12.20.2023 Sewer Commission

all right I guess we're ready huh you on y okay uh welcome to the um December 20th meeting of the for of Cil commission uh pursuant to the open meeting L person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present are deemed

acknowledged imp permissible having said all that um Paul would you just do the roll call please yep president Alita here member El here member soua excuse me yeah member suer is uh said he's not going to be presid and member hak yeah uh and just um we did uh last meeting uh member bernel was uh was but he submitted his resignation did to be on the S commission that's too bad

R's been with us for a long time without a doubt yeah okay that takes us to the agenda that was um presented to us first item on the agenda is the citizen input is there is there any call for it not received any okay Minister previous meeting held on June 15 20123 um for my benefit uh the only way that can get approved is if the the um Commissioners were present

tonight that were at on that meeting on the 15th yeah that's that was the discussion that we've had in the past right so um I think we can approve Scott was there minute you mean yeah I think yeah that was an issue I had looked at before and we can still approve it even if we weren't on the there okay yeah all right um well that's good to know you got a majority of do we have

because it's a majority of two of us that at least were on yeah Scott and I were there yeah so I mean we can at least approve it on that basis right okay um minutes of the previous meeting held on June 15th if you have any problems with it uh and you want to make any changes you know bring it up right now um if not I'll attain a motion to approve the minutes of the previous

meeting on June 15 I want to make a motion to uh accept the minutes okay all in favor I 15 thank you all right T us to Daniel and Sons contract number two College processing upgrade change order $

27,25324

do you have any problems with these Paul no I've been through them uh they're all uh things that uh you know again on a project this size there's going to be things uh that uh may not uh uh you might be missed or or altercations that occur you know difference of size of uh certain product compared to what was uh what was done in the design to what's actually available uh during the construction so through

this there's nothing that's wildly outlandish uh in there so um okay I think I think the the one back in um June was about what 240 something like that correct okay um so we're looking at a project uh that on PID paper when it's done it's going to be somewhere close to around 70 million between between one and two contract one yes so um just for my benefit um this is the fourth change

order um the third one was um like I said 240 so that makes approximately 510 um I can't remember what the first two were do you uh roughly total that combin there they were in the 240 260 range each one of them yeah okay so no total all total yeah yeah so if you if you look on the first page here previous approved change order amounts 54,6 A8 okay all right so does that

include the change order for no that does not the next line item shows change order of uh change order for in the amount of 270,000 all right okay so what you say four 504 504 plus 270 okay so we're looking at uh almost 780 um 780 and we're looking at um $7 million when when are we figuring this project to be completed uh so this project right now on paper there has not

been any time extensions requested or granted um but uh it is a June 30th completion date as per contract uh right now the contract is schedu scheduled uh and showing them somewhere in the 160 days behind schedule which I think they're going to have a tough time making that up um but uh we've been asking them for uh for uh impact uh analysis uh and as well as a recovery

plan um to uh to see where they will land um you know again there has not been anything uh anything approved by the commission or administratively for an extension uh so that'll be something that we have coming up in the future for discussion this has been going on for four years am I correct roughly between one and two between one and two or for a little over four years you think any of the um uh

delay could have been a result of Co uh on this project um they did have some supply chain issues with with some pieces of equipment that were critical path um so uh those did not come in time and you know larger pieces of equipment vfds and things like that that did affect their critical path and push them behind Okay seems like it's going to be a nip and Tuck situation coming up but uh

we'll have to to deal with it went uh once everything start settling out but um okay when do you think they would address that that they're not going to be done in June because it's that's basically seven months from now six yeah so at this point um I've uh I've told them that I'm not going to approve any future pay wrecks without a recovery P plan in place so I expect that they'll

be getting something to us very soon um because uh you know we've gotten to that point where we need to see what that plan is will there be a uh change order for a time time change or I again that there has not been a request submitted to us formally for time extension and there has not been any approval uh if there is one that would have to be looked at based on the merits of what's

submitted uh as of right now if they go back past contract completion date uh we do have liquidated damages and other things built into the contract all right correct and just one more question um does Fall River have a certain percentage on their change orders that can't exceed the total amount a certain percentage of that total amount I think can't exceed so we talked about that

before yeah so this is a chapter 149 uh contract um underneath Mass General law that's how it's been and procured um I believe the uh Max that you can do underneath 149 uh for non unforeseen conditions is 25% when you get into unforeseen uh conditions and issues um that potentially could could waiver um you know so that's per Mass General law that uh that you can't that you can't go

