1981 08 19 BAWA Minutes 10819-1
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE BAYTOWN AREA WATER AUTHORITY
August 19, 1981
The Board of Directors of the Baytown Area Water
Authority, Harris County, Texas, met in regular session on
Wednesday, August 19, 1981, in the Conference Room of the
Baytown City Hall with the following attendance :
Robert L. Gillette, President
I . J. Butrick, Vice President
• Peter R. Buenz, Secretary
Harry F. Hartman, Board Member
*Dr. Robert E. Hill, Board Member
The meeting was called to order and the following
business was transacted:
Minutes
Mr. Hartman mentioned that the content of the minutes
was correct , but he had noticed two typographical errors.
Mrs. Hall stated that those errors would be corrected.
Board member Butrick moved for approval of the minutes;
Board member Buenz seconded the motion. The vote follows :
Ayes : Board members Gillette, Butrick, Buenz and
Hartman
Nays : None
Consider Change Order to Angleton General Mechanical Contract
Bob Parker with the firm of Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam
explained that the proposed change order is really a cleanup
item having to do with the work performed on Thompson Road
at Decker Drive some months ago. *Dr. Hill present . The
contractor replaced 300 feet of 15 inch culvert pipe just at
the corner of Decker and Thompson. The pipe had been
covered at the time surveys were made, but was discovered
when the water line was being installed. The culvert pipe
was replaced at the request of Harris County to assure
proper drainage to the area. The change order amount is
$4, 500 and the consulting engineers recommended that this
item be paid as the last item prior to reduction of retainage.
Board member Buenz moved to approve the change order
for $4, 500 addition to the contract for replacement of 300
feet of 15 inch culvert pipe; Board member Butrick seconded
the motion. The vote follows :
• Ayes: Board members Buenz, Butrick, Gillette,
Hartman and Hill
Nays: None
1
10819-2
Minutes of the BAWA Board - August 19, 1981
Consider Reduction of Retainage on Thompson Road Portion of
Angleton General Mechanical Contract
Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam, Inc. recommended that
since BAWA is actually using that section of line from the
plant , along Thompson Road to Decker Drive, the retainage on
the contract be reduced. That section of line was scheduled
from the very beginning to be completed sooner than the
total project. The contractor is not on schedule with
regard to completion of the line, but this portion, Thompson
Road Section, has been completed, inspected, tested and has
received final cleanup and acceptance by all parties, including
Harris County. The line is being utilized for delivery of
water; therefore, the consulting engineers have recommended
reduction of retainage. The amount of reduction being •
recommended is $74, 402. 32 which calculation is based on
quantities of materials and labor according to the bid
proposal for that particular section of line. The remaining
retainage for the entire project after this reduction is
approximately $180, 000 to $190, 000. Mr. Parker emphasized
that he was not saying that the contractor had completed the
Thompson Road section of line by the time required in the
contract.
Randy Strong, •City Attorney, explained that BAWA has
only one contract with Angleton General Mechanical to construct
the entire water transmission line. BAWA is not issuing a
certificate of completion nor accepting this part of the
project as being finally completed. Final acceptance will
not be made until the entire line has been finally completed
and satisfactorily tested. Since BAWA is using this portion
of the line, it would be equitable to go ahead and reduce
retainage. This is partly motivated by the pre-bid conference
and memorandum from Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam which indicated
upon owner taking over this portion of the line, payment
would be made. That was not contained in the contract , but
it was a memorandum written by Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam.
Parties agreed to that prior to the bidding which the attorney
felt acted to amend the actual contract .
BAWA has received notices of various claims by sub-
contractors and suppliers. Some of these have been settled
at this point by Angleton. The City Attorney was unaware of
the amount of total outstanding claims against Angleton.
However, one requirement of the contract prior to final
payment is that an affidavit must be submitted to BAWA by
Angleton which states that all outstanding obligations in
relation to the contract have been cleared.
Board member Gillette stated that in that regard, he
would like to see , in addition to the affidavit from Angleton ,
lien releases or waivers from whomever has notified the city
that those claims have been properly settled.
In response to an inquiry whether the Authority would
be responsible or whether the bonding company would be
ultimately responsible for claims, Randy Strong stated that •
the contractor is primarily responsible, but BAWA required
that the contractor post a bond. Bonding companies in many
instances are difficult to deal with and will require that
those filing claims, file suit for payment . Realistically,
including the total claims that BAWA has, those claims
exceed the $200, 000 retainage. To date, the bonding company
has paid some claims against Angleton.
10819-3
Minutes of the BAWA Board - August 19, 1981
Mr. Strong reiterated that he felt that because of the
pre-bid agreement, there is the question whether the contract
was amended at that time by agreement of the parties.
Board member Buenz moved to reduce the retainage on
Thompson Road portion of Angleton General Mechanical Contract ;
Board member Butrick seconded the motion. The vote follows:
Ayes : Board members Buenz, Butrick, Gillette, Hartman
and Hill
Nays: None
Hear Report from Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc.
The section of line from Thompson Road to Wade Road has
been completed and tested; however, that section has not
been inspected. The section of line from Wade to Garth Road
is currently under hydrostatic testing. There have been
problems with the possibility of a valve leaking and also
with at least one leak which is being repaired. Pressure,
thus far, has been in the 95 to 100 pounds range. Test
pressure of 150 pounds has never been attained. After
testing of this section has been successfully completed,
this will leave the section from Garth to the tie in with
the BRH section on the east side of Main Street to be tested.
That section is still incomplete at the Exxon pipeline
crossing. There is a separation of the joint at the lower
level at the Exxon pipeline crossing and the contractor is
in the process of attempting to get the pipe pumped down and
evacuated so that section of line can be repaired. By one
means or another a piece of root got trapped in the valve at
the BRH tie in point which allowed for a flow of water
coming back from Baytown to keep the line filled up. The
root has been removed and the valve has been resealed.
Also, other valves at Garth Road have been rechecked. There
is still work down the line on other appurtenances--other
parts of the line which have not been completed. That would
be surface parts such as air release valves, blow-off valves,
etc.
Recently, Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam had a meeting with
the contractor and reached an agreement regarding inspection
of the line. The contractor requested to be permitted to
complete testing of the line and then prior to chlorination
of the line if the consulting engineers desired to inspect ,
one of Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam' s people would go into the
line accompanied by two or more of Angleton' s people. Any
defective joints that the engineers asked to be uncovered,
the contractor will chip out or remove so that a determination
can be made as to whether the joint is defective. At that
time the contractor will repair the joint . If the joint is
defective, the joint will be repaired at Angleton ' s expense;
however, if the joint is not , there will be a claim against
BAWA for the work. The entire line will be inspected in
• this manner. Mr. Parker stated that the engineers have some
reservations whether the inspection will be carried out in
this fashion because what Angleton wants to do is complete
the work on each joint before moving on to another joint
which will take an inordinate amount of time. Therefore,
the engineers feel that Angleton will probably go back to
the system of inspecting certain sections, marking those
joints that are felt to be inferior and repairing several at
one time.
10819-4
Minutes of the BAWA Board - August 19, 1981
In response to a question from the board regarding the
capability of the contractor to perform the work at the
Exxon crossing, Mr. Parker stated that the consulting engineers
had requested that Gifford-Hill make a recommendation as to
what might be done in this regard. Mr. Parker stated that
he would forward a letter to Gifford-Hill restating that
request.
Board member Buenz asked that Angleton General Mechanical
furnish the Board with a schedule and estimated completion
date on the line.
Rick French with Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam reported
that the instrumentation supplier, Bristol , has completed
the majority of their training program. The automatic III
portion of the plant has been started and the majority of
the plant is operating on automatic. There are still a few
problem areas that need to be corrected, but nothing of
consequence. There is no reason that the plant should not
be ready for acceptance by the next board meeting, with the
exception of water proofing.
In the areas of the filter and the transfer pump station
on the rapid mix, there is membrane water proofing. Some
time ago, there was evidence of degradation in that water
proofing. A test period has begun where the water-proofing
was cleaned off and samples taken. There is a 60-day wait
to analyze the samples and establish if there is continuing
degradation. That 60-day test period began a couple weeks
ago; therefore, by next board meeting hopefully everything
should be accepted with the exception of water proofing.
Mr. Lanham reported that for the week ending August 15,
total water consumption for Baytown was 64, 542 , 000 gallons
and of that, surface water represented 58, 500 which means
more than 90% of the water being used is surface water.
The concrete plant on Highway 146 has recently converted
to surface water, and the Administration has received two
additional inquiries concerning conversion to surface water
from water districts.
Norman Dykes, Director of Public Works, reported that
several calls have been received regarding the taste of
water. Numerous samples have been taken with each sample
reflecting good quality water. This procedure is requiring
a great amount of time. Therefore, in the future it will
not be possible to take samples each time there is a complaint .
BAWA forwards samples on a monthly basis to the State Department
of Health which entity also monitors quality of water.
There being no further business to be transacted, the
meeting was adjourned.
iz
Peter R. Buenz, Icretary III