>> Okay. It is 9 o'clock and we have a quorum so call to order the public utilities board
for the City of Denton on Monday, February 27th, 2023. The first item is anybody from
the public who wants to address the PUB board? Nope. Okay. Moving along. Consent agenda.
Does any board member wish to pull an item A through D? Okay. Seeing none, do we have
a motion to approve items A through D on the consent?
>> Move approval.
>> Second.
>> Okay. All in favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> All right. Consideration for approval of the February 13th, 2023 minutes. Do we have
a motion to approve? Moves and a second? Okay. All in favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> All right. The next item is PUB23046.
>> All right. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the board, Seth Garcia, program manager
with capital projects. This morning I have a brief presentation for construction inspection
services associated with the 2019 bond program. So for a quick little overview of the projects
we're proposing for this bond program or for the inspection services, excuse me. So we
have 14 projects within our street reconstruction. That's our neighborhood program. Roughly 10
CSP projects and four CMAR projects. We're estimating it to be around $150 million in
construction. And our goal is to complete all these neighborhood projects by the end
of 2026. And on the right there you can see the different areas shaded and then the highlighted
street segments associated with the street reconstruction of the bond program. The second
main project we're proposing for these inspection services is Bonnie Bray Phase 6. So this is
a local government-led project, which means we have FHWA or federal highway funds associated
with the project. So it's a joint project with TxDOT. It is estimated to be 30 plus
million in construction costs. And it is a two-year construction project. And for those
who aren't familiar, Bonnie Bray Phase 6 is the section of two-lane and four-lane roadway
right now in between US 380 and US 77. And we will be upgrading it to a four-lane divided
roadway. So for the contract summary, you can see there our estimated cost for the street
rehabilitation portion is just at $6 million. There's a little bit better breakdown in
the AIS. And then for Bonnie Bray Phase 6, we've got a $2 million estimate on that. It
will be funded through the 2019 bond funds and utility funds. And then as you can see
there, Bonnie Bray Phase 6 does have those FHWA funds attached to it as well. For the
summary of services, so we will expect construction inspection and full documentation from this
firm. They will also be responsible for SW3P inspections to make sure they're in compliance
with our watershed group as well. Pay application review, schedule review. Of course, public
engagement for anybody who lives out there on the project sites. And then dispute support.
And as you can see on Bonnie Bray Phase 6, we also will have some pretty intensive record
keeping. TxDOT requires quite a few of their own forms to be filled out each month as well
as the pay application to be done by the municipality and submitted for payment. So that is quite
an effort. And so we will have a dedicated record keeper as well as multiple inspectors
for that TxDOT procedure process. So in total, we're looking for just over an $8 million
NTE. So with that, Steph recommends adoption of the ordinance with the City of Denton and
consular engineers in the not to exceed amount of $8 million. And I'm happy to answer any
questions.
We've done projects like this before. I don't recall that we've ever hired someone to do
inspections and things of this nature. What's different about this?
Yes, ma'am. So right now the need is just the sheer volume of work that we're putting
out. So right now we're going to have seven projects in construction. One of the larger
projects that we brought forward was Southeast Denton Package B. It was $21 million over
15 months. So that breaks down to a burn rate of about $1.3 million a month. And right now
that contractor has eight crews working and we're taking down four streets at a time.
So with that, our inspections group just doesn't have the capacity to handle the need right
now. So by allowing us to use our pre-qualified construction inspection list, we can get them
to focus on other CIP jobs as well as the development jobs and kind of sync up this
firm with the bond program to give them some consistency with what we're needing.
Would it be fair to say we're trying to double up and catch up?
I would say yes, as well as provide the coverage needed just to support the city from a risk
level, just to have people out there monitoring that it is being built to spec, watching testing
being done. Of course, reviewing those pay applications and schedule. It's more of a
protection on the city side to make sure we're not getting behind.
