Okaloosa County BOCC — December 16, 2014 — Action Item Printout — reading text

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: December 16, 2014 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Jeff Littrell SUBJECT: Planning Assistance to States (PAS) Phase IV Agreement with USACE DEPARTMENT: Water and Sewer BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Staff requests the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) to approve and authorize the Chairman to execute Planning Assistance to States (PAS) Phase IV Grant Agreement with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District, in support of our future public water supply program. The agreement is attached for your consideration, along with the County Contract Review Coordination Sheet. BACKGROUND: Beginning with the PAS Phase I Agreement executed on July 28, 2010, Okaloosa County Water and Sewer (OCWS) has been partnering with the USACE to perform preliminary planning activities related to future public drinking water supply utilizing surface water from a proposed offline reservoir near the Shoal River via this program. Thru the PAS Program, the USACE partners with local sponsors by a 50/50 cost share to perform planning work related to water supply and other activities. The initial Phase I effort of $100,000 ($50,000 USACE and $50,000 OCWS) focused on the overall site selection for the proposed water treatment facility and pump station. The Phase II effort of $290,000 ($145,000 USACE and $145,000 OCWS) begun in 2011 included a comprehensive treat ability, bench-scale and pilot- scale study of the Shoal River to determine the treatment plan for the future surface water treatment facility. The most recent effort (Phase III) started in June 2012 and totaled $300,000 ($150,000 USACE and $150,000 OCWS). Phase III was utilized to prepare a comprehensive hydraulic water and water quality model of the County’s water distribution systems. The water model will be used to evaluate potential transfer of water from the proposed surface water treatment facility throughout Okaloosa County as well as evaluate alternatives to optimize the water distribution network to increase reliability and reduce cost. It is possible that there may be future issues with combining treated surface water from the proposed offline reservoir with treated ground water in our distribution system. The model can help us to determine solutions to future scenarios. The model files and the software have been provided to the County to be used for future issue resolution. In total, the partnership with the USACE has provided $345,000 in assistance to Okaloosa County in our efforts to provide for a long-term safe and reliable drinking water supply for our citizens, businesses, industry, and off base military personnel. With three phases now complete, in an effort to continue this partnership and future planning effort, OCWS and USACE have worked together to identify additional activities and partnership funding to move forward. The PAS Phase IV Agreement (attached) will provide the contractual mechanism to continue this effort. The scope of work proposed for Phase IV (attached) will include a detailed alternative analysis of the various sites previously proposed for the future water supply offline reservoir and document the process required to obtain a USACE Section 404 Permit necessary to construct the future offline reservoir. The amount for this grant is a total of $165,000 to again be shared 50/50 between USACE ($82,500) and OCWS ($82,500). The process for moving forward with Phase IV is somewhat different than the previous three phases from a financial standpoint. In previous phases, OCWS wired our dollar portion, as the local sponsor, to USACE soon after the agreement was executed; and then USACE would sign the agreement and complete the Scope of Work, keeping OCWS in the loop. For PAS Phase IV, new USACE policies require the agreement to be executed prior to securing their funding. USACE also plans to utilize in-house resources for their $82,500 portion. Table 1 of the attached Scope of Work depicts all work tasks to be completed and the funding breakdown line by line. It is anticipated that Okaloosa County’s portion of the cost-share will be accomplished thru "in kind" work performed by one of OCWS’s consulting engineers, CH2M HILL. Once USACE funding is identified, OCWS will return to the BCC for approval to move forward with the work and for approval of a task order for CH2M HILL as Okaloosa County’s "in kind" portion of the cost-share. With the above-mentioned new process, no money will need to be wired from OCWS to USACE after the agreement is executed. OPTIONS: Approve or deny. RECOMMENDATIONS: OCWS staff recommends BCC approval and authorization for the Chairman to execute the PAS Phase IV Grant Agreement with the USACE, Mobile District for a total project cost of $165,000, to be shared 50/50 between the two parties. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator