March 9, 2015
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, March 9,
2015, at 1:30 p.m., the following Commissioners being present:
Carole Rutland, Chair
Karl Douglass, Treasurer
Reynolds Bickerstaff
Mayor Teresa Tomlinson
Absent: Sanders Griffith
Mr. Griffith was excused from the meeting.
Receipt of the Minutes of the regular meeting on February 9, 2015, was
acknowledged by the Board and approved as written.
The Financial Report for the month of February including Ft. Benning
was provided to the Board. Motion was made and second to approve the reports.
Motion carried.
Mr. Murphy gave a brief update to the Board on the Automated Meter
Reading Project (AMR).
? Go Live date was moved to March 19th
? Finished focus groups
? Inserts are ready
? Media related items finished
Jeremy Cummings gave the following history on the new Sewer Rehabilitation
Project:
Sewer Rehabilitation Project
? Field Services Technicians identified sanitary sewer lines that were in need
of rehabilitation.
? Lines were identified by field employees that CCTV, unstop, and repair the
sanitary sewer.
? Field employees then gave a list of sewer lines to the Assistant Manager to
inspect.
? CCTV video was reviewed and evaluated
? Maps were made and footage recorded
? Field Services met with Engineering and shared maps, pictures, and reports
? Lines were evaluated based on low, medium, and high priority
? Project was then turned over to Engineering to complete the project
development.
Following discussion, the Board acknowledged Mr. Cummings? report.
Kevin White advised the Board that bids were received on February 19,
2015, for the Collection System Rehabilitation Project as previously discussed
by Jeremy Cummings.
This project is part of the 2014-2015 Capital Improvement Plan approved in
March of 2014. The rehabilitation will improve the Columbus sewer system by
repairing lines determined by Field Services to be structurally deficient.
These repairs will allow the sewer infrastructure to operate at its designed
capacity which will reduce the amount of sanitary sewer overflows and back-ups
throughout the system. Engineering plans and specifications were completed by
Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, & Cannon.
The bids were publicly opened and read as follows:
Contractor Bid Amount $
Layne Inliner, LLC. $3,145,032.00
American Infrastructure Technologies $3,199,195.00
IPR Southeast, LLC. $3,486,610.00
Insituform Technologies No Bid
RDJE, Inc. No Bid
SAK Construction No Bid
The engineer?s estimate was $2,815,596.00. The engineer has reviewed and
tabulated the bids and recommends contract award to Layne Inliner, LLC, as the
low responsive, responsible bidder, at the bid price of $3,145,032.00 (Funded
via 2014 Bond and I & I Capital Budget).
Staff requests Board approval to award the Columbus Sewer Rehabilitation
project to Layne Inliner, LLC, at the bid price of $3,145,032.00.
Motion was made and second to award the contract to Layne Inliner, LLC,
at the bid price of $3,145,032.00. Motion carried.
John Peebles gave a presentation on the SCWRF Dewatering Equipment
Replacement as outlined below:
? The SCWRF has two centrifuges installed in 1997 and one belt filter press
installed in 2013 used for dewatering biosolids.
? Recently, one of the centrifuges experienced a catastrophic failure.
? Cost to repair was going to be high - $245K
? During root cause investigation, it was also learned the second centrifuge
should be shut down due to excessive vibration.
? Faced with high cost of repair and an urgent need for dewatering equipment,
CWW asked CH2MHill to perform an engineering evaluation of dewatering
alternatives.
? CH2MHill explored different dewatering technologies and narrowed it down to 5
alternatives:
1. Buy one new centrifuge and rehabilitate one existing centrifuge in 2015 and
construct a new Dewatering Building for centrifuges in 2018
2. Rehabilitate both existing centrifuges in 2015 and construct a new
Dewatering Building for centrifuges in 2023
3. Rehabilitate both existing centrifuges in 2015 and construct a new
Dewatering Building for BFPs in 2023
4. Buy one new BFP and rehabilitate one existing centrifuge in 2015 and
construct a new Dewatering Building for BFPs in 2018
5. Buy one new BFP and rehabilitate one existing centrifuge in 2015 and
construct a new Dewatering Building for BFPs in 2023 (recommended)
? Recommended alternative has:
? Second lowest total NPV cost ($29,000,000)
o Within only $310,000 or 1 percent of the lowest cost alternative
o Total NPV includes capital NPV, annual NPV and salvage values in 2038.
? Recommended alternative has:
? Lowest capital NPV, including NPVs for the 2015 Dewatering Capital Project,
new dewatering building and salvage values in 2038 ($7,307,000).
