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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEngineering & Operations MINUTES 02-06-23Page 2 of 9 LCENTRAL SAN BOARD OF DIRECTORS: REGULAR MEETING OF THE BARBARA D. HOCKETT CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA President AURITZEN SANITARY DISTRICT MARIAH s entProTem President Pro Tem ENGINEERING & OPERATIONS MICHAELR.MCGHL COMMITTEE TAD'. L DAVID R. WILLLIAMSAMS MINUTES PHONE: (925) 228-9500 FAX: (925) 372-0192 Monday, February 6, 2023 www.eentralsan.org 9:00 a.m. (All attendees participated via videoconference) Cnmmittee Chair Tad Pilecki Member Mike McGill Guests: Melanie Carrido, MWH Constructors Qoined during Item 4.a.; left during Item 4.b.) Glenn Vita, MWH Constructors Staff. Roger S. Bailey, General Manager (left during Item 4.b.) Kenton Alm, District Counsel (left after Item 4.c.) Katie Young, Secretary of the District Danea Gemmell, Provisional Director of Engineering and Technical Services Philip Leiber, Director of Finance and Administration (left during Item 4.b.) Paul Seitz, Provisional Director of Operations Edgar Lopez, Capital Projects Division Manager Jason DeGroot, Senior Engineer (joined during Item 4.a.; left after Item 4.c.) Sasha Mestetsky, Senior Engineer Steve Sauter, Superitendent, Operations and Maintenance (left after Item 4.c.) Keith Gellerman, Associate Engineer (left after Item 4.a.) Amelia Berumen, Assistant to the Secretary of the District Notice This meeting was conducted virtually in accordance with the provisions stipulated in Assembly Bill 361 and adopted on February 2, 2023 by the Central San Board of Directors. The agenda included instructions for options in which the public could participate in the meeting. February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 107 of 122 Page 3 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 2 2. Call Meetina to Order Chair Pilecki called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m. 3. Public Comments No public comments. 4. Items for Committee Recommendation to Board a. Review draft Position Paper to award a construction contract in the amount of $6,592,000 to C. Overaa & Co., the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, for the Pump Station Upgrades, Phase 2B, District Project 100042; find the Project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act; and authorize the General Manager to: 1. Include three alternative bid items to the contract award in a total amount not to exceed $1.32 million; 2. Transfer $581,000 from the contingency account to the Project; and 3. Amend three existing agreements with the following consultants in amounts not to exceed: • $500,000 to Carollo Engineers, Inc., increasing the agreement to $2.5 million for Construction Management Services; • $410,000 to HDR Engineering, Inc., increasing the agreement to $1.2 million for Engineering Services During Construction (ESDC); and • $350,000 to ArcSine Engineering, increasing the agreement to $1.0 million for ESDC Mr. Lopez reviewed the agenda materials in detail and responded to Committee questions. He noted that C. Overaa & Co. was recently awarded the Pump Station Upgrades, Phase 2A project. Moreover, with the addition of recommended alternative bid item additions that are over a million dollars, the overall cost would be less that the Engineer's estimate for this phase of pump station improvements. It was noted that the listed Engineer's estimate was inclusive of the alternative bid items. Attachment 2, which provides a summary of the bid opening results, reflects only the bidder's base -bid amount and not the bid alternatives. Member McGill stated it would be helpful to see the Engineer's estimate without the extra work to effectively compare the results. Chair Pilecki concurred it would provide clarity to the public to compare similar estimates. Staff will amend the listing. As it pertained to the Post-Bid/Preconstruction Estimate (Attachment 3), Mr. Lopez reemphasized that although the alternative bid items may be slightly higher, to do the work separately would not be in the District's best interest and may prove to be even higher in the future. In order to complete February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 108 of 122 Page 4 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 3 all work, a budget transfer from the contingency account is needed and is also requested. However, staff recommends this is the most cost-effective manner to proceed. Chair Pilecki requested a clarification of the justification in the final Position Paper to emphasize the overall savings. The Construction Management and Prebid Expenditures categories were also reviewed in detail. Mr. Lopez advised that with limitations in the Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning system, the ability to separate design costs (pre -bid expenditure) between the project phases, as seen in past project summaries is not available; hence, a note is provided as an asterisk that the cost is captured in the Phase 2A project. Chair Pilecki noted that the total Construction Management at 21.9% would normally be considered a high cost since a `normal' range for construction is 15%, and 25% for design and construction. However, in this instance, he opined it was fine since the bids were low in addition to the extra bid phase support cost challenge described above. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval. b. Review draft Position Paper to receive announcement of intent to bid the Solids Handling Facility Improvements, Phase 1A, District Project 7348; and grant authority to the General Manager to amend four existing professional engineering services agreements to complete final design and support the bid phase of the Project, as may be needed up to a combined total not to exceed $750,000 Mr. Lopez provided a thorough project update and overview of the presentation provided in the agenda materials; he responded to questions posed by the Committee. Member McGill inquired about the centrifuge and cake pump equipment and whether the equipment could be upgraded separately or needs to be completed at the same time. Mr. Lopez explained that although they are separate units, it was highly recommended to replace both at the same time for different reasons. He further explained staff is experiencing increased challenges to repair the current cake pumps, and the centrifuges continue to have limited resources available to machine the major components. Additionally, turnaround for the equipment has been unpredictable with long delays. For example, the current shop is located in Texas and staff is currently unable to receive a return ship date. Mr. Lopez further responded to inquiry of centrifuge maintenance needs in comparison to the cake pumps. He stated staff has been recommending replacement of the equipment for a while as staff awaits the project and continues to deal with the expensive maintenance challenges. Chair Pilecki offered that the Machine Shop staff are not able to maintain the centrifuges as they may do with cake pump repairs. It was explained that the February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 109 of 122 Page 5 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 4 centrifuges feed to the cake pump system and, depending on the solids amount — such a higher load, the cake pumps need to be sized accordingly. Although they may be separate pieces of equipment, they need to work together for consistency of the solids and its delivery. As it pertained to the bid phase, it will begin this March and remain open through June, potentially. Staff has received valuable input from contractors and hope to gain more interest. The project requires high standards/ qualifications and such requirements are specified in the documents. No prequalification of contractors will be conducted this time. Significant effort is being made to garner as much interest as possible. The goal is to award a contract by this July, with construction start dependent on State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan evaluation. Work sequencing is critical as the plant will remain an operational facility and no solids is planned to be off hauled from the plant during the project. In response to questions posed on slide 4 regarding the project budget, it was clarified that the contingency would equate to roughly 20% in total at the time of this estimate. Ms. Gemmell confirmed an interest rate of 0.9% under the SRF loan was grandfathered at project acceptance. Mr. Alm reflected upon recent discussion that the requirement to buy/build American will become more stringent than prior guidelines and inquired how that would affect the SRF loan. Ms. Gemmell stated that since the District signed the SRF agreement, the guidelines in place under that umbrella would remain, essentially following prior guidelines. Mr. Lopez held discussion on the upcoming, pending consultant services needed to see the project through the final design and bid phase. In order to keep on schedule and reconcile matters that will come about during finalization, staff is proposing a temporary or exception concept for this project to amend existing consultant agreements as may be needed. Staff discussed with counsel, and it was advised to cap at a total amount with preliminary estimates expected for such consideration. The current delegation of authority to the General Manager is $100,000 and, in lieu of raising every contract to a potential amount, staff is requesting the authority to amend agreements as may be needed, but not to exceed a combined total of $750, 000 for the proposed consultant agreements defined in the draft Position Paper. With an estimate of $350, 000, CDM Smith, Inc. is expected to receive a majority of the work. A lengthy discussion ensued. Mr. Lopez stated staff is uncertain what type of comments will need to be reconciled during the bid phase that may aid in receiving competitive bids. Staff did not have the authority during the last project bid to release work to February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 110 of 122 Page 6 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 5 consultants and does not want to extend the bid period in order to gain typical agreement approvals. The project is very complicated and evaluating contractor input is very critical to reduce construction risk and to increase interest in the work. This delegation of authority would provide a timely response to amend design costs, as needed, to maintain momentum. Chair Pilecki summarized his interpretation and understanding of the concept. He also clarified this would be a one-time occurrence and not something that would also be sought on future projects. Mr. Lopez concurred and stated there would be an account of what was actually spent within the project award request for ultimate transparency. Chair Pilecki recommended staff provide the Committee with routine updates of how the $750, 000 ceiling is spent for additional oversight. Mr. Lopez concurred. Member McGill inquired whether the District would remain in compliance with contractor laws with this change. Mr. Alm responded that the authority limits for increasing consulting contracts is a Board Policy and not a legal limitation. To modify the policy based on the circumstance seemed understandable and a doable approach in his opinion. It was discussed the authority/policy language would be clarified in the final request to the Board. Discussion continued on the Phase 1A approach that has been closely coordinated with the overall strategy for solids management. Mr. Lopez spoke of a focus on the useful life of the incinerators in Phase 1A and not exceeding the MACT50 environmental permit requirements. A lengthy and technical discussion followed regarding