Commission Minutes – April 2, 2015

Written by Jay Sellers on April 27, 2015. Posted in Commission Meeting Minutes.

For your consideration, please review the minutes for the Commission Meeting from April 2, 2015:

BGJWSC_Commission_Minutes_April_2,_2015

To read the minutes, please open or download the pdf from the link above or you may see more below:

PRESENT: Donald M. Elliott, Chairman
Clifford Adams, Commissioner
Thomas Boland, Commissioner
Allen Booker, County Commissioner
John A. Cason, III, City Commissioner
David H. Ford, Commissioner
Ronald Perry, Commissioner

ALSO PRESENT: Stephen A. Swan, Executive Director
John D. Donaghy, Director of Administration
Desiree E. Watson, JWSC Attorney
Denise J. O’Neal, JWSC Acting Clerk
Chairman Elliott called the meeting to order. Commissioner Perry provided the invocation, and Chairman Elliott led the pledge.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

There being no citizens who wished to address the Commission, Chairman Elliott closed the Public Comment Period.

APPROVAL

1. Minutes of the March 19, 2015 Regular Meeting.

Commissioner Cason made a motion seconded by Commissioner Boland to approve the minutes of the March 19, 2015 regular meeting. Motion carried 7-0-0.
APPROVAL con’t.

2. Minutes of March 19, 2015 Executive Session.

Commissioner Boland made a motion seconded by Commissioner Perry to approve the minutes of the March 19, 2015 Executive Session. Motion carried 7-0-0.

3. Minutes of the March 26, 2015 Special Called Meeting.

Commissioner Cason made a motion seconded by Commissioner Boland to approve the minutes of the March 26, 2015 Special Called Meeting subject to the corrections noted below by Mr. Swan. Motion carried 7-0-0.

Mr. Swan requested that the minutes be corrected to reflect “115,000 to 120,000” gallons rather than “115-120” on line two in the last paragraph on page one.

4. Minutes of the March 26, 2015 Special Called Executive Meeting.

Commissioner Cason made a motion seconded by Commissioner Boland to approve the minutes of the March 26, 2015 Special Called Executive Meeting. Motion carried 7-0-0.

5. Landscaping Lawn Care Contract – D. Paulk

Mr. Paulk summarized the Memo attached to the Agenda regarding an Invitation to Bid for JWSC Facilities Landscaping Services. Mr. Paulk read the suggested Motion from the briefing memo.

Following discussion including whether McIntosh Lawn Service could properly staff the job and their location outside of Glynn County, Commissioner Perry made a motion seconded by Commissioner Cason to award the landscaping contract to Coastal Landscape & Design. This motion was later withdrawn.

Mr. Swan stated that based on the discussion, including locations of JWSC properties involved, he is not comfortable at the present time going forward with the JWSC approving the contract with McIntosh Lawn Service, Inc. and is requesting a week for staff to review further and determine if McIntosh Lawn Service, Inc. can properly staff the job.

Commissioner Ford questioned the policy regarding back up documents for items on the Agenda, he noted that a copy of the proposed Contract for lawn services was not in the back up documents with the Agenda.

Mr. Swan stated that at the next meeting he will have a map showing the properties to be maintained.

Commissioner Perry made a motion seconded by Commissioner Adams to defer voting on the Landscaping Lawn Contract until the next meeting. Motion carried 6-1-0 (Commissioner Booker voted against the motion).
APPROVAL con’t.

6. JWSC Legal Services Contract (Steve Swan)

Mr. Paulk summarized the Memo attached to the Agenda regarding the Request for Proposals issued by JWSC for legal services. Mr. Paulk identified the three firms who responded to the RFP as: Taylor, Odachowski Schmidt & Crossland, LLC; Hall Booth Smith, P.C.; and Compass Law Group, LLC. Mr. Paulk stated that the staff recommended the Contract be awarded to Hall Booth Smith, P.C. Mr. Paulk read the suggested Motion contained in the briefing memo.

Ms. Watson stated that the Motion needs to state that JWSC is awarding the bid and approving the contract.

Mr. Swan stated that Ms. Watson and TOSC are currently on month-to-month agreement with JWSC. Mr. Swan retrieved information regarding the amount of recent payments to TOSC and Commissioner Booker’s question regarding the amounts of the payments which have averaged $12,142.00 for the past four months.

Commissioner Ford stated he would have liked to have seen this Memo regarding the RFP for legal services prior to this meeting.

Chairman Elliott stated the JWSC would like to get the cost for legal services at or below $10,000.00 per month. Mr. Swan stated that the Asset Acquisition project is billed separately because the funds to pay for that project comes from capitalized fund.

Mr. Swan stated there will be a thirty day transition period from Ms. Watson and the TOSC firm to the firm of Hall Booth Smith and some type of agreement going forward with Ms. Watson and TOSC.

To questions from the Commissioners regarding why Hall Booth Smith was recommended over TOSC considering the average scores were so close and whether there is something special about Hall Booth Smith, Mr. Paulk answered that Hall Booth is a member of “U.S. Law Group” and it is his understanding that only one law firm in each state is a member of this group.

Ms. Watson stated that she will be happy to work with the new counsel and will provide them with any information they need.

Chairman Elliott thanked Ms. Watson and commended TOSC on its excellent service to the JWSC. He also stated that the change will facilitate JWSC’s desire for a new perspective.

Commissioner Booker had questions regarding the identity of the evaluators and why a new firm was chosen based on a 1 point difference in the scores. Mr. Swan identified the evaluators as senior staff, he did not identify the evaluators by name. Commissioners stated that the identity of the evaluators were not confidential, but they were still not identified by name.

