September 10, 2012
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners of Columbus,
Georgia was held at the office of the Columbus Water Works on Monday, September
10, 2012, at 1:30 p.m., the following Commissioners being present:
Philip Thayer, Chairman
Carole Rutland
Karl Douglass
Absent: Billy Blanchard, Treasurer
Mayor Teresa Tomlinson
It was noted that Treasurer Blanchard and Mayor Tomlinson were excused
from this meeting.
Receipt of the Minutes of the regular meeting on August 13, 2012, was
acknowledged by the Board and approved as written.
The Financial Report for the month of August including Ft. Benning was
provided to the Board. Motion was made and seconded to approve the reports.
Motion carried.
Management gave a brief update on the following activities for the
month of August conducted by Engineering and Field Services.
Engineering
South Columbus Water Resources Facility
Contractor performed a By-Pass Pump Operation of the entire influent to the
South Columbus Water Resource Facility. This allowed for the completion of the
installation of the new 72? influent pipe to the new grit structure and
dewatering equipment. Reconnection was successful on August 20th. The belt
press in sludge thickener building was put into operation and training was
performed. This project is roughly 90% complete and on schedule for its
completion date of October 2012.
Uchee Creek Campground Water and Sewer Service
Contractor has started laying the sanitary sewer in the campground area and the
water main to the river crossing. The boring operation for the water pipe
under the river has been completed and work has continued through the airport.
Lift Station Force Main has been installed under the river along Sightseeing
and Sunshine Road. The project is roughly 70% complete and is on schedule for
completion in December 2012.
Distribution System
Distribution crews have replaced 440 feet of 2-inch water main with new 8-inch
ductile iron pipe, installed 1 new fire hydrant, and renewed 6 water services
on the Danbury Drive Small Line Replacement Project. (project will replace over
1800 feet of small line).
Collection System
Collection crews replaced 50 feet of 8-inch sewer main at 12 Poplar Street.
The main was replaced from manhole to manhole due to the poor condition of the
pipe.
Crewmen leave door hangers after jobs to receive customer feedback.
Crews removed roots from the sewer laterals by renewing the connections serving
Garden Brook Apartments on Hilton Avenue.
I & I Abatement Project
I&I crews repaired an 8-inch sewer main located at the intersection of 16th
Avenue and 49th Street.
Ft. Benning Collection System
Crews installed a drip pan at 211 Lumpkin Street to prevent rainwater from
entering our sanitary sewer system. To date, 110 drip pans have been installed
eliminating over 400 gallons of inflow per manhole per hour of rainfall. In
total, tens of thousands of gallons of inflow have been eliminated with drip
pans.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
Management gave a brief update on the following activities for the month of
August conducted by Strategic Planning and Employee Services Department.
Strategic Planning
On August 9th, team members from Strategy Team 1 (Enhance Customer
Satisfaction) organized CWW?s participation in the Chamber of Commerce?s Annual
Business and Healthcare Expo held at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center.
This event supported our Customer Satisfaction goal to ?Effectively promote
CWW?s mission to the community? and our strategic objective to ?Educate the
public about CWW?s products and services.?
Strategy Team 3 Mixer ? on August 14th, Strategy Team 3, Leverage Information
Technology, held a ?Get-together Mixer? in the Chattahoochee Room. The event
served as an excellent opportunity for employees to receive information about
the team?s initiatives, goals and current projects as well as the opportunity
to network with current team members.
Employee Services
On August 8, participants of the CWW Leadership Development Program ? Level 1
attended their final training session, ?Understanding the Water and Wastewater
Industry,? which was held at the Service Center Auditorium. The training
session was facilitated by Jack Dozier, Executive Director, Georgia Association
of Water Professionals (GAWP). The following topics were covered: How Safe is
your Drinking Water?; How Do We Use Water?; and Regional Challenges.
CSU Career Fair ? On August 22nd, Danyell Barboa and Natasha Hall represented
CWW at the Columbus State University (CSU) Career Fair. The Career Fair is a
bi-annual event hosted by the Center of Career Development at CSU. CWW was one
of more than 44 employers represented at the event.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
Management gave a brief update on the following activities for the
month of August conducted by Information Services Department.
Computer Controls Audit
As part of the yearly financial audit, the external auditor conducts a computer
controls review of the IT systems and control processes. The purpose of the
audit is to ensure that adequate controls exist to protect the financial
information transmitted and stored within the information network and computer
systems. CWW received a very good verbal report during the onsite inspection.
