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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOARD MINUTES 09-08-03 33 MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR BOARD MEETING OF THE DISTRICT BOARD OF THE CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT HELD ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2003 The District Board of the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District convened in an adjourned regular session at the Collection System Operations Division Offices, 1250 Springbrook Road, Walnut Creek, County of Contra Costa, State of California, at 2:30 p.m. on September 8, 2003. In the necessary absence of President Nejedly, President Pro Tem Lucey called the meeting to order and requested that the Secretary call roll. 1. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Members: Menesini, Boneysteele, Hockett, Lucey ABSENT: Members: Nejedly 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS None 3. COLLECTION SYSTEM OPERATIONS CSO DIVISION OVERVIEW a. OPENING REMARKS Mr. Charles W. Batts, General Manager, stated that the Board had expressed some concern with regard to operations at CSO when the District changed leadership and was facing new regulations. A Board workshop was held in April 2002 to discuss these issues, and the Board has received periodic updates since that time. Mr. Batts introduced Mr. John Pearl, Collection System Operations (CSO) Division Manager, who thanked CSO staff, particularly Administrative Secretary Roseanna Barrett and Information Systems Specialist Ralph Bates for their assistance is preparing for this workshop. Mr. Pearl introduced CSO staff present today: Field Operations Superintendent Bill Echols, Maintenance Supervisor Tifton Gantt, Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance Supervisor Rich Boylan, Pumping Stations Superintendent Steve Considine, Field Operations Superintendent Don Rhoads, and Director of Operations Jim Kelly. Mr. Pearl reviewed the proposed agenda for this workshop, and noted that there will be optional tours and demonstrations at the end of the workshop. Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance Supervisor Rich Boylan and Field Operations Supervisor Don Rhoads will be available to answer questions on the vehicle shop; Information Systems Specialist Ralph Bates will provide computer demonstrations, Maintenance Crew Leaders Paul Crouch and Penny Binder will be available to answer questions concerning cleaning equipment, the "Night Owl" TV system will be highlighted by Maintenance Crew Leader Dante Marchetti, Field Operations Superintendent Don Rhoads will describe facility upgrade locations, and Maintenance Supervisor Tifton Gantt and Maintenance Crew Leader Steve Sauter will be available to answer questions concerning construction. b. CSO FIELD OPERATIONS Mr. Pearl stated that CSO cleans, inspects, and repairs sewer lines; tracks, monitors, and responds to overflows; handles Underground Service Alert (USA) requests, locates lines; maintains the recycled water distribution system; responds to both internal and external customers; and works within a federal, state, and regional regulation-driven arena. Mr. Pearl noted that as regulatory and public perception is changing, CSO is changing to meet the new challenges. Lastly, in all things, CSO works safely. Mr. Pearl reported that it has been 868 days since the last lost time accident and 161 days since the last poison oak problem. 09 08 03 34 Mr. Pearl stated that a big issue for CSO is overflows. Overflows occur primarily in the older sections of the District system. Staff has talked with the Board about the "overflow crescent" where a large percentage of the overflows occur and there is a large amount of 6-inch clay pipe. The approach being used in this area is to do more sewer cleaning that is targeted sewer cleaning, to do more repair work by CSO with the Engineering Department's support, and to work smarter and better. In summary, CSO is working diligently to maintain and upgrade the District system. Mr. Pearl introduced Mr. Bill Echols, Field Operations Superintendent, who distributed a Customer Service User Feedback Survey Report for July 2003. Mr. Echols stated that CSO considers these surveys as report cards and uses them to provide better customer service. One of the things that CSO has learned is that people like to have CSO follow up when work is done in their area. Mr. Echols read a transcript from a telephone call message commending Maintenance Crew Leader Penny Binder for her outstanding work and excellent customer service. CSO receives back about 50 percent of the User Feedback Surveys and maintained a good strong B+ average in 2002-2003, with two 4.0 months in 2002 and two 4.0 months in the first seven months of 2003. Mr. Echols stated that as the Board knows, CSO received the 2002 California Water Environment Association (CWEA) State and San Francisco Bay Section Large Collection System of the Year awards. These awards are recognition by our peers, but they are also considered another report card of how CSO is doing. Mr. Echols reported on overflows through August of each year, noting that in 2002 there were 95 total overflows, 19 of which were major (over 100 gallons), and 4 with an average of about 21,000 gallons went into the waterways. In 2003, there were 96 total overflows, 14 major (over 100 gallons), and 1 of about 250 gallons went into the waterways. CSO is