fluidized beds, incinerators and concerns of PFAS' testing in sludge. Mr. Alm shared concern that as regulations move forward for PFAS testing in sludge, it will become more difficult to land apply sludge. He opined that fluidized beds may be the reasonable long-term solution. The attempts on a national level are to modify current regulations for PFAS receptors. He advised this subject is a significant developing issue for the industry. Mr. Lopez stated that staff is keeping a close watch on this matter and shared that one consultant on another project, Brown & Caldwell, is one of the alternative experts working on that very issue. Chair Pilecki inquired, for future discussion, how fluidized bed reactors correlate to a Net Zero (carbon -neutral) goal. He also recommended staff emphasize that the work to be completed would be a favorable life -cycle PFAS is per -and polyfluoroalkyl substances February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 111 of 122 Page 7 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 6 improvement and not be redundant work that would be later replaced with a shift to fluidized beds. Mr. Lopez explained the ash system would be different with a fluidized bed, which is an example of determining how far does the District go in the future with solids under the Phase 1 scope of work. As for Phase 1A, this work has been coordinated and is needed to move forward. Mr. Lopez advised staff will bring forth a future Committee agenda item on Phase 2 for an update and discussion. The Committee provided input to staff for the final Position Paper. They concurred they had no further questions and recommended Board approval for the actions requested. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval. c. Receive Collection System Operations 2022 Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Annual Report Mr. Seitz reviewed the annual report presentation provided with the agenda materials. Chair Pilecki asked whether the District experienced any capacity overflows in past 10 years as seen by other agencies in the area. Mr. Seitz replied there has been no such overflows during his tenure. He estimates this has been achieved by improvements made during within the last three decades to eliminate such overflows. Mr. Seitz responded to questions and observations posed by the Committee. Overall, the Committee was extremely satisfied by the work performed to date. Chair Pilecki recollected on historical comparisons and that, in approximately 1985, there was an average of an overflow per day, and in 2011, there were 37 overflows for the year. He extended his compliments to staff and their incredible diligence to maintain such numbers. He requested his gratitude be extended to the crews. Mr. Seitz stated that staff continues to improve how maintenance is completed. For example, routine lines that had a history of no defects are folded into the rotation schedule to maintain as time permits. The crews work tirelessly to reduce the numbers annually. As it pertained to overflow causes shown on slide 7, roots typically fall into the 75-80% range. The other major plug is non-flushable wipes. Staff saw a February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 112 of 122 Page 8 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 7 spike in wipe clogs last year which had been a great concern during the pandemic with the shortage of toilet paper. However, that was not seen as compared to now. Mr. Seitz shared that outreach continues to educate customers and the general public. Staff has distributed flyers door-to-door in several neighborhoods. Some discussion followed on legislation for manufacturer labeling. Mr. Alm advised that the state bill was vetoed by Governor last year due to costs. A federal bill is moving forward which would be similar to the state bill to modify labeling; however, it has not been passed. Regardless, efforts continue to find a solution on labeling and public education. In regard to the overflows by city comparison graph (slide 8), Chair Pilecki requested that next year's report provide a comparison of how it contrasts to historical overflows (e.g., 20-30 years ago). He recalled that the City of Martinez used to have a high number of overflows; whereas, last year it had one. Mr. Seitz stated he would provide a comparison in the future. From his personal experience, Orinda typically had more than Walnut Creek; however, this report reflects the opposite today. Lastly, Mr. Seitz spoke briefly of the efforts taken with other agencies to revise the state Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR), which was finalized and adopted. The new requirements become effective May 5, 2023. Staff had monitored and worked with agencies to get comments to the state. As such, he advised that next year's report will be different with the updated requirements of the new WDR. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board receipt. 5. Other Items a. Receive Capital Projects Division Quarterly Report (October - December) on capital projects, active consultant contracts, change order log, and schedule of bids and awards The Committee expressed their appreciation for the report information. In response to a comment of the readability of the Change Order Report, Mr. Lopez advised he would amend the format for the next quarterly report. COMMITTEE ACTION: Received the report. 6. Announcements UTMOM- February Page 9 of 9 Engineering & Operations Committee Minutes February 6, 2023 Page 8 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 Monday, March 13, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. Monday, April 3, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. Monday, May 8, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. (Budget Review) 9. Adjournment — at 11:01 a.m. February 23, 2023 Special Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 114 of 122