Was there some reason to think that you needed this as was there some concern that things
in the past maybe not have been done exactly as you wanted?
There has always been that concern. And as well, I think this ties back more to staffing.
So we actually pulled this firm from our pre-qualified list. So we pre-qualified five different firms
and shortlisted them to do it. We saw this coming just with the amount of work that our
group was pushing out for the bond program. It was simply just going to be too much for
our internal inspections to handle. But yes, on the flip side of that as well,
we have been burned by other contractors before and things not being built. So like I said,
this provides more protection for the city to make sure we're getting what we're paying
for out there. Thank you.
Other questions? Yes, sir.
Good morning. Just a couple of questions. Was this planned at the time of the 2019 bond
or has this been realized as a necessity after the bond moved forward?
So the original plan was we were going to use our internal staff as much as we could.
We provided to council many supplementals to try and beef up our internal inspection
staff and we were granted a few positions. So that has got us by through the first three
projects for that program. So we've had three CSPs go out that our internal crews
have inspected. But like I said, now with these CMAR, these larger projects going out
to where we've really rung out all the efficiencies in the schedule, it's just become too much.
So budget wise, we have planned for that in our budget. We've carried 3.5% through all
of our projects for these construction inspections. When I did the rough breakout, it looks like
with what the firm is proposing, we're going to be right around 3.8%. So we're just a
hair higher. But that is, of course, if we hit our projection, we use all of that. They
will only bill as hours used against these contracts. So hopefully by the time we get
to the end of 2026, we will come in right at our budget.
And then the winners of the CMAR and CSP contracts, they have their own QC processes and they're
like in this case, if all goes well, CONSOR will just be routing, doing final inspections
and routing the as-builts and so forth, right?
Yeah, that's correct. So our specifications lay out some pretty stringent QC processes.
So they are there to observe and report to either the project manager or in this case,
the manager of the inspections department is kind of the route, the organizational chart
that it will flow through before it comes to the project manager. But you're absolutely
correct. It's to catch things that we can, but more just observation through that period.
Any more questions? All right. Do we have a motion to approve?
I move approval.
I'll second. I'm going to have just a couple of comments. So this is obviously a critical
component of any major project. Having QC and it's great to have a second firm or us,
you know, the city QC, the construction teams. So that, you know, what is it? Trust but verify,
right? Classic one-liner.
And I just want to make sure that going forward, these are either, you know, when we issue
bonds, the 2019 bond isn't unique. We every three to five years have a new bond project
and do major infrastructure work in town. So either we move this in house, which requires
permanent staffing, $8 million over a couple of years, probably higher 30 or 40 headcount.
And I could see how that would seem like a massive expansion to city resources. But it
might be more effective going forward than having contractors. Or if we're going to use
contract labor as we go forward, then we just make sure that in the 2024 bond or whatever
the next one's coming, that, you know, that's just budgeted and clear. And like I said,
this is critical work. We have to make sure what we ask for gets built, that it's built
to specification, that we track everything, that we as built and the, you know, whatever
else, all that processing so that the next time we revisit these streets in 20 or 30 years,
we have really good, accurate records and we know they're built to quality and so forth.
And if I recall the 2019 reconstruction was fairly aggressive.
It is. And we've even gotten more aggressive due to city management's direction. So it's
very aggressive.
All right. We had a motion and a second, right? Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor,
say aye.
Aye.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Management reports.
Madam Chair, so we have a couple of reports for you. The first one that we have is really
a response to a question we have from member Ryback. I know he's not here, but David Brown's
going to come up and just walk through a very quick couple of slides that he has to address
these amendments associated with this project.
Let me get this set up.
Well, let me see here. Yeah, I had this lined out. Yeah. Yeah, I don't want the full. I'm
twitching over here trying to go over there and help him.