working on these issues. The good news is that overflows into the waterways of the State have dropped significantly. This is the result of more cleaning, especially routine cleaning (about 1.5 million feet of routine cleaning last year); more inspection of manholes and easements; better planning and scheduling of work; and chemical root control. Last year a program of walking manholes and easements was initiated, and more than 1,000 manholes in easements were looked at in the first year. Mr. Echols showed a graphic representation comparing overflows in 2002 to 2003. Mr. Echols stated that the mission of the CSO Cleaning Section is to prevent overflows. Mr. Echols stated that this is really the mission of the entire CSO Division, and he distributed buttons indicating No Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO). The focus has been on the "overflow crescent." CSO has been working with the Engineering Department on much needed spot repairs and sewer renovations, and that has made a big difference over the last few years. Scheduled cleaning footage is increasing as problems are found and more routine cleaning is done. The goal is to increase routine cleaning frequency of the entire system from 10 years to 7 % years in general, and to 5 years in the "overflow crescent." Mr. Echols stated that CSO is on its way to accomplishing this. Work is also being done to improve overflow follow up. The manhole inspection and easement-walking program is seeing results. The chemical root control program is underway as well. Chemical (vapor root) root control costs about 75 cents per foot. In 2002-2003 $60,000 was spent on this program, compared to the 2003-2004 budget of $100,000. This effort replaces about 45,000 feet per year of hand rodding. Mr. Echols stated that CSO has two new rodders approved by the Board and recently purchased. Mr. Echols thanked the Board for this equipment, stating that it makes all the difference in the world to have the equipment needed to do the work. The Board's support of the people in the field is appreciated. The new trucks have all the needed safety features and equipment to do night work and work in the narrow streets in some of the communities the District serves. Mr. Echols stated that cleaning is a good news story. More and extra cleaning is being done. In 2001, 590 miles were cleaned; in 2002, 800 miles were cleaned; and through August 2003,492 miles have been cleaned. Schedule compliance is increasing each year with 2,600,000 feet (99.2 percent) in 2001,2,700,000 feet (99.4 percent) in 2002, and 1,820,000 feet (99.5 percent) through August 2003. Routine cleaning footage was 500,000 feet (95 miles) in 2001, 1,500,000 feet (292 miles - a record for CSO) in 2002, 09 08 U' i:""~ "'\ ", rl 1 "~~ o"l) il- 35 and 800,000 feet (154 miles) through August 2003. Mr. Echols noted that the 800,000 feet of routine cleaning completed so far this year has been done without any overtime. More routine cleaning footage was done last year, but overtime was used. The goal for 2003 is to complete 1,200,000 million feet. The two new crews have helped with this program and allowed efforts to proceed with the manhole inspection and easement- walking program. It would not have been possible to do that without the new crews. Mr. Echols stated that the average number of daily cleaning crews has increased, from 4.5 (rodding and hydro) in 2001, to 5 (rodding and hydro) in 2002, to 5.75 (rodding and hydro) through August 2003, up 15 percent from 2001. As indicated earlier, there is also a full-time manhole inspection and easement walking crew at the same time. That crew is sometimes one person and sometimes two people, depending on the location. Mr. Echols reviewed a graph showing a comparison of routine cleaning footage in 2001, 2002, and 2003 through August. Mr. Echols described the 'War on Roots" being waged by CSO. Photographs of large roots removed from the system were shown. One root weighed a couple hundred pounds. It was about 8 feet long, and had only a small opening about the size of a silver dollar that let the water pass through. A second mass of roots required a confined space entry to remove. A CSO construction crew was called to help. Mr. Echols introduced Mr. Tifton Gantt, Maintenance Supervisor, who distributed Construction Section statistics through the end of August 2003, pointing out planned and unplanned activity. This is basically the "folder work" that the Board has reviewed in the past. Unscheduled is work that the Construction Section receives from the reports from the Cleaning Section. Mr. Gantt stated that the mission of the CSO Construction Section is to keep our sewer lines accessible and cleanable. The Construction Section fixes bad pipe (primarily pipe that can't be cleaned on schedules or has had an overflow), and responds to overflows. This year so far there has only been one overflow so Construction has had time to do other important work. Construction focuses a lot on doing work in response to requests and needs of the Cleaning crews. Construction continues the work with the County and cities on paving and raising manholes. Mr. Gantt stated that this has been a tremendous help to CSO. Construction does the locating activities in response to USA requests. In 2001 there were 15,825 USA requests and in 2002 there were 23,000 USA requests. That was a record year for USA requests. To date, 2003 has been a more normal year with fewer requests. The