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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-10-25; Encina Joint Advisory Committee Ad Hoc; Minuteso ENCINA JOINT POWERS MINUTES OF THE JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1978 AT THE ENCINA WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY CONFERENCE ROOM Ed Stiles, Chairman Stanley Mahr, Vice Chairman 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Stiles called the meeting to order at 9:07 A,M. ROLL CALL Present; Vista Sanitation District City of Carlsbad Buena Sanitation District San Marcos County Water District Leucadia County Water District Encinitas Sanitary District County of San Diego JAC Administrator JAC Counsel Encina Joint Powers Absent: Vista Sanitation District City of Carlsbad San Marcos County Water District Leucadia County Water District Guests: Blade Tribune C M Engineering Associates Encinitas Sanitary District Dan Carr Mary Casler Ed Stiles, Bill Dominguez Stanley Mahr Dick Hanson, Eric Elliott Mark Schneider, Jack Filanc Jim Frandsen Ron Beckman Roy H. Gann, Esq. Las Evans, Mary Taylor Joe Zapotocky A. J. Skotnicki Jim McKay Stan Van Sickle Gil Davis John Murk Jack Kubota JOIOT ADVISORY OITTEE MEETING '* MINUTES - OCTOBEgS, 1978 2. MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1978 Chairman Stiles asked for the approval of the September 27, 1978 minutes as submitted. Ms. Casler moved that the minutes be approved as submitted. Seconded by Mr. Carr, the motion carried unanimously. INFORMATION 3. STATUS REPORT FOR RWQCB INDUSTRIAL WASTE SURVEY Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the RWQCB Indus- trial Waste Survey. 'Mr. Evans said that we have been pursuing the conditions of our cease and desist order which required the industrial waste survey and we have to submit a progress report by No- vember 1. He said there was a draft in the agenda packet. At the present time, we are completing Task 1 which is an in- ventory of all industrial waste dischargers or potential dis- chargers in all of the agencies. No agency has really met the deadline of October 15 and, therefore, it was extended to Octo ber 27. At that time, San Diego County's Industrial Waste Section will evaluate that inventory. He noted that the only thing we really had a problem with was Task 8 which was to contact chemical manufacturers and try to get names of their customers and make sure who was receiving chemicals which might be a problem. We found that there was an infinite number of chemical suppliers but they were very reluctant to give lists of their customers. He felt that we would probably end up abandoning Task 8. The entire survey is to be completed by December 15 and Mr. Evans felt that we would probably meet that time schedule. Chairman Stiles asked if the problem with Burroughs had been settled. Mr. Beckman said that he had met with Burroughs on October 24 and had invited County staff. Positive direction was given to Burroughs on how to clean up their act. He expected that the number of violations, if any, that occur in the future will be greatly diminished from their record of the past sev- eral years. - 2 - JOINT ADVISORY COt^TTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 4. JAC MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING OF OCTOBER 12, 1978 5. JAC MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING OF OCTOBER 19, 1978 Chairman Stiles said that member agencies had attended these meetings, nothing had been accomplished and another meeting was scheduled for November 9. Mr. Hanson asked counsel if there was anything in the laws that would preclude a non-general purpose government from operating the treatment plant. Mr. Gann answered that if all of the joint agencies, under the joint powers provision of the government code, decided they wanted a special district to operate the plant, he was unaware of any proscription against that. Mr. Gann addressed the JAC and said that, at the next Manage- ment Subcommittee Meeting, we may get off dead center. He had a brief conversation with Mr. Carr and felt that Mr. Carr may well have another approach that's feasible. The Management Subcommittee Meeting was rescheduled to Tues- day, November 14, at 2:00 P.M. at the Encina Water Pollution Control Facility. 