over but um you know I think right now the way that the way that we're at we're at like 1 and a 12% um for this contract with in including this change order um CDM they're the um they're the onsite guys yep that are supposed to be overseeing this project as project managers and stuff like that um have you had any U discussions with them uh do they appear to be a little

frustrated as to what's going on I have had discussions with them so you know looking at some of these change orders some of these change orders um um potentially could have been things that could have been avoided CDM was the design uh consultant for this project develops the planned and specifications uh and they are also our construction manager resident engineer uh on the project as well uh so I have

had uh I have had uh a couple of discussions with their uh administrators about um uh the cost impacts that are coming to to the city due to some uh conditions that I feel could have been prevented um during uh specifications you know again you get into a project this size there's always going to be something that's overlooked or forgotten or or or slips through the crack but um

some of these things I think uh are a little um a little blatant and I have had discussions with them about recovery from them okay yeah I can kind of um concur with your ter uh I mean Paul we got a we got a tunnel under the city that uh when it was all set and done you know I'm sure raise some eyebrows as to what you know the course ended up being

and so forth but um yeah but we are we got to be diligent on this particular project and um hold their feet to the fire if we have to and um do it's necessary to uh in the best interest of the commission and the study so correct you you know how that works um all right so um the listing of the uh change orders and so forth um am I right in assuming that CDM has

gone through these yeah so cdm's going through these all all the uh cost uh based on whether was a timer material based on what was submitted on there or based on an estimate provided uh you know some of them are are based on an estimate providance so um they have been through all of these and evaluated them um line by line on each one know again this uh this contractor

uh doc uh they were also the contractor for us on the um uh president a scening and disinfection um project uh and Jo about ell yeah Daniel ell and Son um and they uh they are a very diligent contractor in uh tracking rfis requests for informations which occasionally sometimes turn into uh PCO potential change order all right well I'm sure they're trying to proect that back too

but on the same token you know we got to hold that fee to the fire if we fill those ho yeah you know they're being a little bit um oh yeah holding yep okay um does anybody here any questions with regard to the uh description of a change orders and the amount that we got here if not I'll attain a motion to approve change order number four for $ 27,2

7456 if you want to make that motion motion made excuse motion made second all in favor I thank you right Pi amendment to number three Stafford Square infrastructure projects $450,000 talk to me Paul so Stafford Square something that uh has plagued this city uh a lot longer than I've been alive I can tell you that that much a lot of people have been suffering um what were the problems we have up there that's for

sure yeah I can I think this even to the point where members of my family have experienced the uh the dud that happens on occasions yeah the impacts and it's not funny but I mean you know you look at it and you say you know what a problem that's been there for almost forever but yeah okay go ahead yeah we have pictures of um of that intersection flooding out

from the from the 50s and 60s by the way how'd you make out with the storm on Monday was it tough up that area to tell you the truth this past Monday we were very lucky uh a lot of a lot of the high-intensity stuff stayed to the west of us a little bit passed over on the east side but luckily we were almost in a little as a whole it wasn't had that

much damage in the city ten yeah a lot of w a lot of wind wind damage uh as to flooding there was a couple of spots that um about noon time 1:00 there was one period of high intensity that came through uh there was there was some isolated areas that were affected but uh it was a pretty moderate rainstorm for us we got uh got a total of about uh

about 2 and 1/2 in over the 38 hours or so that that it rained so uh but it was pretty even and spread out which which makes it where we can our systems are able to handle that so knock on wood we made out very well compared to other places did the treatment plant lose power uh NOP the treatment plant uh the treatment plant had power didn't lose power uh we had three pump stations that

lost power during the storm uh switched over to emergency generator and functioned as needed good that's good to hear um okay um so just hold on just for my edification I'm just looking s a package here there I got a page here that says item four right pce Amendment 200 70,000 there's another one says 450 it's 450 though right yes 450 okay so just I'll run through this a little bit just a little history so uh

