MINUTES
OF MEETING
CORAL
SPRINGS
IMPROVEMENT
DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the
Board of Supervisors of the Coral Springs Improvement District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Bob Fennell President
Bill Eissler Vice
President
Glen Hanks Secretary
Also present were:
Doug Hyche District
Staff
Jean Rugg
Janice Moen Larned
Dennis Lyles Attorney
John McKune Engineer
Bill Hodges Arbor Tree &
Land
Terry Hodges Arbor Tree & Land
Brian Pierpoint Legislative
Representative
Mr.
Fennell called the meeting to order and Mr. Petty called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of
the January 9, 2006 Meeting
Mr. Fennell stated each Board member
received a copy of the
There not being any,
On MOTION by Mr. Eissler
seconded by Mr. Hanks with all in favor the minutes of the
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS Report
from Mr. Fennell on District Accounting Procedures
Mr. Fennell stated the audit is
ongoing but we have no concrete results.
Do we have additional help?
Mr. Petty responded yes. They have been working on bringing the trust
statements up to date.
Mr. Fennell stated we had trouble with
some timing issues and we brought in Severn Trent to assist them. There are issues such as sickness and deaths
in the family, which happened in the last month. We need to have a contingency plan in place.
• Award of
Hurricane Debris Removal & Canal Bank Restoration Contract
Mr. McKune
read the following letter into the record:
“On
We have
reviewed the bids and recommend that the Board of Supervisors award the project
to Arbor Tree & Land, Inc. in the amount of their bid subject to funding
being available.”
Mr. McKune
stated the bid amount from Arbor Tree & Land is slightly different than the
letter. There was a slight error of
$400. The letter is correct.
Mr. Fennell stated the bids ranged
from $1,900,000 to $6,000,000. What is
Arbor Tree & Land’s experience in this business?
Mr. Bill Hodges responded I started in
this business 28 years ago and in the canal business in 1989. We started a full-time business for disaster
cleanup of canals after Hurricane Andrew. We have a long list of clients and can provide
you with a list.
Mr. Fennell asked have you done work
in
Mr. Bill Hodges responded I
performed work on the
Mr. Fennell asked what percentage of
work did you perform?
Mr. Terry Hodges stated the
percentage of debris removed was 70%. We
performed work in one-half of the city and another contractor performed the
other half.
Mr. Fennell stated this was a fairly
massive job.
Mr. Terry Hodges stated we cleared less
than 1,000,000 cubic yards of debris.
Mr. Fennell stated you clearly can
handle large jobs.
Mr. Terry Hodges stated correct.
Mr. Fennell asked where do you dump
the debris?
Mr. Bill Hodges responded we own our
own wood recycle yard 10 miles from here on the corner of Lantana and 441,
which is an EPA/SWA permitted wood recycle facility. This is how we are able to save you money.
Mr. Fennell stated you have a
competitive advantage.
Mr. Bill Hodges stated you are not
allowed to go someplace and chip. The
location has to be approved by the Health Department, Fire Department, Solid
Waste Authority and the EPA.
Mr. Hanks stated by having your
facility in
Mr. Bill Hodges stated you could use
the vacant lot but you would have to show where the material is going from
there.
Mr. Petty stated we save on the dump
fee.
Mr. Eissler
asked did you bid by aerial?
Mr. Terry Hodges responded no. We physically went out to each location.
Mr. Eissler
asked is the substantial completion 150 days?
Mr. Terry Hodges responded yes.
Mr. Eissler
stated you did half of
Mr. Terry Hodges stated we cleaned
out
Mr. Petty stated we hope our
contractor works as expediently as they do.
We put a time value comparable with what is required by the NRCS.
Mr. Fennell stated there is a
substantial amount of work, not just hauling debris. Your contract states you have your own
barges.
Mr. Bill Hodges stated we have our
own fabrication company and fabricated barges that worked well on small
canals. We use our own equipment to lift
the barges out of the water and move them to another canal.
Mr. Fennell asked do you have your
own customized equipment specifically for canals?
Mr. Bill Hodges responded yes.
