PORT LABELLE UTILITY ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
February 19, 2007
1) Call Meeting to Order
Chairman Harold Reecer called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. on February 19, 2007, at the Board of County Commissioners Chambers, first floor, Hendry County Administrative Building, LaBelle, Florida.
Members present were: Harold Reecer, George Davis, Han Mouthaan, Paul Samerdyke and Ricky Bass. Others in attendance were: Roger Greer, PLUS Utility Director; Linda Murray, PLUS Secretary; Danny Nelson, Tetra Tech, PLUS Consulting Engineer; Moctar Siddo, PLUS Engineer; Ron Zimmerly, Hendry County Grants & Special Projects Director; Kevin Thomas, CHL Representative; Rock Aboujaoude, Rock Enterprises; John Capece, Southern DataStream, PLUS Advisory Board Facilitator.
2) Review the Minutes of January 22, 2007.
Approval of the minutes as written for January 22, 2007 was moved by Geroge Davis and seconded by Paul Samerdyke. Vote was carried unanimously. Duly noted was the request for verification of revisions by George Davis. John Capece said the first page would be emailed to the board members.
3) Director’s Report
Roger Greer, Plus Director, reported moderate water consumption during the month of January 2007. Compared to last year, there has been very little water used for line flushing because of the drop-off in new home construction.
The water plant usage for January 2007:
10,059,100 gallonsLast Year 11,242,300
Average324,487 gallons per dayLast Year 362,654
Maximum394,400 gallonsLast Year 419,500
Wastewater treated for January 2007 was:
6,275,000 gallonsLast Year 6,271,000
Average 202,000 gallons Last Year 202,000
Maximum 222,000Last year 225,000
January sets were: 2 Meter Sets1 New Requests89 Outstanding
February to date has: 5 Meter Sets 1 New Request85 Outstanding
4) Water Conservation Program
John Capece pointed out that the connections have increased slightly this month. He pointing out that peak daily water use has stayed close to the expected average usage; while the average usage is well below projections. Consumption is running at about 80 percent at this time. John still has concerns about the storage tank levels. We are at 80-90 percent capacity. He further noted that he adjusted the water demand projection graph to push out the completion date for the new water plant from May to June of 2007. Moving the date back one month has no effect on our planning since May is the peak consumption month.
John reported that the Hendry County Planner, County Attorney and the LaBelle City Mayor along with Mike Boyle had a meeting last week regarding planning for the water supply for West Hendry County. Roger Greer, Director reported that he had not had any contact concerning the meeting. LaBelle has expressed an interest in buying excess water capacity once we are on line with the new water plant. John stated he would follow up and provide information to the advisory board concerning that meeting.
5) Rate Study Update
Danny Nelson, Tetra Tech reported that they are going through the financial data. Additional data have been requested. The extended service area information is being incorporated into the study. TetraTech will hold discussions with the County staff to compile all queries once they have received all the required information from the county. Hopefully by the next meeting he will be able to provide more information to the board.
6) Well Use Permit and Well Application
John Capece reported that the applications will be done in conjunction with Danny Nelson, TetraTech and Moctar Siddo, PLUS Engineer. They are working jointly to review some issues of the Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan within the next month. Several water supply projects were submitted to SFWMD by PLUS during the past year. They listed both West LaBelle proposals from the county and city. They also listed a PLUS re-use water project, but did not list our current expansion of the water plant nor did they list future expansion to 1.8 from 0.9 mgd. John reported that the omitted projects all listed the Sandstone Aquifer as their source, which does not qualify as an alternative water supply. John further explained that SFWMD stated that they would entertain an application for the 0.9 mgd from the Sandstone Aquifer, but that scaling up to 1.8 mgd would require tapping into the Floridan Aquifer. Any second plant to serve full PLUS build-out will also have to utilize the Floridan. Moctar Siddo will be working with the Lower West Coast personnel to formalize the conversion of the project applications from the Sandstone to the Floridan. A population study may have to be submitted with the request.
7) New Well Design and Construction
Danny Nelson has submitted a proposal for the design, construction and installation management of the third well. Part of that process will be the water use permit. A separate permit will be prepared for DEP for the installation of the well and the piping. A set of bidding documents will be prepared for the well drilling and oversight of the construction and development of the well and its containment structure. Discussion and questions concerning the depth of the wells, test wells and time frame of completion of the third well was discussed among the board members. Danny noted that they would be reviewing all the data provided by Gail Murray’s data. Membrane changes and blending and re-use water supplies were also discussed.
8) Water Treatment Plant Construction Update
Danny Nelson reported that the progress on the water plant is going well. Roger Greer provided construction photos to the board. The new building shell is there and they will be installing doors and windows soon. Yard piping is now being installed. The electrical contractor is pulling wire. Generators have been delivered. Electrical room equipment is scheduled for delivery in March. Things are progressing very well. Florida Power & Light is one of the factors controlling progress. Danny is working on preparing an easement for lines and transformers, estimating that work will be completed 4 weeks from now.
9) Banyan Pipeline & Network Construction Project
Danny Nelson reported that three crews are working on the Banyan Village pipe network project. They have installed 22,000 ft of pipe in the last month. Unfortunately they are repeatedly hitting rock. The change orders and increased costs of rock removal were discussed. Danny noted that the construction company is documenting the areas where they are hitting rock, its depths and thickness. This information may be useful for future projects in the area.
John Capece requested a balance sheet be submitted to the Advisory Board summarizing financial elements of the current projects (water plant, Banyan network, and the SR 80 pipeline) showing initial budgets amounts, savings, and overages.
Danny Nelson discussed the right of way easement on State Route 80 and the Florida DOT right of way. Three issues are still pending - dipping vats, wetlands, and canal crossings. Permit applications have been prepared for the dipping vats & wetlands, so progress is being made. Moctar Siddo reported that the county is conducting a title search on the canal crossings issue. They are investigating easements from General Development, the Joint Trust, and Port LaBelle Community Development District.
10) Banyan Project Materials Storage Security
Moctar Siddo has contacted the three bidders to re-quote the alarm system without the camera equipment using only motion sensors. The lowest bid was from TheAlarm Company returned a bid of $4,900. John Capece reported that he researched the costs on the Internet and the security companies were charging us $ 700 for a motion sensor for which the average cost was $150. He noted that equipment should cost approximately $1,500 with $1,500 for installation labor. The board discussed the costs and requested that Moctar contact the company and see if they could complete the job within 3 weeks for a total price of $3,000.
11) Residential Density Report & Database
John Capece reported that work on the database continues. He is automating the PLUS office forms and tying the online forms to the database. He is working to clean up the database for the 13,000 plus lots for future planning usage and water consumption accounting.
12) Other Issues
Adjustment of connection fees were discussed for those cases where fees were paid, but connections not made prior to the date of adoption of fee increases. This complication only develops when there is a delay of many months or years in the completion of a home construction. Roger Greer said that after the rate study was completed he would discuss the connection fee agreement language with Hendry County Attorney Mark Lapp.
Rock Aboujaoude approached the board regarding his client’s potential purchase of 2,000 acres on the west side of Banyan Village. Rock asked about opportunities to tap into the 16-inch water main running in front of this property where the developer may be placing between 480 and 1,000 residential units. John Capece said that if and when demand exceeded capacity of the new water plant (1.8 mgd) Banyan Village may be the appropriate location for a second water plant.
14) Adjourn
Chairperson Harold Reecer adjourned the meeting at 3pm. The next scheduled meeting will be Monday, March 19, 2007 at 1:00 PM.
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