Commissioner Boland made a motion seconded by Commissioner Perry to approve awarding the bid and approving the contract with Hall Booth Smith for legal services with a transition period with Ms. Watson and TOSC.

APPROVAL con’t.

Chairman Elliott compared the need for change of a military leader for a new perspective with the JWSC need for same. Chairman Elliott stated that TOSC has been legal counsel for JWSC for 8 1/2 years and he believes it is time for a change. In further response to Commissioner Booker’s question regarding why the change in legal counsel, Commissioner Boland stated that the Commissioners have been looking at all contracts. During the November 11, 2014 meeting it was decided that a RFP was to going to be issued for legal services. The new contract will be for 1 year with four 1 year options. The Commissioners discussed the possibility of hiring in-house counsel. Mr. Swan stated that one of the benefits of hiring outside counsel was the staff that outside counsel brings with them.

Ms. Watson stated that it has been her pleasure to serve the JWSC for the past 8 1/2 years.

7. Cityworks Upgrade Presentation & Approval (Presentation by Jones Edmond)

Bill Millinor, MS, GISP, from Jones Edmond presented information, including a slide show and handouts, regarding the Cityworks upgrade. Mr. Millinor stated that the program helps to manage assets with a mapping component. Mr. Donaghy stated that all the divisions have looked at the program and have seen how it will help. One division had previously implemented the program, but did not implement it properly. Systems Pumping and Maintenance has been using Cityworks since 2011. Mr. Millinor commended JWSC employee “Jackson” and his work setting up templates.

Mr. Donaghy stated that Cityworks will improve customer service and make it more efficient.

Mr. Swan stated that the goal is for JWSC to maintain Citiworks and not rely on outside assistance. Chairman Elliott requested Mr. Millinor to have the new contract ready for review at the next meeting. Mr. Millinor stated he will have the contract to JWSC early next week.

8. Mansfield Street Award (Todd Kline)

Mr. Kline summarized the memo attached to the Agenda regarding the Mansfield Street Water and Sewer Improvements. There was discussion regarding what the City will be paying for versus what JWSC will be paying for in regards to the bids.

Commissioner Cason made a motion seconded by Commissioner Booker to accept the bids as received by the City of Brunswick for the Mansfield Street Project and pay the cost of the water and sewer improvements in the amount of $737,857.13. Motion carried 6-0-1 (Commissioner Perry was absent for the vote).
DISCUSSION

1. R&R Project Update with Revisions (Todd Kline)

Todd Kline explained that the R&R Projects handout was updated on April 2, 2015 and is now in a more user friendly format. The following have been added:

– Expected completion date
– Cost and cost to date
– broken down into phases
– the entity responsible for each category (Environmental, Surveying, Engineering, Construction)

Mr. Donaghy stated that Cityworks will allow the tracking of the information on the report in greater detail.

2. RFQ Schedule Update (Drexal Paulk)

Mr. Drexal discussed the Financial Audit. Mr. Drexal stated he was working on a bid for a camera package that he hopes to get out tomorrow.

3. Master Plan Update (ATM)

Mr. Swan summarized the letter from ATM attached to the Agenda because Ms. Bryan was not able to attend this meeting.

Chairman Elliott stated that a budget has been requested to be completed by July and any rate changes should be announced in a Town Hall meeting.

EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Mr. Swan thanked Ms. Watson’s paralegal, Denise O’Neal, for serving as Acting Clerk while JWSC was searching for a replacement for the prior Clerk and announced that Sandra Egan had been hired and will be serving as the Clerk at the next meeting.

Mr. Swan updated the Commission on the following:

• FLETC – A meeting was held recently with FLETC to discuss the broken line. EPD is impressed with status of JWSC work towards an Agreement with FLETC. Ms. Watson has reviewed and commented on the Agreement. FLETC has assigned a contact person for the Agreement. Ms. Watson recommends reviewing and being mindful of ordinances prior to approving any agreement.

• Date Flow System update.

• The new JWSC office is ahead of schedule and the move in date will be sometime in June. Mr. Swan stated that Commissioner Perry knows of someone who is interested in renting the space currently occupied by JWSC. A date in April will be set for a tour of the new building for the Commissioners.

• The Highway 82 building is set to start up on April 13th, which will include accepting and maintaining the building.

• The Educational advertisement on the radio is up for an award. Radio personality Joe Willie was involved in the advertisement which is for jobs available at JWSC. The FOG commercial was discussed. H2O is building a commercial regarding issues caused by grease in the line. There have been 4 or 5 recent problems caused by grease in the line.

• Teamwork will be holding a job fair at the College on April 9th.

• Glynn County wants to use JWSC’s radio ad.

• Status of tablets for the Commissioners.

• Status of H2S and odor control program, which is 35 sites, not 10, has been shared with the EPD, and they were very impressed.

• Georgia Rule Water Association will be on Jekyll Island on May 13th and 14th.

• Andy Burnham’s recent meeting with a School Board representative.

• Only one bid was received regarding Basin 2030. Representatives of several of the companies who attended the pre-bid conference were called and asked why they did not bid, the reasons given were because of: 1) short time frame to put together bid package; 2) short time frame to complete the job; and 3) bad press. On Monday, Mr. Kline will be calling the company who put in the bid.

• Cityworks update.

CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE

Chairman Elliott stated that Commissioner Ford was correct regarding the need for all back-up documents for items on the Agenda prior to the meetings.

There being no additional business to bring before the Commission, Chairman Elliot adjourned the meeting.