6. LETTER FROM LUCILLE V. MOORE, CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - FILLING OF AUTHORIZED POSITIONS Mr. Evans stated that a response had been received from Mrs. Moore. We still have two vacant positions and the County is holding interviews October 25 to replace Ron Waters as Super- intendent of the plant. Assuming that one of our personnel gets that job, then we will be down three people and, unless we notify the County that we will take care of these people if we go to another form of operation, they will not fill the positions. Mr. Frandsen said that all the County needed was a letter from the JAC or the City of Carlsbad stating that these people will remain part of their staff or part of the JAC staff. Mr. Schneider felt that this letter should be written. Chairman Stiles said that, after hearing what had to be prom- ised, it was agreed that we should give this a little further thought. You can't guarantee that the City of Carlsbad, as administrator, will keep these people when you assume that someone isn't satisfactory. - 3 - JOINT ADVISORY dQlTTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 Mr. Dominguez said that these people would be hired subject to Civil Service Commission rules. Mr. Frandsen said that they were subject to these rules and if an employee didn't meet the requirements, they would be let go. What the County is really interested in is that we retain the position and not really the person. Mr. Dominguez explained that what the County wants, because of the things that have happened during the past couple of years, is some assurances that the positions, which are filled now, be retained in any transition that occurs subject to Civil Ser- vice Commission rules. Mr. Schneider said that this type of letter would present a prob- lem if we possibly went to contract for somebody to operate the plant. Mr. Hanson asked if, when the manpower shortage was critical, it were possible for the agencies to loan the employees to the facility and deduct their salaries from their share of opera- tions costs. Mr. Gann said that this solution, from a legal, standpoint should cause no problem. Mr. Schneider asked Mr. Evans if we were having any problems be- cause of the lack of personnel. Mr. Evans answered that the problems were being caused because we were doing a lot of special projects. Mr. Hanson asked why we didn't go to the outside exclusively for help instead of using the operators on these special projects. Mr. Evans said the decision was made by the JAC to do the job ourselves. Mr. Beckman said that, if we made the finding because of the cease and desist order, we were under emergency operating condi- tions and there is amazing power given to the administrator. We could, within the confines of certain emergency procedures, prob- ably broaden the ability to hire private enterprise. He said he would have to check this against Carlsbad's procedures. Mr. Murk said that all of the features designed into the digester were not hooked up. He would like to see it put back into ser- vice just as it was designed. As a suggestion to resolve the completion of Digester 2, he suggested using the contractor, who - 4 . JOINT ADVISTORY C<£"\TTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 bid Digesters 1 and 3, be used because of his competitive nature. Since he will be essentially doing the same thing on Digester 3 without the electrical work and his total cost is about $56,000, maybe some arrangement could be made with him to come in and fin- ish up this job right. Mr. Mahr stated that we had both an operator in the County and an administrator and now it seems that we are getting ourselves mixed between the operator and the administrator as to who is going to operate the plant. Mr. Dominguez asked Mr. Mahr to keep in mind that the constraints for putting on personnel have arisen as a result of the JAC's decision to go independent two years ago. This was one of the principal concerns of the entire negotiation that the County would at least be covered so they wouldn't wind up with a mass assault from the Employees' Association. Mr. Hanson asked why, if we needed a pipe fitter, we didn't hire one and not make it the responsibility of the operators to do the necessary piping. He realizes that operators were jacks-of-all- trades but he also realized that we had some pretty tight time constraints. Aside from this personnel problem, we have deadlines to meet by December 15. Ms. easier moved that the General Manager be authorized to go out and hire a contractor if this is alright with the City of Carls- bad as administrator. Seconded by Mr. Dominguez, the motion unan- imously carried. 7. ZONE CHANGE FOR PHASE III CONSTRUCTION Mr. Evans reported that at a series of Public Hearings, the last one being held Tuesday, October 24, the City of Carlsbad's Plan- ning Commission and the City Council granted a zone change so all Encina property is public utilities which is consistent with Carlsbad's General Plan. The next step will be to file a Specific Plan for the development of the Phase III project. There will also be a series of Public Hearings; one before the Planning Commission and one before the City Council on that matter. ROUTINE REPORTS 8. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE REPORT Mr. Evans said that the Design Review Committee has been meeting - 5 - JOINT ADVISORY dQlTTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 regularly and pointed out the rendering of the architect's con- ception of what the Encina Administration building will look like at the completion of Phase III. The architect attempted to keep a Spanish motiff. There will be a new building placed out near Avenida Encinas. The existing Operations building will be converted to a generator building and shops area. He continued that each agency has a member on the Design Review Committee and he wasn't sure if they had a chance to get back to the people on the JAC. They each have a full set of what has been prepared so far; site plan, floor plan on the various buildings, hydraulic profiles, process schematics, etc. You can contact these people if you need more information or con- tact Mr. Evans. Mr. Evans asked Mr. Waters to report on the start-up of Digester 2- Mr. Waters said he was starting to fill it with effluent and bringing it up to temperature. Seed is being taken from Di- gester 1. When C M Engineering Associates designed it, they designed it so we could run it at two levels to contain the foam. We'll probably start it at the lower level and see what happens as far as the foaming goes. We should finish buttoning up today, the piping and the header and the steamline will be in today. The other compressors are not hooked up because the parts and materials have not come in. We are using the com- pressor which we bought for Digester 1. Mr. Hanson said he was under the impression that we were going to seed from San Elijo and that Digester 1 did not have good seed. Mr. Evans Said that Digester 1 is operating very well and seed- ing from San Elijo is a very slow process. We could only haul a few thousand gallons at a time. Mr. Hanson asked if this wouldn't be more assurance to get it started faster and more readily. Mr. Evans said he would check with San Elijo. 9. SULFIDE CONDITION REPORT Mr. Evans reported that there was nothing startling and that we have no complaints. - 6 - JOINT ADVISORY Co£^TTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 10. EXPENDITURE REPORT Mr. Evans said that, at the end of two months, we are definitely under the budget primarily because we have two positions unfilled. ACTION 11. PHASE III DESIGN CONTRACT - COST CEILING Mr. Evans reported that the Design Review Committee met on Octo- ber 24 and reviewed in detail Exhibit "D", The Planned Step II Engineering Services, which essentially describes what Brown and Caldwell are going to design. Based on that scope of work, the Negotiating Committee met with Brown and Caldwell and finally reached an agreement'on cost ceiling. Mr. Gann felt that, under the Seventh Supplement, Vista could enter into the contract. The question is whether each of the agencies would want the amendment sent to them for approval of the total cost ceiling. Mr. Carr asked if, rather than sending back a resolution, the JAC Committee could, through their representative, send this to their boards and ask for a letter of confirmation to that effect. Mr. Gann agreed that this would be fine. Mr. Mahr asked how much time we have before this had to be jelled. Mr. Evans said that we had passed that time and we were in trouble with the EPA. The only other thing we can do is get in trouble with Brown and Caldwell because their fiscal year runs from Octo- ber 1 to September 30. This is a ten-month contract so if we do not authorize them to proceed on or before December 1, they will ask to raise prices because they will be granting rasises in the next fiscal year. Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to further explain. Mr. Evans stated that we have a 14 month grant from the EPA. Technically, that 14 month period ends August 1, 1978 and, even if we authorize Brown and Caldwell to proceed with the ten-month contract today, we would be nearly a month over on that deadline. The longer we delay, the more of an extension we are going to have to ask the EPA to give us. Mr. Elliott asked if there was a cost breakdown to the various agencies. - 7 - JOINT ADVISORY OjQtTTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 Mr. Evans answered that the costs in the Construction Manage- ment Plan would be accurate. Mr. Gann said that if the agencies would just send a letter he was sure that Vista Sanitation District would go forward. Mr. Beckman said that five of the six agencies could get an answer in less than two weeks and asked Mr. Dominguez how long it would take to get an answer from the County. Mr. Dominguez said that it could be accelerated and they could have an answer by next Tuesday. 