Okaloosa County BOCC — July 11, 2017 — Constantine Task Order 34 — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: July 11, 2017 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Jeff Littrell SUBJECT: Constantine Task Order 34 DEPARTMENT: Water and Sewer BCC DISTRICT: 5 STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Okaloosa County Water & Sewer (OCWS) staff requests Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approval for Task Order 34 with Constantine Engineering, Inc., per the terms of Contract #C13-2068-WS for a total not to exceed cost of $178,300.00. Task Order 34, for professional engineering services related to the North Lakeshore Area Sanitary Sewer Improvements, is attached for your review. This project is on the west/north side of Lake Pippin. BACKGROUND: For well over the past 20 years, OCWS has gone into many existing neighborhoods and constructed sanitary sewer systems that have taken literally hundreds of septic tanks out of service, in order to improve water quality in our lakes, bays, and bayous. These are very expensive projects for the County. Connection to the sewer system is mandatory, so the homeowners end up having to pay thousands of dollars (would be around $10K in 2017) for the Sewer Capacity Expansion Charges (CECs, $3,200), for a contractor/plumber to install the service line and properly abandon the septic tank and drain field, and for some, grinder station installation. Lake Pippin is one of the larger outstanding coastline residential areas not on public sewer in Okaloosa County and is located directly on the north shore of Choctawhatchee Bay. There are approximately 125 single family residential units, each of which has a septic tank. The drain fields from the septic tanks are discharging treated sewage effluent into the water table that has a direct connection to Lake Pippin and Choctawhatchee Bay. While we are not aware of any written studies on the water quality of Lake Pippin itself, public sewer treatment (with nutrient removal) is a proven higher level of treatment than septic tanks. Septic tanks do not provide for nutrient removal, such as nitrogen and phosphorous. Over time, nutrient loading is harmful to water quality, fish life, and the ecosystem. With this in mind, OCWS applied for a state appropriation for the entire project, knowing it was over a $4M project. The application was for public sewer on both sides of the lake - approximately 20 lots on the west/north side (North Lakeshore Drive) and the remainder on the east/south side (end of County Line Road). The application included funding for both design and construction of the public sewer system and the homeowners' typical responsibility (CECs, service line, and septic tank abatement). We were fortunate to be awarded a $2M appropriation, which was administered via a Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Grant Agreement. The Grant Agreement was approved by the BCC in 2015. Since the Grant Agreement was executed, numerous action items have occurred. The challenge was to figure out how to best spend the $2M on a project with a total cost that is well above that amount. Via Task Order 7, CH2M HILL Engineering conducted an alternatives analysis. This engineering study primarily consisted of analyzing gravity sewer vs. low pressure sewer, data gathering (geotechnical and septic tank information), preliminary design, and cost estimates. The result of this study was a recommendation to design gravity sewer, with a rough order of magnitude cost exceeding $5M - for design and construction of all needed infrastructure on both sides of the lake. While the alternatives analysis was occurring, OCWS staff sought feedback from Eglin AFB and the affected public. Staff submitted an easement request to Eglin Real Estate and coordinated with Eglin Environmental. Staff conducted two Town Hall meetings with our Lake Pippin customer base. These meetings were very well attended, and lots of fe