Construction Section maintains the District's recycled water system. This year all of the valves in the older part of the system were exercised. This is the first time we have been able to do all of them in some time. The Construction Section supports the Plant and Pumping Stations, and continues with the crown spraying program. The Construction Section is moving to a "work order" system. Staff is tracking requests that come from the Cleaning Section or overflows. Information goes onto a work order and is tracked so we can see how well we are doing. With regard to Construction/Maintenance, Mr. Gantt reported that the "folder" count total at December 31, 2001 was 419 including Priority 1, 2, 3, and 4 jobs. At August 31, 2003, the total folder count is 296. The Priority 1 folder count at December 31,2001 was 127, and the Priority 1 folder count at August 31,2003 is 88. Mr. Gantt stated that even through many folders have been completed, new folders are added each month. The Construction Section does an average of ten (10) folders a month. Mr. Gantt stated that staff tries to do more than comes in each month. Mr. Gantt showed a graph depicting folder count added and completed for the period August 2002 through August 2003, noting that the big spike in June 2003 relates to the work that was done by the Engineering Department, the TV inspection contract, and CSO crews. This will be discussed in more detail later in the workshop. Mr. Gantt stated that in a running year from August 2002 through August 2003, taking into account folders added and folders completed, 23 more folders were completed than added. In response to questions from the Board, Mr. Gantt stated that a folder is basically a work order. In some cases multiple repairs in a line segment are represented in a folder. All of the information in a folder is backed up electronically and tracked by number. If a folder is misplaced, the information is still available and the folder can be replaced. 09 08 03 36 c. ENGINEERING'S ROLE Mr. Pearl introduced Mr. Tad Pilecki, Principal Engineer, who stated that one of the Engineering Department's key roles is to support CSO. Engineering does that in the regulatory environment, and by doing capacity studies, facilities plans, corrosion studies, and the like. Engineering also does the Small Sewer Renovation Program and a TV Inspection Program that support CSO activities. The most important thing that Engineering is working on now in this regard is the District wide TV Inspection Program. The Engineering Support Group using the Geographic Data Integration (GDI) and Automated Mapping/Computer Assisted Design Drafting (AM/CAD D) systems works with huge amounts of data to produce usable information for project planning and construction. Mr. Pilecki stated that as discussed earlier, 80 percent of the District overflows occur in the "overflow crescent." The TV Inspection Program is focusing in that area. Efforts are being made to identify how much money will need to be spent over the years to correct this situation. It will also help the District determine the best methods to fix the problems. Mr. Pilecki introduced Mr. Tom Godsey, Associate Engineer, who stated that to date the TV Inspection Program has identified 26 spot repairs, 8 pipe segments with heavy roots or grease where scheduled cleaning changes were made, 1 stopped sewer, a failed creek crossing loading, manholes that have been paved over, a downed tree on top of a manhole, and 10 pipe segments that need replacing because of condition alone. Mr. Godsey stated that this work was found in the first 300,000 feet of pipe televised in the Orinda area. Mr. Pilecki stated that another area of teamwork and coordination between Engineering and CSO is the Point Repair Program. Mr. Pilecki showed maps with red dots identifying locations were point repairs were done in the last year. The majority of these point repairs were focused in the "overflow crescent." Over 200 point repairs and maintenance activities were done District wide. Mr. Pilecki reported on the Small Sewer Renovation Program, and used a map with red dots representing projects finished in the Lafayette and Walnut Creek areas, and green dots representing projects identified for the coming year in the Lafayette and Pleasant Hill areas. Over the last five years, there has been a heavy concentration of work in the Orinda area. The majority of the renovation work is focusing in the older areas where needs have been identified. d. FLEET AND TECHNICAL SERVICES Mr. Don Rhoads, Field Operations Superintendent, reported on Fleet Services. Mr. Rhoads stated that great strides have been made in managing the District vehicles fleet since Jim Kelly took over as Director of Operations and John Pearl became CSO Division Manager. Mr. Rhoads stated that General Manager Chuck Batts gave him the goal of looking at the long-term needs of the District's fleet. A five-year plan was developed to right size the fleet and reduce the average age of the fleet. In 2002 there were 117 vehicles in the District fleet, and currently there are 97. The average age of the District fleet has been reduced from 12 years to 6 years for diesel, and from 10 years to 6 years for gasoline with the purchases authorized this year by the Board of Directors. Planned replacement cycles were developed and they are updated each year. Vehicles are moved around to try to get the most out of each vehicle. Mr. Rhoads reported that he is proud that the District's Vehicles and Maintenance Shop has received Green Business certification. Mr. Rhoads stated that he believes that it is important that the District lead by example, and it is gratifying to be recognized by the County and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), and supported by the District Board of Directors. Because of the equipment approved by the Board, outsourcing has been reduced and more work, such as transmission flushing and backhoe servicing, is being performed in house. The Accela software system is also used to manage the Vehicle Shop and fleet. This is the same system used to manage 09 08 ~' ", C,""," J ~,~ -," '\]li' f' ,~ --.' 