MINUTES OF MEETING
PORT OF THE
COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of
Supervisors of the Port of the Islands Community Improvement District was held
on
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Richard
Gatti Chairman
Dale
Lambert Vice Chairman
Ted
Bissell Assistant
Secretary
Norine
Dillon Assistant
Secretary
Richard
Ziko Assistant
Secretary
Also present were:
Bob
Dick
Dan
Cox Attorney
(via Telephone)
Ron
Benson Engineer
Tom
Mack Staff
Michael
Lackey OLM
Landscaping Services
Bruce
Holecek POI RV Resort
Dennis
John
Agnelli Power
Corporation
Peter
Saalprank, Sr. Resident
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll
Call
Mr. Gatti called the meeting to
order and Mr. Dick called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the
Minutes of the April 14, 2006 Meeting
Mr. Gatti stated each Board member
received a copy of the minutes of the
Mr. Lambert stated on Page 39 in the
first sentence of the second paragraph, the last word should be permit.
On Page 49 through Page 51, all comments stated by Chief Wilson were made by Mr.
Mack. On Page 56 toward the end of
the minutes, there are two comments by Mr. Mack which I believe were made by
Mr. Shucart.
Ms. Dillon stated on Page 52 at the
bottom Chief Wilson should be changed
to Lieutenant Vogeny. On Page 52 under Port of the Islands Mosquito Control in the fourth and sixth
paragraphs Mr. Cox should be changed
to Mr. Dick.
Mr.
Ziko stated on Page 13 in the fourth paragraph Mr. Benson should be changed to Mr.
Dick.
On MOTION by Mr. Lambert
seconded by Ms. Dillon with all in favor the minutes of the
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Manager’s
Report
A.
Report on
Number of Registered Voters – 267
B.
Consideration
of resolution 2006-02 for General Election
Mr.
Dick stated the first item is a report from Ms. Jennifer Edwards, the
Supervisor of Elections stating, the total number of registered electors
residing in the CID is 267, which is in compliance with Chapter 190.006 of the
Florida Statutes. This number is
significant because once the District reaches six years of age and has 250
registered voters or more, the District’s electoral process for the Board of
Supervisors is handled by the
Mr.
Gatti stated I thought this was already done.
Mr. Ziko stated I believe this has
to be done for every election.
On MOTION by Mr. Bissell
seconded by Mr. Ziko with all in favor Resolution 2006-02 requesting the
Collier County Supervisor of Elections to conduct an election for Seat Two
presently held by Mr. Richard Gatti for a four-year term and Seat Four
presently held by Mr. Ted Bissell for a four-year term in conjunction with the
General Election to be held in November 2006 was adopted.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Attorney’s Report
This item was deferred to a latter
part of the meeting since Mr. Cox did not yet call in.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Field
Manager’s Report
Mr. Ziko asked are you sitting in
for Mr. Goscicki?
Mr. Dick responded yes.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Engineer’s
Report
Mr. Ziko asked since the fire
hydrants have not been repaired, how much money was held back?
Mr. Benson responded we have
retainage in excess of $35,000, and at least $30,000 of other money which has
not been invoiced. However, we are
holding their retainage and will not release it until everything has been done.
Mr. Ziko stated you made a strong
statement at the last meeting these fire hydrants will be corrected by
today. Can you update us since they are
not corrected?
Mr. Benson responded we checked with
the contractor. The hydrants were
ordered, but have not been received.
Mr. Ziko stated this has been going
on for three months. Can you follow up
with the contractor to ensure this gets done, or should we put this on the open
items list?
Mr. Benson responded there has been
at least four communications in the last 30 days with the contractor, and there
is only so much we can do.
Mr. Ziko asked can you take the
$35,000 retainage, hire someone else to repair them and subtract it from their
bill?
Mr. Benson responded when they do
the work we can just deduct it from their contract.
Mr. Ziko stated this is what we are
trying to get done. The fire chief told
us they are not up to code. Therefore,
it is not a matter of the money, but it is a matter of getting it done.
Mr. Lambert asked do we have
anything in writing stating we are definitely in violation from the fire department?
Mr. Ziko responded he said it was
from the NFPA Code.
Mr. Lambert asked have they sent us anything?
Ms. Dillon responded they have not
sent anything to my knowledge.
Mr. Lambert stated we cannot get
material here if the vendors do not ship it.
It does not do any good to beat on anyone if the vendor will not ship
the material. We have been discussing
this for the past couple of meetings.
Mr. Ziko asked are we going to let
the hydrants sit illegally and then when there is a fire hook up the engine and
break it off?
Mr. Lambert responded no one has
given us anything to indicate it is illegal.
Mr. Ziko stated the fire chief told
us they were not up to code.
Mr. Gatti stated he indicated
verbally they had to be a certain height off the ground or else when the hose is
hooked it will snap off.
Mr. Lambert stated we are beating
this to death and we do not have the material to do it. What are we going to do?
Mr. Ziko responded I suggest we find
another contractor to get this done and take it away from Florida Underground.
Mr. Gatti asked is the contractor
obligated to bring it down to code in your opinion?
Mr. Benson responded when we brought
this up, we negotiated the price to buy and install the new fire hydrants with
the contractor. Installing these fire
hydrants is an extra because it was not part of the original contract. When we realized the existing hydrants were
going to be higher than what was going to work on the new installation, we had
to make them as short as possible, giving us temporary fire protection.
Mr. Gatti stated we are waiting for
delivery of the new fire hydrants by Florida Underground.
Ms. Dillon stated I spoke to the
supervisor a couple of days ago who told me the hydrants have to come from
Mr. Gatti stated it is difficult for
us to second guess what can and cannot be done unless you are involved in
knowing where the hydrants have to come from, making it difficult for us to
second guess Mr. Benson and tell what should be done in such a period of time.