2020 we did uh our initial uh staff and square evaluation uh of the uh of the intersection basic hydraulic analysis uh kind of first look at it of what uh what a potential fix for that for that area could be uh we looked at a lot of things through that whether we uh Dam the South with Tupper put a put the actual functioning Dam on South witha bring the quick a Shan River down low which is

where it drains to uh whether we do uh some type of uh uh Pump Station in that intersection or you know what's the real fix over there was really determined that uh we needed to uh put in some large covets uh starting back almost as far as Bedford Street uh to be able to uh get that water into a covet system uh with a new outlet uh into the SW into

the channel that leads out to uh the quicker Shan River uh over next to the health f um so that was kind of the ultimate determination on what would be the best for for that area is that for a quick fix or that's for a big fix Big Fix yeah about $45 million was yeah I remember that number yeah broken up into three three phases um was was the initial project that that came

through um looking at different opportunities that were out there and stuff like that this project uh really uh looks appetizing for uh what's called The Brick program which is uh building resilient infrastructure uh from FEMA um so last year we were able to put together an application uh to FEMA um for uh it was about it was 30 2 million was uh the application gr that we put in uh we went through we worked

with Mima to get through the process and stuff like that uh we Final on last year we weren't awarded the grant um but the uh the way that the grant worked we really wanted to be able to get some of the engineering work done ahead of time prior to the grant so that when they have a three-year restriction on their on their Grant programs so we wanted to be able to move in right into

construction uh so we put in for some Opa funding um and uh this was awarded by the city council under bristell County Opa funds for us uh so this project so this doesn't go against our Capital Outlet nope this is not being paid by our rate payers excuse me wom minute when you talk about that Grant is a grant with respect to was is it 32 million yes so is that are you saying

that that Grant has been approved for the city has not been approved for the so last year's round of grant funding we were not chosen um we're working with Mima right now actually to strengthen the application um there was uh there was an issue with uh so to apply for these grants you need to have a uh an up-to-date Hazard mitigation plan uh we were in the midst of doing our Hazard

mitigation plan last year uh we got it in just before the deadline just right around the deadline line time last year uh so that might have played into their determination of whether we were eligible uh for the grant or not uh we're fully uh we have the fully updated has mitigation plan now which is good for 5 years um so um I think we have a really good chance this year of potentially being awarded

that Grant oh that's good yeah exactly uh so after this 450,000 uh was once we started with this uh we put in a so this takes us kind of a little bit further into the hydrology uh does the surveying does some of the financial analysis for the area and stuff like that things that we need to be able to uh to be able to uh you know do the whole entire program that that's

needed how long do you think this is going to take them to do I fig the design is going to be about a year and a half so this is amendment three and I expect that we'll have another amendment coming up very soon because we reward we Ed $2 million from the mass Works program to bring this design up to 100% full design so I expect full design will

take about a year and a half um between this grant funding and this amendment and I'm just setting up the grant right now with uh Mass works but I wanted to get this work started here um but we'll get that uh under contract with mass works and then we'll contract with the consultant to be able to move forward and that's going to be uh another full grant that uh does it not cost our rate

pay as anything so we'll have at the end of this grant funding that we have we will have a 100% fully designed bid ready project um I think being able to last year when we laid out our funding strategy to FEMA um in the application you know it was kind of questionable well we were depending at that time we were depending on hopefully getting the mass Works Grant we were depending on hopefully getting this

other Grant now we have those grants I think it's going to strengthen our right now correct um this is the initial you know this is the initial 450 of doing the design and so forth that has to be done off the top of the head how much how much money do you think will be expended before we're ready to construct uh so again it'll be this 450 and roughly the 2 million so we're

probably two we're probably 2 and A5 million in uh on full um now does that come off the 32 no that that was that's in that's separate from the 32 that's good yeah and that's all grant money yes so the only thing that we've uh that we've spent money on so far in this project was our initial evaluation uh which was part of the $123 million uh authorization that was approved back in November 2017

that was in that or original authorization I believe that was uh I believe that was $300,000 was slated for the initial conceptual evaluation of the Stafford square area that's good boy we've come a long way yeah you know when you think about you know we were talking 20 30 years ago right yeah people complain and then well rightly so but um that's great Paul that's that's that's very good yeah

and you know it's tough because everybody wants to see the problem fixed tomorrow but uh and people say oh you do these plans you do these studies they sit on a shelf um but you know I don't know I I don't like doing things that aren't going to see a finite you know conclusion because I'm not going to waste our money doing something to sit on the Shelf yeah do we have a list of all our

open projects like on our website or anything like that no public to see yeah not right now um that would be uh would probably be something good I know the city launched the new website um so we haven't really uh been able to dive into the full um you know the full capabilities of it but uh that would be something that yeah something nice to have up there uh cuz yeah right now uh I