37 the District sewer system. It provides improved reporting capabilities, and reduces duplicate work and data entry time. Mr. Rhoads stated that upcoming regulations by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District "ViII lik~ly have potential impacts on the District fleet, especially diesel vehicles. While those regulations are still not final, efforts are being made to try to ensure that the purchases being made now will comply with current and probable future regulations. Mr. Rhoads stated that as the Board is aware, there have been problems with security of CSO facilities. Guardsmark was asked to perform a security audit, and recommendations and areas for improvement have been completed. Security software and hardware are being upgraded so the security guards can see the CSO facility from the Headquarters Office Building. Logs are created and reviewed. Foliage around the site has been removed and trimmed. That was completed after the necessary permits were obtained from the City of Walnut Creek. Signage has been placed on fences. Nightly checks are made by the security service, and the parking plan has been modified. Some audit recommendations requiring projects are still to be done, including new gates, more cameras, and more lights. CSO staff is working with the Administrative Department to develop a project that will be brought to the Board for approval. Mr. Rhoads stated that there are some projects that are being done at this time to improve and upgrade CSO facilities. The employee parking lot is being repaved and restriped. The fueling systems are being replaced to meet current requirements and address some design flaws in the original installations. The lower CSO yard is being repaved. The locker rooms are being modernized and reconfigured to reduce the time needed for all employees to shower and to modernize the facilities. Mr. Rhoads reported that CSO Technical Services Section takes the information and schedules the work. To do that they use the Accela computerized maintenance program. Use of the Accela information management system is being expanded to create a link between Accela and USA software, and to expand the use of work orders to better document and track the work and capture the information generated. Because of the proposed CMOM (Capacity, Management, Operations, and Maintenance) regulations, our overflow response will be formalized and documented. Seamless transfer of TV inspection data and images to Accela is under development, and the reporting capability is being improved to allow for better data analysis. e. SUMMARY In summary, Mr. Pearl stated that there are a number of trends. CSO is making good use of resources, and that is making a difference on the backlog. There are more new people and more training is required. There is increased scrutiny by regulators. And finally, there are increased expectations by internal and external customers. The Engineering Department connection has been a major support to CSO through the grease control program (20 percent of overflows are caused by grease); repairs and replacement projects; resolution of right-of-way issues with assistance from Permits, and regulation tracking in conjunction with participation in the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA) group. With regard to how CSO is doing, Mr. Pearl stated that overflows are a lagging indicator. To date, 2003 is better than 2002 based on the volume of water that has gotten out of the system. Staff is working to refine the plan and stay on course. The information management system is being used with increased reliance on data and information and to meet the needs to document the work that is being done. CSO is working with Associate Engineer Gail Chesler and Brown & Caldwell on a pre-CMOM audit of documentation and procedures. More staff support will be needed to support this effort. Mr. Pearl thanked the Board for their time, and indicated that staff would be available to answer questions and conduct tours and equipment demonstrations for those who are interested. 09 08 03 09 38 President Pro Tem Lucey stated that this was well worth the time spent. President Pro Tem Lucey and the Board thanked staff for their excellent and informative presentations. g. OPTIONAL TOURS AND DEMONSTRATIONS Board Members and staff took tours and viewed demonstrations of vehicles and equipment. 4. REPORTSMNNOUNCEMENTS None 5. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, President Pro Tem Lucey adjourned the meeting at the hour of 4:40 p.m. ~ ' -'_h--~./ ¡; - '7J ~-,~L,¿ Pres' ent of the Board of Dir~ors, J Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, County of Contra Costa, State of California COUNTERSIGNED: 08 rf\ ç;- ~ l1 ¡~f'-ë,J "l} 'l!_-