MINUTES
OF MEETING
CORAL
SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
A
meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Coral Springs Improvement District was
held on
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Robert Fennell President
Sharon Zich Vice President
Glenn Hanks Secretary
Also present were:
Kenneth Cassel District
Manager
Jane Early District
Engineer
Brenda Schurz
Sean Skehan CH2M Hill
Dan Daly CSID
Jim Aversa CSID
Sean Frankenhauser CSID
Kay Woodward CSID Accountant
Jan Zilmer CSID Human
Resources
Scott Hoffman Resident
Kevin McMahon Resident
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr.
Cassel called the meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval
of the Minutes of the May 19, 2008 Meeting
Mr.
Fennell stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the
Mr.
Hanks stated on page five, the third paragraph down, it states, “Last year the
Water Management District asked for NSID to be able to store more water before
it was pumped out to the canal.” Where
you referring to the South Florida Water Management District?
Mr.
Skehan responded yes.
Mr.
Fennell stated on page 12, line 5, “government rational” should be “balance
rational”.
Mr.
Hanks stated I believe I voted no on the motion on page 17.
Mr.
Daly stated the second paragraph on page 14 states, “Mr. Daly stated I think we
have.” It should say Mr. Zilmer.
On MOTION by Ms. Zich seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in
favor the minutes of the
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisors’
Requests and Audience Comments
Mr.
Hoffman stated I am here to ask if I am allowed to have a fence between my
house and the house next door. My name
is Mr. Scott Hoffman and I live at 1971 NW 108 Lane. I would like to ask for your consideration on
this.
Mr.
Fennell asked do we have information on this?
Mr. Hoffman presented the Board with a copy
of a survey to his property.
Mr.
Hanks asked is there a catch basin on this side of the street?
Mr.
Hoffman responded there is.
Mr.
Fennell asked is there an easement or land?
Ms.
Early responded an easement.
Mr.
Hoffman stated I am more than willing to sign something stating I will take it
down anytime you need me to.
Mr.
Hanks asked do we know what facilities we have in there or is it just plat on
paper?
Ms.
Schurz responded I wish Mr. Fredericks was here because he went out and looked
at it.
Mr.
Hoffman stated underground it runs from the street to the canal. The water meter is on it, the cable box is on
it and the street light is on it.
Mr.
Fennell stated there are a number of different utility easements in there. Do you want to move the fence over?
Mr.
Hoffman responded no. My sub-contractor
applied for a permit. He waited and then
put the fence in. Four months later he
received notice.
Mr.
Fennell stated from the city.
Mr.
Hoffman stated no. The city forwarded it
to possibly you guys or another department.
It was a form letter saying it was not allowed.
Mr.
Fennell stated so the fence is already there.
Mr.
Hoffman stated yes.
Mr.
McMahon stated we applied for it on September 28, 2006. It was approved by the city on November 20,
2006. The first letter we received from
the District was dated January 12, 2007.
We were waiting for approval and the contractor felt confident it would
be approved. On September 14, 2007 he
received another form letter.
Mr.
Hoffman stated the screen enclosure blew away.
Because of the pool we have to put a fence up.
Ms.
Early stated it says, “all easements are hereby dedicated for professional use
of the public for purposes as indicated.”
He misread what is highlighted.
It is not CSID. It says public so
it is either the city or the HOA.
Mr.
Hoffman stated there is no HOA.
Ms.
Early stated then it belongs to the city.
This may be why you got the letter.
Mr.
Hoffman stated it came from CSID.
Mr.
Fennell stated we will direct engineering to re-review this. Thank you very much for coming.
FIFTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Engagement Letter with Keefe, McCullough & Co., LLP to Perform the Financial
Audit for Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2008
Mr.
Hanks asked do we have any concerns with their proposal?
Mr.
Cassel responded no. They have done
well. There are minor adjustments they
are asking for, which are well within what we are seeing from other auditing
firms on other districts. There is only
a $500 difference.
Mr.
Hanks asked what kind of motion should we make?
Mr.
Lyles responded they were already hired as your auditor for a period of up to
three years through an audit selection process.
This is just a motion to approve their engagement letter for the audit
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all
favor the engagement letter with Keefe, McCullough & Co., LLP to Perform
the Financial Audit for fiscal year ending September 30, 2008 was approved.
SEVENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Award
of Bid for Triploid Grass Carp
Ms.
