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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes MINUTES CLAY COUNTY UTILITY AUTHORITY February 21, 2023 The Board of Supervisors of the Clay County Utility Authority (CCUA) met in Regular Session in the Board meeting room at the Administrative Office of the Clay County Utility Authority, 3176 Old Jennings Road, Middleburg, Florida, on the above-stated date. Item No. 1 —Call to Order Chairman Davis called the meeting to order at 2:00 P.M. Item No. 2—Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance Mr. McNees offered the Invocation and led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. Item No. 3—Roll Call Roll Call was taken with Chairman Davis, Mr. Gardella, Mr. Hodges, Ms. Lebesch, Mr. McNees, and Mr. Starnieri in attendance. cts Also present at the meeting were Executive Director Jeremy Johnston, Chief Operations Officer Darryl Muse, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Wesselman, Chief Engineer Paul Steinbrecher, Assistant Chief Financial Officer Karen Osbourne, Distribution & Collection Department Superintendent David Rawlins, Water Department Superintendent Ross Bland, Service Availability Manager Melisa Blaney, Senior Service Availability Engineer Darrell Damrow, Compliance Manager Heather Webber, SCADA Manager John McCleary, Contract and Procurement Specialist Darrin Parker, Administrative Assistant Operations Alicia Baker, Administrative Assistant Engineering Anneica Asberry, and Grady H. Williams, Jr., legal counsel to the CCUA. Item No. 4—Employee Recognition a. Stephen J Rencarge III - 35 years b. Leslie N Hess - 15 years c. Lisa R Christian- 10 years d. Vincent K Brown- 5 years Mr. Johnston introduced and presented a plaque to Chief Field Operations Coordinator Steve Rencarge and a certificate to Water & Wastewater Administrative Assistant Leslie Hess, Receptionist/Assistant Secretary Lisa Christian, and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Vincent Brown acknowledging their years of service. Item No. 5 —Approval of Minutes a. Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting, February 7, 2023 After discussion, Mr. Hodges moved, seconded by Ms. Lebesch, and carried 6-0, to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting held on February 7, 2023. February 21, 2023 Item No. 6—Approval of Consent Agenda After discussion, Mr. McNees moved, seconded by Mr. Gardella, and carried 6-0, to approve the Consent Agenda as follows; 1) Approval of Payment of Warrants Warrants totaling $2,013.210.81 a. Schedule of payments to Sole Sources b. Schedule of Emergency Repairs/Purchases -None c. Schedule of items initiated under Emergency Contract-None d. Schedule of payments from the Emergency Account e. Schedule of claims paid under the Sewage Backup Response Policy-None f. Detailed Descriptive Warrant Report g. Statement from Grady H. Williams, Jr. LL.M. 2) Request for Asset Disposal Authorization -None b. Approval of Capital Budget Activities (1) Requests for Award of Procurement Contracts and/or Ratification of Procurement/Construction Contracts a. Chemical Supplier Contract ITB#20/21-A5 (2) Approval of Supplemental Agreements and Change Orders -None c. Approval of Financing Requests (1) Financing request for Mr. &Mrs. Harrell's Wastewater Connection at 762 Clay Street d. Approval of Contract Usage—None e. Approval of Developer Agreements, Warranty Deeds &Easements 1) Grant of Easement—421 &443 SE 43rd Street- Grantor- Gault Properties, LLC 2) Grant of Easement — CCUA Mid Clay Wastewater Treatment Plant - Grantor - Clay County Utility Authority to Clay Electric Cooperative 3) Item No. 7—Customer Account Adjustments—None Item No. 8—Business discussed at Committee Meetings—None Item No. 9—Executive Director's Business a. Proposed Engagement Letter with Harrington&Associates CPAs Assistant Chief Financial Officer Karen Osbourn presented a proposed Engagement Letter with Harrington & Associates CPAs. The Finance Department is currently staffed with four (4) full time employees and the upcoming ERP Project will require heavy involvement from the Finance Department. The Assistant Chief Financial Officer will be 100% committed to the project as the Project Manager and our Chief Financial Officer and Financial Assistant will both be committing approximately 25% of their time to the project. During the 15-month project period it will be necessary to supplement our current Finance Department staff. Experienced, part-time assistance will allow the Finance department to continue to provide timely and accurate financial statements to both management and the Board, while maintaining all necessary segregation of duties. Harrington & Associates CPAs has the staff availability and experience necessary to supplement our staffing needs. Staff determined the fee for professional services is fair, competitive, and reasonable. Harrington will be paid monthly based on the number of hours billed. Staff anticipates using Harrington and Associates for 2 to 4 hours per week. This engagement results in fees of$160 to $320 per February 21, 2023 2 week or $9,600 to $19,200 over the course of the next 15 months. Staff budgeted $1,614,105 for the ERP project in this year's operating budget of which $1,358,600 is still available for ERP related