can tell you within uh Community utilities uh we have uh probably about 150 160 Million worth of construction projects Ono right now yeah that's overseen by me and my stuff yeah and just getting grants in that's tedious there's so many you know little things you got to do to get a grant in right so that's a lot that's a lot of time and then administering the grant that's handled primarily by a staff and stuff

like that so you know my staff here that we have uh um you know between the in here with the project managers project Specialists uh they were they were a great team and they're really deported so very good um I think this is sort of a no-rain my respect but um unless anybody else has any questions about this you know s of theity of it or problems with it um I'll entertain a motion to approve

the amendment to number three Stafford Square infrastructure project the amount of 450,000 to be awarded to write pass for the uh initial design work to start the project come anybody want to make that motion motion made second all I'm favor I thank you people all right item number five moving along um Fisco Building Systems Corporation uh d d the contract is at that wilon road am I correct all right I

went by that there today I was impressed nice little station I I mean when you consider what was there before with with um tanks sitting up on stilts and and and stuff like that and and you know a telephone was actually buried I think before yeah yeah telephone pole that was that was held up by I was impressed is is there power to that thing right now yeah so there's full

power to the station uh what's that Placer that's there when you drive in looks like a Placer standing up it looks like something's going to be is that going to be for I'll thr wiring on the back side of that is all the uh discon junction boxes uh explosion proof junction boxes for the uh for the wet well that's right there the pumps in the wet well okay yep yeah yeah I was

impressed but got all in need the fencing and yeah some of that stuff yeah exactly have outdoor lighting and yeah that's going to have outdoor lighting on the building uh it might be one side pole light um to be able to shine shine into the yard um and it'll have uh control it has control access like the security no security cameras no plant no uh we have them down at our main plant

but uh we haven't gotten into the remote uh remote sites yeah um just uh communication back to is to we have a guy goes through it catch them every day anyway so yeah once a day once a day we have somebody on on site uh to all our 17 pump stations um that will be visited also um by the second shift water treatment oper uh the Watchman attendant uh will be uh

inspecting that on the second shift from the water department cuz that building yeah so that building you have you have the outdoor wet well just like the other three recent pump stations we've built the meter pit and then that building so the back half of the building is all the vfds controls electrical uh and the generator will be housed in that so that's sewer uh portion of the building

the front portion of the building uh the other set of double doors there uh is actually a water booster pumping station yeah we talked about that when the project was awarded uh so it's a redundant station for what's on Commerce Drive in front of the North End fire station so uh when that high service area was originally uh built and designed uh this was one of the things redundant station for that that was looked at

so when's what's the next one we going to do are we done uh so we have Ferry Street right now which is under design yeah yeah um that's right down at the bottom there yep it's got that Dome type thing that's there yeah that's that's an interesting station uh it's it's an interesting site uh so we're uh we're looking at that right now to go through design uh and did we resolve the issue

of uh wasn't there about a problem about an easement or or a uh who you know the land that's there because it's kind of like tight am I right yeah so that that site is very very we're looking to expand out uh we're looking to live within the same footprint uh of what's there again makes it a very tight site uh we uh in discussions with the property owner about uh some potential

access easements just uh around there so that uh so that we can walk around there uh but uh that's uh again an ongoing issue we at is it's just it's a tight site and it's right on the water so you know naturally nobody wants to uh wants to give up that property so that's the next one huh yeah that'll be the next one and that'll be a little bit different than the than the ones that

we've been doing just because of the S constraints um okay um now this particular project is when I can recall we had some major problems with Terrain in the back and having to dig it out because of collapse there never collapse a line or a soil line that really caused a lot of headaches yeah so so so within this change order there's there's two there's two PCOS which essentially change is uh one of

them has to do with um just what you were discussing so part of the original project uh was replacement of the sewer line that comes out of the back of the pump station uh and heads over towards uh towards Sykes Road um that sewer line uh was uh was an asbest concrete SE line that uh has deteriorated over the years since it was installed so uh we had that uh as part

of the base contract that that po enti line p uh a new one put in parallel uh to replace that one uh so the contractor went through they did all their work running up and through installing the new sewer line so they had the new sewer line manho hold that ended up uh up next to syes Road um current road excuse me they had it next to current road uh then