Zich asked how often do we do this?
Mr.
Daly responded when needed.
Ms.
Zich stated I do not remember having this come up.
Ms.
Woodward stated it has been budgeted every year in anticipation of it being
needed.
Ms.
Zich asked what does this do for us?
Mr.
Frankenhauser responded it helps us with the aquatics which grow at the bottom
and helps us use less chemicals in our treatment.
Mr.
Fennell stated but they are sterile.
They do not reproduce.
Mr.
Frankenhauser stated exactly.
Mr.
Hanks asked how big are they when we get them?
Mr.
Frankenhauser responded when we get them they are about ten inches.
Mr.
Hanks asked is there any difference in the fish size between the different
bidders?
Ms.
Zich responded I was wondering why there is such a big discrepancy. We are talking about $17,000 between the
lowest and highest bidders.
Mr.
Frankenhauser stated we have used JM Malone in the past. We have been very happy with them.
Mr.
Cassel stated my understanding is there is a competition between the
suppliers. The individual bringing the
fish in was undercut on another deal so he has sharpened his pencil
considerably to get business back.
Mr.
Fennell stated I see three bids are close; between $10,950 and $11,370. Then there are five or six which are between
$17,000 and $21,000. There is one guy
who is really out at $28,000. Did we use
JM Malone before?
Mr.
Cassel responded yes.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Ms. Zich with all in
favor the contract for Triploid Grass Carp was awarded to JM Malone & Son
in the amount of $10,950.
SIXTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Award
of Bid for Landscape and Irrigation at WWTP – Perimeter Buffer Berm Grading
Ms.
Early stated we had three bidders. The
lowest responsive bid was submitted by National Home Building and Remodeling
Corporation in the amount of $53,125. We
also had alternate bid items for the berm construction. We received a price from Intrastate
Construction to do the berm, which was relatively higher than National Home
Building and Remodeling Corporation. We
recommend they do this work as well. In
anticipation of this getting approved, because I know this is a hot item, I
prepared the contract. The low bidder
signed it and submitted his insurance information. I brought the contract here because he is
ready to get started. He has everything
scheduled and he can probably have this done in two to three weeks.
Mr.
Fennell stated I am looking at this and we have irrigation down from $54,000 to
$24,000. Is this a permanent or
temporary thing?
Ms.
Early responded it is permanent.
Ms.
Zich asked are we going to water these trees forever?
Mr.
Daly responded no. Probably three
months. Giving the time of year we are
doing this and all of the rainfall we are getting, it may not be necessary.
Ms.
Zich stated but we still have to put this in.
Mr.
Cassel stated it is required by the city.
Internally we were looking at some type of a temporary system we could
put out there and take out, but the city stopped us on those options. We have to put it in even though we may use
it for three months and then again we may not because of the rain.
Ms.
Early stated it is 900 feet of berm and then we are adding additional fill in
trees.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Ms. Zich with all in
favor the contract for the landscape and irrigation at WWTP was awarded to
National Home Building and Remodeling Corporation with a total base bid of
$53,125.
Mr.
Cassel stated you have the berm work as well.
Ms.
Zich asked what does “Red Bay” mean?
Ms.
Early responded it is a different type of tree.
Mr.
Hanks stated so we are looking at $85,000 to $86,000 as opposed to $103,000 for
the next lowest bid.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Ms. Zich with all in
favor the berm construction was awarded to National Home Building and
Remodeling Corporation at an amount of $32,333.
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions
or Comments on the General Fund FY 2009 Proposed Budget
Mr. Fennell asked are there any significant changes from the
last time?
Mr.
Cassel responded you asked staff to double check some items and make sure we
have everything covered. Ms. Woodward
came up with the new proposed bottom line on the assessments, which is a little
bit lower than what was approved at the last meeting. I think we can go forward from here.
Mr.
Fennell stated we are trying to build up reserves and there are some capital
improvements in there.
Mr.
Cassel stated that is correct.
Mr.
Fennell stated it is $350,000.
Mr.
Daly stated we had approximately $800,000 in the original pump restoration
program last year. It was cut down
considerably. We are looking at some
things in-house. There are some things
we must have engineering work for.
Mr.
Fennell stated let us step back for a second.
What is the status of the pumps?
What shape are they in?
Mr.
Daly asked of the pump stations?
Mr.
Fennell responded yes.
Ms.
