March 12, 2007
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 12, 2007, at 1:30 p.m., the following Commissioners being present:
Harry Vernon, Treasurer
Phillip Thayer
Billy Blanchard
Mayor Jim Wetherington
Absent: Kathelen Amos, Chairperson
Receipt of the Minutes of the February 12, 2007, meeting was
acknowledged by the Board and approved as written.
Management presented the reports from the Division of Operations and
Technical Services, Division of Engineering and Division of Strategic and
Master Plan Implementation. Following each presentation the Board
acknowledged the Division Reports for the month of February.
Management advised the Board that bids were received on February 20,
2007, for the Ft. Benning Water/Wastewater Remote SCADA Project. This project
will replace and expand the existing Ft. Benning SCADA and integrate it with
the Water Works? SCADA System. The new SCADA will monitor wastewater lift
stations, water tanks, water booster pump station, well sites, meter and
control valve. The bids are as follows:
Contractor Bid Amount
Southern Flow, Inc. $571,699.66
M/R Systems, Inc. $735,000.00
The Water Works has reviewed and tabulated the bids and found Southern
Flow, Inc., to be the low, responsible bidder and it is recommended that the
contract be awarded to Southern Flow, Inc. in the amount of $571,699.66. A
budget of $600,000 has been established for this project. Ft. Benning revenue
will fund this project through two accounts - $400,000 renewal and replacement
and $200,000 from operations.
Following discussion motion was made and seconded to award the contract
to the low bidder Southern Flow, Inc. in the amount of $571,699.66. Motion
carried.
Using Power Point slides, Management gave a brief update to the Board
on the Ft. Benning Wastewater Interconnection Project. This project is on
schedule.
Next, Management briefed the Board on the tornado?s impact on the
Columbus Water Works. The North Columbus Water Resources Facility (NCWRF)
lost power for four hours; however, we were able to maintain pressure in the
distribution system. Also, four wastewater lift stations had power
interruptions but prevented overflows with the use of portable generators.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
Management updated the Board on the Strategic and Master Facilities
Plan Implementation. The Water Works has over 150 tactics/action items in the
Strategic Plan. Some of these action items are more narrowly defined and can
be completed in a relatively short period of time and some are ongoing long
term or continuous type actions. The following is an example of each of these
types:
Long term continuous action ? Found in Strategy Team Two ? Further
develop our position to be a regional provider of water and wastewater
services. There are three tactics.
Develop business plan for Regional Authority
Establish base support
Meet with various Chamber of Commerce committees and
Valley Partnership
As a part of the success in this area, the Water Works is supplying
some of the southern parts of Harris County, southwest parts of Talbot County
and the northern part of Chattahoochee County with water and wastewater
services.
Short term action ? Found in Strategy Team Three ? To provide IT capability to
realize benefits of improved organizational effectiveness and efficiency with
enhanced work practices and to insure business continuity.
Goal One - Deliver IT capabilities efficiently and effectively. The first
objective - Regularly adjust plans based on changing business requirements.
The first tactic ? Implement and update the IT Master Plan. This tactic is
sub-divided into many tactics representing projects identified in the IT Master
Plan. One of those tactics is to implement an Informational Portal.
An information portal is one example of a management decision support
system. The Water Works collects a lot of data from various locations. This
information is important to identify how well a particular function is
performing. The managers at a higher level can see information from several
areas to evaluate processes. This information may come from different sources
at different times, so it must be assembled to give a complete evaluation of
the process. This information is also used to produce periodic reports for
internal review and for external purposes such as reports to regulatory
agencies.
Management advised the Board that the Water Works staff is continuing
to work with the American Water Works and Water Environment Federation
QualServe Program on Performance Indicator Benchmarking. The Water Works
participated in the development of the program and has participated in the
three surveys conducted. The data collected in the surveys allows utilities
to compare their performance against over two hundred top performing water and
wastewater utilities in the nation. The Water Works has adopted some of the
performance indicators as company benchmarks and has identified performance
target levels that reflect the level of performance from the top quartile of
the utility participants.
Management stated that two workshops have been conducted, one in
Florida and one in North Carolina, to bring groups of utilities from
geographical areas that share similar conditions such as climate or types of
source water so that better comparisons can be made. Factors such as climate
and the nature of source water can have a major effect on how the utility
operates its systems.
The proposal is to bring together utilities from Georgia, Alabama and
South Carolina to select the most appropriate performance indicators for
comparison and to compare data collected in the three surveys from those
utilities. The Water Works has volunteered to be the host site for the
proposed workshop.
