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HomeMy Public PortalAbout100_INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA 1-13-11INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES CITY OF TYBEE ISLAND January 13, 2011 5 pm Attendees: Paul Wolff, Kathryn Williams, Bill Lovett, Barry Brown, Bill Garbett, George Reese and Diane Schleicher. Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. Paul Wolff called the meeting to order and asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting, with the changes that were made. Kathryn Williams moved to approve. Bill Garbett seconded. New Business: Coastal Hydrowatch and USGS Paul Wolff explains, with this program, this will be a real time monitor that will give constant numbers on levels of salt in our wells. USGS is willing to pay $5000 and the City of Tybee to pay $10,000. USGS would provide maintenance for the life of the project, do all the data collection and report the findings. George Reese verified that this will include all 4 wells at the plant, not the production wells. Explained that with this “real time” monitoring, if there is a problem, the City would be notified immediately via email. Currently, the wells are tested once a year. Diane Schleicher asked if George has the $10,000 in his budget for this project. George says yes, and will look at budget to verify. George & Diane agree that this is very important. George explains that this project would benefit Tybee especially if the Savannah River dredging affects our wells. Ft. Screven well would be affected first but with this “real time” monitoring, we would know immediately and be able to shut down the well before it would be able to contaminate the whole system. Paul Wolff states that a geologic study from the CORE shows that the thinnest layer, of the confining layer of the aquifer, is right adjacent to Tybee. Paul states that if they come in and cut the channel that is where it would be most vulnerable. Paul asked for a motion to accept the USGS offer of $5000 towards a $15,000 system to monitor salt water in “real time”. Bill Garbett so moved. Kathryn Williams seconded. The vote was unanimous. Old Business: I. HISTORIC BUTLER AVENUE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY PROJECT A. Concept Report Approved - December 12, 2010 Bill Lovett states that HGBD is proceeding as if they (EPD & DOT) had approved the Concept report. B. Design Variance 1. Comments Received and Addressed 2. Awaiting Approval C. Environmental Document 1. Special Studies (4) Approved 2. Categorical Exclusion (CE) Submitted D. Schedule HGBD Requested Revised Schedule Bill Lovett states that when the DOT sees that we do not need a right-a-way acquisition, then we can hopefully move this schedule up dramatically. Bill states that this is a 5 ½ month construction project that takes 3 years to get approval by DOT. Paul Wolff states he thought we were on target to start after Pirate’s Fest this year. Bill verified that is the date they’re shooting for. Representative/Senatorial Help? Bill Lovett states he has already talked with Buddy Carter on this matter and he said he would be happy to help. Paul asked if the Speaker Pro Tem of the House would be able to help. Bill states he will get with Eric Johnson and have him contact her. II. TYBEE GREENWAY/BIKE TRAIL TE GRANT APPLICATIONS A. TE Grant total Estimated Cost $353,320 ($280,798 of Federal Funding and $72,522 of SPLOST and In-Kind Funding). B. DNR Grant total Estimated Cost of Shorter section of same trail $119,240 ($95,392 of State Funding and $23,848 of SPLOST and In-Kind Funding) C. Grant Application Submitted – City will use one or the other depending on success with grant award. 1. Diane Schleicher states we will not know anything on either one of the Grants until late spring. 2. Diane explains there are 2 grants for the same area. One is for the shorter section (DNR), the other for the larger area (TE). Diane shows the specific areas on the plans. III. TYBEE ISLAND WATERSHED ASSESSMENT Submitted to EPD in December Bill Lovett explains that this Watershed assessment will ultimately lead to a Watershed Protection Plan. OCEAN DISCHARGE! Bill states that Tybee is an ocean discharge. We have recently submitted Tybee’s renewal for your NPDS permit stating that your discharge is to the Atlantic Ocean. When the EPD comes out with new Wastewater discharge limits, the limits are suppose to cover just the River discharges from Augusta to Ft. Pulaski. If, for some reason, the EPD were to extend it to the Atlantic Ocean, and Tybee was caught in that extension, it would create a significant upgrade to your Waste Water Treatment Plant. Very important to maintain that Ocean discharge. When George and Jennifer put the EPD application together, they pointed out that Tybee is an ocean discharge, not Savannah River. George Reese states that he received a letter from the EPD stating that the mouth of the Savannah River starts at Ft. Pulaski. Our permits have always said “Savannah River Discharge” but we requested the permit be changed to “Ocean Discharge”. IV. WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT IMPROVEMENTS A. Belt Filter Press 1. Replace in Kind?? Estimated Cost Savings of $250,000± ($500,000 to $250,000) Bill Lovett states that