Early stated they operate. We just need
hurricane doors and new roofs.
Mr.
Daly stated as far as the machinery, they are in proper working condition.
Mr.
Fennell stated there was something about the trash racks.
Ms.
Early stated yes. The trash racks need
some work.
Mr.
Daly stated it was basically a design flaw, which is what Mr. Fredericks eluded
to at the last meeting. There was once a
tire which came up underneath it and jammed everything up. It got into the pump or the motor
assembly. It caused major damage and it was
because it was able to go underneath.
The fact is it was probably fine 30 years ago when it was put out there,
but there may have been some erosion.
The engineering firm looked at possibly aluminum trash racks, which will
fit differently.
Mr.
Fennell asked are we ready for hurricane season?
Mr.
Daly responded we are ready.
Mr.
Hanks asked do we have the fuel we budgeted?
Mr.
Daly responded the propane for the pumps.
We have yet to turn them on for use this year. We have turned them on to test, but we have
not had any rain. Even when we do have
rain, the South Florida Water Management District has to allow us to turn it
on. We have not used them, but it does
go through testing on a regular basis.
Mr.
Frankenhauser stated excuse me. If I may
clarify, we did run the pumps over the weekend and everything ran well.
Mr.
Fennell stated we were going to look at a study for long term improvements.
Mr.
Hanks asked did that end up being more of a bond type of issue?
Mr.
Fennell responded it is, but financing the study is the issue.
Ms.
Early stated we did the feasibility study of adding additional covers.
Mr.
Fennell stated okay. So the cost is
pretty much done.
Mr.
Hanks stated some decisions need to be reached.
Ms.
Early stated we will need to do as built surveys of pumps.
Mr.
Fennell stated we were going to have some kind of meeting to try to iron this
out.
Mr.
Cassel stated yes. I believe it is
scheduled for August after we get some information and input from the South
Florida Water Management District. It
was tentatively scheduled for late August.
By then we should have information back on our water use as well as some
other issues we are waiting for feedback on.
It is tentatively on the schedule for late August.
Mr.
Hanks stated some time in July, Fort Lauderdale is having a meeting with the South
Florida Water Management District on the C51 storage basin or something along
those lines. It is a similar approach we
are taking; looking at storing extra water in a canal system.
Ms.
Early stated they still have the memorandum of understanding I brought six
months ago for NSID to be able to pump south.
We did the memorandum. It has
been with South Florida Water Management District for so long. I do not know what the hold up is. All it says is we will not pump until they
call Mr. Fankenhauser and Mr. Fredericks to coordinate so we are not all
pumping at the same time.
Mr.
Fennell asked what do we expect to have in our reserves by the end of fiscal
year 2009?
Ms.
Woodward responded we will have a minimum of $1,175,000 at the end of fiscal
year 2009. We currently have
$875,000. What is included in the budget
you are looking at now is another $300,000 to be added to that.
Mr.
Hanks stated we will be able to start moving forward. Keep in mind a lot of your contracting prices
are related to fuel. What was a $4
Million cleanout last time is going to be more for the same amount of
work.
Mr.
Fennell asked is pre-contracting the prices a smart thing to do?
Mr.
Cassel responded all of your contractors will put in a fuel adjustment. Just like paving contractors; even though they
bid a job today, there is now a clause stating the actual cost of asphalt will
be determined based upon the preceding 90 days.
There is a great deal of language because they cannot afford to be
locked into that price. The only thing
you might get is the labor cost locked in, but everything else is going to
flex.
Mr.
Fennel stated as I remember the last time the real problem was getting an
estimate on the work to be done.
Mr.
Hanks stated I think $1 Million to $1.25 Million is a good amount to have
available to us so we get things moving forward. I do not want to get caught in anything below
that. Let us take a look at it and if we
need to, we increase our assessments. I
think we are in good shape. Ask me this
question in November.
Ms.
Zich stated I think we are running out.
It sounds like a good start. In
the last 30 years we have been in Coral Springs we only had Hurricane Wilma. Let us hope we are not going to have another
one too soon.
Ms.
Woodward stated I just wanted to add a couple of thoughts on the designated
funds where we are talking about the $875,000 we have now and we anticipate it
going up close to $1.2 Million. We are
not trying to fund an entire hurricane clean up. The concern is the day after a hurricane is
over when everyone is assessing damages.