Mr. Ziko stated the previous Board
allowed these issues to continue.
Fortunately, we have a continued items list. It is taking 90 days to replace six fire
hydrants. That is unbelievable since Mr.
Benson guaranteed us at the last meeting they would be done by today.
Mr. Gatti stated the only thing I
take exception to is what you said about the old Board
allowing issues to continue. I am not
going to listen to anymore negative dissertations of the history of this Board.
Mr. Ziko stated these issues have
not been accomplished because I was in the audience for three years and
witnessed the old Board do nothing.
Mr. Gatti stated I do not feel it is
necessary to bring this up at every meeting.
Mr. Ziko stated we have items like
this which are 90 days late.
Mr. Gatti asked what does this have
to do with the previous Board?
Mr. Ziko responded this is the way
they operated.
Mr. Gatti asked why do you keep
bringing it up?
Mr. Bissell responded I call a point
of order. We should get back to the
business at hand.
Mr. Gatti stated I agree with you,
but I am not going to listen to these complaints about the previous Board.
Mr. Lambert asked are
the hydrants on order?
Mr. Benson responded yes.
Mr. Lambert stated I assume they
will be installed in a reasonable time when they arrive. We cannot control when the vendor sends the
hydrants.
Mr. Ziko stated we can exert some
pressure.
Mr. Gatti asked can you call the
contractor to see if we can solidify the facts?
Mr. Benson responded yes.
Mr. Gatti asked does the Board
accept this?
Ms. Dillon responded we just want to
get this done.
Mr. Gatti stated I apologize for my
language and outburst, but all of you know where I am coming from.
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Manager’s
Report (Continued)
Mr. Ziko stated Mr. Goscicki told us
he was going to bring the five-year budget to this meeting. Do we have it?
Mr. Benson responded in defense of
Mr. Goscicki, he asked me to provide updated pricing for the various CIP
projects. We are in the middle of
bidding one of the largest cost projects for the next year, and I will give you
a report on the pricing when we get to the item, but I did not give him the update
because I do not have all the information, and he did not receive everything
from me he needed.
Ms. Dillon stated we are going to
have a budget meeting two weeks from today.
Are we going to have some data ahead of time to peruse before we sit
down to do our budget?
Mr. Benson responded I will get the
best information to Mr. Goscicki early next week.
Mr. Ziko asked are you going to
cover this later in the meeting?
Mr. Benson responded yes.
Mr. Ziko stated Mr. Goscicki was
going to report to us on the bond payoff procedure, but he is not here. Has the evaluation of the metered customers
been done?
Mr. Dick responded it has not been
done.
Mr. Ziko asked why is this being
held up?
Mr. Dick responded it is a matter of
scheduling and getting staff to do the work.
It is scheduled for next week, and I was hoping to have it done prior to
this meeting, but this is not the case.
Mr. Ziko stated I had a request for
the bond status of individual lots. He
was going to provide the Board members with a copy of this.
Mr. Dick stated I did not receive a
copy.
Mr. Ziko stated we should add them
to the Open Items list. If they are all
opened, there are questions which should have been answered at this meeting and
nothing has been done.
Ms. Dillon stated we should put them
on the open items list.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Attorney’s Report (Continued)
Mr. Cox stated we sent out the
material for the sign easement request. I
am working with Mr. Benson on the pump station easement, and I understand you
have questions regarding Orchid Cove.
Mr. Ziko asked did you get the
appraisal for the fire station land on the end of
Mr. Cox responded I received three
copies of the report yesterday, which I can send down. It indicates an estimated value for a 1.90
acre parcel at $250,000.
Mr. Ziko stated we were supposed to
receive a copy of the contract you were drawing up between the Board and Severn
Trent for the water treatment plant operation two weeks ago in order for us to
make a decision at today’s meeting.
However, I have not seen it.
Mr. Cox stated I received it
approximately two weeks ago, and it took me some time to review it. I sent comments to Mr. Goscicki either last
Friday or this Monday, and he responded back.
There were a few things which needed to be added in from the last
meeting. I believe one was mosquito
spraying. I also had questions for him
on a couple of the terms, and I was in depositions for the rest of this week
and have not had a chance to discuss those questions with him, but we are
working on it.
Mr. Ziko asked when will we be able
to review it for our input?
Mr. Cox responded I hope to have the
opportunity to speak with Mr. Goscicki to work it out within the next week, and
once we have the details I will circulate it around.
Ms. Dillon stated this is also part
of the budget process.
Mr. Cox stated the numbers are
efficient for your budgeting purposes.
It is possible they may change, but I do not believe so. There are a few minor details which need to
be worked out.
Mr. Bissell asked what is the status
of the bond issue you were going to check into?
Mr. Cox responded I am still working
on this, and trying to get these numbers down is taking longer than I thought. I have it in front of me to try to continue
working on it, but we will hopefully have this done by the end of the day.
Ms. Dillon asked since it involves a
critical question in terms of our ERCs, are you going to email this to us?
Mr. Cox responded I am working on
two issues with regards to the bonds.
One was the balance after we incorporate all monies which were paid down
along with the settlement agreement with
Mr. Gatti asked what is the
percentage of work done by Florida Underground, plus or minus?
Mr. Benson responded they completed
all the work.
Mr. Gatti stated the restoration is
complete. The fire hydrant across the
street from me was painted.
Mr. Bissell stated that one was
painted, but I have not seen any others.
Mr. Gatti stated the one near my
house has the white cap and the red stem.
Mr. Ziko stated the other one up the
street from you is also painted red.
Mr. Dick stated red is not the
appropriate color.
Mr. Ziko stated it is supposed to be
purple. Where do we stand on the sign
issue at
Mr. Cox responded I sent the request
for the sign easements and have not heard back yet, but we should be hearing
something from them soon.
