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COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC WORKS The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Public Works was held on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 10:00 a.m., Meeting attendees are listed in the Print Friendly PDF version above.
A motion was made by Commissioner Watts to approve the GIS purchase orders; the motion was seconded by Commissioner Monaghan, and unanimously approved.
1. Manager Reeves presented a request from Mr. Meredith regarding a project from the 2007 bond project listing. He stated that the current project listing included a substation one retrofit for $50,000; the request now is to replace that project with a fiber backbone upgrade at a cost of $61,000. He noted that funding is available in the 2007 bond issue, and formal approval is necessary to make the change. 2. Commissioner Monaghan asked for an explanation of GPS data point collection. Mr. Auman responded that work in the field is actually two different pieces; one for electric and another for all utilities. With all utilities, they go out to each meter in the system and put in a GPS point so that it shows up correctly on a map. It helps them to locate water meters that are in a pit and might become covered up, and allows them to draw in a secondary that goes to those meters and know the exact location. It could go around the house or to the back of a house. Mr. Auman continued that it also helps with the geo-coding which is where a customer is connected electronically. Ultimately, that helps with modeling for things such as with water modeling to figure out pressures. If the meter point on the system is known and you already have the usage, it allows it to be tied back properly. He noted it is done in-house for new projects such as new subdivisions. Once the initial project is completed, they should be able to keep up with them in-house on an ongoing basis. With the number of meters, it takes a lot of time and must be spread out over time because of the dollar value involved. He continued that with electric, it is more of an inspection of each pole to show the type of lines and if there are transformers or relays. That information is collected and confirmed back to the database to be sure everything is correct in the system. 3. Commissioner Watts asked about completion of the tie-ins by Chandler Construction. Mr. Cometto responded that they had finished with the contract except for some paving and grassing that would be done when the weather permits. He noted that Gar-con is about 50% along on both contracts. 4. Commissioner Monaghan referred to the departmental reports and stated that there should be some movement on the additional IT position. Mr. Auman responded that the job description has to first be sent off for rating and that process is underway. Commissioner Monaghan requested that managers spell out the acronyms used in departmental reports. 5. Mr. Gentry reported that surveys for CDBG were mailed out for the first time, rather than just going door-to-door with 43% received back so far. He noted an upcoming meeting with the people involved in going door-to-door to the houses that did not mail back a survey. Commissioner Monaghan asked about getting sewer and water out to the lake to low and medium income areas. Mr. Gentry responded that so far, they have stayed within the city with CDBG grants and had not looked at anything out in the county. He stated that they would put together some kind of plan to start looking into those areas. He noted that Metro works a lot with the county on projects. Commissioner Monaghan commented on the Ninety Six District being very interested in federal programs and water quality issues. Commissioner Watts asked if CPW was providing matching funds for Long Alley; Manager Reeves responded that it is through in-kind services for lighting. 6. Chairman Hancock inquired about gas sales. Mr. Smith reported that 40% more was sold for January than for January of the previous year. He added that January was higher than any of the previous seven years, and February will also likely set records. Commissioner Watts inquired about collections; Ms. Gorham responded that they are pretty good, noting that the MASC website shows close to $53,000 so far that should be received through the set-off debt collection program. Commissioner Monaghan inquired about collection agency results; Ms. Gorham responded that the last invoice showed a little over $18,000 with $529 that was actually collected by the agency, and the remainder collected by CPW. Currently, they are working on a report to show how much of that $18,000 was paid as a result of people moving back onto CPW services, as opposed to paying because the collection agency had notified them. Mr. Patrick asked if that $18,000 would have been collected from accounts referred to the collection agency; Ms. Gorham confirmed that was correct. She added that CPW was billed on the $18,000 amount. Mr. Patrick clarified that all but the $529 came through our door or mail rather than through the hands of the collection agency, but all were accounts that had been turned over to them for collection. He added that most of them likely responded because they wanted new service. 7. Commissioner Watts inquired about work going on at Lander. Mr. Meredith responded that the electric department is doing a bore from the site at the new athletic facility all the way down to the main campus. Mr. Chapman added that they are waiting for them to make application for water. They have been in contact with their engineer and had also pointed that out at a meeting with Lander the previous week. Their engineer still has not applied for water taps, so the ball is now in their court.
A motion was made by Commissioner Watts and seconded by Commissioner Monaghan to go into Executive Session for a contractual matter; the motion was unanimously approved.
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