[Council Communication]  [Council Memo]  [Spreadsheet]

Council Communication

Title:	Update on FY03 Capital Improvements Program and Related Council Goals
Dept:	Public Works Department
Date:	April 1, 2003
Submitted By:	Paula Brown
Approved By: ...........................	Gino Grimaldi, City Administrator

Synopsis:	One of the Council's FY03 Goals is to "maintain the city's commitment to implementing the CIP". Specific projects were identified as follows: Begin construction of Fire Station No. 1 - Project will be complete by July 2003 Complete construction of new office space for the Community Development and Public Works Administration Departments (Hillah) - Project substantially complete and Public Works and Planning staffs moved in October 2002 Complete the expansion of the Library - Project will be fully complete in may 2003 Begin construction of the Siskiyou Blvd. and Ashland St. improvements - Ashland Street was completed in December, and Siskiyou is ahead of schedule Begin design of sidewalks for Tolman Creek Road - Design is nearly complete. Construction scheduled to start in May/Jun 2003. Attached to this Council Communication are two items; the first is a spreadsheet with a very brief description depicting the current progress of each project that has either been designated for FY03 funding, or has been worked on this year; and the second is a council memo summarizing the progress and funding for the wastewater treatment plant.
Recommendation:	This is an informational item only.
Fiscal Impact:	The total impact of each project is shown on the attached spreadsheet. Although most of these projects are still in progress, many of the larger projects (Library, Hillah, Fire Station, Siskiyou, WWTP) are completed or costs are well known. In general, if you look at the total combined cost for FY03 and FY04, the estimated costs were about one million dollars less than what is now anticipated as actual costs. This can best be summarized with the additional costs of the Siskiyou projects. There have been minor changes in many of the other projects. The Ashland Street Main line water replacement cost went significantly over budget, but this project was also increased in scope and had problems with utility conflicts, extra construction materials and additional coordination with SOU. By comparison, the Bridge Street Storm Drain project was significantly under budget and allowed the Morton Street project to be completed by contract and encompassed a larger area.
Background:	The Capital Improvements Program is fairly aggressive for FY03. There are 44 projects listed for FY03 funding, 37 of which are managed by public works. I am very please with the activity we have had this year as all but two of those projects have been started.

COUNCIL MEMO

Subject: Update on Siskiyou Projects and Costs
Date: March 4, 2003
Submitted By: Paula Brown, Public Works Department

Synopsis:
The Wastewater Treatment Plant has been under construction since September 1998. By September 2003, five years later, the site will be complete and "construction free" for at least a few years. Carollo Engineers has been our design engineers and construction manager during this entire period, and Slayden Construction has been on the site the entire time.

It is my pleasure to highlight our state-of-the-art facility. There is a brand new pump station at Ashland Creek that receives as much as 80% of the total waste stream and pumps that raw waste to the headworks. A new dual-train Eimco oxidation ditch effectively and efficiently processes our waste. The ultraviolet disinfection system is environmentally safe and provides a thorough disinfection process. The clarifiers have been retrofitted and a new one added for capacity. The membrane facility is the first in Oregon and cleans the final wastewater to better than the 0.08 mg/l phosphorous standard. Our biosolids are processed through the Waste Activated Sludge system and will go directly to the storage tank and then be dewatered in the centrifuges. Provisions have been made to utilize the storage tank as a lime mixing facility in the event that Ashland chooses to make a Class A sludge in the future. Staff is working on the final hurdle with the temperature management plan, which will devise the best way to meet the new TMDL for Bear Creek.

Recommendation:
This is an informational item only.

Fiscal Impact:
The City requested and received a total of $23,920,068 in Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan dollars from the department of Environmental Quality. The City has used the initial allocation and has begun loan repayment. The final $500,000 loan addition for the biosolids/dewatering facility has not been reimbursed by DEQ.

The total cost, including all of the City's additional costs for the off-site design, land acquisition and the wetlands demonstration facility is $33,616,000 as of February 4, 2003. The details are shown on the attached Summary of facilities Costs and are categorized as:

Construction Completion Milestones:

1. The Construction Contract was awarded to Slayden Construction on August 4, 1998. Formal Notice-to-Proceed on the Ashland Wastewater Treatment Plant Process Improvements Project was effective September 8, 1998.

2. Conversion from chlorine to ultraviolet disinfection was completed on March 1, 1999. Slayden met the interim milestone of 175 days to make this conversion and the Aquionics UV Facility was considered fully operational.

3. City staff began to pump WAS from the existing plant into that basin No. 2 to utilize it for sludge storage and as an aerobic digester as the existing digester was demolished. Oxidation Ditch No. 2 and the EIMCO equipment within that side of the basin were considered to have reached Substantial Completion as of March 3, 2000. The remaining Phase 1 facilities were considered to have reached Substantial Completion as of July 31, 2000. Start-up and evaluation of the controls and instrumentation for the Phase 1 Process Improvements was completed On August 25, 2000.

4. The new Ashland Creek Pump Station and the pumping equipment and controls for that facility are considered to have reached Substantial Completion as of April 27, 2000.

5. The Operations Building reached completion on May 8, 2001, with the remaining process improvements (Phase I) completed on June 20, 2001.

6. The Membrane Facility was operational as required on May 1, 2002, and we completed start-up testing and debugging through July. The actual "substantial completion" date for the Membrane Facility was July 31, 2002. We met the phosphorous limitations of 0.08 mg/l through the dry weather months and the system worked well. We have a minor problem with the alum pumps and full automation and are working with Carollo Engineers and Slayden to correct this prior to start-up in April. We plan to have the membrane facility start-up each year the first week of April so that we can have all of the chemical doses and backwash cycles in perfect shape by May 1st each year. The membrane technology is great and provides exceptionally clean water. We meet all permit limits and are actually providing better than required effluent quality for the BOD and Suspended Solids requirements.

7. We are on schedule for completion of the final phase for the Dewatering / Centrifuge Building and should be completed by May 2003. Once that facility is on line, the contractor will dismantle the temporary belt-press building, remove construction site trailers and complete final fencing and landscaping. Slayden's plan is too complete this work and be off the site by late August.

8. We hope to have a real date for the open house to celebrate our successful partnership not only with DEQ, but also with our community and show appreciation for their extended patience for the past 5 years. We are planning to schedule the open house in late July / early August as the remaining site work should be completed.

The Capital Improvements Programs spreadsheet is available in PDF format.  To view this spreadsheet on your computer, please click on the link below:

CIP_Update_Spreadsheet .pdf (81.8KB)

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