Mr. Gatti asked have you found your book?
Mr. Cox responded I found it, but
the definition does not mention anything either way on this issue.
Mr. Gatti stated perhaps you can
have it ready for us at the next meeting as opposed to doing this research now.
Mr. Bissell asked can Mr. Cox email
us his opinion?
Mr. Gatti responded yes, put it
together and email it.
Mr. Ziko asked is this going to be
critical on our budget workshop?
Mr. Cox responded the money will be
used in the capital improvement program, and you may look at projects you will
consider for acceleration if the money is able to be used.
Mr. Ziko asked are you going to
attend the budget workshop in two weeks?
Mr. Cox responded it may be
difficult, but I can call in.
Mr. Ziko stated just email some of
this information in order for us to discuss it at the budget workshop.
Ms. Dillon stated with regards to
Orchid Cove, you were investigating what we can do legally since they cut the
road among other things which they were not supposed to. What are we doing?
Mr. Cox responded someone has taken
action which caused damage to property you own.
Your legal remedy is a civil lawsuit for damages. You need to question what they have done which
caused damage and if the damage is recognizable, which I believe it is. You need to determine what the measure of
damages is, and how much of a judgement you will receive if you are successful
in pursuing this lawsuit against them. Under
the circumstances, you have a road which is obviously getting close to the end
of its useful life. However, it was
still usable at that point, but you have plans to re-pave the road in the near
future, and we are acknowledging the road needed work as it was, but the
damages have done two things. Firstly,
it accelerated the need for you to go ahead with this project and secondly, it
may have caused some damage beyond the road’s former condition. Perhaps you could have put a layer of asphalt
down along with a minor base repair.
However, you will have to do substantially more base repair as a result
of the damage they have done. All of this
will be based on engineering testimony as to how badly they damaged the road
and what the effect was. I believe your
appropriate legal remedy is to pursue damages in a lawsuit, but I am not
certain a measure of the damages will justify it. Alternatively, you can try to negotiate payment
of some measure of damages.
Mr. Bissell stated our agreement
with them and their attorney, Mr. Wood, is they can cut the road if they
install the water line from the south to the north. This is in writing and I believe we should
abide by it.
Mr. Cox stated the agreement was
being negotiated under the perception the water line was located on their
property and had to be relocated to accommodate their project.
Mr. Bissell stated this is not in
the material I read this morning.
Mr. Cox stated this was a
substantial basis for them agreeing to this negotiation. The fact the lines are located where they
are, the argument is the agreement was made based on an error in the facts. If you have error in facts in the
negotiation, the basis of the agreement is flawed. Therefore, the agreement itself is flawed.
Mr. Bissell stated this is not in
writing.
Mr. Cox stated these arguments are
going to be raised.
Ms. Dillon stated we told them not
to cut the road.
Mr. Cox stated when we sent the
letter we also said you are not going to live up to your end of the agreement,
so we do not have an agreement. The
basis of trying to judge it on the replacement cost for the line is probably
not going to be a successful position to take in litigation.
Ms. Dillon asked what about the fact
we told them not to cut the roads and they did it anyway?
Mr. Cox responded it will go to the
measure of damages, which is evident.
Ms. Dillon stated it seems as though
the contractor can do anything they want to do.
Mr. Cox stated they cannot do
anything they want to do without liability for damages.
Ms. Dillon stated they are also not
going to install a meter for the water they were taking. It seems no matter what we tell them, they do
what they want anyway.
Mr. Cox stated the remedy in this
instance is to file a petition for an injunction to prohibit them from hooking
up without a meter.
Mr. Lambert asked if they refuse to
repair the road, are we allowed to stop turning on the valve which delivers
water to them?
Mr. Cox responded at some point they
will have to come to you for services, and if you have issues related to the
provision of those services you can refuse to provide them. I suggest you raise the issue and ask what
their intentions are with regards to the roads once all the heavy equipment is
moved with the expectation for re-pavement.
Mr. Gatti stated with the Board’s
permission, perhaps we should take this approach.
Mr. Ziko stated I believe we should
proceed right now as long as it does not take 90 or 120 days.
Mr. Gatti stated they should be told
their water is going to be shut down unless they re-pave the street.
Mr. Cox asked how much of the heavy
equipment work do you believe is currently done?
Mr. Ziko responded I believe it is
75%.
Mr. Benson stated they did some
significant work on utilities which are going to cross the road. Perhaps you, the attorney and engineer for
Orchid Cove as well as myself should sit down to try
to address these issues.
Mr. Cox stated I do not have a problem
doing this.
Mr. Gatti stated if the Board agrees, set a meeting up with Mr. Benson.
Mr. Bissell stated you should record
the meeting and have someone type and email it to the Board.
Mr. Benson stated you and I should
get together after the meeting and set up the appointment.
Mr. Cox stated I will email you the
dates when I will be in town.
Mr. Lambert asked are the easement
questions for the pumping station we discussed this morning going to be handled?
Mr. Cox responded I spoke briefly to
Mr. Benson, and the necessary exhibits with regards to the irrigation pump are
prepared. We will get them out to SWFWMD
early next week.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Engineer’s
Report (Continued)
Mr. Benson stated I am going to update
you on the Orchid Cove issues. I spoke
to Mr. Mike Neely, the engineer with RWA working on the Orchid Cove project,
and we also spoke again right before this meeting. Mr. Neely contacted me a few weeks ago and
asked for approval to cross the road with a storm sewer going from one pond to
another with a 42” pipe. I spoke with
Mr. Cox, and we communicated back to Mr. Neely we needed to bring this request
to the Board, and reminded him there were some outstanding issues between the
CID and his client, and we did not give him authorization. When I spoke to Mr. Neely today, he was not
aware of the fact his contractor broke the water line. They have the intention of a much larger
excavation involving the installation of a 42” pipe across the road, which will
be in potential conflict with our water line.
