads into the next item is the recommendation for the B for the River Ridge Development Regional Station. Uh I'm I'm glad to see Jill here tonight. I think that there there's been a lot of effort put into this agreement. Yeah. And I asked Jill to come up and and talk a little bit about the process that they went through to get to that GMP and present that GMP as well. And with that being said, I mean, I come with full recommendation for the board to highly consider and move that on at your at your pleasure.

So for just to cover the the procedure here and the process for what what we are in this B um it's been a long time coming, but it's it's been a very complicated project to work on. This is where we've been looking at that idea of that regional lift station to replace the Spring Street station. We know we have to do something with the Spring Street lift station because it's part of our agreed order. Um we're chipping away at these things bit by bit. The wastewater plant being one. Highway 62 is is going well. We've secured the funding without having to take on extra bond debt to complete Highway 62 pump station. So now we're really starting to turn our attention heavily towards the Spring Street station and this regional station. Um, as you know at our meeting on February 19th, we went ahead and authorized the um, basically memorandum of understanding with River Ridge uh, the agreement with River Ridge where they are going to pay their portion of this line. Although we are not ready to move forward at this time with the regional lift station. They need to go ahead and put in the infrastructure for the growth they're going to reach. They are paying for that. That's what we're working on today. Uh, we approved the agreement pending the GMP. Jill Seas here is here as a part of MDS um to present that where they are with that. Um and so what we will do today is consider to make the recommendation to the council on that BOT award. You've got the council resolution in your meeting packet. This is the the resolution that we are recommending to them that they will consider at their meeting on April 7th. Um and we also have the presentation of the that guaranteed maximum price the GMP um by Jill. And so we will take action on both of those items and send that over to the council where they will have it will be advertised they'll have the public hearing at the council meeting on the 7th and um ratify or they will go ahead and consider and awarding that BOT to MDS and then it will come back to us at our meeting on the 16th of April for

ratification of that BT award. I think that is a pretty accurate summary of that. Oh, unless you have something you want to add. You got it. All right. Good deal. So, if we want to get Jill to come up to kind of work through where they are with that. I know there've been a lot negotiation with that GOP. Sweet.

Okay. Thank you. Oh, thank you. I'm just saying with Municipal Development Solutions. U we have been working quite some time now on trying to figure out the most effective way to serve both sides, but in particular the River Ridge portion of that. We've gone through, as Tim said, many iterations over the last several months. Um, at first designing for things that we thought were going to happen, then found out that they weren't because it's difficult to design something at Riveridge. You never know, one day you might need a ton of capacity and then it might not be that way the next day. So, uh, I think we've done a good job, uh, working with Tim, working with River Ridge, uh, over the last several months to get that to a point where it's not overdesigned, that we're looking for growth, but we're not putting in so much that you may never use it, you know, in our lifetimes. And I think, uh, and Tim, you might attest to this in Mark's experience now and being at Riveridge for some time, they've had that happen.

Yeah. So, uh, we've done that. I feel very comfortable with that. Something that you may note in there is there's a a a large amount for allowances on things that may happen but might not happen. That's in the exhibit A, I believe. No, that is in the That's part of the Yeah, I don't know where the GMP is in your packet. I'm trying to find which one it is. Okay, it is 5C on your tablet. Charleston Regional Location Project GMP. Okay, that's the breakdown of the cost. So,

and because we don't know how much, you know, rock we might encounter. Also, um we have something in there for the odor control potentially depending on when everything's finalized with the companies that intend to locate at Riveridge. We might need that as well as a juncture structure if we need that as well. Those will only be expended uh with approval of the city and river but if he said gave u river in the city an amount for budgetary purposes just in case. All right. And then I know that there was a lot of back and forth with Mark to get this down. I think it started in a much higher

amount and he was able they were able to rightsize this part of the project to get it down to the to the GMP. So the guaranteed maximum price total on this is $7,182,1940. And the way that a BO works is regardless of what happens on site once this is approved through us and through the finally through the council and awarded uh regardless of what they run into out there, if their costs exceed that, River Ridge will not pay more for them than that. That's the beauty of the guaranteed maximum price. Um they try to work in those allowances. And of course, if it doesn't end up being that much, then it may not be that much. If if you don't incur those costs, then they don't.

And that's why I wanted to bring attention to the allowance section that's only used if necessary and approved. Okay? And this is the agreement where the city is not incurring this cost at all. This is for the infrastructure that is being built inside River. It is a part that will become a part of our collection system. We will take over the maintenance and ownership, you know, of the system just like we do with the rest of the infrastructure that's placed by Riveridge, but this will be paid for by the River Ridge Development Authority. Has has the River Ridge Development Authority approved this GMPL? Um, staff and board or just staff or at their last board meeting um would have been it was an odd day, the 12th meeting. Yes. So, they did.

Yes. So they approved the agreement with us on the 17th of February and then they saw the GMP on March 12th. So this is the next step in the hurdle. The ne the final one I guess will be the council on but yeah and we continue to work as Tim was mentioning some options for the city of Charlestown portion of that. Then we continue to work through that too to figure out a feasible option.

Are there any questions for Jill? And then item 5B, the exhibit A to council BOT award. There, that is the full um packet, the regional low station and wastewater collection system project. That was what was submitted um as the actual BOT award. Um and then you have a copy of the resolution that we are recommending to the council. It's title, it's unnumbered, but it's it's Charlestown Council resolution uh regarding the VT agreement. So this will be the resolution that the council has on their agenda. Um, I assume that thing where it's a word document. Yeah, I can't open. Yeah, I can. Give me just one second. I'll go print it to a PDF. I think this whole package.