costs. After discussion, Mr. Hodges moved, seconded by Ms. Lebesch, and carried 6-0, to approve execution of the Engagement Letter with Harrington& Associates CPAs, as presented. b. Update to the Board of Supervisors regarding Governor's Park Water Treatment Plant and Peters Creek Water Reclamation Facility and Pipelines Chief Engineer Paul Steinbrecher, Senior Service Availability Engineer Darrell Damrow, Client Service Manager David Rasmussen of the Ardurra Group, and Mr. Johnston provided information and an update regarding the Governor's Park Water Treatment Plant and Peters Creek Water Reclamation Facility and Pipelines. They reviewed the actions and negotiations which have been performed by staff since this was brought before the Board back in December. Members of staff and the engineer answered questions regarding the negotiations and the projects. No action was requested or required on these items at this time, this report was for the Board's information only. c. Ratification of Change Order No. 1 with KBT Contracting Corp. for the Administration Building Expansion Phase I and Site Improvements Mr. Johnston presented a request for ratification of Change Order No. 1 with KBT Contracting Corp. (KBT) for the Administration Building Expansion Phase I and Site Improvements. KBT commenced construction of the new Administrative Building Expansion Phase I. After the contract was awarded to KBT, the Bhide and Hall Architects, P.A. (BHA), needed to change the Engineer of Record(EOR) from Michelle Agee P.E. to Jones Edmunds and Associates (JEA). The reason from the change in the EOR was due to Ms. Agee's passing. In taking over the EOR responsibilities, JEA recommended changes to the stormwater conveyance design with the addition of pipe and a storm structure. Because this change in the stormwater conveyance design was after the bid, KBT Contracting is entitled to a change order. BHA and JEA completed design efforts without passing these design change costs to CCUA. However, the design change does represent an increase in costs the contractor would be entitled to. BHA and staff agreed the lump sum amount of $36,657.70 represented reasonable costs associated with the required resources and materials to complete the work. The Board previously authorized staff to approve change orders of$50,000 or 5% of the contract cost whichever is less. This direction from the Board is within meeting minutes only, not in a readily available policy. Staff erred in already authorizing Change Order No. 1 due to the amount representing a 7% change in the contracted project costs. Mr. Johnston requested ratification of staff's action. Staff will bring a formal update to the purchasing policy with the $50,000 or 5% requirements to prevent such errors in the future. After discussion, Mr. McNees moved, seconded by Mr. Gardella, and carried 6-0, to ratify Change Order No. 1, as presented. d. Other Mr. Johnston informed the Board there will be a Rate Study Workshop held during the next meeting on March 7, 2023. He also informed them he met with Legislators on many pertinent topics affecting the utility and complimented GrayRobinson on their efforts in facilitating these meetings. The LAMPA Workshop was held last week, and staff provided information to and received comments from the affected stakeholders. He also shared the CUP Renewal Application is currently process and there are copies of the FDEP Excellence Awards which were received for the Keystone Heights WWTF and Peter's Creek WWTF included in the For Your Information section of the agenda. Item No. 10—Legal Business a. Other February 21, 2023 3 Mr. Williams informed the Board there was a Cease-and-Desist letter from the J-Town Press and a letter acknowledging receipt of same which was provided in the For Your Information section of the agenda. A formal reply to the letter from Ms. Patrick of the J-Town Press is forthcoming. Item No. 11 —Old Business/New Business -None Item No. 12—Public Comment Ms. Lana Patrick of Jacksonville, FL addressed the Board regarding a privacy complaint which was filed on YouTube by a member of CCUA staff. Item No. 13— Supervisor Comments Mr. McNees thanked staff for their efforts and congratulated the individuals who were recognized today for their employment milestones. He commented on the plant bid negotiations and the options being discussed. Ms. Lebesch echoed the comments on the employment milestones and commented on the new staff members which have recently joined CCUA. She also shared her thoughts on the recent plant bids. Mr. Gardella commended staff on the bid negotiations and shared how much he appreciated the details on these items which were provided in the agenda package. He also congratulated the employees on their milestones. Mr. Hodges also congratulated staff on their employment milestones and on the FDEP Excellent Awards. Mr. Starnieri echoed the comments regarding the awards and milestones. He also cautioned staff to be careful of what is being changed or modified to meet the budget constraints. Chairman Davis commented on CCUA's internship and training programs. Mr. Johnston provided comments on these programs. Item No. 14—Adjournment Chairman Davis adjourned the meeting at 3:05 P.M. Wendell Davis, Chairman Janice Loudermilk, Recording Secretary February 21, 2023 4