they had their last manhole Set uh over behind the pump station um you know when when the old pump station was working and stuff like that uh our staff one day gets a call of uh of an overflow on a manhole in SSO occurring uh they go up there and uh part of the old pipe had collapsed um so uh it was you know we were lucky in a sense where we had the

project ongo we had a brand new sewer line you know we've had three or four collapses on that same Asus line up stream from there uh so we know the condition of that line that in the past yeah yeah yeah the uh some of the industries up there definitely uh you know took a beat into that concrete asbest line um so uh okay we were able to set up uh we worked with the

contractor you know it was an emergency situation uh we worked with the contractor uh to just totally abandon that uh existing line at that time uh we set up temporary bypass uh it was a pretty elaborate system cuz we had grab it from one side of current road cross current road but then there was still truck traffic that had to occur so um we had to how many approximately how many

fit did you guys have to remove you you took the old line out uh we left the we just disconnected it and went into the new line so so we didn't we didn't even bother replacing that old line or or digging down to to try to repair the brake cuz I was cons cuz I know how that line is you touch it here and you're going to be chasing it to try to get a

good piece of pipe and you could end up all the way at the next manhole so the decision was made at that time that we were just going to since the new line was already fully in uh and ready to be put in service uh we made the determination that we were going to switch from the old line to the new line uh we did that but then when we got to

the pump station on the backside it went to a dead ended manhole so we had to set up a temporary uh pumps within that man hole to actually PMP into our old pump station uh it was uh I think at that time the most the best most um cost effective and uh best outcome that that we could have had even though it did uh develop a change order there was reduction uh in the overall change order

cuz the contracted in the contract had some cost for cut over anyways and uh some different things so so is this do you think this is going to be the final um on this on this whole entire project uh there may be some small things that come in but I I don't see anything uh I don't see anything large so just that's one portion of this change order the other portion of this

change order uh was uh was another emergency that we had uh up over by the landfill again we had a uh we had an espe this concrete pipe uh which that pipe that parallels mother's Brook uh from Innovation Way comes down through the center of the landfill uh we've had multiple collapses is on that pipe if you remember probably 6 years uh 5 years ago uh we had a collapse um contractor

ended up coming in um and replace probably about 1,000 ft of that line um what you put in concrete pipe uh we put it in uh plastic just just because of uh the availability of it uh so SDR 35 standard uh plastic sewer line um what's the diameter of that line roughly I so so we've upsized that as we replaced it because mother's Brook sewer is going to be upsized potentially in the future

we're under design of that project now um so the line that we replaced uh it was a 12in u aestus concrete we put in a 24 so that we wouldn't have to redig up that section later you know so uh we were able to utilize uh this contractor bisco to be able to go over there make the repair for that uh for that U for that line that broke over by BF byber it

involved it was the area in between metatech uh and Innovation Way which was fully wooded and everything like that so it involved a lot of C we had to get tree clearing company in there before we could even get equipment in to stop working you have to go through Wetlands or anything we were working uh we were working on the side of mothers Brook mothers Brook wasn't affected but W was

good so um the um who's the consultant on that was it right p uh so on this project it's right P yeah okay um all right so we got two change orders both both uh for bisco am I correct yep all right you you want to hand you want the you want to handle the approval on the separately or I could it could be done as one cuz two and three but

they're combined as change order number two to the contract okay is that what it is change order number two yep number two all right and we are looking um at a pro well if we're going to do it uh all in total it's like 488,000 I'm yeah 488,000 roughly 14 16 17 15 about 489 574 something like that uh 488 9656 just have a question what we say we're almost done and there might be a

possible one more change or two yeah so as we come to just the conclusion of the project so as we said the pump station's fully started now um but and we've started up the SE side we've started up the water side um one issue that we have right now if you drove by there you saw there a temporary generator sitting outside outside the generator was ordered originally it was given an 18mon

lead time uh we delivery data has been pushed three times so as we come to the conclusion of the project just cleaning up a little stuff there may be some uh potential things generators for emergency power not power so that's being powered by the grid right now yeah so my question is what is the balance after so after this change here 488 965 what do the balance to finish do we have

that in this packet or uh how close are we for in monitary to finish um I don't I'm not sure off the top of my head where we are at this project but I would say that we're probably we're at 95% close probably 90% of it we haven't released retainage or anything on the project so retainage on the project this size is pretty substantial probably a half a million dollars so um yeah I

would say we're probably about 90% uh 90% paid out on this Pro project well uh from what I can remember I think we initially started at what 32 million on this uh for the Sewer Commission portion of it yes yeah y about 3 and a half million y okay would you say the num was Terry I mean I'm sorry Paul that's okay uh 4 488 965 okay 60 all right anybody else have any other

questions no okay if not I'll entertain a motion uh to approve uh change order number two consisting of um two change orders one for the commer Drive emergency cut off cut over and the replacement of collapse so main which came to a total amount of $488,900 60 anybody will make that motion I'll make that motion for change order number two for

