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Item 16.c.
CENTRALSAN
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CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT
November 19, 2020
TO: HONORABLE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FROM: KATIE YOUNG, SECRETARYOF THE DISTRICT
SUBJECT: NOVEMBER 3, 2020 - ENGINEERING & OPERATIONS COMMITTEE -
CHAIR NEJEDLYAND MEMBER PILECKI
Attached are minutes of the above Committee meeting.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Minutes of 11-03-20 meeting
November 19, 2020 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 136 of 152
Page 2 of 8
CENTRAL SAN
CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT 5019 IMHOFF PLACE, MARTINEZ, CA 9A553-A392
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA MICHAEL R.MCGILL
President
SANITARY DISTRICT TAD JPHECKI
President Pro Tem
ENGINEERING & OPERATIONS
PAUL CAUSEY
COMMITTEE H.
JAMES A.NEJEDLY
DAVID R, WILLIAMS
MINUTES PHONE: (925)228-9500
FAX: (925)372-0192
www.centralsan.org
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
2:00 p.m.
21d Floor Conference Room
5019 Imhoff Place
Martinez, California
(All attendees participated via videoconference)
Committee:
Chair Jim Nejedly
Member Tad Pilecki
Staff.
Roger S. Bailey, General Manager (joined during Item 4.a.)
Katie Young, Secretary of the District (joined during Item 4.a.)
Phil Leiber, Director of Finance and Administration (joined during Item 5.a.)
Jean-Marc Petit, Director of Engineering and Technical Services
Danea Gemmell, Planning and Development Services Division Manager
Edgar Lopez, Capital Projects Division Manager
Neil Meyer, Plant Maintenance Division Manager (left after Item 5.a.)
Nitin Goel, Senior Engineer (left during Item 5.c.)
Clint Shima, Senior Engineer (left during Item 5.b.)
Chathu Abeyrathna, Associate Engineer (joing during Item 4.a., left after Item 5.a.)
Nancy Molina, Associate Engineer (joined during Item 4.a.)
Steve Diethem, Electrical Technician
Amelia Berumen, Senior Administrative Technician
1. Notice
This meeting was held in accordance with the Brown Act as in effect under the
State Emergency Services Act, the Governor's Emergency Declaration related to
COVID-19, and the Governor's Executive Order N-29-20 issued on
November 19, 2020 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 137 of 152
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Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes
November 3, 2020
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March 17, 2020, that allowed attendance by Board Members, District staff, and the
public to participate and conduct the meeting by teleconference, videoconference, or
both. The agenda included instructions for options in which the public could
participate in the meeting.
2. Call Meeting to Order
Chair Nejedly called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.
3. Public Comments - No public comments.
4. Items for Committee Recommendation to Board
a. Review draft Position Paper to authorize the General Manager to execute
a pre-purchase contract with APG-Neuros for three electric blower
systems and special services in an amount not to exceed $2,998,000
under the Electric Blower Improvements, District Project 10015
Mr. Lopez provided a brief, all-encompassing overview of the draft
Position Paper, explaining this project is Phase 1 of the larger Steam and
Aeration Blower Systems Renovation Project. In addition to the reasons
listed in the document, pre-purchase of the three recommended blowers is
critical due to the complexities with the blower design and long lead time
required to produce and deliver the equipment, approximately eight
months.
He explained that staff completed a detailed qualification process to
ensure equipment compatibility and sizing, ensuring that a blower would
not require significant capital improvements to accommodate the new
blowers in order to operate. Competitive bids were received and much
less than the engineer's estimate. Three blowers are recommended for
long-term need, demand, reliability, and redundancy. This request focuses
on the capital component of equipment and special services (i.e., blowers,
electrical, controls, plus all other pertinent components, and shop
drawings); the operations or maintenance portion included in the bid will
be brought forward later for consideration after the equipment is installed.
Member Pilecki inquired about prior meeting discussions of using smaller
blowers on the channel-air and pre-air components since he could not
decipher from the draft Position Paper what staff's position was in that
regard. Mr. Petit responded that the evaluation of using smaller blowers is
still being assessed by the consultant; no decision has been made to date.