Mr. Eissler
asked do you ever have to go onto private property?
Mr. Bill Hodges responded we try not
to. Many times we go along the canal
bank with our equipment. Unless it is
hard to get into a site, we mainly work in the water.
Mr. Petty stated our contract
specifies they work from our easements.
If they are going to go onto private property, they need to speak to the
engineer to make sure it was authorized.
Mr. Eissler
stated I have seen your barges in the canals.
Mr. Hanks asked is this the emergency
work to remove the debris from the top of the bank?
Mr. McKune
responded no, this is the work we are eligible for reimbursement from
NRCS.
Mr. Petty responded this covers the emergency
work to clear the flowway in addition to removing the
trees from the top of the bank. There is
another contract to remove the trees still standing, which we will discuss
under the manager’s report.
Mr. Hanks stated there is a boat
dock on a finger canal in
Mr. Fennell responded yes, but there
are some issues about whether or not we have access.
Mr. Lyles stated because this
property is assessed in the same manor as other property throughout the
District, we can do our basic level of maintenance. Even though it is not technically owned by
us, we have an easement for flowage and system functions. While we do not have the legal authority to
say “yes” or “no” to their request for a permit, in terms of maintenance, I
believe the ultimate position of the Board is to do our basic level of
maintenance in this lake. This involves
the removal of debris.
Mr. Hanks stated if we are faced
with hurricane removal, we need to discuss access to our easement to get a
barge in for future maintenance.
Mr. Fennell stated we should discuss
this after we make a decision on this contract.
Based on the fact you handled
substantial amounts of work in the
Mr. Eissler
asked what is your procedure for canal bank restoration?
Mr. Petty responded the engineer
specified a certain type of slope, how it is compacted and the material to re-sod. I do not know what equipment they are going
to use. It is up to the contractor.
Mr. Hanks asked what was the next
lowest bid?
Mr. McKune responded American
Environmental.
On MOTION by Mr. Eissler
seconded by Mr. Hanks with all in favor the contract for hurricane debris
removal and canal bank restoration was awarded to Arbor Tree & Land in the
amount of $1,880,651.35.
Mr. Fennell stated
congratulations. I am looking forward
for you getting started as soon as possible.
Mr. Petty stated we received a
written protest of the low bid. Our engineer
looked at this protest and believes it does not match what was submitted and
there is no basis for this. However, we
have a policy and procedure to go through an Administrative Hearing. Since the entity, American Environmental is
not here at this time and we have verbal representation they do not wish to
continue, I stand by the letter they sent to the District stating they wish to
protest. I will defer to counsel on the
appropriate action.
Mr. Eissler
asked what is their basis for protest?
Mr. Petty responded they are
protesting that Arbor National Inc. is a corporation formed for less than one
year. They want to see proof of the
bidder qualifying as required in this bid package, attachments referring to
qualifications of bidder, Paragraph 1.8 of Section A –
questions one through four and Paragraph 1.8 of Section C question two.
Mr. Fennell asked are they
questioning their ability to handle large jobs?
Mr. Petty responded we believe they
are mistaking this firm with another firm of a similar name.
Mr. McKune
stated as I was driving to this meeting, someone from our office looked through
Arbor’s bid package and realized American Environmental were protesting against
the wrong company. They decided not to
come here and I am sure they will withdraw their protest.
Mr. Lyles stated what we have is a
written letter stating they wish to file a formal bid protest. Therefore, we will treat this as a formal bid
protest. We have a process where within
seven days we have to schedule an informal proceeding. We will notify them through the manager’s
office and if they withdraw their bid protest, we will not have to go any
further. If they want to continue for
some reason, but I doubt they do, we will set the formal hearing and take the
steps necessary under the Administrative Procedure Act. However, it looks like they have the wrong
company in mind and this will probably go away.
Mr. Fennell asked in the meantime,
will we proceed with the contract?
Mr. Lyles responded yes.
Mr. Eissler
asked when will you get started?
Mr. Terry Hodges responded when we
receive a signed contract.
Mr. Fennell stated we need their
bond.