They have a proposed solution, which is one of the reasons I suggested
Mr. Cox and I meet with the attorney and engineer for Orchid Cove since there
is a series of outstanding issues needing to be resolved.
Mr. Gatti stated they have to cut a
42” line because it will be too expensive to jack it.
Mr. Lambert stated this is not our
problem.
Mr. Gatti stated I know this, but
the point I am making is we have some leverage.
Mr. Benson stated there is a series
of issues which need to be taken care of and hopefully we can determine some
kind of remedy at this meeting which we can propose to the Board.
Mr. Gatti stated the remedy is to
re-pave the street.
Mr. Benson stated from what I heard
a few minutes ago and at previous meetings, there is a question about this
water line replacement, and we need to deal with all of these issues at once.
Mr. Ziko stated there will also be
an additional cut for the sewage to get over to the other side.
Mr. Benson stated I believe you are
referring to the force main crossing which was made earlier this week.
Mr. Ziko stated I did not see the
force main go in, but they were putting a saddle on the force main on the other
side of the lake.
Mr. Benson asked what line did they
install earlier this week?
Mr. Ziko responded they installed
two electrical lines and an irrigation line.
Mr. Benson stated it was in the
vicinity of the pump station. When Mr.
Neely and I spoke before this meeting, we discussed what lines were in and what
lines need to be in. Again, I believe we
should have a meeting and bring all of the facts back to the Board.
Mr. Bissell stated we do not have
plans at the plant on this project. Does
the CID have to furnish plans?
Mr. Benson responded I thought I gave
plans to Mr. Stephens. However, I have
plans in my office, but I am not certain whether or not they are final, but I
will ensure we get another updated set.
Mr. Lambert asked have they been
talking to Mr. Stephens before they tap into these lines so we are aware of it?
Mr. Benson responded they were told
this was the procedure.
Mr. Ziko stated they spoke to him,
but did not give him correct information.
They said they were going to put the saddle on at
Mr. Benson stated one of the issues
I spoke to Mr. Neely about this morning was the procedures for our new water
line. When they install the new water
lines for their community, they need to tie into our water line in order to
take water from the line to flush the new lines and get them bacteriologically
clean and tested. I told him our concern
is we need to meter the water, but we have not heard anything from either his client
or him with regards to the temporary construction meter. I told him this is going to be a sticking
point in relation to your issue about turning on the valve among other things. It was in anticipation of these other issues
that I suggested to Mr. Neely we probably need to have this meeting, and I believe
there are a few more items which have been added to the list of what we need to
talk about.
Mr. Lambert asked did we have to use
a backflow preventer to avoid contamination of our system?
Mr. Benson responded there is a
standard detail required by the county on their drawings. The main issue is whether or not the
contractor does what he is supposed to do.
We need to know who is inspecting the work and at what level does the
CID need to have an inspection. We
explained to the developers and contractors they need to contact Mr.
Stephens. He is the Field Manager and needs
to be there in order to ensure work is done correctly. They gave him a time, but did the work two
hours earlier. We will raise these items
at this meeting and hopefully we will come to a satisfactory resolution.
Ms. Dillon stated I believe you know
where we stand on many of these issues.
Mr. Benson stated Mr. Cox received a
letter from Lane Wood with regards to the POI CID utilities on Orchid Cove
property, and in particular reading from the third paragraph it says, “our
primary concern as of now is the existing 4” force main encroaching along the
northern boundary of our client’s property, where the District has no recorded
utility easement whatsoever”. Mr. Cox
and I were in communication about this.
We have an easement which I believe is for the 4” pipe dated in October
1992. I faxed it to Mr. Neely this
morning because he did not receive it, and he said “I think that looks like it
probably is in the place we found the pipe”.
They are going to verify this on their side, but it appears this concern
is covered. There was another concern in
the same letter saying “the force main that runs along their eastern property
boundary that goes up to the wastewater plant may not be in the easement in all
locations”, and they had not located it.
However, once they did locate it they shared the information with
us. When I spoke to Mr. Neely again this
morning, he told me they went out and did more locations, and it appeared the
line is in the easement except for one or two small deviations, but it did not appear
to be a major issue. We will take care
of all issues, but it appears the easements are acceptable.
Mr. Bissell stated I do not recall
receiving a copy of the letter. Since we
made it quite clear we should have copies of all correspondence dealing with
the CID, why was the Board not emailed this letter?
Mr. Benson responded it was reported
last month by Mr. Cox.
Mr. Bissell stated it may have been
reported, but we do not have a copy.
Mr. Benson asked are you listening
to the Board’s concerns?
Mr. Cox responded these are routine
matters in which they requested and we provided information. Since you have staff handling these issues,
does the Board really need to get involved in routine details?
Mr. Gatti responded we want to see
correspondence of a critical nature which is going to require action at the
Board meeting. Is this a reasonable
assumption?
Mr. Cox responded that would be
understandable.
Mr. Ziko stated they are saying our
force main on the northern side of their property is out of the easement. Do they believe we are going move this force
main or are they just trying to not do what they are supposed to be doing? They seem to do whatever they want and tell us
we are wrong. I believe the Board should
be informed of what they are doing.
Mr. Cox stated they told us they
found this easement. We researched it
and found them to be correct. It is not
necessary for the Board to take action, since it is not going anywhere. We take care of these issues for you.
Mr. Ziko asked what would they
expect us to do if we did not find the easement?
Mr. Cox responded this is an issue
which needs to be brought to your attention.
Mr. Benson stated this is an
informational update. With regards to
the south hotel property, we heard from their representatives in previous
meetings about their plans with regards to development of this property. The engineer working on this project is with
our firm in the Land Development Division.