12. C M ENGINEERING CONTRACT OVERRUNS Mr. Evans said that he authorized C M Engineering to spend $1,373.33 in excess of what the City of Carlsbad and the JAC had authorized them to spend. He felt that this overrun was justified. It was his judgment to cause that to happen and he asked for authorization to go to the Carlsbad City Council and ask to amend the contract to authorize payment of that excess. Mr. Gann asked if time constraints caused Mr. Evans to act. Mr. Evans replied to the affirmative. With regard to resolving our problems with the solids handling system and any work necessary to get us out of a position of being under a cease and desist order from the RWQCB, a state of emergency is deemed to exist, Mr. Schneider moved that Mr. Evans go to the Carlsbad City Council and ask to amend the contract with C M Engineering Associates to authorize payment of that excess. Mr. Dominguez seconded the motion and it carried unan- imously. Mr. Evans said we would probably have an emergency here as long as we were under a cease and desist and we don't have a full complement of personnel. Mr. Evans said that we also have a contract with C M Engineering for investigating dewatering systems. We have expended almost all of the money with only $900 left. There is another system, which is a belt filter press, that we would like to look at. To evaluate this equipment, C M Engineering feels they will need an additional $2,950. We've also overrun on several other portions of the contract. The JAC needs to decide if C M Engineering should spend the remaining $900 and finish up or whether or not to authorize certain additions to the contract. What we need to decide is how far we want to go. CM Engineering feels that they can provide us the best project report with an authorization of an additional $6,200. Mr. Evans said he would like to evalu- - 8 - JOINT ADVISORY CoWTTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 25, 1978 ^ o ate this belt filter press which will be here for 30 days and it's something that Brown and Caldwell are recommending for Phase III. Mr. Mahr made a motion to check out all possibilities when it comes to that type of machinery because if we get it we're going to have to live with it and this much money spent in ad- vance would be more than well spent just in the fact that it will give us advance performance that we won't get otherwise. Mr. Hanson asked what we were going to do with this data once we get it. Mr. Evans answered that Brown and Caldwell recommended that we do away with the existing centrifuge which we have and, in Phase III, go to belt filter presses. He said that the opera- tors are absolutely against belt filter presses. They think it's a piece of junk and if you bring in a piece of equipment that your operators don't like, regardless of how good it is, it's not going to work. He wants to bring that piece of equip- ment out here for 30 days and see if the operators still think it's a piece of junk. Mr. Murk said that originally the study of dewatering devices was to select a backup to the existing system that would help in solving the digestion problems and make the plant look good in the rerating project. As it has evolved, common sense dic- tates that if we recommend "X" types of equipment out here, it should be compatible with what Brown and Caldwell has designed to maximize its use in the future or minimize losses. That piece of equipment could be taken and incorporated in Phase III. Mr. Dominguez asked if our concern in this testing program is more related to the rerating of the plant than the ultimate expansion of the plant. Mr. Evans said that what C M Engineering was doing is making a recommendation on some kind of dewatering system that will facilitate rerating. However, whatever they put in should be compatible with what Brown and Caldwell are going to recommend. The motion made by Mr. Mahr earlier to authorize the expendi- ture to check out all possibilities when it comes to machinery was seconded by Mr. Dominguez and passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Construction Management - Mr. Filanc asked if this was a fixed - 9 - JOINT ADVISORY Co£\TTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER25, 1978 bid basis. Mr. Evans said he sent a Request for Proposal to the seven firms that were taken off the State's pre-qualified list. The firms will submit proposals by November 17 and those proposals will contain an estimate of.what they feel they would charge us for the services. We will have to decide what services we want after we review their proposals. We will probably select an Evaluation Subcommitte at the Novem- ber JAC meeting. That subcommittee will read the proposals and decide which firms we want to interview. We will then interview the firms, which are most qualified, select a firm and then sit down and negotiate a scope of work and a fee structure. If we agree, we'll probably hire that firm. If not, we will go to the next one on the list. Mr. Beckman interjected a word of advice in negotiating and analysing proposals to be very careful that the elements of the contract don't contain something that could be interpreted as being the responsibility of a contractor or, otherwise, you're confined to the lowest bid. ADJOURNMENT There being no futher business, the meeting adjourned at 10:45 A.M. The next 'regularly scheduled JAC meeting will be on Wednesday, Novem- ber 22, 1978 at 9:00 A.M. at the Encina Water Pollution Control Facil- ity. Respectfully submitted. 'aylor to the JAC - 10 -