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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