$488,900 to bring it to the board though it's a Time extension and little bit of an alteration of of scope um so bir Street has been uh has been moving forward um who initiated it to us or this no this was something that was asked for by me okay yeah so um the plan for bir Street originally um was uh for it to be B of the $123 million authorization uh and do it within the 5

years um you know by by the end of 2024 um within our discussions with clf and EPA um work that we're doing in the Route 79 which was not part of that uh consent order or administrative order uh we were able to swap the construction uh of the Route 79 work since it's a lot of sewer separation work that we're doing down there uh in place for the construction of the bir street but we

were still designing out the Birch Street street so there was a portion of funding that uh that was left um that was part of the bidding phase uh of this contract uh so we're looking to uh take and shift that uh for some uh assistance that we're going to be uh going to be needing here coming up so recently we were contacted by uh EPA in relation to uh them issuing us nifty's permit which

is something that's been talked with uh for a long time um so uh you know naturally as we go through evaluation of the of uh of you know epa's findings and any potential uh potential um permit that they may be looking to issue us uh there's going to be technical evaluation needed and stuff like that so it like to take this funding switch it from the bidding phase which will not occur uh for the bir

Street project and switch that to administrative uh assistance for us and extend the time frame out for that expenditure did you say that the initial phases of this was part of the 123 million was yeah so so it was actually full to construct bir Street as well yeah it was slated as as I believe $14 million uh in the uh in the 123 so that 14 million is being shifted to 79

yes so and for all that work is 79 we it's a secure mostly grant funding so it's not we don't have to borrow okay okay um anybody have any questions about this so the people that live on Bird Street is this an issue for them no this is kind of like their yeah it's not necessarily A flooding issue that occurs on Birch Street uh it's more of the this whole entire project is to Red reduce

the CSO activation um so again it was a sew separation project uh so pretty much all the catch basins now within that catchman area which goes pretty much from South Main Street uh all the way down to the river uh and ex and extends uh almost up to Bowen Street and a couple of streets to the north uh all that goes into the combined system right now uh goes into the CSO chamber burett

Bay uh and either goes down the Overflow and goes into the Interceptor once that be becomes too full goes out the CSO so they're looking this project is designed uh to reduce that uh CSO discharge to less than three times per year uh less than four times per you the 3 month St yeah I remember we've been talking about this for a while yeah this was this was one of the projects but yeah again you

know it's it's it's not a it's not like a Stafford Square where impct a lot of residents it's more of a this separation project is a environmental benefit okay anybody else have any other questions if not all t a motion to approve amendment number one to the briary SE separation time extension project motion made second all in favor I thises other business uh I have a just a couple of things with respect to that

Terry I mean PA I'm sry um we um we set up a contract with uh Stant Tech cons Consultants last time y how's that going for you I that was supposed to alleviate some of the pressure for you and yeah using them as a source to you know and so for have you had any occasions to use them yet I I haven't so there was one occasion where

where I did use them um so m do rail uh installed a COV for us down on Collins Street so Collin Street Steve Brook as it comes down has always been a flooding issue for years uh they had an issue down there with their project where they drove their sheet piles through our existing celv uh I fought with them uh and they installed a full new celv going underneath the real track and stuff like

that uh I wanted to have a representative of of Oz there to inspect make sure the work's done correctly cuz essentially we're going to have to maintain it in the future uh so I did use uh use them sparingly for that project uh Inspection inspectional Services down there uh other than that I haven't really um again contracts like that are good for emergency situation or problems like that but uh other than

that I don't I use them very sply well I I try to be frugal with them I understand you know I appreciate the fact that you do that but um on the same token you get a lot on your plate so so you know don't hesitate to try and get alleviate some of the pressure um second thing um the internet um the industrial pre-treatment program was was being taken over by the uh most of it was