He reiterated that this initial request of equipment pre-purchase focused
on the larger aeration blowers.
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Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes
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Upon further technical discussion of the blowers, Mr. Petit explained that
staff did a business case evaluation and found it is more cost-effective to
have a centralized system for flexibility, which these three blowers would
provide.
Member Pilecki stated he was comfortable moving forward with staff's
recommendation, acknowledging that staff had put enough forethought in
the decision; Chair Nejedly concurred.
COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval.
b. Review draft Position Paper to authorize the General Manager to execute
two professional engineering service agreements with Bay Area Coating
Consultants, Inc. and JDH Corrosion Consultants, Inc., for a three-year
term in an amount not to exceed $250,000 each to provide specialty
coating inspection services for capital improvement projects
Considering all the current and upcoming capital projects with various
coating requirements, staff issued a Request for Proposal to obtain such
special inspection services. Mr. Lopez said that two proposals were
received from companies with which Central San is familiar and has had
good experience. Rather than select one firm, staff decided to split the
budget and use the specific expertise each firm has to offer for the various
project needs. The rates were negotiated and reasonable, less expensive
than obtaining the services through other consultants or via construction
management, and staff is familiar with each firm's performance.
As an example, Mr. Petit added that the Filter Plant Improvements Project
has a large amount of coating scope with the installation of two new steel
tanks. Surface preparation is key, and the materials are expensive. It is in
the District's best interest to have a consultant that understands the
intricacies of coatings, temperature application, etc.
COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval.
5. Other Items
a. Receive update on failure analysis of variable frequency drives (VFDs) at
Central San
Mr. Meyer provided a thorough overview of the presentation included with
the agenda materials. Some outcomes from the Lower Orinda VFD failure
postmortem review included a heightened sense of awareness when staff
performs preventative maintenance tasks and operational checks, as well
as a focused review of equipment remaining useful life and replacement
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timing. Staff has also tightened the technical specifications to ensure a
higher standard of equipment reliability, performance, and serviceability
moving forward.
With VFDs life expectancy typically between 10-15 years, Member Pilecki
inquired what was the expected life for MCCs (motor control centers).
Mr. Meyer replied that depending on maintenance, the MCCs could last
25-40 years. In response to further question of why the VFD life is so
much shorter, Mr. Meyer offered that it is mainly attributed to the internal
components being circuit boards and highly electronic. He said heat also
poses a factor, stating that a lot of VFDs require ventilation and cooling,
which adds to the issue.
Member Pilecki asked whether there was a correlation of life with VFD
sizing. Mr. Diethelm stated that the life correlation is not necessarily
contributable to the horsepower(hp) size. He added that as the drive
technology advances, it is also getting more compact to fit into smaller
areas; thereby, sacrificing ventilation and the components themselves. He
found that there used to be a lot of"headroom"in the drives, which is no
longer the case, and he does not see a difference from a 1-hp versus a
1000-hp drive. Basically, a small drive to fit a smaller footprint sacrifices
life expectancy.
On slide 11, Mr. Meyer noted that the Westinghouse brand VFD will be
completely phased out with the Plant Control System 1/0 (input/output)
Replacement Project. He continued onto slide 12 discussing that the
amount of spare parts required to keep the current fleet of VFDs
operational is challenging to manage. A positive side to the newer VFDs
being installed will be having fewer spare parts to manage.
Mr. Petit stated that since the implementation of the Uniform Public
Construction Cost Accounting Act (UPCCAA), the effort to remedy these
types of replacement issues has increased since it allows staff to tackle
and bid smaller projects and/or provide the authority for staff to perform
some of the work themselves. The program has greatly helped with timing
and response.
Member Pilecki asked where staff is at in standardizing the VFDs down to
a few suppliers rather than having 16 different manufacturers. Mr. Petit
stated that since recent larger capital projects have included scope to
replace some VFDs, and in coordination with the Operations,
Maintenance, and Control divisions, a lot of input was received and
evaluated to begin the effort to standardize the equipment. Eaton
Corporation has been the predominant vendor in those capital projects.
They are also considered a main supplier in the industry.