They sent me a letter requesting a water and sewer service availability
letter and I responded back telling them they do not have sufficient ERCs for this
project. They are aware of this, and they
are going to work with their client. The
owner of the hotel is probably going to come back and say how many ERCs they
need and we developed a property already up to a certain level. There is a certain amount available and they
are going to request whatever they need to utilize the ones they already have
at the first phase. I explained to them
this needs to be done in writing and very clearly went through our procedures.
Mr. Gatti asked are they asking you
for the accounting letter required by the county stating they have utilities available?
Mr. Benson responded they are going
to follow our procedures and you will probably have something at next month’s
meeting assuming they progress to this point.
We are going making sure everything is being done following your
precedents.
Mr. Gatti asked is the purpose to
open a hotel?
Mr. Benson responded they want to
build new multi-family buildings and they have ERCs available allowing them to
build one building. They are going to
come back with a request which follows our procedures. I am being clear about this because the
engineer involved is in another division of our company.
I want to update our capital
improvement projects. With regards to
the project at the wastewater treatment plant in which the CID has a contract
with Parkson to supply equipment and do a certain amount of installation of the
equipment, we also were authorized to design the project which is
complete. We solicited requests for bids
and identified various parts of the project which need to be put in a sequence. As a re-cap, a concrete slab was going to be installed
and the equipment is going to be installed on top of it. A metal building is installed around the
equipment after some of the equipment is installed, which involves some
interconnecting piping work. Once this
is done the electrical contractor will hook up all the electrical. This is the way the project was designed and
we solicited this for bid because it involved a series of small projects
coordinating with the Parkson work. We sent
letters to all the contractors doing this type of work in the area, and
requested they provide us written and sealed bids. We received most of those prices. However, we still have bids coming in, and I
do not want to mention any numbers which could potentially poison the pricing
we are still waiting for. The combined
price of these different pieces is probably going to cost just under $500,000,
which is going to be higher than our original estimate. We also received prices from two general
contractors to do the entire job. Their
prices were both substantially higher than the sum of the pieces by taking a
smaller contractor to do each part. We
have gone through extra effort for this and although I cannot give you the
specific numbers at this time, I already have enough information to know the
savings to the minimum is going to be more than $300,000, and could have been
more than $500,000 additional if we solicited it out as a single contract. Even though it is more than the budget, we
received prices which were more than double in many areas. This is the kind of market we are in with all
the contractors being so busy.
Ms. Dillon asked is this the work
which was going to be necessary whether or not we received the free equipment
from Parkson?
Mr. Benson responded that is
correct. When Parkson offered pricing
with an estimated discount of approximately half price on their material, it was
a better deal because the price would have been higher than what we were
comparing their original offer to.
Mr. Lambert asked is this going to
be fully enclosed in a building?
Mr. Benson responded most of it is
going to be open sided, with a roof over it.
It is comprised of a frame and roof.
Next month we will have these bids and recommendations to award, but it
is going to be higher than the original budget.
Mr. Lambert asked have we got our
permit yet?
Mr. Benson responded the process
with the DEP is such they have certain timeframes they respond to, and often
when they are not quite ready to give you something, they send a letter asking
more questions which is part of their process.
We waited until the time was up to contact them and this time they told
us we were correct. Their time was up
and they issued the permit. There are no
more rounds of questions to give them more time. Although they will issue the permit, we
cannot start construction until we have the permit which is going to happen
soon. One other item is the contract we
have with you on this project. We put in
a budget which included time and expense because it was difficult to estimate, and
we said we would do the work and bill you as the work progressed. We are now at the point of awarding a
contract and not actually doing all the installation, and we are running out of
money. When I come back next month I will
have to request not only the cost and size of the project increased, but the
engineering is also going to increase.
Mr. Lambert asked will you be able
to have some of this information available for the budget meeting?
Mr. Benson responded I will. When you asked about the manager having a CIP
update, I told Mr. Goscicki I will get it to you as soon as I have it, but in
order to try to save an additional $100,000 potentially we extended the bid
time and received more bids. If I stopped
the process a few weeks ago instead of encouraging more people to give me
sealed bids, we would have had a higher price.
Ms. Dillon asked where do we stand
on the DEP violations issue?
Mr. Benson responded Mr. Dick will
concur this issue is working out as well as possible. Mr. Dick, Mr. Stephens and I met with DEP, and
we went through the explanation of all things this Board authorized over the
last year and reminded them the fact they have not issued the permit is delaying
the project.
Mr. Dick stated I believe it was a
positive meeting which does not happen often.
DEP admitted the delay is their fault, and when Mr. Benson presented all
the facts they had to acknowledge they were remiss in not getting us the permit
to begin the process, and the issues they found during their inspections will
be corrected with the improvements Mr. Benson put together. They took responsibility for this which may
be one of the reasons they are getting the permit out so quickly.
Mr. Benson stated in some areas DEP
told us they were not going to fine us unless someone in
Mr. Lambert asked are
you in the process of coming up with some condition reports for the plants
before we transition?
Mr. Benson responded we are in the
process of scheduling this, but unfortunately some other issues arose. However, I believe we probably can get it
done this month. Some of this needs to
be documented prior to their entering into the contract for everyone’s security
to understand the base condition. In
addition, we have to get our engineer’s report out in June.
Mr. Ziko stated I noticed we paid
for the engineer’s report in the last check register for $6,000. Is it available?
Mr. Benson responded in my invoice
to the CID each month when we do work toward this effort we identify those as
line items and the hours are clearly indicated.
Mr. Ziko stated you charged $2,300
to each fund for a total of $4,600 for the annual engineering report, and I
wanted to know if we could look at it.
Mr. Benson stated this is not for
the entire report, but for some work toward the report. It has not been issued yet. I do progress throughout the year toward the
report, and issue it once per year as a document.