being taken over by the plant how's that going so we did we took and we had uh the IP program we were training somebody at the plant uh it was a supervisor SL IP coordinator uh 50 yeah exactly on the ft EAS um they did have a supervisor that that was doing the program uh she just recently left um so okay yeah still work in progress and profit yeah um okay

that's it for me anybody have any other so so just under other under business a couple things that uh just want to say again um you know member Berard uh he was on he was on the board for years and uh and helped the sport out uh a lot throughout the years he did put in his resignation just due to uh who uh R ber yeah okay yeah remember ber um so I you

know again it was just due to other commit commitments that he has in his life um you know if we want we could draft the letter for the board to abun not as much as R I don't think as much as Rene but uh yeah yeah yeah I I think that would be a good idea uh send it from the commission appreciation of his um time spent with us and his

service and so forth and so on yeah definitely uh so just a good guy yeah without a doubt uh just a couple other things so um as of this past Monday uh so J June 30th 2024 uh ends our om andm contract uh with violia um so uh Monday I just released the ifb uh for uh potential procurement of uh of services for a 10-year uh contract owner contractor um so there's been a number

of companies that have already requested the ifv um and we'll we'll go through that process we've going for an RFQ uh it's an ifb invitation for bid uh so since it's a hard bid uh item okay um you know that that's uh that's that's how we've done it in the past and that's how just sure went when I know I was here when the whole thing started with Viola and and everybody else before them

but I I don't I don't think we were out far off it was even then did we um that I mean we're looking for you know request for qu qualifications right request for qualification yeah I as long as so last time it was done 10 years ago in 2014 it was through the ifb process which which they you know one's a request for qualific ation uh this RFQ um and uh RFI which if we were just

trying to get interested parties see who was interested in it uh and then there's the ifb process um in the past we've used the ifb process and uh that's how we've so we're anticipating going up yep yep so it was available to any bid is as of uh as of Monday and uh the due date for the bid unless we extend it out is is uh January 18th um so that uh will be interesting

to see where where this is going to be very interesting I mean when you think about it uh VI you know VI they've been with us what 10 15 years 20 20 years 20 years two contracts two contracts yeah yeah so yeah and um yeah it's going to be very interesting um for for the benefit of the other commission is I just want to throw this out um you may expect um getting phone calls from

companies that want to you know bid and so forth and so on and um part of their game plan is always to try to influence you know all the parties that going to be involved in approving the contract and so and so on um it's just something I want to throw out to you that um this is you know if it happens it's just it's usually part of the game that takes

place but my perspective on that is it all it all should be funneled right to the staff yep and uh because in the final analysis that's you know we got to rely on the staff as to um um who's the best what's the best price what are the conditions and so forth and so on and who knows maybe maybe all of us or one of us could be a part of that decision as well and

so forth so it um it's going to be quite interesting this go around is Thea reapplying uh they they have already pulled the ifb so they are interested with the a number uh of other uh parties um so uh I really do expect some good competition um you know in 202 in 2014 when it was issued uh violia was the sole uh bitter in that at that time um but uh you know

uh there has been uh industry in the industry there has been some chatter about how about us coming out with this so I do expect a fair enough competition it's going to be a busy time good for us right yeah no competition makes it good for us I I can I can remember 15 years ago when the unu contract was was signed and everything else and that meeting was held down in the council

chambers uh in the lower area and um the the room was packed packed really yeah it was um John Capone myself uh I think uh Paul Souza and I think I don't think Ernie Souza was on at that time I think he had already went off and um from my end of it it was a pretty heated discussion and um but you know like anything else you get through it

yeah and uh but I think I think we uh we got to good group and uh I think we can control anything that comes our way yeah without a doubt you know again it's uh it's an open public uh bid process um you know and uh I'm hoping for good competition and that we're able to get the uh the best contractor suited for us you know our plant has gone through uh a

lot of changes in the past 10 years you know 10 years ago we had an inator that we were operating uh 10 years ago yeah filter press is back there about 35 years ago yeah yeah exactly you know and uh you know we had uh it was it was preco uh pre- supply chain issues so a lot of things have changed uh not only in the industry but also at our facility

uh we have new buildings out of there some updated facilities that uh will potentially attract uh some bides that may not have done that because of the age of our equipment in the past so good anybody else have any other items if not I'll a motion to adjourn motion a second all in favor I thank you everybody wish everybody a happy holiday season