In order to secure a contractor out here, we may have to front $500,000
in order to get our work started. Then
you are in the federal process of getting reimbursed as you go. The main thing is you need enough to get a
good start on the clean up.
That
is number one. Number two: This fund we
are talking about is not solely for a hurricane. It is in fact for different types of renewal
and replacement type items, which may not occur annually. You are not considering it in your normal
budget, but what happens when you have to replace a pump which last 20 years at
the pump station? You need to be in a
position to fund this as you go so when this is needed, you can write the check
and be covered.
Mr.
Hanks asked have we done this kind of thought process? Have we gone through and capitalized our
costs as well as what we need to take care of those funds? Do we really want to go out for a bond on a
$500,000 item? The answer to this is no,
but you have two of those items and there goes your reserves.
Mr.
Cassel responded this is one of the reasons why Ms. Woodward, Mr. Daly and I
have sat together. We also got Mr.
Fredericks, Mr. Hyche and the rest of the supervisors involved in putting
together a total asset management system so we can look at these. What is the lifespan? What is the cost? We put all of this into the matrix so we have
the fund as something which needs to be done.
We keep funding the account, but we are also doing things in between
over the process of the years. In the
event there is a major catastrophe, whatever funds which have not been expended
that year are there for the emergency.
You then pick back up on the fund after you replenish it and continue
with your work. We are working on a
matrix for this.
Mr.
Fennell stated we replaced all of the engines over the last two years. We replaced the pumps too. We are probably as good as we have been for a
long time. The drainage infrastructure
will be the next issue we have to address.
Mr.
Hanks stated this will come into play as to how we structure the bonds. We will be happy to establish what our
program is; how much it is going to cost and back in to what we need to do each
year to cover it. Anything we do right
now we will just be taking a swag at it.
Mr.
Fennell asked are there any other questions on any items?
Mr.
Hanks asked Ms. Woodward, do you recommend having the assessment be $184.80 as
opposed to $187.70?
Ms.
Woodward responded I am not sure where you are getting $184.80.
Mr.
Cassel stated it is at the bottom.
Mr.
Daly stated on the right hand side.
Ms.
Woodward stated I think it is actually $186.79.
I am not sure why the $184.80 is there.
According to my notes I came up with a differential of less than $1 from
last year.
Mr.
Fennell asked did we approve this last time?
Mr.
Cassel responded yes. At the last
meeting the Board did put forth that the public notices would be $186.79. You have a public hearing coming up in late
July. You are not taking any action on
this.
Ms.
Zich stated this is for us to refine and vote on any changes.
Mr.
Hanks stated I think we should vote to keep it at $186.79.
Mr.
Fennell stated yes. Leave it
unchanged.
Mr.
Cassel stated you asked staff for a few clarifications and there were issues
you wanted us to readjust. This is why
we are discussing this today.
Mr.
Lyles stated you already approved the proposed budget and authorized staff to
advertise the public hearing in July. This
will happen at the regular July meeting.
Ms.
Zich stated we had the same thing last time where there were a couple of adjustments.
Mr.
Daly stated I think we will tie down insurance a little closer next month.
Mr.
Fennell asked what about the work authorizations?
Mr.
Cassel responded that will be addressed under the manager’s report.
Mr.
Fennel stated I saw something which came in regarding unclaimed money.
Ms.
Schurz stated it is just a memorandum.
Mr.
Cassel stated it is a memorandum keeping the Board informed of some of the
things going on.
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff Reports
A. Manager
i. Outfall
Repair Update
Mr.
Cassel stated you will notice the memorandum I sent you. I am flashing on the wall photographs of the
crew doing repairs. They did an
excellent job. They did it
in-house. It turned out real nice.
Mr.
Fennell asked where is this at?
Mr.
Daly responded the woods behind Big Anthony and Guidos. I believe Mr. Fredericks said it cost us
approximately $300 or $400 in materials.
Mr.
Fennell asked is this the drain from the street to the canal?
Mr.
Cassel responded yes.
Mr.
Fennell asked who actually owns it.
Mr.
Daly responded it is something we damaged.
Whether we own it or not, we damaged it when we were cleaning up after
the hurricane. It just now surfaced that
we damaged it.
Mr.
Fennell stated I thought it was up to the city to clean and repair those
things.
Mr.
Daly stated it would be, but it got damaged during the clean up. We already signed off on the contractor who
was doing the clean up because it was not noticed at the time.