Mr. Ziko stated with regards to the
lift station we reviewed last month, it appears it was leveled out. Do you know how it was done?
Mr. Benson responded I spoke to the
President of Florida State Underground on the telephone a few weeks ago after
we sent the letter you asked us to send.
The owner and his engineers passed it to the contractor, who called me. I explained our concerns and I told him I did
not expect the structure to be taken out of the ground and started over. I told him they need to do everything possible
to make the pump station acceptable, and that we will look at it after this is
done. However, he has not called back to
tell me it is complete. The actual
cylinder of the wet well has not been straightened. I believe they leveled the bottom, put the
equipment in that level and put the top in leveled to make it functional.
Mr. Ziko asked can you look at it to
ensure it is done properly?
Mr. Benson responded I will do so
when they tell me it is complete. I want
to give them a chance because I told them they need to do everything possible
to complete this. We will inspect it
after they tell us it is done, and we will report our findings to the CID
Board. As indicated in the letter, if
the developer comes to this Board in the future and offers to donate these
utilities to the CID, we will have to make these decisions. I wrote a letter to Orchid Cove before they
started construction which stated they may consider acceptance of these
utilities at some point in the future, but we will not guarantee them. We sent them a letter telling them they need
to fix the wet well in order for the Board to accept it. At some point in time, it is their decision
to propose acceptance of these utilities.
However, you always have the right to not accept it. There was an issue regarding the newest phase
of Stella Maris which happened earlier this month, and there were questions
about the water line which I need to put on the record because I spoke to
individual Board members. This is not a
system we have ever accepted nor ever will accept because the water lines under
the various condominiums are not in public right-of-ways, but they are
underneath a parking lot or driveway we have not in the past been offered nor
have we ever to my knowledge accepted those systems. The only time we accepted them in the past is
at the same time you accept the roads in order for you to get in to service the
utilities. There is a difference between
private systems and public systems which you accept. The private systems will receive or be
provided services like the condominiums, but at some point in time we may or
may not have the issue of acceptance of those systems, and I think we will deal
with it then.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Field
Manager’s Report (Continued)
Mr. Dick stated I want to explain
why we have not started the water loss project.
Initially we were going to use different technicians to do the
evaluation, but since meter readers are more experienced in identifying where these
meters should be connected, we are bringing in meter readers from
We
are on schedule with the valve exercising program for this year. Mr. Benson put together a schedule and map broken
up into quarterly exercises for us to follow.
Mr. Ziko asked do we have a log?
Mr. Dick responded yes. The main flushing program which was brought
up at the last Board meeting has been initiated. We identified all locations with the
exception of Morning Star Cay, and there are workers over there as we speak
trying to find it. If they cannot find
it, they are prepared to tap the main and install a flushing point. However, all the remaining ones have been
initiated. The rule requires a minimum
of quarterly flushing. However, it may
have to be done more frequently depending on the water quality, but we will
establish a schedule to determine the water quality. During summer months when some of the
residents go up north it may need to be done more frequently in order to
maintain the water quality.
Mr. Ziko stated I noticed the other
day when they broke the water main Mr. Stephens manually set off the automatic
flushers. Is this procedure of flushing
all the dead ends going to be instituted whenever we lose water?
Mr. Dick responded without fire
hydrants he has to find another location to do the flushing, which will be
these dead end locations.
Mr. Ziko stated when we break a main
line containing potable water we do not care about flushing the fire hydrants.
Mr. Dick stated since we do not have
hydrants available, we have to use these points to flush out any sand or debris
which has gotten into the mains.
Mr. Ziko asked is he going to flush
all the dead ends?
Mr. Dick responded if all the
hydrants were tied to the potable water lines, standard practice is to get
upstream and downstream of the break. It
may not be necessary to go all the way to Newport Cay when the break is on this
side. It depends where the break is located. They want to do an adequate job of flushing since
bacteriological testing is required. It
will be on a case by case basis as to how many flush points will be used.
Mr. Benson stated it sounds as if
you chose the two farthest points in the system, which is the safest way to do
this.
Mr. Ziko stated this is great for
residents living at the end of Wilderness and
Mr. Dick stated the stream of water
is going to go past your street, and the contaminants will go to the least
point of resistance and out this particular point.
Mr.
Benson mentioned the break on April 17th at the new Stella Maris
project. It was a 2” service line going
to one of the condominiums. We isolated
the break to remain in compliance with pressure and storage. Although we did not fix the line, it will be
our practice in the future. We were
close to running out of water, and I want to thank Mr. Bissell for helping
us. He actually found the leak and we
had approximately 45 minutes of storage remaining, and it was in a location
which was difficult to see. We received
DEP certification for the water main from Mr. Burgesson and we have a copy at
the plant.
There
has been a lot of discussion about the Orchid Cove water and force main taps,
and I believe we have gotten the contractor’s attention. Whether they follow all of our requests and
demands remains to be seen, but I believe they realize they cannot do whatever
they please without repercussions from the Board. We are asking them for schedules so we can
witness and inspect taps or holding them accountable for the water and
procedures they use. Although I believe
we have come a long way, we want to go further with this, but compared to other
past issues we made many improvements, and we are going to have these projects
done in a well-organized manner. We will
bill them for the water which is used whether it is for flushing or pressure testing. I am pleased we made this progress on our end. We established some procedures with Mr.
Stephens and his staff. For example, meters
will not be set without proof of DEP certification on the new mains in order to
avoid the problem we had at the Stella Maris project.
Mr.
Benson discussed the filter rehab, which is actually complete. All the new parts were put in and we are currently
disinfecting the filter. Although we
have not put the new filter media on line, it is complete and we anticipate
putting this in service in the next couple of days.