Lawson Upgrades ? CWW uses an application called Lawson for Financial
Accounting Management, Human Resources Management and Payroll Processing. An
upgrade was initiated of the Lawson System which will upgrade the software from
version 9.0.0 to version 9.0.1. This project is expected to be completed in
October. This upgrade will extend the supported life of the application to May
2016.
IT Master Plan RFP ? During August a Request for Proposal (RFP) was prepared
and distributed to seek proposals for updating the CWW Information Technology
Master Plan. This Master Plan is used as a guide for the implementation of CWW
IT programs, policies and Information Technology projects. The updated plan
will look forward five years and will build on the previous IT Master Plan
conducted in 2004.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
Management gave a brief update on the following activities for the
month of August conducted by the Water Resource, Managed Maintenance and
Environmental Compliance Departments.
South Columbus Water Resource Facility
Average Daily Flow for Month ? 22.6 mgd
Maximum Daily Flow for Month ? 33.0 mgd
Cleaned three heat exchangers in the generator building that provide critical
heat to the thermophilic digestion process
Managed Maintenance
Preventive maintenance work orders ? 75%
Planned maintenance man-hours ? 26%
Crews repaired a broken discharge flapper valve at the 16th Street diversion
structure in Columbus.
Repaired and re-installed a 168 HP pump back in Lift Station #2 at Ft. Benning
Replaced the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) chassis in the
Thickener/Dewatering Building at the SCWRF
Repaired a Milltronics Hydroranger 200 level transmitter at the Robert E. Lee
Lift Station located off Victory Drive
North Columbus Water Resource Facility
Average Daily Flow for Month ? 40.8 mgd
Maximum Daily Flow for Month ? 44.8 mgd
Performed preventive maintenance on the 600 HP motor, pump #2 at the NCWRF Pump
Station.
Precision Flow System assisted CWW with fine-tuning the calibration of the flow
meters at the NCWRF.
The NCWRF hosted a tour for the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia
(ACCG). Approximately 40 people from the organization toured the facility.
Water Quality Monitoring/Environmental Compliance
Residential Grease Recycling Project - CWW partnered with Keep Columbus
Beautiful to conduct the Residential Grease Recycling Event on Saturday, August
11, 2012. The event was held at Kmart on Macon Road and Wal-Mart on Airport
Thruway. CWW collected approximately 300 gallons of grease.
Bill Tomkiewicz, Columbus State University intern, and Jeremy Short, WQM?s
Chief Lab Technician, set up quality control for CWW?s CBFT3 Class ?A?
Biosolids project testing.
Georgia Power responded to concerns about floating grass building up around
CWW?s drinking water intake on Lake Oliver. GP is attempting to pull grass
toward the trash gates on Lake Oliver. GP expressed issues of their own with
the build-up of grass around their systems.
Chris Hill, Lab Technician II, performed a bi-annual Micro Proficiency Testing
(PT) study. CWW performs this test in order to maintain its state
certification for micro analysis. These test methods determine the lab?s
capabilities to positively identify Total Coliform and E.Coli.
There were nine water complaints for the month of August.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
Management gave a brief update on the following activities for the
month of August conducted by the Division of Communication, Security and Safety
Programs.
Security
During the month of August, a major Army Water Security Assessment Inspection
was conducted by the Army?s Higher Headquarters Assessment (HHA) MEDCOM Water
Security Vulnerability Team. The HHA Team conducted security inspections of
CWW?s Ft. Benning Water Resource Facility. They looked at CWW?s critical
mission essential facilities, to include its Emergency Response Plan, Physical
Security Program, Access Control, Water Resource Security, Response Planning,
Policies and Procedures to protect its critical water infrastructure in support
of Ft. Benning soldiers, families and military operations.
The finding by the HHA Team stated that CWW?s security and emergency response
program was among the best they have seen at any Department of Defense Water
Facility.
Communications
The bill insert and the television spots for September will focus on Inflow and
Infiltration.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
President Davis provided the following items of information to the
Board:
Thank you letter to Cliff Arnett from Ross King, Executive Director,
Association County Commissioners of Georgia for speaking to their group about
CWW operations.
Sharon Bunn of 5101 Yosemite Drive called Steve Davis to commend Eddie Jacobs
and 3-man crew in truck 610. She appreciated their effort and manner in
completing the leaking water main.
President Davis advised the Board that there has been a conflict with our Board
meetings and Treasurer Blanchard?s Board meetings with Synovus. President
Davis stated he would be in touch with all Board members to reschedule the
Board meetings so that Treasurer Blanchard can attend.
Before closing, Chairman Thayer challenged the staff to report on new and
interesting things so that the Board may learn something new.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned.
_______________________________________
Emory E. Blount, Secretary
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