Mr.
Fennell stated but normally it is a city responsibility.
Mr.
Cassel stated it was our contractor who caused the damage.
Mr.
Fennell asked do you want to address the work authorization next?
Mr.
Cassel responded we can do that.
Mr.
Fennell stated give us some history on this.
Mr.
Cassel stated originally in 2003 a work authorization was issued where the
application for the permit was sent off to the South Florida Water Management
District. They have sat on if for four
years with some minor conversations back and forth. On June 12, 2008 they finally sent out there
comments and gave us 30 days to respond.
On June 17, 2008 they sent us the draft permit. Evidently someone built a fire under them and
told them to get rid of their backlog. The
original application work authorization was closed out in 2003. What little bit of work which has been done
on this between 2003 and now has been done under general engineering
expenditures. This will close out this
item, get the permit finalized and back in operation. We have been operating under the old expired
permit.
Mr.
Fennell stated this is for the deep well or main well. Are we current?
Mr.
Cassel responded this will give you your real permit.
Mr.
Fennell stated okay. This is the draft
permit.
Mr.
Skehan stated the real permit is probably coming within the next two to three
months.
Mr.
Fennell asked do you know there is a side well next to it? We are going to do a new one of those.
Mr.
Skehan responded that is correct.
Mr.
Fennell asked how is that going?
Mr.
Skehan responded it is one of the items under the engineer’s report.
Mr.
Hanks stated one thing in here I am sure you have already taken care of is the
response to the RFI. It is already June
23, 2008.
Mr.
Skehan stated we are ready to go. We are
going to have the response put together by July 12, 2008. We received this request about a week ago and
we put the work authorization together.
We are working closely with Mr. Cassel.
This is why it is here in front of you today. We want to make sure we meet the
deadline.
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr. Fennell with all in
favor Work Authorization No. 44 for injection wells IW-1 and IW-2 for operation
permit renewal was approved.
ii. Director
of Operations Responsibilities
Mr. Cassel stated the Board directed
me to meet with Mr. Daly and come up with the parameters under the new scope of
work responsibilities for the Director of Operations position. This is what we came up with, which fits
within the scope. Mr. Daly and I have
discussed this and worked through it. I
think we are both comfortable with it and I think it works well.
Mr.
Fennell asked Mr. Daly, what do you think?
Mr.
Daly responded it is reasonable enough to where there is a lot of latitude and
room for Mr. Cassel and I to be comfortable with our positions on things and
still come to consensus to bring before the Board in harmony. It is also specific enough to hold each of us
accountable for things.
Mr.
Fennell asked is there a chain of command in this?
Mr.
Cassel responded yes there is. A number
of these things Mr. Daly brings to me as the District manager. A number of the things he does on a day to
day operations. The things having to
deal with policy and long term planning we work on together and there is a reporting
area. Other than that, there is a lot of
freedom for him to make sure the day to day operations are running. This fits within the scope of services we set
up.
Mr.
Fennell asked what about in an emergency?
What happens then?
Mr.
Daly responded I am the guy because I am usually on hand.
Mr.
Cassel stated he will call me and let me know what is going on.
Mr.
Daly stated there are some things which have happened here since Mr. Cassel was
appointed he was not involved in. He
sits in at every one of our meetings.
Every Tuesday morning there is a staff meeting and he sits in at each
one of them. He knows what is on the
table.
Mr.
Fennell asked are there any comments?
Ms.
Zich responded I looked through it and it sounds so good. It sounds like you guys are going to work
well together.
Mr.
Cassel stated I think so.
Ms.
Zich stated I cannot imagine we will have too many emergencies.
Mr.
Daly stated you also have a great staff who handles things the way they are
supposed to. Every once and a while
things come up with a little bit of a grey issue and we address it quickly.
Mr.
Hanks asked has there been a discussion or thought as to what will happen if
one of you becomes incapacitated?
Mr.
Daly responded no. It has not been
discussed and I have not thought about it.
I know in Mr. Cassel’s absence there are other people within his
organization who are familiar enough with this location.
Mr.
Cassel stated and conversely you have within your department heads, or
supervisors, staff who really step up. They
are stepping up in a way which is really commendable on understanding and
taking ownership. They are really
grasping the day to day items and taking control of what they need to do to
make sure it gets done, which is making Mr. Daly’s oversight easy as well. It makes the whole process easier. It is evolving into a well run operation with
staff, all the way down to the guys in the ditch, understanding what they need
to do to make it happen. They are all
stepping up. I am really happy with what
is going on and how everything is turning out.