All
of you received an electronic copy of the landscaping RFP put together by OLM,
and I also brought a hard copy today for marking up. Mr. Michael Lackey of OLM, Inc. is here from
Mr.
Lackey stated we prepared a Class A RFP for your property which we use through
the state of
Mr. Lambert asked do you have contractors
you have worked with previously in this area who will bid on this?
Mr.
Lackey responded we have several. I come
to the
Mr. Lambert asked are you the
inspector we will see here?
Mr.
Lackey responded yes.
Ms. Dillon asked will you be the
first person we talk to if we believed something was not being done correctly?
Mr.
Lackey responded yes, and I will facilitate this procedure
with whomever you decide to choose as the contractor.
Ms. Dillon stated we have had a
terrible problem with watering. The
sprinklers run on the wrong days at the wrong times. I do not understand why this is so difficult,
since most of us have sprinklers at our homes.
Mr.
Lackey stated it is a matter of proper management and maintenance of the
system. We did a site visit last month
and again this month. Before I came to
this meeting I drove through the site and noticed several issues and problems
which you are presenting.
Mr. Lambert asked have we given you
direction to issue this bid?
Mr.
Lackey responded that is correct and the reason for this meeting today was to
present this to you. We will be
accepting any suggestions or revisions from you, which we hope to have back on Monday in order to be able to verify
them. I have set up a timeline with Mr.
Dick from
Mr. Lambert asked will any new
employee coming to work on this site be drug screened or is it done randomly?
Mr.
Lackey responded a newly hired landscape contractor usually goes through an
initial drug screen and any incident or issue gives cause for random testing.
Mr. Ziko asked have you looked at
the previous contract dated February 1998 to see how the breakdown was made on
scheduled details of items?
Mr.
Lackey responded I did have a copy of it.
Mr. Ziko asked can you possibly
incorporate something like this into your bidding procedure in order for us to
see what they are coming back with?
Mr.
Lackey responded the RFP we sent you has a breakdown in the back for pricing, a
seasonal color breakdown, as well as a frequency chart which will give you the
total unit cost for each item and the total cost for all items included.
Mr. Ziko stated it looks good, but
this one gives a breakdown of what should be done to each area, whereas yours
is generalized.
Mr.
Lackey stated we can break it down into different sections and provide pricing
phases for each area.
Mr. Ziko stated if you sent your RFP
to a landscape contractor it will be difficult for him to bid on whereas this
one will be quite easy to bid on because of the way it is broken down along
with the map of the area of what the landscape contractor is expected to do.
Mr.
Lackey stated the map and verbal direction will be included with this RFP, but we
are going to revise the map and ensure it is correct before it goes out.
Mr. Lambert stated supposedly the
county is going to landscape the center area between the road and we agreed to
maintain the area when this happens.
Obviously, this is going to require workers to wear reflective vests and
add signage among other things. I do not
know where they are at with this process and I do not know how to incorporate
it at this point in time with what we are doing with you.
Mr.
Lackey asked is there a landscape plan implemented for this?
Mr. Lambert responded I do not know
whether or not any Board member has this.
The woman previously in charge of this died. However, I was able to pull out an email
Patricia sent which basically listed all the people she worked with at the
county and state to get this done.
Ms. Dillon stated I wonder if Mr.
Lackey can get with Dennis.
A
resident stated he can give him a call.
If anyone has input, it is Dennis and he has been working with Mr.
Colletta.
Ms. Dillon stated I have been
looking for someone in the community to pick it up, but I will not do this now.
Mr. Lambert stated this information
has a list of people to contact.
Mr.
Lackey stated my only comment is if we did want to try to price this for the
contractor, they will need a plan to see exactly what they are going to
maintain because it is going to be difficult if it is not there for pricing.
Mr. Lambert asked how difficult will
it be to add that on later?
Mr.
Lackey responded it is not difficult.
You can always add amendments to the RFP.
Mr. Lambert stated I do not recall
seeing it in here, but as long as it is something we can add on without having
to re-do the entire bidding process.
Mr.
Lackey stated you will be able to enter this in as an amendment to the
contract.
Mr. Lambert stated I do not know
what this means as far as whether or not the contractor would want this job
since it is an extra effort when it gets going.
Mr.
Lackey stated we will be able to price it with the contractor at that point.
A
resident stated I do not know if the sprinklers belong to the condominiums or
exactly what the line is, but they are spraying all over the car.
Mr. Gatti stated this is not part of
this discussion, but it is the type of thing he will look at.
Mr. Lambert stated I understand we
had some water problems this past week when the line broke, and I asked my wife
if anyone informed her we should be boiling water. I did not see a sign on our sign post for our
condominium. Was there any alarm sent
out to residents to boil the water?
Mr. Dick responded I instructed Mr.
Stephens to put it on all the local television stations and in addition, put a
posting at all of the recreations rooms and areas where the sign postings
are. He told me he had already done the
television stations.
Ms. Dillon stated Mr. Stephens said
he was going to have it put on Channel 11 as well.
Mr. Dick stated you are correct, but
he would also make the postings.
Mr. Lambert asked does anyone here
know if it was posted?
Some residents responded no, it was not
done.
Mr.
Lambert stated I believe we are failing when it comes to making a notice and
posting it up on these boards. This is
not the first time we failed to do this, and I suspect unless we change things
it will not be the last.
Mr. Ziko stated we have also asked
that a statement be included on the water bill saying “whenever you lose water
pressure boil your water”.
A
resident asked for how long?
Mr. Dick responded this varies, but we
are supposed to rescind the notice once the bacteriological testing has been
completed, which ideally should be done within 48 hours. If a test fails, we have to re-test, and it may
possibly be three or four days. However,
we are obligated to notify you the water is not safe to drink, but we do not
want to have an open-ended boil water notice, because it defeats the
purpose. People assume they can now
start using the water for consumption, which we do not want. We want to rescind it once we have verified
the water is bacteriologically acceptable.