the cost of the Belt Filter Press system would run anywhere from $450,000 to $500,000, which would be replacing everything. If you did just the Belt Press itself, you could do it for $250,000. Discussion on weather to go with the new Belt Press itself or continue with present one and continue to replace parts as needed. George Reese states that if we go with a new Belt Press, we wouldn’t have a back up but we would have a new Belt Press that should last about 20 years. Explains that this time of the year, they don’t need to run the Belt Press, but in the busy summer months, it is run everyday. Suggests waiting to look at next year’s budget to see if we can budget for this. Diane Schleicher states that it sounds like we need to go with the new Belt Press (not the whole system) due to monies being tight. Clarifier George states that if we have a high flow this summer, due to volume of tourists, the Clarifier could go down. Then you take the risks of putting pollutants out in the ocean. Diane states that if the City continues to borrow money, your debt service becomes a bigger percentage of your operating costs. With our current economy, our source of revenue is going down. Bill Garbett states that our revenues from the Water/Sewer aren’t coming from land taxes. It comes from user fees. If that’s what it takes to keep this thing running, then I think we’re obligated to do it. C. Funding Source 1. Bond Issue a. Bonding Firm Review at No Cost 2. 12-24 Month Surcharge Fee Diane states we just raised our water rates to the third tier which was designed to get us out of the hole, to make us even. If we could come up with a strategy, where we put a surcharge on just the sewer, for a 12-24 month period, and that money would go into a separate fund, we could pay for this. The monthly surcharge would be around $12/month. Bill Lovett said the $12/month is just for the Clarifier. If you combine the two (adding the Belt Press) it would be around $20/month. Paul Wolff states Mary mentioned $40/month for 1 year, but says that’s a tough sale. George states we should wait to see the figures on the new budget. Maybe the Belt Press could come out of the budget itself, and worry about the Clarifier on a separate issue, instead of trying to combine the two of them. States he already has $1,000,000 debt now. Paul states if we are looking at a cost of $1,300,000, with 3000 customers that would be $18/month for 24 months, per customer. Explains that we need to let the residents know that this is not an option. We’ve got to do it one way or the other. We can either borrow the money and pay for it over time, or go with the surcharge and explain to the customers that they are getting the best value for their dollar because we’re not borrowing the money. Bill Lovett asked, with the City’s “Water First Community Designation”, why don’t go out and borrow the money from GEFA and pay back the money over 20 years. You could add this to the water bills as a base fee, and that way, the people benefiting from it are paying for it, over 20 years. Bill explains that Jennifer presented some figures at the last meeting regarding a GEFA loan. With a $1,500,000 GEFA loan, at 2.81% interest rate, the monthly payment would be $8,180. Divide that by 3000 customers, and it would cost $2.70/month, per customer, for 20 years. Diane states that before we borrow, we have to be convinced that we are going to raise the sewer rates enough to cover that loan. Paul would like some clarification on how much we can borrow based on our annual budget. I think we’re close to our limit now. If we borrow another $1,500,000, we are locked in. If we have an emergency, we will not be able to borrow any more money. Bill Lovett states, the general thinking now is, the fair way to do that is, your base charge pays your debt service and your consumption charge pays the operation. Kathryn Williams suggested to get Mary Hogan’s input on this and any additional information that Bill Lovett may have. Paul suggests before our next meeting, we want a comparison of doing either a surcharge of $18/month for 24 months, float a Bond Issue, a GEFA loan, or revising the tier rate schedule. V. COMPLETED PROJECTS A. Crosswalks and Signage B. Butler Avenue Handicapped Ramps 14th Street Drainage Kathryn Williams states she has not looked lately, and this issue may have already been addressed, but when walking on 14th St. there are some areas, not all, where there is a significant drop off from the pavement to the ground. Enough to break an ankle if you stepped off. VI. PROJECTS ON HOLD A. Chatham Avenue to Pump Station No. 2 Sewer Line B. Pump Station 3 and 6 Force Main Replacement Highway 80 Water System Improvements Paul asked George about what water lines still need replaced. George explained from 1st St. (the curve) on Hwy 80 West to N. Campbell up to Van Horne. Paul would like the footage on that. Paul asked if George could create a priority list with what water lines need to be replaced, in what order, how many feet of pipe and size that will be needed. With no further discussion or new business, Kathryn Williams motioned to adjourn. Paul Wolff seconded. “A quorum of city council members may be present which would constitute a meeting” Respectfully submitted by Karen Reese on 02/09/2011