? Although a Master Plan Project already exists to replace the dewatering
equipment in 2023 along with a new building, structural vibration in the
existing building and excessive wear has decreased the useful life of the
current centrifuge equipment making it necessary to act now.
? CH2MHill?s recommendation is to:
? Rehabilitate one of the existing centrifuges
? Purchase one new belt filter press
? Make structural improvements and replace some ancillary equipment for the
installation of both units
? Rent one belt press for operation while the centrifuge is being rehabbed and
the new belt press is being procured.
? This recommendation will move CWW toward more reliance on two belt presses
with the one centrifuge acting more as a back-up and for peak demand.
? Benefits of belt press over centrifuge:
? Lower capital equipment cost
? Much lower polymer consumption
? Much lower energy consumption
? Lower maintenance and repair costs
? Simple and easy operation
? CWW Staff concurs with CH2MHill?s recommendation and requests Board approval
to release $2.5M from reserves to fund this Dewatering Equipment Replacement
Project.
Following discussion, motion was made and second authorizing Management to
proceed with the Dewatering Equipment Replacement Project and to release $2.5M
from reserves. Motion carried.
William Kent gave an update on CWW?s Companywide Recycling Program as follows:
? Columbus has over 750 facilities that cook and serve food
? From large chains like KFC to small hometown restaurants like Minnie?s
? Each facility contributes FOG to the sewer system
? Volumes of FOG are based on the types of food served and hours of operation
? Deep Frying
? Sandwiches
? Oriental tilt skillets
? Large Dishwashers
Stop-ups due to Grease
? Like many other utilities Columbus Water Works has had issues from FOG
clogging the sewers
? In 1999, CWW had over 700 sewer stop-ups in the mains due to FOG
? This leads to backups into homes and businesses
? And Sanitary Sewer Overflows
Enforcement Begins
? 1999 CWW began a Grease trap enforcement program
? All large restaurants are inspected and permitted
? Those without grease traps (interceptors) were required to have one installed
? Those with traps are required to pump out their traps on a frequency
prescribed by CWW
Waste Hauler Permitting
? CWW also began inspecting waste haulers
? CWW also began issuing permits to each hauler
? CWW required manifests for each load brought to the South Columbus Water
Resources Facility (SCWRF)
Under the Counter Grease Traps
? CWW also worked with the smaller restaurants to control the FOG from their
facilities
? Typically do not require large in-ground interceptors
? Smaller operations could use a secondary or inside trap
? Typically installed on large pan washing sinks
Grease Recycling Program
? CWW recognized the need for a grease recycling program
? Began with Apartment complexes and now includes restaurants with the under
the counter grease traps
? CWW built collection points for the apartments and restaurants
? CWW picks up the grease as needed from these facilities
? CWW holds two events each year in August and January to allow residential
customers to bring their old grease for recycling
? This is a partnership with Keep Columbus Beautiful
? CWW also partners with the Muscogee County Sheriff?s Office to recycle old
pharmaceuticals
Are the Programs Working?
Columbus
? CWW has seen a steady increase of grease hauled to the SCWRF
? This grease is turned into energy
? CWW?s stop-ups due to grease have dropped over the past 15 years
Ft. Benning
Since CWW took over Ft. Benning?s grease trap maintenance, stop-ups due to
grease have dropped dramatically. The graph below shows the stop-ups in the
mains due to grease from the Ft. Benning System.
Companywide Recycling
Because of the success of the Grease Recycling Program, CWW has expanded its
recycling program companywide.
The Board acknowledged Mr. Kent?s report.
President Davis asked the Board for permission to allocate $100,000
from Capital Reserves to cover unanticipated legal costs associated with the
Florida vs Georgia U.S. Supreme Court case. Motion was made and second
authorizing Management to use $100,000 from Capital Reserves. Motion carried.
President Davis provided the following item of information to the Board:
? Jeremy Cummings received an email from James Stephens with the City of
Manchester thanking him and crew members for their assistance in unstopping a
6? sewer line.
The following Division Reports were provided to the Board:
? Customer Service Report ? Linda Sanders
? Meter maintenance Report ? Joey Murphy
? Engineering Report ? Kevin White
? Field Services Report ? Jeremy Cummings
? Information Services, Environmental Compliance and WQM Report ? Vic Burchfield
? Communication, Security, Community/Corporate Events Report ? Becky Butts
? Strategic Planning and Employee Services Report ? Savonne Monell
? Water Resource and Managed Maintenance Report ? Lynn Campbell
There was no discussion.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned.
________________________________________
Emory E. Blount, Secretary
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