Columbus, Georgia

Georgia's First Consolidated Government

Post Office Box 1340
Columbus, Georgia, 31902-1340
(706) 653-4013
fax (706) 653-4016

Council Members

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

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