HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.b Minutes 090225 Regular Session MINUTES
CLAY COUNTY UTILITY AUTHORITY
September 2, 2025
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 Lebesch called the meeting to order at 2:00 P.M.
Item No. 2—Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance
Vice-Chairman 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 Lebesch, Vice-Chairman McNees, Mr. Bourne, Mr. Hingst, Mr. McCall, Mr.
Petty, and Mrs. Taylor in attendance.
Also present at the meeting were Executive Director Jeremy Johnston, Chief Operations Officer Darryl Muse,
Chief Financial Officer Karen Osbourne, Chief Engineer Darrell Damrow, Chief Human Resource Officer Kim
Richardson, Assistant Chief Engineer Joe Paterniti, Service Availability Manager Melisa Blaney, Procurement
Manager Angelia Wilson, Communications and Public Relations Specialist Ashley Taliaferro, Contract &
Procurement Specialist Darrin Parker, Administrative Assistant Operations Alicia Ellis, High School Intern
Reagan Hughes, and Grady H. Williams, Jr., legal counsel to the CCUA.
Item No. 4—Approval of Minutes
a. Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting,August 19, 2025
After discussion, Mrs. Taylor moved, seconded by Mr. McCall, and carried 7-0, to approve the minutes
of the Regular Meeting held on August 19, 2025.
Item No. 5 —Approval of Consent Agenda
After discussion, Mrs. Taylor moved, seconded by Vice-Chairman McNees, and carried 7-0, to approve the
Consent Agenda as follows;
a. Approval of Financial and Operational Activities
1) Approval of Payment of Warrants
Warrants totaling $2,302,916.76
a. Schedule of payments to Sole Sources—None
b. Schedule of Emergency Repairs/Purchases—None
c. Schedule of items initiated under Emergency Contract-None
d. Schedule of payments from the Emergency Account—None
e. Schedule of claims paid under the Sewage Backup Response Policy—None
f. Statement from Grady H. Williams, Jr. LL.M.
2) Request for Asset Disposal Authorization
3) Sole Source Designation—None
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b. Approval of Capital Budget Activities
1) Requests for Award of Procurement Contracts and/or Ratification of
Procurement/Construction Contracts or Contract Renewals
a. Proposed Approval of Continuing Contracts Renewal for the Geotechnical
Engineering and Testing Professional Services Contract RFQ No. 2022/2023-A21
2) Approval of Supplemental Agreements and Change Orders—None
c. Approval of Financing Requests—None
d. Approval of Contract Usage—None
e. Approval of Developer Agreements, Warranty Deeds & Easements
1) Developer Agreement CU24/25-27 — Wastewater Service to 3799 Irvin Court — Clay
County Sheriff's Office Substation (Clay County Board of County Commissioners) — 4
ERC's wastewater, 4 ERC's environmental impact, 4 ERC's debt service - $20,716.80
2) Developer Agreement KU24/25-37 — Water Service to 1258 Clay Street (Jax PCS
Properties, LLC) — 1 ERC water, 1 ERC AWS, 1 ERC SJRWMD, 1 ERC debt service -
$9,512.30
3) Developer Agreement MU24/25-22 — Bella Lago Subdivision, Phase 2B — Consisting of
74 Lots (Meritage Homes of Florida, Inc.) — 74 ERC's water, 74 ERC's wastewater, 74
ERC's reclaimed, 74 ERC's AWS, 74 ERC's SJRWMD, 74 ERC's debt service -
$470,446.63 (deferred $408,708.44)
4) Developer Agreement RU24/25-6 — Water and Wastewater Service to 5774 Green Road
(John and Jody Clarke) — 1 ERC water, 1 ERC wastewater, 1 ERC AWS, 1 ERC
SJRWMD, 1 ERC environmental impact, 1 ERC debt service - $12,572.00
5) Grant of Easement—2178 Winchester Road—Grantor—Nicholas and Kristen Kafka
6) Grant of Easement—3799 Irvin Court—Grantor—Clay County, Florida
7) Grant of Easement—6376 & 6372 Swarthmore Drive—Grantor—Vuori Homes, LLC
Item No. 6—Customer Account Adjustments -None
Item No. 7 — Business discussed at committee meetings - Personnel Committee Meeting regarding the
Executive Director's Evaluation for 2024/2025 Fiscal Year
Personnel Committee Chairman Taylor shared the committee met prior to today's meeting to discuss the
Executive Director's Evaluation for the 2024/2025 Fiscal Year. She also reminded the members to be sure to
provide their completed evaluation form to Mr. Williams as requested.
Item No. 8—Executive Director's Business
a. Utility System Revenue and Refunding Bond, Series 2025 Recommendation
Mr. Johnston introduced Jeremy Niedfeldt, Managing Director of PFM Financial Advisors LLC, (PFM)
who addressed the Board regarding their recommendation relating to the recent RFP relating to the
proposed Utility System Revenue and Refunding Bond, Series 2025. PFM was engaged by CCUA to
serve as municipal advisor for the proposed issuance of a privately placed Utility System Revenue and
Refunding Bond, Series 2025 (the "2025 Bond") in an amount not to exceed $110,500,000 to provide
the Authority with funding for capital improvements, refund of the Series 2023 Bond, and pay for costs
of issuance. The 2025 Bond is payable solely from and secured solely by a pledge of the net revenues of
CCUA's Utility System and will be issued on parity with CCUA's Series 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2024
Notes under and pursuant to CCUA's Bond Resolution. Based on current market conditions, desire to
move in an expedited manner, and reduced cost of issuance, PFM recommended the Authority pursue a
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privately placed direct bank loan, which in today's market was expected to be an efficient and cost-
effective method of financing. All Authority debt currently outstanding is privately placed with a bank
or issued as a State Revolving Fund loan. At CCUA's direction, following the Board's authorization to
proceed, PFM distributed a Request for Proposals (RFP) on July 22, 2025. The RFP was sent to a list of
local, regional and national financial institutions to identify the institution that could provide CCUA
with a fixed rate term loan at the lowest overall borrowing cost, pursuant to certain conditions as
determined by CCUA. Prior to the submittal deadline CCUA received three (3) proposals from the
following firms: Capital One Public Funding, JPMorgan Chase, and Truist Commercial Equity, Inc.
