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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/05/2013 Work Session Mayor L UITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS Gary Peterson Counei cilmembers Robert A. With'ams 59040 1b Avenue NE,Columbia Heights,MN 55421-3878 (763)706-3600 TDD(763)706-3692 Bruce Vawrocki Visit our website at:www.ci.coluntbia-heights.mrr.us Tannnera Diehm Donna Schmitt City Manager Walter R.Fchst ADMINISTRATION NOTICE OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING to be held in the CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS as follows: Meeting of. COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL Date of Meeting: MONDAY, AUGUST 5,2013 Time of Meeting: 7:00 P.M. Location of Meeting: CONFERENCE ROOM 1 Purpose of Meeting: WORK SESSION AGENDA 1. Presentation on Feasibility Study for Shared or Cooperative Fire and Emergency Services 2. Change Order No. 1 for the Commercial Water Meter Replacement Program 3. Commercial Water Meter Program: Status (verbal) 4. City Stormwater Grant Program The City of Columbia Heights does not discriminate on the basis of disability in the admission or access to,or treatment or employment in, its services,programs, or activities. Upon request, accommodation will be provided to allow individuals with disabilities to participate in all City of Columbia Heights'services,programs,and activities. Auxiliary aids for handcapped persons are available upon request when the request is made at least 96 hours in advance. Please call the City Council Secr(tary at 706-3611,to make arrangements. (TDD/706-3692 for deaf or hearing impaired only) CITY COUNCIL LETTER Meeting of: August 5th, 2013 AGENDA SECTION: WORK SESSION ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT: CITY NO: PUBLIC WORKS/FINANCE MANAGER ITEM: ACCEPTING BIDS AND AWARDING A BY: K. Hansen, J. Kloiber BY: CONTRACT FOR THE COMMERCIAL WATER DATE: 7/30/13 DATE: METER REPLACEMENT PROGRAM Background: In February of 1999 the City Council authorized the replacement of all residential water meters with new meters operating on a radio-read type system. The firm of U.S. Filter was awarded the contract and completed the change out of over 5,500 meters that year. Sensus meters were installed with a reading system that operates on a radio communication frequency where each meter has its own battery. In 2011 all of the batteries for the residential water meter radios were successfully replaced. Issues: Commercial Meter Replacements: The Council approved a contract with Ferguson Waterworks in the amount of$214,237 for the replacement of commercial water meters at their May 28,2013 regular meeting. Separately,the Council approved the purchase of 350 Sensus MXU's from HD Supply in the amount of$39,276.56. The original contract bidding documents provided for the meter replacements with the City supplying the MXU's (radios)to run on the existing drive by reading system. The MXU's are `wired' to the register head of the meter and placed within the property structure. This system reads register data only, providing water usage from the last meter reading. At the pre-construction meeting held with Ferguson at the beginning of July, they proposed a value added alternative to the Sensus MXU's. Ferguson is proposing to utilize a `smart' register and radio a single unit that would be installed on the meter. This setup would run on Neptune software that would function identical to our Sensus system as we collect meter data in our drive-by readings.The Ferguson value added proposal included the Neptune software, a handheld and installation to run on the City system. This will allow the meter reading process to continue as normal with the Neptune meters providing meter data in a much more comprehensive and customer friendly manner— including: 1. Leak Detection (Continuous or Intermittent) 2. Reverse Flow 3. No Flow condition 4. Tampering 5. Solid State Meter head 6. 8-digit resolution The Finance Director conducted an analysis of their proposal and both the Public Works and Finance staff are recommending accepting the value added alternative proposal from Ferguson.The cost of their proposal is actually slightly less than the cost of the Sensus MXU's, and provides the ability to collect additional data which may assist the City and the customer in instances of leaks, no flow and specific dates of occurrence. Recommended Motion: Move to rescind the purchase order for 350 Sensus MXU's from HD Supply in the amount of$39,276.56. Recommended Motion: Move to approve Change Order 1 for the 2013 Commercial Water Meter Replacement Program,City Project No. 1309,to Ferguson Waterworks of Blaine MN in the amount of$38,500 with funds to be appropriated from Fund 651-51309-5185; and, furthermore,to authorize the Mayor and City Manager to enter into a contract for the same. Attachment: Ferguson Proposal —7/15/13 FERGUSON." Wat"I. vorks, July 15, 2013 City of Columbia Heights 590 40th Avenue