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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-09-21 WUCFD MINUTESWATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (APACHE JUNCTION WATER COMPANY) CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 21,2004 The regular meeting of the District Board of the Water Utilities Community Facilities District (Apache Junction Water Company),City of Apache Junction,Arizona,was held on September 21,2004,at the Apache Junction City Council Chambers pursuant to the notice required by law. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Coleman called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. ROLL CALL Board Members Present:Chairperson Douglas Coleman Vice Chairperson R.E.Eck Mr.Rick Dietz Mr.John Insalaco Mr.Brian Milkey Mr.Kris Sippel Mr.Dave Waldron Staff Present:George Hoffman,District Manager Kathleen Connelly,District Clerk John White,District Finance Manager Doug Dobson,District Operating Manager Brian Hall,District Water Superintendent Others Present:Assistant City Manager Bryant Powell PURCHASE OF ONE NEW F-250 CREW CAB PICKUP TRUCK FROM FIVE STAR FORD THROUGH STATE OF ARIZONA PROCUREMENT OFFICE )District Water Superintendent Brian Hall briefed the board on the item.They have budgeted to replace the vehicle he is currently driving.Certification requirements require them to send at least one person per month into Phoenix for a day:there have been times when as many as 3 pick ups have had to make the trip to Phoenix.He Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 1 of 13 believes the best value with the most size would be this crew cab pick up. It is within the budgeted amount and i t is through state purchasing program. Chairperson Coleman opened the item to discussion.There being no discussion,he called for a motion. Vice Chairperson Eck MOVED THAT THE PURCHASE OF ONE NEW F-250 CREW CAB PICK UP TRUCK FROM FIVE STAR FORD THROUGH THE STATE OF ARIZONA PROCUREMENT OFFICE APPROVED VENDOR LIST IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $25,949.99 BE APPROVED. Mr.Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. PURCHASE OF THREE 6"SINGLE JET METERS AND ONE 4"SINGLE JET METER FROM METRON FARNIER )District Water Superintendent Brian Hall briefed the board on the item.He stated they brought a project to the board last fiscal year to upgrade our ability for fire flow on some of the master meter communities and in an effort to take care of some of the unaccounted for water.They have 8 large master meters;seven 6"meters and one 4"meter that were due to be replaced.Last year the board approved the purchase of 4 of those meters;3 have been installed and are operating as expected,the last one will be installed next week.They would like to purchase the remaining meters. Vice Chairperson Eck asked if they are putting in the Hersey anymore. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they are not.They are going with the single jet meters.They stay away from the disk meters and the piston meters because of the aggressiveness of the water.It slows them down.The single jet meters have one moving part and register very well.They do not require a bypass meter. Vice Chairperson Eck asked if they are changing the checks out along with theleter. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,_.2004 Page 2 of 13 District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they have a new strainer and no check valve.Everything goes through the meter._ •-Vice Chairperson Eck asked if they put new check valves in downstream from them. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated there' are no check valves.A check valve is required on a compound so that a low flow can be forced through a 2"line. Vice Chairperson Eck commented there is generally a check valve downstream from this meter.If the check valve is not working properly,that is where there can be water loss. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall asked if he meant to run the meter backwards. Vice Chairperson Eck commented the water sneaks through the low flows on the bigger meters. District Water Superintendent Brian 'Hall stated these meters measure a real low flow.All of these applications have their own RP device or double check valve downstream from the meter. The actual check valve that was on the compound that forced the bypass is no longer needed. Vice Chairperson Eck commented they should be ready for the complaints when the bills go up. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they have already heard some. Chairperson Coleman closed the discussion with no further comments and called for a motion. Mr.Insalaco MOVED THAT THE PURCHASE OF THREE 6"SINGLE JET METERS AND ONE 4"SINGLE JET METER FROM METRON FARNIER,A SOLE SOURCE SUPPLIER,IN THE BASE AMOUNT OF $20,905.00 PLUS APPLICABLE SALES TAX AND APPROXIMATELY $750.00 FOR SHIPPING BE APPROVED. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 3 of 13 Mr.Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. PURCHASE OF ONE WACHS TM/7 TRAILER MOUNTED VALVE EXERCISER WITH HIGH PRESSURE WATER AND VACUUM FROM BALAR EQUIPMENT )District Water Superintendent Brian Hall briefed the board on the item.He stated this is another item in this year's budget.This will free the valves up.Exercising valves is a standard preventative maintenance thing they have to do in water systems. Our valves get tough from the salts and potassium in the water and they get hard to operate.They have sent people out as often as possible to manually exercise valves,but with the way the valves are,it takes two people to do it.This machine is computer controlled and torques the valves up and down. It has an overload sensor on i t so that the valves will not be broken when they are done.They are hoping to make the valves operate more smoothly and close more completely.The item is $420.76 over what -was budgeted when tax is included,but they save more than that on the next item on the agenda.It is all out of the same line item. Chairperson Coleman opened the item to board discussion.There being no discussion,he called for a motion. Mr.Waldron MOVED THAT THE PURCHASE OF ONE WACHS TM/7 TRAILER MOUNTED VALVE EXERCISER WITH HIGH PRESSURE WATER AND VACUUM FROM BALAR EQUIPMENT IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $47,920.76 BE APPROVED. Mr.Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. PURCHASE OF ONE USED 2002 KUBOTA K0089 COMPACT EXCAVATOR FROM BINGHAM EQUIPMENT) Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 4 of 13 )District Water Superintendent Brian Hall briefed the council on the item.He stated this was also budgeted for this year.This will help with the problem they have had in the past with narrow alleys 8'to 10'wide that they cannot get equipment into to assist with excavation when they have line breaks and services to install. They could only do it with a shovel.They have gone to bid for used machinery and received 3 bids.They asked for machines under 500 hours of use;this machine has 287 hours of use.The tracks adjust in and out;it can be adjusted to drive through a 3'wide .doorway.It will go almost 6'deep and has a 14"bucket on it.It has almost 2,000 pounds of break out force. Chairperson Coleman opened the item to board discussion.There being no discussion,he called for a motion. Mr.Dietz MOVED THAT THE PURCHASE OF ONE USED 2002 KUBOTA K0089 COMPACT EXCAVATOR FROM BINGHAM EQUIPMENT IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $14,886.06 BE APPROVED. Mr.Waldron SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. DISTRICT OPERATIONS MANAGER REPORT District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated the first item is the Mesa Interconnect Agreement.They are waiting for the language from the district counsel in the paragraph for the term of the agreement.Once the term has been approved by the Department of Water Resources and Mesa,they will be ready to finish the agreement.They will then purchase the land.They are at 95%on the plans for the interconnection,and will hold off finishing them until the agreement is completed.Regarding the assured water designation, he had a call from one of the developers yesterday on what he thought was a notice from the Arizona Department of Water Resources but was instead an approval from Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to construct his water lines.He talked to Pam Nagle at the Department of Water Resources today who indicated the hydrologist had completed the review but they had passed it on to a man who has to look at the computer model used by the consultant.She assured him she was starting to get embarrassed at the length of time this was taking.She would start putting some pressure on the Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 5 of 13 people across the hall.They are out to bid on painting the two smaller storage tanks.The estimate was about $30,000;he is not sure what kind of bids they will get back.The bids close September 29;it will be on the next agenda.It is a budgeted maintenance item.He had given them a draft of the water conservation plan this evening.He wanted them aware of some things this evening;they may have to rely on a water conservation plan sooner than later.A week ago he got a letter from the City of Mesa stating they would not be able to deliver our Central Arizona Project water to us through the Arizona Water Interconnect in January and February of 2005 and 2006 due to needed maintenance to their treatment plant.They notified the district so it can plan accordingly.Last week he reviewed the 50%plans for equipping Well #8 and it would make up the difference if it were up and running.They might have been able to be a little further ahead on the arsenic treatment i f they had been advised earlier.They can get a little more water out of Well #6 with the current blend.They have been resting Well #5,the primary well, with the interconnect,and that is the low arsenic well.The wells should be rested occasionally every 24 hours.He will service Well #5 in late December and assume it will run round the clock for a couple of months.They will only make up about half of the water they will lose with the interconnect. They may need to look a little harder in the next month or two at a conservation plan.The plan sets 4 stages of drought and identifies what a drought is.The plan will be brought up at future meetings.He commented on the information and recommendations about the type of treatment in treating Well #6 for arsenic.He had supplied the board with a memo and spread