Mr.
Hanks asked do we need a motion on this?
Mr.
Cassel responded no.
Mr.
Fennel asked do we have to create a Director of Operations position?
Mr.
Cassel responded I think you did already.
You created it and asked us to identify the responsibilities. We will give this to Mr. Zilmer and he will
put it into a formal format of an actual job description. This is just a summary. There are some pieces he needs to add to it
to make it comply. Then we will go from
there.
Mr.
Fennell stated it sounds good. Are there
any comments on this?
Mr.
Daly responded feel free to bring forth any other comments you might have.
Mr.
Fennell stated I just want to make sure the chain of command is clear and we
know what happens in an emergency.
Another comment I want to make is we have a large enough staff here
where we need to continually train people in different kinds of positions. I want to encourage this. I think human resources is going to redo the
policy with regard to education and training.
We should continue to push this.
One thing I want to mention, which may be of interest to some of you, is
there is a new type of degree being formed.
It is called a Bachelors of Science and Management of Technology. It is a degree for people who have AA degrees
or AS degrees in technology. I encourage
this. St. Petersburg College has this
program. I think it is a great program
and it is coming to BCC. They do not
have it yet. It may be a year or two. I think it is something we need to think
about for continuous training for everybody.
iii. Monthly
Water & Sewer Charts
This item
is for informational purposes only.
iv. Utility
Billing Work Orders
Mr.
Daly stated we had a few more calibration tests and a few more customer questions
because the bills went up. Before a bill
goes out to someone who usually has a 6,000 unit bill and we put out a bill for
56,000, we actually go out and re-check the meter before we put the bill
out. It requires more time and
labor. The point is if we notice a leak
when we are there, we tell them before they even get the bill and they can do
something to correct it. Secondly; if it
just happens to be a lot, we have notes in our files so if the customer calls
we can tell them we noticed the same thing and went out to check it. We can tell them it is a correct
reading. The customer understands we are
paying attention to their particular house.
It cuts down on letter writing as well.
Mr.
Fennell asked is water usage down?
Mr.
Daly responded it is up for last month. Right
now we are at $550,000 for eight months in water and sewer revenue, which is
good compared to how it used to be.
Mr.
Fennell stated because we have done such a great job we have managed to match
our influent and affluent.
v.
Construction Cost Estimate for 12 Inch
Interconnect Located at Royal Palm Boulevard and Coral Springs Drive
vi.
Construction Estimate for Repair of
Existing 6 Inch Interconnect Located at Royal Palm Boulevard and NW 89th
Avenue
Mr. Cassel stated I can explain this one because we did it
for NSID as well. These are the
interconnects with the City of Coral Springs, which they have been working on
for over a year. One is a new 12 inch
interconnect. CSID’s portion of this
will be 50% of the estimated cost. I
received the agreement last week from the City of Coral Springs for both CSID
and NSID. The attorney is reviewing
those with some corrections we have to go back to the city with. Once they go to bid they will come back and
we will be finalizing this. We will be
able to bring this back to the Board for final approval once it has been
awarded. This is an update as to the
fact we did get it back. We are looking
at half of $332,000 for the new one and half of $47,000 for upgrading and
repairing the existing interconnect between CSID and the City of Coral Springs.
Mr.
Hanks stated the intentions of these interconnects is to provide some measure
of redundancy.
Mr.
Cassel stated redundancy for the City of Coral Springs and for CSID. The same issue is for NSID. Between the three water systems, should
somebody’s water system go down in a terrible fashion the others can help. There is an agreement for them to supply us
with water and for us to supply them with water.
Mr.
Hanks asked do we have a similar agreement with Tamarac and do we have those
interconnects in place?
Mr.
Cassel responded I am not aware of those at this point and time. I do not believe we have any other
interconnects.
Mr.
Hanks asked is 12 inches what we will need to provide us with a backup water
supply?
Mr.
Cassel responded yes.
Mr.
Fennell stated there is a big pipe across the C-14 right at the edge of our
area.
Mr.
Cassel stated it is probably a force main.
Mr.
Fennell stated so it will basically cost us $180,000.
Mr.
Hanks asked is this for discussion only at this point?