Give me one second. Thank you.

Yeah, for some reason when we have them if they're if they're coming off as a word document, it tries to make us sign in. Um, so she usually saves them over as a PDF, but that was um that item was accidentally left off the packet. So that's absolutely my fault for not catching that with my assistant being out, but we will upload it to the agenda center following just to have it as a part of the meeting packet and I asked her to add it kind of late. So, but it's the general resolution that's going awarding the BO to MDS. Um and that's what that resolution does. Um and then that if I'm if I remember correctly once that happens then the actual agreement will come back to this board to execute

um the BOT award agreement. Uhhuh. No, I go see the council. Yeah. Okay. They they'll both um No, the sanitary sewer board will sign it. Um Okay. Y and we'll get approval here and the council will also obviously they have to approve it pursuant to the city's ordinance when they adopted these statutes. Okay. I guess what I was getting at is there would be time for the super board to review that agreement as well before they execute it. Yes, you can send it around. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Um we just wait on getting So with all this infrastructure, we're going to need more stats. We are working on that.

Um so we actually Tim has been we've been operating it. Um Tim's been very conservative about rehiring. So we did have a person who resigned from a position, but we also had a due to budget cuts in the city on on the general maintenance side, we had to cut a position and so we were able to transition that employee over to the wastewater department. So we still need to fill another position. We have held off on doing that just because they've been functioning. They've been fine. But um it was also kind of a saving on the budget to see how long it could go without filling that position. But they are going to have to fill the position. And then now with the new administrative building open, there is a longer term goal in place to to get an administrative assistant over there as well because there's a lot that needs to be done

just administratively there and to have a front desk person there. Um so that's something we have not done. We don't have a position for that. So, that'll be something that'll have to go through the council and amend the um the salary ordinance when it comes time for that. But, as far as hiring another labor staff, you know, collection system or lab assistant, um we'll be able to do that whenever Tim's ready to do that. We're as the mayor mentioned, we're being very frugal about it. This time of year, there's not a lot that can be done because of weather conditions in the collection system. So, well, you're probably a year from getting this all done anyway, right? I mean, I at least

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Two years to get it done. Yeah. I mean, we're what? We're a few months out from having the um the plant completed completely. The ultimate final completion of the plant is going to have happen May. Yeah. uh although it's up and running now, but there's they're in the demolition portion of the agreement right now. So, uh yeah, we have we have a couple months, but uh it is it is something that's very close to the center of our radar right now to get start getting those people in place. Well, and then the completion of Highway 62, the station is on target. I mean, it's going well.

It is going very well. As a matter of fact, it's setting complete. Uh the hold up with that particular station right now is Duke Energy energizing the site. Uh, I think uh the the good date or the date that I'm being told by Josh Brewer, the uh PM uh for Christie Ober is probably April 10th. So assuming the So then we can get the Spring Street station taken care of. That's right. In really good shape. Much better. Yes. Did you get it?

Yeah. See, I put new at the very end now that it says new Charleston is the public hearing. Oh, wait. That's not the one. No, that's not it. It might take a second. They should both be in there. The council resolution and the this one. Okay.

But if I may, while you're looking for that, the city's poised to uh really be in good shape. uh increase including including increased staff over the next few months. I would like to add a couple of things to Jill's presentation. It popped up if I'm sorry if you if you kind of put the arrow at the top and go back to your where it has just the list of dates and then you go back in to 319 2026. It should populate. Mine did. And it just says new council resolution. And so that's the resolution that the council will be considering at their April 7th meeting. It's the resolution that we are essentially asking the board to recommend to them. It came in Heather. Okay.

No, no, that that's quite all right. No, I just wanted to express to the board that throughout the process of this current BT we're looking at the transparency with the all the partners or uh group throughout this has been tremendous. Um to say that the city of Charles Town has true community partners is an understatement with these projects. I I it's been a pleasure for me to be part of it. U I think uh I feel very good for the city.

With that I'll I'll I'll be quiet now. So I will note for the board in the resolution in section one under the award they general practice is to round up for the actual award resolution. So you'll see that it says 7,200,000 where the actual total was what I called out while ago. Um and that's standard practice. Again, that's um if they don't spend it, they don't. So the two action items I have for the board would be to make a motion to formally uh recommend to the council the award that they award the B to Municipal Development Solutions LLC or NDS. and then also to make a motion separately to approve the guaranteed maximum price which by the resolution is set in 200,000 and you can we do those as separate motions. So first up I would call for the motion to make the recommendation to the council to award the build operate transfer agreement to municipal development solutions LLC.

I'll make that motion as presented. Nathan Grimes makes the motion second. Michael Grayson seconds. Any additional questions for Jill or Tim or on that hearing. None. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? That's unanimous. And then the second action item would be to make a MOO. Call for a motion to approve the guaranteed maximum price um for this Riveridge development infrastructure of 7,200,000. Like that motion as presented as well. Nathan Gra makes the motion. Second. Michael Grayson seconds. All in favor say I. I.

I. Any oppose? Okay. Um, that is all that I have on the agenda. Unless there are any other items that we need to button up, we will make sure that all of this information gets sent over to be distributed with the council meeting packet. The council's meeting is a different day than usual. So, instead of the first Monday, it's going to actually be on Tuesday, April 7th, and that was going to be at 5:30 p.m. Say that. Let me double check my calendar. I want to say that incorrectly. be Tuesday, April 7th. Yes. At 5:30 p.m. here at city hall in the chambers. With that, I see a motion to adjurnn. I'll make that motion.

Michael Grayson makes the motion. I'll second it. Any crime seconds. All in favor say I. I. I. With unanimous, we are ajourned. Thank you all.