19 September 2024 DCRSD Board Meeting Notes
Steve Renihan - President, Brett Fehrman - Vice President, Russell Beiersdorfer, Bill Shelton, Doug Baer, Jeff Stenger, and Steward Cline
Board Attorney - Frank Kramer
Also present: Bob and Mike Hrezo and Christy of Hrezo Engineering and Rick Probst, Commissioner.
Renihan read the Public Access Statement as legally required.
Minutes: September 5th Minutes Approved.
Financials: Approved subject to asking accountant where the plant manager’s pay versus maintenance.
Public Comment: none
Lake Dildear Bid Review- Mike Hrezo- Three bids opened this morning. Lykins- $2,355,500 Pullman $2,110,851 and CH&M $2,108,900. This time the bids came in about 10% over the estimate.
Cline - asked about the Guilford Bids-He noted- the equipment came in a little over the estimate and the construction a little under the estimate.
Mike said the original estimates were done over a year ago. They were not surprised at these bids.They had almost $300,000 in contingency prior to the bid. We have a firm bid number. The apparent low bidder is a known contractor that they have used often. It’s also a simple system- all low pressure. He feels confident in the recommendation. There is no generator in the bid.hey do have a pad in place for one. There is natural gas at both Guilford and Lake Dildear.
Mike Hrezo said- $2,609,280 was the last estimate. The amount that went to ARPA committee was $2,538,000 is what has been earmarked by ARPA committee. The easements were taken out of the contractor bid. He recommends that they take contingency down to $150,000. They have 2 easements they have to get. He thinks reducing that cost down to $50,000. This is 7% contingency. Guilford has a 15% contingency due to the larger number of moving parts.
Cannot use the contingencies for both projects as a pool for both projects.
Mike Hrezo- We are roughly $75,000 over budget on Lake Dildear. Estimates $60,000 for construction administration etc. Plan to be on the site daily- average 2.5 hours per day includes field and office time. He’s confident they will be under that number.
Rate consultant was done with Guilford. Legal, advertising, and permits are left to cover. Legal was about $5600 in the past. This still leaves them $19,000 OVER the ARPA estimate they previously submitted.
They still have capacity fee from Dillsboro that was not part of original and it’s up to $97,000.
Have to decide tonight. They are going to Council at 9:0 AM on Sept 27th.
Sept 30th 2025 contractor will be substantially completed for Lake Dildear.
Jeff Meinders of C&H/M who is the low bidder for Lake Dildear Project - said they will 16 weeks to do the mainline drilling. Around the lake will be kind of slow- he is familiar with the area there. The Guilford project will go forward while SR 1 is shut down. They can get equipment around easier. They will do SR 1 first and the along Lake Dildear in winter and drier and then the town part later winter-spring. Lake Dildear they will try to get to US 50 part after that.
Jeff Stenger said without a signed agreement for Dildear with Dillsboro- cannot make a motion yet.
Board now discussed the Dillsboro treatment- Cline said they had a 2 hour meeting with them last week. They got a draft from John Watson- their attorney-. The range of the proposed rate is between $1.81 and 11.32 per 1000gals. These are about a dollar less than the originals.
$2434.90 capacity fee for the first 40 homes that 12,400 gals. When they get to that level they go to the pure rates. They have 5 years to complete. They could purchase the remaining capacity at that time or negotiate. Asked for 6-9 months before any penalties are assessed to get non- waste water out of the system. Transfer annexation contract allows the other side to sign off on that first. The dialog on the map- they have a more general description of areas as long as not serviced by Dillsboro already. Dillsboro believes this contract will be approved on Monday. If they annex the line out to SEI data in 5 years they will pay us for the line. From 5 -10 years they will pay 20% each year.
Fehrman- Watson was concerned about what would happen if the DCRSD gets sold. Cline said- there is a clause on that. There was also a concern about what wold happen if we became insolvent. Then Dillsboro would be able to charge them- Cline thinks that is covered. Dillsboro does not have the legal means to shut off the sewers. They will have to write that in to give them that. They cannot ratify this- they have to have a special DCRSD meeting next week.
Have to decide tonight. They are going to Council at 9:00 AM on Sept 27th. They need to have a signed agreement with Dillsboro. DCRSD Board will meet Wednesday @ 5 PM to consider Dillsboro contract.
DCRSD voted to move forward with Lake Dildear Project CONTINGENT on getting a contract signed from Dillsboro. APPROVED.
Project Updates:
Guilford- Kevin Chaffee (and son Joe) from Earthtek was present to answer questions on that project. This project will have 4 tanks. These tanks are custom made for Guilford. Fiberglass 50,000 gal tanks that will be buried. Delivery times went up to 52 weeks on these during Covid. 12 ft diameter tanks will be here in March if we order them now. The cost keeps going up- we have locked in the cost on this if we notify them by October 15th.
We should have authorization to spend funds next week. There was some changes in agreements- particularly with regard to keeping the “bugs” fed in the tank with less use in the beginning. They also talked about how to keep the tanks from floating out of the ground. They have straps and concrete “logs” to hold them in as well as dirt on top. They are engineered to stay in the ground.
30% due to order- then 55% to ship- then remainder. Three checks. Chaffee will try to align between DCRSD meetings so that Hrezo can review and get invoices to the board. Looking forward to getting started.
Mt Tabor Rd issues with Mr Lloyd. Christy from Hrezo- The lines are flushed and the pressure gauges checked.
Jeff Meinders also spoke regarding this and they found a gauge problem. They equalized the church and Mt Tabor Court. Meinders said if the pressure get to 42 on Mt Tabor court they have issues. There are 3 homes with this issue. He compared this with a 400 house system in Madison. The issue was air in the system with ours. Trying to decide how often to flush- and NOT wait for an individual pump to burn up. Having a full time manager for the utility would help schedule this and not lose track. Meinders thinks annually would be a good idea- until you get more flow. Cleaning the probe needs to be done. The customers don’t know what to do about this. They will send a letter and instructional video link on how to clean to customers.
Per Jeff Meinders- Flight pumps are reliable in the large pumps. The little ones are probably their worst pump. He thinks a cheap Meyers pump works better. Liberty pumps are reliable too. E1 pumps are Hrezo’s favorite.
Per Kevin Chafee- Pumps - found a company in Texas makes the heaviest duty pumps he’s ever seen. 240 volt single phase. And he is willing to give them one that he has to try for Mr. Lloyd. Priced competitively with the market. He’s willing to let them try it out for free. Lloyd agrees. Thanked Chaffee for that. Approved.
Harrison TIF/Stone Project- West Harrison- Mr Grieshop has passed away. This is the Pear Tree project.
New Business: none
Office Update: Renihan reported:
Refund check to Townsends sent. Renewed CDs. 4 CDs with $75,000 each- laddered.
Operating account replenished.
2 separate accounts with checks books to keep the projects separated.Money left over goes to highway dept.
Meeting 5 PM Sept 25th.
Fishers paid $1000 and lien cancelled.
Boggs and Race will be here at October meeting.
Billing adjustment for Ashcraft.
Claims: Approved claims. Cline read the amounts out for the minutes. Wants to be sure they have details on minutes for all the projects for the spreadsheets too. They will need to be separated too.
Discretion of the Board: none
Adjourn: 7:10 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