The Board acknowledged Management?s report.
Next, Danthea Hill, Team Leader for Strategy Team Six was present at
the meeting. Strategy Team Six ?Maintain Financial Stability? gave the
following report:
Maintain Financial Stability
Two Goals
Operate on a Balanced Budget
Three Objectives and Nine Tactics
Use Sound Financial Planning and Management Practices; to include
Perpetual 5 Year Financial and 5 Year Master Plan
Two Objectives and Five Tactics
Status of Tactics
(as of February 25, 2007)
14 Total
71% Complete and 29% Fully Underway
Objectives ? Forecast Accurate Revenues and Expenditures
Goal 1; Objectives 1 and 2
7 Tactics developed to date to facilitate processes and practices
Strategy Team has developed several sub-teams to address specific
issues
Purchasing Policy/Procedure Evaluation
Billing/Meter Reading
Rate Model
Laservault Implementation
Benchmarks, standards, effective reports established
Purchasing Policy/Procedure Update
Revised August 2006
Empowers Middle Management to make purchasing decisions
Provides the ability to acquire many goods and services quickly and
efficiently
Reduces the number of purchasing approvals required at the Division
and Executive level
Provides an additional tier approval level for smaller purchases at the
Superintendent/Administrative Assistant level
Conclusion
Team 6 Strategy Statement:
Develop and maintain revenues while effectively controlling costs using sound
financial planning and management
Ms. Hill gave a brief overview of the Goals, Objectives and Tactics for
the Board. A copy of the report is on file. The Board acknowledged the
report.
The Financial Report for the month of February including Ft. Benning, along
with the Meter Reading, Employee and Customer Services? Reports, were presented
to the Board. Following discussion motion was made and seconded to accept the
reports. Motion carried.
Management advised the Board that the current Facilities Master Plan for the
Columbus Water Works was last updated in 2004. With the recent history of
mill closings and job losses it has been a slow growth for Columbus. However,
the current growth prognosis for Columbus is much brighter with the AFLAC, BRAC
and KIA announcements.
With this new growth comes the need to reevaluate the Water Works facilities
within both Columbus and Ft. Benning to insure we can meet the increased water
and sewer demands.
To assist in the evaluation, the Water Works obtained a scope of work from
Jordan, Jones & Goulding utilizing sub consultants; CH2M Hill; Brown & Caldwell
and Paul B. Krebbs & Associates. The four engineering firms, who were
selected in the Water Works? previous Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
Qualifications based selection process, have prior experience and thorough
knowledge of the Water Works? systems.
The primary elements of this Facilities Master Plan Update will include:
Population Projection/Water Demand/Wastewater Flow Projection
Water Distribution System
Wastewater Collection System
Water Treatment Facilities
Wastewater Treatment Facility
The proposed fee for this comprehensive and time critical Facilities Master
Plan Update is $759,000 however $559,000 of this fee is viewed as a direct Ft.
Benning BRAC cost. The Water Works will seek reimbursement from Ft. Benning
for that portion.
The Water Works proposes the work be funded as listed:
Ft. Benning portion: $ 559,000
To be funded from Ft. Benning
(In order to meet an aggressive schedule, Staff recommends funding this from
Ft. Benning Renewal and Replacement account and seek reimbursement from Ft.
Benning?s BRAC funds.)
Columbus portion: $ 200,000
Funded from 2005 Bond
(Water and Sewer Model Updates) $ 200,000
Management advised the Board that the staff has reviewed the proposal
from JJ&G and their sub consultants and believes that the scope of work clearly
reflects the work needed to update the Columbus Water Works Facilities Master
Plan and allow CWW to move forward with water and sewer upgrades to meet the
new demands. Management asked the Board for their approval for funding and
authorization to proceed with the work. Also, Management asked the Board for
permission to spend up to $100,000 out of contingency for this project, which
will be refunded from Ft. Benning?s portion ($559,000). Following discussion
motion was made and seconded authorizing Management to proceed with this
work. Motion carried.
President Turner advised the Board that the next item was the Mutual
Aid Agreement with Phenix City. At a previous Board meeting Management
discussed a water line issue that the Water Works has had with Phenix City for
sometime.
President Turner stated that they have had an ongoing discussion with Phenix
City about what would happen if one of our water plants were out of service
such as what almost happened last weekend (Tornado). The Water Works would
not have been prepared to accept water from Phenix City. With the
improvements that Phenix City have made to their water system and what the
Water Works has in place from the previous contract, we can supply each other
with eight million gallons of water per day (8 MGD) and maybe do a little
more. President Turner stated he knew the Water Works could supply Phenix
City up to 10 million gallons per day (MGD) through the pipeline that goes
under the river.
