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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2013)
city news Vernonia City News... november21 2013 5 At the November 18, 2013 City Council Meeting: completed. In the event of a power outage, City Hall Council Approves Airport Park/Airport Host now has the ability to use phone lines, some lights and Council Discusses Health Clinic Site Development Agreement- Based on recommendations from the some computers. Plan- Council has received an approval from the Parks and Airport Committees, Council approved a Planning Commission for the Site Development Permit revised Airport Park/Airport Host Agreement. Conner Completes Chief Requirements- Council for the construction of the new Vernonia Health Clinic was informed that according to DPSST, Police Chief at Cougar and Weed Streets. The Permit was approved Council Approves Contract for Wastewater Mike Conner has met all training and management based on a series of conditions being met. Engineering- Council approved a contract with requirements for the position of Police Chief and will Council and the Health Board are continuing Tetra Tech Engineering and Architecture Services to be issued a certification in early 2014. to work on the legal arrangements which will allow provide services for construction administration for the the Health Board to use the property. Council agreed completion of the Wastewater Improvement Project. Executive Session- Council entered into Executive by consensus to have Mayor Josette Mitchell send a The contract is for an amount not to exceed $398, 816. Session under ORS 192.660(2)(i) Performance letter to Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Council later Passed Resolution 19-13 which allows Evaluations of the Public Officers and Employees. which originally gave the City use of the property, to for the continuation of Engineering Services with Tetra Upon returning to Open Session, Council asked City get approval to lease the property to the Health Board. Teach. Administrator Bill Haack if he would like to have his Erika Paleck, representing the Health Board Performance Review on December 2, 2103 in an open also asked about the timeline for environmental reviews Generator Project Completed at City Hall- Police or closed session. Haack requested a closed session. for the site and was told that field testing on the entire Chief Mike Conner informed Council that the project site will take place during the week of November 25. to wire an emergency generator at City Hall has been City Administrator Report WWTP ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT We received word from DEQ that the EPA review of the environmental assessment is their first priority. I am very hopeful that the EA will be approved in December 2013 without significant additional requirements. FOR TOWING EMERGENCIES IN AND AROUND THE VERNONIA AREA WWTP TREATMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT The City Council will review a proposal at their November 18 meeting from Tetra Tech to continue serving as the design and con- struction engineer through the process to complete construction, initiate operations and set in motion securing a new DEQ per- mit. The flow chart that is attached to the proposal shows final design and updates to documents as step one, oversight of the bid process as step two, and construction of the improvements as step three. There is a post construction project that includes as-built drawings and project records. The proposed schedule shows completion of construction in 2014. Tetra Tech feels that this schedule is achievable. USDA FINANCING City staff will meet with USDA in November 2013, to restart the process of securing fund- ing through their program. OTHER PUBLIC WORKS ACTIVITY SEASONAL STORMWATER PROJECTS The City of Vernonia Public Works Depart- ment will cut a ditch into the right of way on south edge of G Street to capture surface runoff that has contributed to damage of East Avenue, F Street, and private driveways and improvements located on East Avenue. It is estimated that this will take two staff approximately one day to complete. The Public Works Department will install a catch UTILITY BILLING AUDIT After reviewing the billing dataset for the four dual water meters it was learned that earlier this year three of the meters were reset incorrectly causing a significant undercharge to three accounts. I have asked the Finance Administrator to provide me with an accounting of this error and we will contact the three customers to establish a repayment plan. In a discussion with the City Attorney, we reviewed Section 9 of Ord. 871 which permits estimated meter readings when actual are not available and permits adjustments when actual readings are known. This section also permits charges for each meter to be made from one reading to the next based on the established billing method. This permits establishment of a proper billing method and charge accordingly. A payment plan will be developed for this undercharged amount outside of the monthly billing cycle with no late charges. CUSTOMER LEAK BILLING ADJUSTMENT POLICY Last month I provided the Public Works Committee with a sample water leak policy borrowed from the City of Portland for their review. The underlying rational for this is to provide incentives to customers to fix leaks in a timely manner. I am hoping to present this to Council soon. WATER RATE ADJUSTMENT Vernonia Dental D WWTP COST ESTIMATE The Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) facility improvements project cost estimate is adjusted up to $6.3 million. This includes the completed Flume Improvement Project with final costs at about $300,000 and the construction and design costs. The Biosol- ids Removal contract is not let at this time. If completed under a contract now under re- view it could be completed by end of the cal- endar year at a cost of about $800,000. The Council asked for additional information on the options that they will review on 11-20-13. The City completed a small contract to cre- ate a staging area for the biosolids removal (costing about $21,000) to locate dewatering centrifuges, pumps, conveyor belt, scale, generator and a job shack for the planned removal project. The estimate for the con- struction of the pipe gallery, dike elevation and additional constructed improvements as well as overall project and construction man- agement was estimated at $4.52 million in August 2012. Council asked that this value be adjusted by two CPI cycles to $4.80 mil- lion. When a contract is let for construction management the engineer of record will re- vise the estimate prior to bidding. basin and do minor roadwork at 2 nd Avenue and Bridge Street to capture surface water. Public Works Department completed general ditch work on O-A and Corey Hill this past month. Stormwater management projects are funded from the Street Fund. SEWER RATE ADJUSTMENT The City will contact FCS Group to request their assistance to author an Ordinance to modify the sewer rate. The sewer rate will be stepped into over the current fiscal year and the next two fiscal years. The third year may be a downward adjustment based on the prospect of refinancing debt using USDA resources. EPA BROWNFIELD GRANT I will be contacting EPA this month to ne- gotiate a modification in the PBS contract increasing their contract by about $20,000. The increases in their cost are the result of more costly Phase Two work plans required by DEQ and the EPA requirement that all Phase Twos consultancy also have a State Historic Preservation Office Section 106 Consultancy and a Threatened and Endan- gered Species Act consultancy completed. This modification will reduce the funding for City Staff and Other. The project will be com- pleted early in 2014 so this reduction will not impact the city’s management of this project. The Grant oversight was originally estimated at 24 months; it will likely be completed in 15 months. At this time the City will likely pursue a second EPA Brownfield Assessment grant in the cycle that opens in December 2013. continued on page 6 Terry’s Gym e rm Polife and County personnel are required to use a rotation of available providers, UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK for a servife by name. REQUEST TOWING SERVICE FROM D Shop Hours: Mon - Fri 9:00 - 6:00 There is a memorandum from the Oregon Association of Water Utilities that recom- mends an adjustment for the current fiscal year and an estimate for an adjustment in FY 2014-2015. The two year adjustment is a little under 3% per year of the base rate only. I will present options to the Public Works Committee this month. DM WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT PROJECT If there are additional requirements, there will be new costs to update the plans to meet those requirements and a new DEQ review requirement. an By Bill Haack h . r C r h p o is t M er . h S c eu 622 Bridge Street Vernonia, OR 97064 phone (503) 429-0880 -- fax (503) 429-0881 JOIN THE TEAM! 503-901-1705 16720 Noakes Rd. Vernonia