Mr. Petty stated as well as their
performance criteria. We hope to have
all of the documents signed, sealed and delivered shortly.
Mr. McKune
stated there are some conditions from the NRCS regarding submittal versus start
of the work. Some paperwork needs to be
submitted to the NRCS before the work can start. One document gives them the right to do the
work on your property. Another document
is the quality insurance plan.
Mr. Hanks asked does the Board need
to take any action for these items?
Mr. McKune
responded the Board needs to sign the project agreement.
Mr. Petty stated approval by the
Board to award the contract to the lowest responsive bidder is what we
needed. Within the next week, we hope to
remove the trees.
Mr. Fennell asked who will handle
the complaints?
Mr. Petty responded our customer
service employees who handle the water and sewer metering and billing issues
can handle any complaints. We have a
question and answer sheet anticipating the questions people may have. We believe we will have those issues
addressed.
Mr. Fennell stated I am drafting a
letter to be sent to every household explaining what we are doing, how we are
going to do so and when we are going to do this. I provided Mr. Petty with a hard copy draft
of the letter as well as a CD. The
letter reads as follows:
“Dear Fellow
Neighbor,
Your Coral
Springs Improvement District, which I serve as your President, was challenged
by Hurricane Wilma last October like it never has been before.
Despite the
loss of power to our pumps, fallen trees and other debris blocking our canals
and equipment, our people and systems performed admirably. Our Water District was one of the few in
Broward County that avoided a boil water order and we are very proud that the
systems we had in place withstood the devastation of Wilma.
However, while
the purity and flow of our District’s water avoided problems, Wilma ravaged our
100 miles of canals and lakes blowing down approximately 3,000 trees, causing
severe damage to 15,000 feet of canal banks and necessitating the cleanup of
over 35,000 feet of canal banks. In
addition, there are still a large number of trees and shrubs in the canal
right-of-way that could cause severe drainage problems in future storms.
For the past
three months District employees have made progress in removing tons of the
debris that was blocking the flow of water while our engineers have planned out
the heavy reconstruction work and prepared plans to bid out the work.
The
reconstruction plans, have been distributed, bids have been received and work
has been awarded. The work will be
extensive, expensive and time consuming and, in some cases, will affect your
individual landscaping and lawn watering systems.
Over the next
180 days commencing on March 3, we plan to remove all the estimated 3,000
downed trees, repair the canals and insure that all trees and shrubs in the
canal right-of-way are properly maintained to insure water flow. Proper maintenance of the canal right-of-way
will be an ongoing activity.
The cost to the
Coral Springs Improvement District is estimated to be approximately $3 million
with $2 million targeted for repairs and $1 million for required
maintenance. We plan to finance this
expense through a combination of our reserve funds, short term loans, and long
term bonds if necessary. We estimate
that up to 75 percent of the repair costs should eventually be paid for by the
Federal government through FEMA and National Resource Conservation Service
Grants. The maintenance cost we will
bare alone. These additional costs will
be paid through an increase in our yearly assessments which will be stretched
out over several years.
One difficulty
in removing downed trees and repairing canal banks is getting access to these
areas. In some cases, hedges and other
vegetation blocking access to our removal equipment and crews will have to be
removed by our workers.
In all cases,
our workers are being instructed to be as least obstructive to your property as
possible while they undertake these repairs.
In some cases, damage to your PVC piping from your property into the
canals will be unavoidable.
We are
establishing a special answer center at _________ and designating one of our
District Managers to handle questions that you may have. In addition, I am available to help with
unique problems or situations that may arise affecting your individual
property.
With your
cooperation, we will make every effort to clear the canals and remove these
downed trees as quickly and with as little disruption as possible.
Thanking you in
advance for your cooperation. Robert Fennell, President-Coral Springs Improvement District.”
Mr. Fennell stated we will put this
on our letterhead. A copy should be sent
to the City Manager of Coral Springs as well as to Channel 25 and the website.
Mr. Hanks stated we can put sections
of this letter on the water bills.
Mr. Petty stated I do not know about
the water/sewer bills but we discussed posting a notice like we do when we
spray for algae control warning the residents not to irrigate. We can say, “THE CONTRACTOR WILL BE WORKING
IN THIS AREA OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS”.