A
resident asked do we still have to boil our water?
Mr. Dick responded I will have to
give this to the operative since he has to get the results back from the
lab. There is a 24-hour incubation
period. Once we deliver the samples, we
do not get results for 24 hours and it requires two consecutive days. We should have the results today which I
assume are going to be acceptable and we can rescind the notice.
Mr. Gatti stated if everything goes
right, you have to boil water for 48 hours.
A
resident asked since I was not home when the water went off, how will I know?
Mr. Dick responded this is a
challenge we face and we use various methods.
In smaller and more manageable areas we will hand deliver notices door
by door. Unfortunately, this situation
involved the entire system, which is difficult to handle. This happened on
A
resident stated there is a sign post in every area.
Mr. Dick stated we try to get the
message across as much as possible through television, radio and postings.
Mr. Lambert stated in the past at
one time in particular during the hurricane, Mr. Stephens told us he did not
have time to do this. Fortunately, the
sheriff was driving around and took the task on for as many people as
possible. However, we have more help
over there and 10 or 12 notices should be printed out and posted on these
boards.
Mr. Dick stated I agree with you.
Mr. Lambert stated although this is
not 100%, it is much better than what is currently being done.
Mr. Dick stated I agree with you.
Mr. Gatti asked does it make sense
to make up an emergency flyer, which when people see it on the board they are
aware something is happening.
Mr. Lambert stated you can use a
piece of colored paper, and when you drive by and see it, you will know to go
over and read it.
A
resident stated you should have the same color flyer for all emergencies.
Mr. Dick stated those are all good
ideas. In Gateway, there are two main
entrances, and we put a sign up on the road so people driving home will see
it. There are several ways to do
this. The colored paper is a great
idea. However, we will also look at
other ideas.
A
resident stated since renters do not pay the bills, they do not see notices on
billing, and do not look at the boards since it is not of interest to
them. The notice has been focused on the
owners, but there are a large amount of renters, which you may want to
consider.
Ms. Dillon stated people can tell
the renters if they see a yellow notice on a board to read it.
Mr. Lambert stated perhaps a realtor
can sign something this size and we only need three to cover all the property
entrances.
A
resident stated on the beaches they put a flag up when there is an
undertow. We have a large flagpole right
across the entrance. Perhaps you can run
a red flag underneath the American flag which says “do not drink the water”, to
notify the people as well because they need to know what this means.
SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Discussion
of Open Items
Reuse Water for Irrigation
Mr. Ziko stated I believe this is an
ongoing item.
Mr. Benson stated we told you the
price from with the contractor last month, and someone said to wait until the
other project was complete. Do you want
us to ask this contractor to do the work?
Mr. Ziko responded I do not recall
this.
Mr. Benson stated we received three
bids and the lowest bid was a little over $80,000, which was certainly more
than we expected. Do you want us to ask
them to start the project?
Mr. Lambert asked you have the bids
and you are ready to start the work?
Mr. Benson responded we have the
prices and the other equipment which has been sitting at the plant. Should we go ahead and do it?
Mr. Lambert responded I have one
comment, and I was hoping Mr. Goscicki would have the information here. When you look at the revenues which were
budgeted to be brought in this year and our actual amount of revenues which
have come in at this point, we may not come close to what we budgeted. I asked Mr. Goscicki to talk to the county
and determine whether or not we have too much delinquency or when we should
expect our last lump of money to come in from the county. We may want to delay sending these
contractors to work until we know what our income is going to be for the
remainder of the year.
Mr. Bissell stated when we meet on
the budget in two weeks, someone from Severn Trent
should be here with all of this information.
Mr. Lambert stated unless we receive
a sizeable amount of money from the county, we are going to be short on what we
budgeted.
Mr. Bissell asked is the money we
received for the RV park in our report?
Mr. Cox responded it should be since
it was received last year.
Mr. Lambert stated it is in last
year’s budget.
Mr. Ziko stated we should leave this
item until we determine what we are going to do.
Mr. Gatti stated let’s look to get
the information at the budget review and go from there.
Mr. Lambert asked do we have a
timeframe on this estimate with regards to starting the work?
Mr. Benson responded the contractor
with the low price is probably going to have a low price on some work at the
wastewater plant, and he agreed if he gets both projects he will do both at the
same time.
Mr. Lambert asked can hold off on
this a while longer?
Mr. Benson responded yes, and we
also have not been producing irrigation quality water at the plant. Therefore the pumps which will be installed
will not be used immediately. All of
this relates to this permit which is going to clarify it, although the existing
permit had some provisions to use the line.
Entrance Monuments
Mr. Ziko stated this has already
been discussed.
Mr. Ziko stated since our last
meeting I have not been able to get in touch with the people involved. We will try again and ask if they can give us
a presentation. However, I do not believe
they know what is going on after reading the local newspaper.
Discrepancy Between Gallons of Water Pumped and Gallons Billed
Mr. Ziko stated Mr. Dick briefed us
on this subject. Since he is working on
it, we will keep it on the list.
Paint Fire Hydrants
Mr. Ziko stated the fire department
told us they wanted to paint them, but some of them were painted the wrong
color, as we discussed earlier.
Research Capacity of
Facilities with Possibility of adding additional ERCs
Mr. Ziko stated Chief Wilson is
going to update us on the fire station.
Mr. Mack stated Mr. Holecek will
explain his position to the Board.
Mr.
Gasaway stated we have this parcel of land on the east side, north of your
plant, which is approximately 2.9 acres.
Do you know what you will use for acreage?
Mr. Mack responded the fire station
needs approximately 1½ acres, so the balance will be what we talked about for
the back of the plant.