sheet regarding this.The district is not looking to bid a system right now.They are looking for budgetary numbers to compare the systems.The absorption method with renewable media numbers is slightly higher than the absorption method with disposable media.The advantages of it are some of the operating functions,the ease of operation,and the ability for staff to change the skid out that has the plant on it.It is still pretty expensive.They narrowed it down to the ion exchange and the coagulation filtration.He believes the disposable media will be too expensive for this small system. The ion exchange has a cost of operation per 1,000 gallons of 58 cents.The estimated operating cost annually would be $151,000.The operating cost annually for coagulation filtration would be $86,000.That is very conservative.The operating costs per 1,000 gallons under the chemical and electricity line item shows 11 cents.He inflated that 150%from what the company told him because he did not believe them.He did not have a lot of independent information when he started to put this together,but he is getting some now.Park City,Utah treats in excess of a 100 parts per billion with one of these plants.They gave him a feed rate slightly above Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 .• Page 6 of 13 S . : the feed rate that the consultant gave him for our system.He believes the numbers may be fairly accurate.He has received a letter from the consultant guaranteeing that the district will not exceed 150$ of the original estimate of chemical use:they believe it could be run with less chemical than what was estimated the first time.There are some advantages to the ion exchange. There is a water service agreement that they provide.They come in and change the filters,contract to get the salts and the chemicals brought in. and pay for them.They contract arrange,and pay for the disposal of the precipitated arsenic and the waste materials.The initial estimate for capital equipment funding was.reduced again today from $850,000 to $800,000 or a little below.They also offer a lease.It is an initial 10 year lease; the lease is being .considered because if they get 5 years down the road and find a different method out there that they would like to use,the district would have an option to do that..There still needs to be some negotiating on the lease:they were shown a lease option for 10 years or 5 years,yet later stated there would be a penalty if the equipment was turned back in after 5 years.They initially stated the district could buy i t for $561,000 after 5 years,getting half credit for the money paid during the lease.At the end of a 10 year lease,they still wanted $440,000 for the equipment.It is now $488,00.0 after 5 years and $180,000 after 10 years.The major difference is that there would be some flexibility with the lease.However,it might be worth buying i t up front due to the amount of the buyout.The other suppliers stated they would offer a lease,but i t is basically installment funding-.They did not want the equipment back.He recommended the coagulation filtration due to the reasonableness of the operating costs.The district engineer is also leaning that way after looking over all the information., Mr.'Dietz asked how close they are to having Well #8 running. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they reviewed the 50% drawings andspecifications last week.He was told by the consultant that they would have 95% plans ready in three weeks for them to review and approve.The well will probably not be pumping water until March or April. Mr.Waldron asked if the absorption and disposal media under the least cost is .018. District.Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated note 1 states i t represents the estimated cost to service a Water Infrastructure Finance Authority loan for capital costs at 4%for 20 years. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minute S of September 21,2004 Page 7 of 13 Mr.Waldron commented it would then be at .018. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated that is a mistake.It is at 18 cents. Mr.Dietz commented i t seems that the coagulation is better even though i t is a little higher rent cost capital -wise.The cost of running it will be better in the long run. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated he has already told the principal on that project that if the district decided to go that route without a lease,a request for proposal must be submitted because they would be dbing a design build.They want a team of engineers,equipment,suppliers and contractors to propose how they would put one of these together and how much it would cost.He told the principal that he questioned the amount of money that the contractor put in there to put the system together and do some on -site improvements.They need a "T"in the transition line,a new standpipe to the tank on Baseline,some control wires from the probes on that tank,a concrete pad,a building to house the chemicals,a recovery system to recover all the backwash water and retreat it,some sludge built,a dry bed, and to change the fencing to allow access to the well.The $941,000 had $450,000 in labor,and he does not think i t is that much.He has applied to Water Infrastructure Finance Authority for $776,000 to do the project.He intends to make i t under that budget.He has shown them the worst case scenario:i t only gets better after this.The advantage to the ion exchange is that they are begging the district to do a demonstration project with their system in the valley and they have one ready to go.He was thinking i f they had that'on line by December 31,he would not have to worry about the pinch in water.There would be plenty. Mr.Insalaco asked _if the water shortage will only be in January and February.. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated that is correct.- Mr.Insalaco commented they will hopefully get enough rain so that people will not have to water their lawns and wash their driveways. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they could hope for that. Unlike other cities that use the least amount of their water in those months, we have a peak at that time because of the winter visitors.We have talked Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 8 of 13. about conservation and drought plans in the past,and he has looked at other cities to work this up.There may be a need to actually have a plan in place and implement a stage of this plan which may tell customers they can only water outside on even days or odd days.If it gets bad enough,they could see a stage where they could only water outside one day a week.They could only water trees and could not wash their car or their driveways.They would have to take their cars to commercial carwashes.It may seem drastic because people have been used to the district selling them the water.It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that have caused this situation,but i t is an eye opener to the future when they have the direct connection and the full 2,900 acre feet of surface water available,they will still have to continue to develop wells for times when the Central Arizona Project is down.They may not plan on pumping the wells year round at 100%,but they will have to have that capacity as the city grows so that they have a back up. Chairperson Coleman commented the earlier they can let people know to conserve,the better. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated he plans starting a plan in October where every two weeks they do some education and as they get closer to it,they will have more detailed articles explaining the nature of the incident and why i t is important that people do what they need to do.There have been times when the wells have been down for 4 to 6 weeks,and they have sent letters out and news releases out asking people to conserve.They were able to buy extra water at that time for a little more money.However, Arizona Water is in the same situation we are because Mesa treats their Central Arizona Project water.Judd Williams has told him that if they get the water from somewhere,they will be glad to help the city as much as possible.During those periods of time,people have called to see if the conditions still exist because they want to fill their pools,and they have been asked to wait another 4 or 5 days.The people have been nice enough to- do that.But you could not have told the difference on those days for the demand for water daily during those periods of time. Vice Chairperson Eck commented they may have gotten paranoid and started filling jugs up. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated that is possible.He does not want to panic anyone:they are coming to the first place where they are trying to get a 100 year supply on the books.This is the first time they have had a pinch on wet water.They will be alright,but they have to do Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 9 of 13 some things.He will also research to see if there will be ways to purchase water from other cities and have i t delivered through Mesa and Arizona Water. He just thought he should bring this to the board's attention. Vice Chairperson Eck commented this is because they received a letter stating the treatment plant would be down so they could not receive the Central Arizona Project allotment. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated that is correct. Vice Chairperson Eck commented that this is the tie-in that they are getting the Arizona Water from. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated that is correct.It would not matter if they had a direct connection at this time. Vice Chairperson Eck commented he realized that.They have had this tie-in forever and have used the water for years and years.He finds i t ironic that there is a problem because of the Central Arizona Project allotment.They have used water from Arizona Water for decades. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they have purchased water from Arizona Water.There are basically two agreements;there is the 3 -way wheeling agreement wherein Mesa treats the portion of our Central Arizona Project allotment,and there is the old emergency connection agreement where in an emergency we just buy water from Arizona Water Company.Arizona Water Company has a portion of their Central Arizona Project water treated by Mesa, therefore they will be short during this period of time also.When he got the letter from Water Production Superintendent Harry Brown,he called him and asked if they had sufficient wells to where they could sell the district some water 'outside of the Central Arizona Project agreement.Harry stated they would not as they would be tight on water,also.He then called Judd, who was not sure how it would affect them,who stated he thought Mesa could take some additional Salt River Project water and they could possibly sell that. Vice Chairperson Eck stated the new plant it going to be down. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall asked if that is the only surface water plant. Water Utilities Community Facilities DiStrict,. Meeting Minutes of September 21,.2004 Page 10 of 13 Vice Chairperson Eck commented the east plant will be down and the west plant will be having a repair dohe.They will be on groundwater.He had thought Arizona Water would have an adequate supply. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall repeated Judd had told him that i f they had the water they would be happy to sell it to the district.He wanted them to be aware of the options available.Part of the process may be to move ahead with the conservation plan.The draft conservation plan states i t will be instigated by the district manager or their designee reporting to the water board with the board giving final approval for initiation of a stage of the plan.They do not have to implement an approved plan in January or February of 2005,,They also need to determine if this is just a water district plan or whether the City of Apache Junction would like to adopt a draft plan.He has also mentioned this to Judd Williams of Arizona Water. The council may look at i t and decide i t is good for the entire city.He, does not believe it would be offensive to Arizona Water Company.-He asked i f the board had any direction on the arsenic treatment,such as pursuing some proposals from design/build teams or coagulation filtration. The board consensus was that it would be the best way to go. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated there are some advantages in the ion exchange as they will come in and take care of part of it for us. But he believes the other process is simple enough where it will not take a lot of staff time to operate once i t is in place.It is also less expensive to operate. DISTRICT MANAGER REPORT District Manager George Hoffman reminded the board that there were some on the council who smirked when we put in waterless urinals in the new city hall and now they are finding out just how farsighted staff was on the issue.He had talked to the city manager and,unknowing of this issue with the water supply;he advised he had talked to the parks and recreation director about scaling back on the city's watering of various green spaces.There will be a scaling back this year so there will be more brown turf than in previous years.He then read an email from Bill Farrell advising he would not be able to make the meeting tonight due to 'personal issues but he had sent the draft of the Mesa Interconnect to be distributed to the board this evening.Mr. Farrell would be forwarding the draft to Charles Cahoy along with an apology for the delay.Mr.Farrell believes the terms will be acceptable to all Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes .of September 21,2004 Page 11 of 13 parties.Mr.Farrell also suggested discussing the possibility of seeking other outside counsel to assist the board as he cannot see his work load or health issues changing over the next 60 days.Mr.Farrell feels he has failed the board in this important task,and hopes to be in his office on Wednesday and will contact the district at that time.He stated Mr.Farrell has had some profound health issues on the home front which can be very disconcerting.• DISTRICT TREASURER REPORT None. DISTRICT COUNSEL REPORT None. MOTION FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 6:30 P.M. ON TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER 21,2004,IN THE CITY CONFERENCE ROOM FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSULTATION FOR LEGAL ADVICE WITH THE DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY REGARDING PROPOSED INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF MESA FOR INTERCONNECT SERVICES ) )Item cancelled due to inability of district counsel to attend the meeting. ADJOURNMENT )Chairperson Coleman adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p.m. ACCEPTED THIS 7TH DAY OF DECEMBER ,2004,BY THE CHAIRPERSON AND DISTRICT BOARD OF THE WATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (APACHE JUNCTION WATER COMPANY),CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA. SIGNED AND ATTESTED TO THIS 7TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2004. Douglas Cleman Chairperson Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 12 of 13 ATTEST: Kathleen Connelly District Clerk WATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT MINUTES CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the .regular meeting of the Water Utilities Community Facilities District of the City of Apache Junction,Arizona,held on the 21st day of September,2004.I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 22nd day of October,2004. Kathleen Connelly District Clerk Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of September 21,2004 Page 13 of 13