Mr.
Cassel responded no action is needed at this point. We need to get the agreements finalized. This will come back before you once we get
the actual bid documents.
Mr.
Fennell stated there are a couple of things we should look at. Check to see whether or not we have
capacitive loading. There are lots of
ways to save money. Any place where you
have a big inductive motor, it turns out the power factor goes on and you end
up paying for more power than you should.
There are ways you can balance out the power factor and reduce your
cost. There are also ways to do this in
your home. It is called power shaft
loading or capacitive loading.
Mr.
Cassel stated we will check it out.
Mr.
Fennell stated you do not always do this stuff because when power is cheap you
do not care. Now our electric bill is
going to keep going up.
Mr.
Cassel stated I think we are doing some of this with the VFD type pumps. Instead of coming on line they ramp up in
their speed. They start off slowly, then
they ramp up to a speed and then they slow down. A lot of the variable controls do this, but
we will look at the various capacitors as well.
Mr.
Fennell stated there was a group sitting with me from another water district or
county. They were there for a different
reason. I asked if they were going to solarize
their whole water district. He said
no. Their issue is they have a lot of
lift stations all over the county. There
problem is when a hurricane comes.
Obviously there power goes out, but their big issue is they do not have
power at each lift station. Right now we
have back up. The problem is which one
to go to. When the power goes down they
have monitoring capabilities at each one of these. They actually have a telephone line, but it
went down. The other problem is they did
not have battery back up.
Here
is the deal. I do not know how much this
will cost us. I know you guys have been
after us for a while to put in radio controls at certain lift stations. I propose we look at it again with a
different philosophy; that we have a battery back up which will give us an
indication of what the status is even if the power is down. This also means the level indicator has to be
operating. What this allows you to do in
an emergency situation when we have 40 or 50 lift stations and we are running
around trying to figure out which lift station we have to go to in a
catastrophe, you automatically have the data sent back to you. You know which lift stations to go to. Otherwise, it is a hit or miss for us running
around. These are just a couple of
things: one is the power factor and two is the lift stations.
Mr.
Hanks stated some other techniques need to be applied when we do have run time
information on lift stations. This lift
station is pumping three quarters of the time.
That one is turning on three times a day, we will leave it alone.
Mr.
Daly stated we have all of this. There
is a regular log book. We have some
which never turn up because of all the ground water infiltration when it is
raining.
Mr.
Hanks stated it is something else to take a look at. If you have some wearing continuously because
of ground water infiltration, they should be targeted for remedial
efforts.
Mr.
Daly stated actually, and Ms. Early I am not sure if you were involved in the
discussion or not, I know Mr. McKune was, he said it is actually better to
leave it as is because of how hard it is to do these secondary types and things
like it.
Mr.
Fennell stated the other issue is we do not have any type of central lift
stations.
Mr.
Daly stated one thing I find interesting is Mr. Hanks brought up a year ago
that we live in Florida and why do we not use solar. When you mentioned solar it caught my
interest because I am a proponent of it if it can be done economically.
Mr.
Fennell stated go through and look at everything else you can do to improve
efficiency before you go to solar. Solar
will cost you roughly $10 a watt. A kilowatt
is going to cost $10,000. If you have
100 kilowatts, it is going to cost a lot of money. To be honest if we could do a windmill, we
will be better off. Windmill power is
ten times cheaper than solar power. I do
not know how the city will like it.
There are many things you can do.
There are nice things about solar power; especially for South
Florida. Once the gasoline goes away,
you cannot get oil delivered to your house and you burn up everything for your
back up engine in your house, you can get a couple of kilowatts come in to
recharge batteries. You can make it
through the night. I think we all
remember after three or four days you run out of gas in your homes. We almost ran out here. Solar is something we can look at, but first
we are better off looking at other ways to become energy efficient before we
really have to look at this because frankly, electricity is cheap. Those days are going to be gone. FPL has just caught up with the price of
oil.
Mr.
Cassel stated I have one other quick item.
We just brought this for your reading pleasure. The Board asked if we had any information on
the SBA and if there was any type of investigation. Ms. Rower chased down a report for you to
read. We did not put it in as an agenda
item because we just received it today.
It is for your information only.
I read through it this afternoon.
As I read it my thumbnail of it is you had a fund which was out there
with nobody really watching it. It was a
stepchild to everything else going on and everyone ignored it. They did not find fault because they were
within the parameters of the investment.