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Mr. Lopez added that of the list shown on slide 10, some of the vendors
are out of business and some have been bought out. In addition to Eaton
Corporation and to remain competitive, staff also has sourced with
Schneider Electric for some components as another lead manufacturer.
Member Pilecki stated he was glad to know staff is heading towards
standardization and that this report was a good update to receive.
Chair Nejedly suggested that staff keep the drives clean and cool and to
not standardize to one brand alone. Serious repercussions could be had
should something happen to that company. He reiterated that staff should
not make a global change around the campus with the same product.
COMMITTEE ACTION: Received the information.
b. Receive an update of the Solids Handling Facility Improvements, District
Project 7348
Mr. Petit prefaced the presentation stating that this update is overall good
news, and the project is getting closer to bid. He continued with a recap of
the last project update where staff shared the numerous ongoing problems
encountered with the project design consultant Black & Veatch (B&V).
After that last update, a very specific agreement to reach an acceptable
100% final design was signed by both parties.
Staff and third-party reviewers spent many hours reviewing the draft final
design submittal package that included up to 700 drawings. B&V made
some progress but did not meet the agreed upon terms; therefore, staff
had to issue a letter of non-compliance. With the lengthy amount of
comments provided on that draft submittal, the next submittal deadline
was pushed out by B&V to November 13.
The lack of electrical design details (especially with the existing systems)
and poor definition of a clear construction sequencing, essential to a
general contractor, remains to be the largest deficiencies in the design,
which also encompasses a lot of work scope. Thus far, the extensive work
required has been poorly shown and currently leaves it to the contractor to
figure out.
The construction sequencing, another important and critical factor, is
currently about 100 pages that is not collated nor is formatted in a
succinct, sequential manner; therefore, that will be removed from B&V's
scope to finalize and will be completed by alternative means. This
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endeavor will most likely be performed instead by the construction
management consultant, MWH Constructors.
Based on the latest draft final design submittal performance by B&V, staff
has not yet issued the agreement amendment for bid support services. Mr.
Petit noted that in order to properly finalize the documents, B&V needs to
provide the required work product in a timely manner, but also stated that
there has been some progress forward on other aspects.
Mr. Petit reminded the Committee that originally B&V was to have finalized
the design last November 1, 2019 and, subsequently, the project was
supposed to have been advertised for bid at this time last year. No new
payments on the Board-approved agreement amendments have been
issued. He strongly emphasized that staff will not recommend advertising
the project until the package is at a respectable and biddable point.
Mr. Lopez provided a brief summary of the finalized contractor
prequalification process. He advised that many contractors took the time
to tour the facility, asked many questions, and were very engaged in the
project. He noted that the seven general contractors and eight electrical
subcontractors all qualified, none were denied, noting some have a strong
construction presence in the Bay Area. The listing will be inserted into the
bid documents and other trades will be able to reach out to them to
potentially subcontract. Overall, staff is pleased with the outcome.
Mr. Petit stated that the State Revolving Fund (SRF) application process
has been a positive experience for staff. The state has been supportive in
working with staff and assigned a project manager who has been very
responsive. All indications show everything moving forward without issue
and staff anticipates receiving a draft agreement in the next few weeks.
On slide 7, Member Pilecki pointed out that the Electric Blower
Improvements Project was not listed with the other related activities that
have relation to the Solids Project. Mr. Lopez replied that he will add it to
the listing when presented to the Board.
COMMITTEE ACTION: Received the update.
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C. Receive Capital Projects Division Quarterly Report (July to September) on
capital projects, active consultant contracts, change order log, and
schedule of bids and awards
Mr. Lopez stated that the next quarterly report may be via the new Oracle
Enterprise Resource Planning system, if the reports are ready by that
time. In response to a question from Member Pilecki as to whether the
Oracle system will show a construction percentage completion, Mr. Lopez
replied that has been an item of discussion with Oracle and is a goal to
show that level of detail.
COMMITTEE ACTION: Received the report.
6. Announcements - None.
7. Suggestions for Future Agenda Items
a. Receive list of upcoming agenda items and provide suggestions for any
other future agenda items
COMMITTEE ACTION: Received the list.
8. Future Scheduled Meetings
Tuesday, December 1 , 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
9. Adjournment— at 3:06 p.m.
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