President Turner advised that there have been discussions with the Mayor of
Phenix City about having a written agreement about mutual aid. Also, it has
been discussed with Mayor Wetherington a few days ago. President Turner
believes Mayor Hardin has discussed this at one of their meetings. He said as
far as he knew right now everything is moving positively forward. President
Turner stated that Mayor Wetherington asked him to present this to Columbus
City Council with an intergovernmental corporate cooperative agreement. The
Water Works plans to do that whenever they can be put on the agenda.
President Turner told the Board that the Agreement states that if Phenix City
is ever out of water the Water Works will provide them up to eight million
gallons to ten million gallons per day (8-10 MGD), and if the Water Works is
ever out of water then Phenix City will provide us with service so that we
don?t have to inconvenience our customers. He stated there is a lot of this
kind of thing going on that is an outgrowth of Katrina. We need to have an
agreement in place so that you don?t stumble around in the middle of a
crisis. A resolution has been written up for the Board to pass and a Mutual
Aid Agreement is also attached. It says basically that we will reimburse each
other. However, if it?s a bad storm or something like that maybe FEMA funds
will help. Having these kinds of things in place are necessary in order to be
able to get FEMA funding. FEMA has indicated that they are not going to
accept random issues anymore. He stated that FEMA wants you to have a
plan/agreement in place. President Turner asked the Board if they had any
questions.
President Turner advised that in the Agreement the Water Works would transfer
the water line in Phenix City which has been talked about in the past. He
stated it would still be a part of the overall Agreement and would clean up
this issue about the water line. At this time, Acting Chair Vernon asked if
anyone had any questions. Acting Chair Vernon asked if he could get a motion,
motion was made and seconded. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Next, President Turner referred to a map of the Phenix City and Columbus water
line. He explained the blue line is basically a connection in place between
the systems which is connected around the two water plants. The only thing
needed is to get a meter on either their side or our side that would measure
water they supply to us. The Water Works has a meter already in place that
supplies the water we sell to Phenix City. The Water Works will sell the
water to them at our price and Phenix City will sell their water to us at their
price.
President Turner said he and Board member Phillip Thayer met with Mayor Hardin
and he seemed very positive about working with us. Hopefully this will be the
beginning of a more positive relationship between the two cities.
Last on the agenda, President Turner provided the Board with copies of the
following items of information:
A letter congratulating CWW on receiving the Certification on the management of
the biosolids environment and the award from NACWA
A letter of support of the 2006 Loaned Executive Program for United Way:
William Kent and Sam Sears
A letter thanking Sam Sears for being a Loaned Executive from Jennifer St. John
A letter thanking William Kent for being a Loaned Executive from Jennifer St.
John
A letter thanking Vic Burchfield for participating in Richards Middle School?s
Career Day
A letter thanking Sam Sears for participating in Richards Middle School?s
Career Day
A letter thanking CWW for their support for being Richards Middle School?s
Partners in Education
A thank you note from Jim Humes? family for the donation to PAW
The Board was advised of another item to be discussed that was not on the
agenda.
Management reminded the Board of their concerns about consumptive use
of water from the Chattahoochee River. Consumptive use is any use that
removes water from a river or stream and does not return that water to the same
river or stream.
Management advised that much of the growth in the Metro Atlanta area is
taking place utilizing septic tanks. Septic tanks are recognized as almost
totally consumptive.
The Water Works worked with Representative Richard Smith to address this
situation. Management provided the Board with a copy of HB596 which
Representative Smith introduced to the legislature. If passed this House Bill
will amend the control of water pollution and surface water use so as to
regulate the return of surface waters to the sources from which they were
withdrawn by local government entities; to provide for reports; to provide
penalties for violations; and to repeal conflicting laws. Following
discussion Management advised the Board that they would keep them up to date on
future developments with this propose legislation. A copy of HB596 is on file
at the Columbus Water Works office. The Board acknowledged Management?s
report.
There being no further business the regular meeting adjourned and senior staff
and the Board went into Executive Session to follow-up on the condemnation of
property regarding the Heiferhorn Sewer Project. This discussion took place
at the November 2006 Board meeting.
Upon coming out of Executive Session, the Board and Management agreed to meet
again with the property owners and not to take any action at this time on the
condemnation of property. The Board and Management will meet at a later date
regarding this issue.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned.
__________________________________________
Emory E. Blount, Secretary
Attachments
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