N.E. Columbia Heights, MN 55421 Subject: Neptune integrated Radio Meter's Dear Kevin: It was good to meet with you and your staff on Wednesday July 10,2013. We are looking forward to working with you to install the Neptune Water Meter in the City of Columbia Heights. We introduced an option for you to consider using the Neptune R900i register on the large meter's that we will plan to replace underthis project. There would be a slight increase in cost but less than the combination of the Sensus MXU and the Neptune meter with the ProRead register that we submitted in the proposal. Our offer to use the R906i in lieu of the Sensus radio offers the City many additional advanced features. L Leak Detection (Con5nuous or Intermittent) 2. Reverse Flow(Minor or Major) 1 No Flow conditions 4. Tampering S. Solid State Metrology 6. 8-digit resolution Our offer to upgrade to the R90 0i can be implemented with the existing reading technology easily and very little added work and will give the Utility great latitude moving forward if the R900i technology is round to add customer service features that enhance the City's ability to service their customers. In order to be most efficient in implementing the two radio technologies we would propose the following. L Newly installed Commercial Meters would be installed into a new reading route to differentiate them from the current radio technology. 2. The new route would be extracted separately and sent to the Neptune software installed on a different PC or the same PC. The Neptune software would bad the route onto a USB drive for loading onto a laptop that receives the radio transmissions from the R900i if contained register/radios. 3. The MRX is a 72 channel receiver that can co-exist in the same vehicle as the Sensus VXU. 4. The meter reading process will continue as normal. There is no requirement to view the Neptune RF data being collected unless you want to have Visual verification that the radio has read. The Neptune method of transmitting RF is to send a radio transmission every 14 seconds. Your receiver will hear the transmission multiple times before you leave the range of the radio. ZFERGUSONO �Vatemvorks 5. Once the reading process is complete the reading staff will return the USB device and it will unload to the loading PC and the reads will be processed through the Neptune software and send the readings back to ACS. In order to address the cost of the components we would propose to offer the following. Neptune ARB N_SIGHT AMP,Software N/C Installation and Training N/C MRX 72 Channel receiver N/C CE Handheld Complete N/C Laptop(supplied by Columbia Heights) NIC Register Upgrade $ 110.00 ea This upgrade is less than combination of providing a Sensus MXU to be installed with our ProRead register and it will return more information and will perform better. The amount of information that you can retrieve from the register to enhance the customer service ability is very impressive. This option will all the City of Columbia Heights to replace any non-functional Sensus MXUs with the Neptune R9001 meters in the future if that is a direction that you want to take. In the interim the meters will provide much more information to your Finance Department to maybe resolve or respond to a customer inquisition. If you have any additional questions concerning the equipment or our solution of integrating the R900i into you existing RF system please contact us, Sincerely, Mr. Kim Foster Meter Division Manager Cc Todd Phillips, FWW Brian Rollins, FWW CITY COUNCIL LETTER Meeting of: August 5, 2013 AGENDA SECTION: WORK SESSION ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT: CITY PUBLIC WORKS MANAGER ITEM: STORM WATER GRANT PROGRAM BY: K. Hansen; A. Hogg BY: DATE: 7/31/2013 DATE: Background From time to time, staff comes across residential properties in the City of Columbia Heights that receive significant amounts of storm water runoff from other properties. This is primarily due to how property was originally developed, and may change over time due to additions, landscaping, gardens, etc. In some locations, the storm water does not have an outlet to the street. Where a problem is known, the City will assist by extending storm sewer to the property line—if storm sewer is available. Residents then have a discharge point for the surface water from their property, but private property solutions can be expensive. Due to private property access, ongoing maintenance costs, as well as easement issues, it is not in the City's best interest to install public storm sewers to serve these areas. Currently, the City does not have a program to aid in resolving this issue. Analysis Engineering Department staff is proposing a storm water grant program to provide assistance for localized or backyard flooding scenarios. The grant would provide partial funding to help private property owners improve the drainage from their yards to the street/alley. The grant is intended to aid residents when potential damage to