(Truist). Based on PFM's analysis of the proposals and final review and discussion with CCUA staff,
Bond Counsel, and General Counsel, it was determined that Truist's proposed interest rate of 4.43%
with optional redemption on or after May 1, 2030, offered the flexibility most favorable to the CCUA.
The fixed interest rate will be held until closing date no later than October 11, 2025, which eliminates
the risk of rising interest rates between the proposal submittal date and closing date. After discussion,
Vice-Chairman McNees moved, seconded by Mr. Petty, and carried 7-0, to authorize PFM and staff to
proceed with acceptance of the proposal from Truist.
b. July 2025 Financial Package
Chief Financial Officer Karen Osbourne presented the Financial Statements for July and reported
operating income is $6,127,396 over budget due to a favorable revenue and favorable expense variance.
Operating revenue is $1,002,608 over budget and operating expenses are $5,124,789 under budget.
CCUA has gained 951 active water accounts and 934 active sewer accounts during fiscal year
2024/2025 After discussion, Mrs. Taylor moved, seconded by Mr. McCall, and carried 7-0, to accept the
Financial Statements for July 2025, as presented by Ms. Osbourne.
c. Proposed award of contract to Petticoat-Schmitt Civil Contractors, Inc. for the Meadowbrook Water
Treatment Plant Improvements Project
Assistant Chief Engineer Joe Paterniti and Procurement Manager Angelia Wilson presented a proposed
award of contract for ITB 2024/2025-A10 to Petticoat-Schmitt Civil Contractors, Inc. for the
Meadowbrook Water Treatment Plant (WTP) Improvements Project. Meadowbrook WTP is one of our
oldest facilities which serves the Orange Park area. On July 7, 2025, staff publicly advertised the above-
referenced project on CCUA's OpenGov Procurement Portal and in the Florida Times-Union. During
the bid opening on August 14, 2025, CCUA received seven (7) bids. The Engineer of Record, Carollo
Engineers, Inc., reviewed references and submitted information from the lowest bidder and
recommended awarding the project to the qualified, responsive, and responsible lowest bidder, Petticoat-
Schmitt. Staff developed the project budget for the Meadowbrook WTP Improvements in 2021 at
$7,100.000. The property adjacent to the WTP became available in 2023, and the Board approved the
purchase of the property for $173,266.08. Staff contracted with Carollo Engineers to conduct a
preliminary study, final design, and services during construction of the WTP Improvements for
$497,36.77. The funds remaining for the construction of the WTP improvements are $6,429,364.77.
These remaining funds are sufficient to cover Petticoat Schmitt's construction bid in the amount of
$5,179,000. Any remaining funds after construction is complete will be returned to the CIP Management
Reserve account. After discussion, Mr. Hingst moved, seconded by Mrs. Taylor, and carried, 7-0, to
approve the associated Bid Documents, award of the contract as presented, and approval of deductive
change orders and owner-direct purchase orders to save sales taxes on major materials and equipment, as
authorized by the Executive Director or his designee, and as recommended by the Chief Engineer.
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d. Proposed Software Licensing, Maintenance and Support Agreement with Sages Networks, Inc.
Service Availability Manager Melisa Blaney and Mrs. Wilson presented a proposed Software Licensing,
Maintenance and Support Agreement with Sages Networks, Inc. for a cloud-based platform for plan
review, permitting, inspections, and related workflows. The Board WITHOUT OBJECTION directed
staff to clarify and document in the contract the anticipated renewal rates after the initial five-year
period, by providing a contractual fee escalation clause to protect CCUA from unexpected or
unacceptable future fee increases after the initial contract period.
e. Capital Improvement Program Plan Development and Management Software Update
Assistant Chief Engineer Joe Paterniti shared with the Board, staff is looking to obtain a software
platform to assist with CCUA's Capital Improvement Program project development and management.
This report was for the Board's information only; no action was requested or required at this time.
f. West Wing Administration Building Board Tour
After the meeting was adjourned, Mr. Johnston provided a brief tour of the new operations wing for staff
and members of the Board.
g. Other
Mr. Johnston reminded the members the Public Rate Hearing will be held on Monday, September 8,
2025, at 7:00 P.M. He also introduced CCUA's new Chief Engineer, Darrell Damrow.
Item No. 9—Legal Business
a. Other-None
Item No. 10—Old Business/New Business -None
Item No. 11 —Public Comment-None
Item No. 12—Supervisor Comments
Chairman Lebesch thanked everyone for the preparation of the materials and presentations for the meetings
today.
Item No. 13 —Adjournment
Chairman Lebesch adjourned the meeting at 2:49 P.M.
Anna Lebesch, Chairman
Janice Loudermilk, Recording Secretary
September 2, 202 4