Mr. Eissler
stated they never posted a notice in my yard about the spraying.
Mr. Petty stated for the last couple
of years, they have been notifying the residents by door hangers. We will also post the Q&A on the website
and direct the residents to call us with any questions. We can provide door hangers to those who live
on the canals.
Mr. Hanks asked does Arbor Tree
& Land have the capability of removing trees on uplands?
Mr. Bill Hodges responded yes.
Mr. Hanks asked has anyone focused
on the removal of trees at the lift stations?
Mr. Hyche
responded we were doing this prior to the last hurricane.
Mr. Petty stated good idea. We will certainly take inventory of our
trees.
Mr. McKune
stated it is difficult to remove trees from there because those trees are not
on your property. We have to get the
property owner involved.
Mr. Fennell stated the work we just
awarded is what needs to be done currently.
However, we need to have some preventative maintenance done. This is the time for us to step forward. To clarify, anything in the right-of-way
needs to be evaluated to determine whether or not it needs to be there. Theoretically, the property owner is
responsible for all vegetation to the water line and they could be cited by the
City of
Mr. Petty stated staff is evaluating
the scope of the remaining trees and the hazards it may pose. We would like to bring an analysis before you
at the next meeting.
Mr. Terry Hodges stated we have been
the city’s tree vendor for 15 years and removed numerous trees.
Mr. Fennell stated hopefully by the
next meeting we will have a good handle on this. We did what we had to do in regards to the
emergency work and now we have the engineers in the process of determining what
additional work needs to be done.
Mr. Hanks stated we need to think
about how we need to keep up the maintenance once the trees are removed and
what type of procedure needs to be established.
There should not just be a process after a storm for clean up, but have
an ongoing process to actively maintain these canals.
Mr. Petty stated this is part of the
analysis we intend to provide to you at the next meeting.
Mr. Fennell stated we are currently
spraying the canals periodically. Once a
year we need to make sure we look at all of the canals.
Mr. Hanks stated we need to have a
way of recording violations to the city.
Mr. Petty stated staff is looking at
what it can do under its own authority without relying on the city’s
ordinance. We will have discussions with
counsel on what is within our right within our easements in the removal of what
we consider to be hazardous trees.
Mr. Fennell asked is there any
program statewide?
Mr. McKune
responded not to my knowledge.
Mr. Pierpoint
stated they are working on some bills limiting the size of trees around power
lines.
Mr. Fennell stated we can use our
reserves to pay for this. We are already
approved for short term financing. If we
have to, we can go out for longer term financing. Once we find out from FEMA how much they will
give us, we can determine how much money we need to obtain. We will have to raise our assessments but it
will not be too bad. This is only as
half as bad as I feared.
Mr. Eissler
stated we have not raised our assessments in years.
Mr. Fennell stated the assessment
dropped a few years ago when we paid off the bonds, then we decided to build
our reserves.
Mr. Hanks stated we should be
building this type of cost into our capital budget.
Mr. Petty stated if Hurricane Wilma
is the one exemption you have to raising fees, you are still doing great.
Mr. Fennell stated it looks like we
will be able to get through this without having to go out for a bond issue.
Mr. Hanks stated what we should aim for
is finding a mechanism where we have reserves to address hurricane damage.
Mr. Fennell stated thank goodness we
had reserves.
Mr. Eissler
stated the good news is most of the big trees are down. It will be many years before the little ones
go down.
Mr. Hanks stated trees growing in a
group are stronger because they shield each other from the wind.
Mr. Petty stated we are addressing
the possibility of a possible hurricane threat or similar circumstance to Wilma
and come back to the next meeting with a solution for the remaining trees. We did not anticipate Wilma and we are trying
to write a contingency for the next emergency.
We have a draft cashflow analysis looking at
the District’s financial position and the ability to address a Wilma 2 type of
storm. Currently your financial position
is very good and consideration of a Wilma 2 is certainly within the feasibility
of your current structure.