main structures (house and/or garage) is involved. Sheds would not be considered a main structure. The contributing area would need to be at least '/z acre. This would equate to about 6 average backyards. As proposed,the grant would fund up to 50% of contractor costs up to $3,000 per improvement area. The grant would also fund 100% of material costs up to $3,000 if an owner does the labor themselves. The specific program details are attached. The grant is not intended for small water quality projects such as rain gardens as the RCWD and MWMO have programs intended to support these. Funding for the program would be provided by the City's Stormwater Utility. Recommended Motion: Consider initiation of a Storm Water Grant Program. Attachment: Storm Water Grant Program details COUNCIL ACTION: Refuse/Recycling Central Garage CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS Sewer/Water Engineering Public Works Department Streets Parks 637 38"'Avenue N.E. Columbia Heights, MN 55421-3806 Office (763) 706-3700 TDD(763) 706-3692 Fax(763) 706-3701 The Columbia Heights Storm Water Grant Program is designed for the permanent improvement of stormwater drainage issues on single family and duplex owner-occupied residential property. Important Note: Do not purchase any project materials or let your contractor begin working until you have signed a grant agreement in our office. All document forms and permits need to be reviewed and signed before the grant can be awarded Grants: Up to $15,000 dollars will be available annually, with a maximum grant of$3000 per applicant/improvement area. For contractor work, the grant will pay 50% of the lowest bid, up to $3,000. For Do-it yourself projects, the grant will pay 100% for materials, up to $3,000. Eligible Properties: Single and duplex owner-occupied residential properties with potential for water damage to structures located at the lowest elevation. Drainage issues must be due to topographical issues of the property and the surrounding properties, and include a drainage area of roughly d/2 acre. Additional consideration will be given to BMP features that improve water quality or reduce runoff volumes, partnerships with multiple home owners, or a property with a history of drainage issues. The City of Columbia Heights Engineering Department will make all decisions on the approval of the grants, however, the city holds the option not to fund any grants during the calendar year. Applications received by April 1 will have first priority, with the awarding of grants on or about May 15, of the same calendar year. Grants request submitted after April 1St will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. The City shall have 60 days to review these applications Eligible Improvements: Materials and labor performed by contracted work in compliance with the applicant's plan. Materials for do-it-yourself projects will be eligible, not including the rental of tools and equipment or in kind labor. Application Process and Procedures 1) Return the following forms to the City of Columbia Heights Completed Application with additional information as needed Project plans 2 project Bids 2) Documents will be reviewed for compliance with the established program guide. If documents are missing, incomplete, or not approved; the home owner will be notified. 3) Permits must be obtained when required. Failure to comply with this regulation will disqualify the applicant from receiving program funds. Permitted items require approval by the City Inspector. 4) Participation Agreement: To be considered a participant of this program, a signed grant participation form is required before the proposed work may begin. 5) Work Completion: plan improvements must be completed by the end of the calendar year. 6) No maintenance agreement is required to be signed by the grant applicant, but property owners will maintain the improvements for the entire lifespan of the improvements. Grant Payment and Disbursement Process 1) The following items must be received before funds can be approved for release. a. Final Invoice from contractors showing all amount paid. b. Material Receipts SERVICE IS OUR BUSINESS wwiy.ci.columhia-hei ZQ 21S.nzn EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER THE CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY IN EMPLOYMENT OR THE PROVISION OF SERVICES 2) Final inspection by public works staff will be performed once the above items have been submitted. 3) All Permits closed by City Departments, as required 4) Payment to the homeowner will be made only after final inspection and approval of the work by the Public Works Staff. 5) Checks may take up to 15 business days after the above items are received to process. Payment is only made for completed and approved projects. SERVICE IS OUR BUSINESS WWW.Ci.co1umbia-he&1ifs.mn.us EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER THE CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY IN EMPLOYMENT OR THE PROVISION OF SERVICES