It is one of those things where it was out there and no one was really
looking.
Ms.
Zich stated there is so much money out there.
Mr.
Cassel stated it was competing with the pension fund. This was like $30 Billion. It was $136 Billion so they were looking at
the $136 Billion versus the $30 Billion.
People were paying attention on the one side and not paying attention on
the other side.
Ms.
Zich stated that is so amazing. It was a
private company that did it. While we
are talking about this, did we find any other place to put the money?
Mr.
Cassel responded Ms. Rower is looking around.
Ms.
Zich stated it has been several months.
Mr.
Cassel stated it has, but with what is out there it is in the best we can find
at the present time.
Ms.
Zich stated I was hoping we could come up with something a little bit
better. I thought putting the money in
Wachovia was temporary.
Mr.
Cassel stated she has been looking into this and the returns on everything out
there is pretty much the same as what we are looking at.
B. Attorney
Mr.
Lyles stated I have one quick item as an update or status report. I was advised by email this afternoon the
settlement papers in the Susan Walker matter have been signed by the plaintiff
and they are being returned to us. We
have already put the check in a trust account of the plaintiff’s counsel. This matter should be pending receipt of the
actual papers as opposed to the email I did receive. This should be behind us; however, there is
one additional thing which has come to our attention in the way of a
complaint/request. In response to it I
have spoken to Mr. Daly. There was some
consternation on the part of the plaintiff with regard to some of the comments
made during the last meeting. I made Mr.
Daly aware of it. I think he has a quick
statement to make, which will be a complete and final termination of this
entire litigation matter.
Mr.
Daly stated I will be glad to withdraw my comments during the May 19, 2008 meeting
with regard to Ms. Walker.
Mr.
Lyles stated with that being said, I have nothing further to bring to the
attention of the Board.
Mr.
Hanks asked do we have anything on the canal banks?
Mr.
Lyles responded we are still waiting on some permit information we do not have
yet. The files are voluminous and
difficult to track down. At this point
we do not have any permitting type information to begin the process of putting
together how it came into our hands, what obligation we may or may not have as
a permittee versus a pure government entity and it is still being worked on. Your manager and I speak about it
regularly. We are not going to let it go
until we have something to bring back to you which is definitive.
Mr.
Hanks stated I do not want to be in a position where we are taking action which
will compromise us or set us up in the future.
Mr.
Cassel stated it is clearly understood by the manager and all of the
staff.
C. Engineer –
Project Status Report
Mr. Cassel stated you will notice a chart was included to
help all of us keep track of where the projects are. It makes it a little easier for the Board and
the rest of us to make sure we are on track and we are all pursuing the
projects well.
Mr.
Fennell asked can you give us an update on the nanofiltration issue?
Mr.
Skehan responded the next two to three months there will be a lot of activity
taking place. We are getting to bid
these projects. There will be a
pre-qualification for contractors. Given
the current environment for construction we want to make sure we get
contractors experienced with municipal type of work.
Ms.
Zich asked how do we do on overrides for those?
Once we get a contractor, is it a firm contract?
Mr.
Skehan responded yes. There will always
be change orders, but we try to minimize the number of change orders by going
through different levels and trying to make sure we get as many questions
answered in advanced. In the industry,
3% to 5% will be seeing change orders in any given project. We try to keep our change orders between 1%
and 3%.
Mr.
Fennell asked is that building air conditioned?
Mr.
Skehan responded the offices will be air conditioned, but the outside will not
be. We will try to bid the projects in
September. The permits are moving in
parallel paths.
Mr.
Hanks asked has the city been involved?
Mr.
Skehan responded I spoke with Mr. Cassel about this last week. We are going to set up a meeting to talk to
the city about all of these projects coming together, looking at when we are
going to have permits and just seeing how we can better coordinate this work so
we are all on the same page. We are
looking at receiving bids in the beginning of October to mid October. We are targeting the November Board meeting
to make recommendations.
Mr.
Hanks stated so we are looking at January of 2009 or February of 2009 to begin
the project.
Mr.
Skehan stated we will give notice to proceed soon after the November
meeting. We are looking at a longer term
schedule since the bonds were floated in September of last year. We have 24 months to be able to make sure we
have our projects in on the bond schedule. The nanofiltration plant will be about 20 to
22 months. We are going to be right on
the schedule.