Oh, there you go. Hey, I appreciate it. Thank you. I'm David Brown. I'm project manager
for water utilities. I want to go over Hicker Creek basin contract amendments. There's amendments
to the contract that we want to discuss and kind of give you insight to it. So basically
the original contract amendment one and two and three were for the design bid and construction
phase services for the Hicker Creek detention facility, West Peak flow station and Hicker
Creek lift station. So I'll just kind of tell you what those were. I don't know if you remember
that or not, but the Hicker Creek detention facility, which is here on right here, it's
a three million gallon tank. Basically it's a parking lot for the sewer system or a pantry.
It's not used yet. And that's probably odd how to talk about a pantry, but it parks it
there until the wastewater facility that pecan Creek can treat that. So basically it mitigates
the high flows during rain, rain events. So that's what that's for. The second picture
here is a Hicker Creek lift station. What it is, it is a 11 million gallon per day new
lift station replaced a 40 year old lift station there. That is our largest lift station in
the system at wastewater for the wastewater system in the city of Denton. And that's down
there off of Teasley right across from Geyer high school in the back there. And then the
last picture is our West peak flow pump station at pecan Creek. It's right there as you enter
into the wastewater reclamation plant on the left. It is a new pump station, which is similar
to the Hicker Creek detention facility. What it does, it takes flows off of our Cooper
and pecan Creek interceptors. And what it does, it says, you know, basically, it allows
us to pump additional flows during wet weather over to our basin. So basically it parks it
there when the plant can handle it. Then we push through and go ahead and treat the water
there. So it adds capacity. Both of those, the detention facility and the West peak flow
adds capacity without a big cost on the as far as the plant. The plant's able to treat
a lot of stuff, a lot of wastewater throughout the day, just at certain times and then peak
flows, we need to hold it till a time that we can do it. So that's what the regional
contract amendment one, two, and three were. So then we went to amendment four over at
the Hicker Creek detention facility, which is over at off a country club road there.
Right for right after you get to the railroad tracks, there was a crossing that we need
to do with a water line coming from the neighborhood just to the north of there where we tied into
potable water. We needed water over at the detention facility. So originally this contract
or this design was in 2015. And when it started KCS, they upgraded some of their design standards.
So we needed to do an amendment to meet their design standards. Amendment four, of course,
these were handling also Hicker Creek lift station was on this contract as well. So we
had some delays out there at the Hicker Creek lift station. One of them was a catastrophe
event. Let me get this right catastrophic event. There you go. I got the English working
today. So it was an event in 2019, which filled in the excavation delayed our lift station.
You're shaking your head. You understand that that time. So we good news is the lift station
is in service. It is working. And, you know, we have believed a lot of issues over there.
So it's these are substantially complete all three of these. Amendment six. Basically,
we needed to redesign odor control pad over at the Hicker Creek detention facility. We
had an excavation when they excavated for the lift station there. They use a different alternate
method. So we had to go back and do some peers, basically. And then also a retaining wall
over at Pecan Creek, West Peak flow. So we didn't have to build inside the floodplain.
We built a retaining wall so we didn't get into that floodplain. With that came some
additional construction meetings. And then, like I said, this project is complete and
all the facilities are in service. We're just waiting to close it out. So if anybody has
any questions, be glad to help you make sure. Yes, sir. We should make sure I understand
because I live over in that area and I work over in that area that is just north of the
railroad tracks there at Country Club and near Ryan Road. Yes, sir. We off to the west.
Yes, sir. Okay. Been watching a lot of cranes out there for one. Yeah, we're we're complete
out there. So that's one thing. So that's also just north of that other area that we're
looking at. Okay. All right. That's it. No questions. You always have the good ones.
Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate y'all. Thanks, David. So that really was in
response to a couple of questions that member Rybak had. I know he's likely going to watch
this. And so if anyone has any additional questions, certainly let us know. We'll be
happy to address those the next time on the management report. Deme did recently receive
recognition from from the Arbor Day Foundation is a process that we've been working through
for for a couple of years now. We're happy to report that we're finally being recognized
as a tree line city, a utility USA utility, kind of in line with what other utilities
across the state and across the country are doing really good partnership with the Parks
Department's efforts with with the city's recognition as well for being a tree a tree
city USA. They really recognizes the the practices that we have a DME regarding tree trimming
around utility lines. And certainly, after after what's happened down in Austin, San
Antonio, I think really shows the resiliency and the reliability that we have here in Denton.