Mr. Hanks stated we need to look at
what other possibilities are out there if we were to experience a 100 year
flood and run some scenarios on what we have to replace in terms of pumping
stations.
Mr. Petty stated under this scenario
there would not be anything to purchase as there would be no land south of
Okeechobee. I think you are correct
whereby a risk analysis needs to be prepared on what we feel we can live
with. Currently staff is looking at
matching Wilma and being able to survive without power for two weeks.
Mr. Fennell stated there are
probably different levels of emergency and what we can live through. Right now I am hoping we can get through a
class three emergency.
Mr. Petty stated in looking at a Wilma
type of storm, we will stay because so many did and it is reasonable to expect
government to be able to provide services during another Wilma. If we start with a policy to get through a
Wilma 2 type of storm with better efficiency than we did with a Wilma 1 type of
storm, we can work incrementally from there.
FOURTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Consideration
of Award of Contract for the Purchase of Chemicals
Mr. Eissler
stated Helena Chemical is the low bidder by far. They bid on Ester, which no one else bid on.
Mr. Petty stated we are looking to
award to the lowest responsive bidder on each chemical. For example, the lowest responsive bidder on
Rodeo is UAP Timberland. This way we get
the best price per chemical.
Mr. Lyles stated the bid specifications
authorize you to award in this fashion.
Mr. Hanks stated I do not feel this
is more sensible because we have to set up an account with another vendor.
Mr. Petty stated we are capable of
doing this but I understand the logic.
In this case we saved a few dollars but not enough for it to be
material.
Mr. Fennell stated someone has to
keep the competitor honest.
Mr. Lyles stated in the case of a tie,
we award the contract to both bidders.
On
MOTION by Mr. Eissler seconded by Mr. Hanks with all
in favor the contract for the purchase of chemicals and herbicides was awarded
the lowest bidder for each respective chemical and herbicides; and in the case
of two low bidders staff has the ability to purchase from either company.
FIFTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Discussion
Items
A. Purchase of Two-Way Radios to Facilitate
Communication
Mr. Fennell stated due to phone
lines being down 24 hours after the storm, it is necessary for us to purchase
two-way radios.
Mr. Hyche
stated I brought a package to the Board at the last meeting but the Board asked
me to obtain a proposal from another source.
With Motorola, we can purchase a system for all of our trucks, some handheld
radios for drainage and handheld radios for water plants. This is a point to point system with a
repeater. Our current system is UHF and
utilizes our well antennas or repeaters along with our antenna for $11,000.
Mr. Petty stated we were also considering
our experience with Motorola. We had their
radio in use over the last couple of decades before it was discontinued. We have a ready supplier who has a supply of
spare parts. This is something we can
own without installing new towers, which could be knocked down during a
hurricane. This is a repeater system,
which works at a low level. We feel we
can communicate very well with our staff.
We can communicate with the outside world with satellite phones, which
is the least expensive way to communicate after a storm. It turns out most of the utility workers in
the state feel the most reliable system is the satellite system. We estimated the cost for this type of a
system and discovered it was 10% to 20% higher than what we are currently
paying for our cell phone service. We will
bring this back to you for consideration along with the radios. With these radios we can communicate with all
of the trucks out in the field, existing staff and the outside world.
Mr. Fennell asked would we have to
go out for bid?
Mr. Lyles responded yes.
Mr. Fennell stated I used to work
for Motorola and there are only a couple of manufactures who can actually
supply the quality Motorola can. GE is
another but I do not think they are in business anymore. Express Radio can also provide you with a
bid.
Mr. Petty stated one option is this
radio style of equipment may have already been bid and we may be able to
piggyback an existing state contract. We
will research it.
Mr. Lyles stated due to our Special
Act, a specification will be developed by staff and we will put it out for
bid. We know what price we need to shoot
for we and will make sure we do not go above it. Is this going to be a performance type of
specification?
Mr. Petty responded equal to
Motorola or better.
Mr. Lyles stated we will have
something to you by the next meeting.
Mr. Hanks asked is
there a need to go with both the satellite phone and the radios?
Mr. Hyche
responded yes.
Mr. Petty stated one communicates
with staff. The other allows us to communicate
with the world. We will need to
communicate with the world if we are searching for diesel fuel.
Mr. Hanks asked how many satellite
phones will we need to purchase?
Mr. Petty responded no more than
three.
On MOTION by Mr. Fennell seconded by Mr.
Hanks with all in favor staff was authorized to solicit bids on the purchase of
two-way radios.
Mr. Fennell asked was there any
coordination with the city as far as the frequency?
Mr. Eissler
responded we need to obtain a permit.
Mr. Hyche
stated we have a VHF license.
Mr. Petty stated we will try to
coordinate with the city to the best of our ability. The satellite phone gives us the ability tp communicate with them as long as they have a working phone.
B. Reserve Fuel Plan
Mr. Fennell stated we wanted a
reserve fuel plan longer than one week.
How do we accomplish this?
Mr. McKune
responded I provided the Board with a brief diagram of the fuel capacity. The items in green are existing fuel storage
locations. At the effluent pump station,
we currently have 3,500 gallons. We have
5,000 gallons of fuel underground and 2,500 gallons which were recently
installed at the south end of the wastewater plant. In addition, we have 5,000 gallons at the
water plant. We are proposing to add
8,000 gallons above ground at the water plant, install a new generator, a 6,000
gallon tank at the north end of the wastewater plant and a 3,500 tank by the
effluent pump station. This will give us
enough fuel for two weeks. We also have
the capability, now and in the future of moving fuel from tank to tank.
Mr. Fennell asked will there need to
be a pipe leading in?
Mr. McKune
responded we may end up installing a small fuel pump.
Mr. Petty asked what hurricane season
will this be completed by?
Mr. McKune
responded we can do this prior to the upcoming season.
Mr. Hanks asked will we be faced
with any zoning issues?
Mr. Hyche
responded there will be a modification to the hazard utility site.
Mr. Fennell asked is this all diesel
fuel?
Mr. Hyche
responded yes.
Mr. Fennell asked what about
gasoline?
Mr. Hyche
responded we have not addressed gasoline because we have plenty in our
tank. If we have to, we can get gasoline
at a local service station on a generator.
Mr. Fennell stated we ran into
problems with getting people here because they ran out of gas. We also had problems with the portable
generators at the lift station.
Mr. Hyche
stated they now run on diesel fuel.
Mr. Fennell asked are we in good
shape to handle all of our lift stations in the event of a storm?
Mr. Hyche
responded you are in decent shape but I would not say we could handle all of
them. We can handle the ones running the
most. I have a proposal for the purchase
of 10 standalone generators, which we can place next to the lift stations. We can purchase three of these generators for
the cost of a portable one.
Mr. Eissler
asked how many did we purchase before Wilma?
Mr. Hyche
responded two for CSID. I am more
concerned with getting the sewage into the plant from the community. If you are going to boil water, you have an
opportunity to use Clorox at your tap to take care of the disinfectant. I do not know of a solution to get the water
out of the streets other than pumping.
Mr. Petty stated when we talk about generators, the wastewater cannot get to us unless you can
flush. We have enough portable
generators to run the lift stations and catch them before they overflow. This was a great balancing act for a period
of time.
Mr. Fennell asked do you need
approval from the Board on the reserve fuel plan?
Mr. Petty responded no. It will be part of a large construction
program your engineer will be bringing back at a later date.
Mr. Hanks stated some places have
their own turbine generators running off of natural gas. Is this a route we want to look into?
Mr. McKune
responded it is probably done at large plants.
Mr. Fennell stated you can either go
with diesel or natural gas. Either one
is a viable solution.
Mr. Eissler
asked do we have natural gas?
Mr. Hyche
responded some of our plant stations run on natural gas.
Mr. Petty stated we have a
considerable investment in the current diesel inventory, which has a life
expectancy to it.
Mr. Hanks stated FP&L costs are
increasing all the time and this may be an opportunity to do some cost
controls.
Mr. Fennell stated because we have
power stations, we get cut rates on our power from FP&L.