Now through that through that activity, we've also, you know, identified a couple of areas
that we may want to improve. And so we're going to be working on those, trying to get
some additional contracts, looking at how our telecom and communication providers also
trim around our utility poles. And there's a number of things that we're looking at.
We may be bringing back some recommendations in the future, but happy to answer any questions
that you may have on that particular item. Just a comment when up when Austin was without
for what two weeks, three weeks. And we saw the branches laying around. I was so grateful
for those trucks that go around the neighborhoods and trim trees, because if we hadn't been
doing that, we've been having the same thing. And I'm great job. We appreciate that. Certainly,
we sympathize with, you know, the customers there in Austin. There's certainly a lot of
issues that we don't face here geographically. Certainly, there's a lot of hills in Austin
and a lot of other issues as well that kind of contributed to many of the outages and durations.
So we're thankful that here in Denton, we haven't had to face that.
Well, we've got the old alleyways. Yeah. This is true. Most of the northern developments.
So the next item is regarding future agenda items. We did have a request from at the last
meeting to move up the comprehensive diversion ordinance update. And so we did do that. It's
now scheduled for March the 13th. And our folks in solid waste will be ready to present
all that, have a wastewater master plan that will be coming to you in April. And then after
that, it's budget, budget, budget, right? And so we'll be full steam ahead with you
on budget presentations. And Nick can't wait to be able to do that. And then for new action
items, I already mentioned, you know, the diversion ordinance, we've moved that up in
the timeline. We responded today to the other request, and we don't have any additional
requests at this time for new business, but certainly happy to add additional ones if
you have any. So that's all I have. Are we going to, are we going to see, you know, like
right now, the state of Texas is big problem is how to spend all the extra money they have.
And 26 billion, I think is the number. I think it's closer to 31 billion. 31 billion. Mr.
Comptroller keeps pushing it up. Do we have anything going on like that? Nick, I don't
know if there's anything you want to comment on that. I, you know, I certainly have a lot
of projects that they can fund if they want, but no, to answer your question. So Nick Vincent
interim finance director, I'm not aware of that situation. I do know that general fund
finished about 8 million positive this last fiscal year. So we will have a conversation
with city council regarding that and some funding opportunities that we've identified.
So yeah, are there any opportunities with the state? I mean, I know they're talking,
I mean, I was down there two weeks ago and they were talking a lot about property tax
relief, school funding, one time, one time school funding type things. So, um, good question
and try to stay in the purview of the pub. Um, but there are a lot of bills going through
the state legislature right now. Most of them are focused on limiting, um, ad valorem taxes
for residents. So how much property taxes can increase on residential and non-residential
properties? So we're seeing a bunch of that stuff come through that we're monitoring,
but nothing as far as funding opportunities. But, you know, we're always looking for grant
opportunities if they're out there. I mean, there's ARP funds that the city still has.
We're working to spend, we've identified projects with those proceeds, but massive spending
amounts that are available to city. I haven't seen them yet. Okay. Okay. Well, we'll see.
Well, we'll go. Who's going down to Denton county days? You? Yeah, I don't know who's
going. I'm likely Brian Adams and maybe a contingent of our, our city council is likely
going to be going these normal practices we do every year. Yeah, I'm going to. So realtor
days today. Okay. Okay. I went to associate a general contractor days two weeks ago. Okay.
Um, last item is concluding items. Does the board member wish to have something added
to a future agenda or have anything to say to the public? Okay. Seeing none. It is nine
25. Do you want to make a motion to adjourn? Okay. We are adjourned.