Mr. Petty stated if we can run our
own system more economically, we can bring some alternatives to the Board’s
attention.
Mr. Fennell stated there is no
difference in the efficiency between diesel and propane. We can go either way.
There was consensus from the Board to
approve the reserve fuel plan and get it in place before the next hurricane
season.
Mr. Fennell stated we need to
discuss financing and funding options.
Ms. Larned stated because the bids
came in so low, we have been working on developing a policy for the next
event. With this policy we can have the
following three options available at any given time; internal cashflow in order for you to borrow additional money,
intermediate loans and a catastrophic situation involving rebuilding. The District is in good shape with the
current reserves, specifically with the General Fund. While the capital in the Enterprise Fund is
well planned for the maintenance and replacement of the current equipment, it
can withstand the next event.
Mr. Fennell stated we do not need to
think about this until we have a category two type of storm. If we have a category three storm, we would
not be able to rebuild if there were no water and sewer.
Mr. Hanks stated Hurricane Andrew
was a category five storm, which caused devastation and small structure
collapses. It did not completely wipe
out every structure. You will also have
some inhabitable structures.
Mr. Petty stated in Hurricane
Andrew, the infrastructure relied upon the federal government and local
government for re-building. Miami
Metropolitan Water and Sewer did not use their user rates to re-build. Approximately $3 billion was brought in for
the infrastructure to be rebuilt. There
is a time where we can say, “Here is what we are going to pay with our
assessment process and from this point on, we will
work with other governmental entities on a higher level to bring back the
service after an undetermined amount of time”.
With a category three storm, you are going to have 15 inches of rain,
which can cause major problems. We
handled 15 inches of rain in the past but it was over a two day period. It got nasty but we did not have any flooding
in
Mr. Hyche
stated there is current legislation to provide water and sewer resources during
an event.
Mr. Fennell stated there is no way
the Federal government is going to bring in the resources to serve 7,000,000
people. FEMA is acting more like an
insurance company than a responder. We
will take the money but I do not see them coming in.
Mr. Eissler
stated the military will take over for the governor.
SIXTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Consideration
of Inter-District Agreement between CSID and NSID for the Intrastate
Construction Corporation Wastewater Rehab Contract
Mr. Petty stated our engineer asked
us to consider this agreement to share our contractor with our sister District,
NSID. This is subject to counsel showing
legal sufficiency.
Mr. Fennell asked does this cost us
any money?
Mr. Petty responded no.
Mr. Fennell asked does it impede
anything we are doing?
Mr. Petty responded no. It is like building up an IOU.
Mr. Lyles stated an agreement will
come back to you. You have a contractor
in place with attractive unit prices.
This is not for a new expansion but to make repairs caused by Hurricane
Wilma. In effect, we will be structuring
this as an Interlocal Agreement to piggyback your
contract.
On MOTION by Mr. Fennell seconded by Mr. Eissler with all in favor the Inter-District Agreement
between CSID and NSID for the Intrastate Construction Corporation Wastewater
Rehab Contract was approved.
SEVENTH ORDER
OF BUSINESS Staff Reports
A. Attorney
Mr. Lyles stated there is some
dialogue taking place between CSID and the City of
Mr. Fennell stated the attitude we
have taken is CSID is provided for by people within our physical unit. We are the people who have to go out for the
bonds who purchased the business and are the
owners. No money came from the state,
county or the city. It is our responsibility
and we see a good reason to maintain CSID as an independent District. The three of us discuss what needs to be done
and decide the best way to approach matters.
When we can, we cooperate with other groups. We have a working agreement with NSID and
other Districts and help each other out.
The agreement we just approved is not unusual. Wherever we need to, we share employees. We have been effective in what we do and see
good reason to continue with CSID. We
have the right size plant for what we do.
A bigger plant such as in
The city is proud that we take care of our own wastewater and I am proud we handle our own environmental issues, whether it be water and wastewater, determine what we are going to do with those issues and how we are going to dispose of them. All the city does is take the wastewater and ship it off to the county. Frankly I would not want to put my hands into someone else’s. We want to put our own faith in our own hands.