2014 10 15 BAWA MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE BAYTOWN AREA WATER AUTHORITY
October 15, 2014
The Board of Directors of the Baytown Area Water Authority (BAWA) met in a Regular
Meeting on Wednesday, 9:01 A.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401
Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance:
Brenda Bradley Smith
Mike Wilson
Brandon Benoit
Frank McKay
Robert D. Leiper
Ignacio Ramirez, Sr.
Leticia Brysch
President
Vice President
Director
Director
General Manager
General Counsel
Assistant Secretary
President Bradley Smith convened the October 15, 2014, Baytown Area Water Authority
(BAWA) Board Regular Meeting with a quorum present at 9:01 A.M., all members were present
with the exception of Director Baldwin who was absent and Director Benoit who arrived at 9:03
A.M.
MINUTES
a. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Area Water Authority Regular
Board Meeting held on August 20, 2014.
A motion was made by Vice President Mike Wilson and seconded by Director Frank McKay III
approving the August 20, 2014, BAWA Board Regular Meeting minutes. The vote was as
follows:
Ayes: President Brenda Bradley Smith, Director Frank McKay III, Vice
President Mike Wilson
Nays: None
Other: Secretary Wayne Baldwin (Absent); Director Brandon Benoit (Not Present
for vote)
Approved
b. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Area Water Authority Special
Board Meeting held on August 25, 2014.
BAWA Board Regular Meeting Minutes
October 15. 2014
Page 2 of
A motion was made by Vice President Mike Wilson and seconded by Director Frank McKay III
approving the August 25, 2014, BAWA Board Special Meeting minutes. The vote was as
follows:
Ayes: President Brenda Bradley Smith, Director Frank McKay III, Vice
President Mike Wilson
Nays: None
Other: Secretary Wayne Baldwin (Absent); Director Brandon Benoit (Not Present
for vote)
Approved
2. PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS
a. Consider a resolution authorizing a Professional Service Agreement with Arcadis
U.S., Inc., for design and implementation of the Baytown Area Water Authority SCADA
Upgrades Project.
General Manager Leiper stated that BAWA retained Malcolm Pimie, now Arcadis U.S., Inc., to
perform an assessment of the Baytown Area Water Authority (BAWA) Fritz Lanham Water
Treatment Plant (WTP) which included the Information Technology (IT) and Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition ( SCADA) systems that was completed in January of 2011. He
stated that the IT and SCADA System Assessment identified significant issues with the plant
and recommended the following improvements:
• Replacing or upgrading the WonderWare Human Machine Interface (HMI) software,
• Replacing the SCADA Historian,
• Installing a SCADA Network Backup system, and
• Adding a SCADA Network/General Network Bridge.
Additionally, General Manager Leiper stated that the design and installation of the project was
about $733,000.
Mr. John Howard, a representative of Arcadis U.S. Inc., presented an overview of the project.
He stated that the system controls and monitors the entire plant and automatically collects real -
time data for reports for TCEQ. He stated that the system does repetitive tasks to give operators
more time to perform other duties. Mr. Howard stated that the current challenges identified at
BAWA were obsolete hardware, system, and software; failing network communications; data
collection not working; lack of documentation on existing system; staff training on system
maintenance; and computer system not designed to City IT standards. Mr. Howard stated that
they will replace the computer hardware then reinstall the existing operating system and install
new software. He stated that they will improve the network communication, implement a storing
and backup system, and document the systems maintenance procedures. He stated that they will
BAWA Board Regular Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2014
Page 3 of 6
transition to the system that the City adopted called the (VTSCADA), train staff for system
maintenance, and coordinate with city IT for computer and network system design.
For clarity purposes, General Manager Leiper stated that the City is going to a single standard IT
system for all city related functions.
During further discussion, Mr. Howard stated that the project schedule consist of computer
upgrades being done during the first three months of the project followed by the network
upgrades then the installation of the new software. He stated that after the upgrades they will
work on transitioning the plant from the existing software package to VTSCADA.
Mr. Howard stated that they recommend replacing the field hardware (programmable logic
controllers) at a later stage and that there were some additional instrumentation that's not
included with this contract that may need to be implemented as well as some process
improvements.
Director McKay inquired if the new plant would be able to be controlled at the existing BAWA
plant location and reversible once the upgrades were installed. General Manager Leiper stated
that this will not eliminate the human factor and both plants will be staffed 24 hours a day, but it
allows the redundancy in case there are any issues at either location. Additionally, Mr. Howard
stated that an operator will have the access of the plants through an IPad.
Director McKay inquired about the security of the plant system regarding hackers and stated that
when he worked at the power plant, the SCADA software that controlled the plant was not
connected to the internet at all. Mr. Howard stated that security is a challenge and there are
various options that will be discussed during the network design. General Manager Leiper stated
that an option may be to have the SCADA system accessible through the City's private network
that is not cloud based.
During further discussion, Director McKay inquired of the expected life span of the new system.
Mr. Howard stated that the hardware life span is about five (5) years and the software's life span
is based on Microsoft expanded, which is currently running on Windows NT which is at
the ending life cycle. He further stated that the program will run on the current windows software
and once the NT software ends the new windows software will begin on a separate
machine. General Manager Leiper stated that in the past, the updates of technology was not
addressed as it was necessarily needed, but moving forward, updates/upgrades will be done when
needed.
A motion was made by Director Brandon Benoit and seconded by Vice President Mike Wilson
approving Resolution No. 2014 -19. The vote was as follows:
Ayes: Director Brandon Benoit, President Brenda Bradley Smith, Director Frank
McKay III, Vice President Mike Wilson
Nays: None
BAWA Board Regular Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2014
Page 4 of 6
Other: Secretary Wayne Baldwin (Absent)
Approved
RESOLUTION NO. 2014 -19
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BAYTOWN
AREA WATER AUTHORITY AUTHORIZING THE PROFESSIONAL
SERVICE AGREEMENT WITH ARCADIS U.S., INC., FOR THE BAYTOWN
AREA WATER AUTHORITY SCADA PROJECT; AUTHORIZING
PAYMENT IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED SEVEN HUNDRED
THIRTY -TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED THIRTY -FIVE AND 50 /100
DOLLARS ($732,355.50); MAKING OTHER PROVISIONS RELATED
THERETO; AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE THEREOF.
b. Consider a resolution authorizing a contract with Pump & Power Equipment,
LLC, for the BAWA Peerless Vertical Turbine Pump Emergency Repair Project.
General Manager Leiper stated that Resolution No. 2014 -20 authorizes a contract with Pump &
Power Equipment, LLC, in the amount of $64,000 for the BAWA Peerless Vertical Turbine
Pump Emergency Repair Project. He stated that the price to rebowl the pump will be
$55,652, the labor will be $8,348, and that the repairs will take approximately six (6) weeks.
General Manager Leiper stated that the pump in need of repair is used to pump dirty backwash
water to the lagoon when backwashing filters and is one of only two dirty backwash pumps at
the plant and is currently inoperable. He stated that as a backup plan should the remaining pump
ceases to function properly; BAWA has secured a rental bypass pump at a cost of about $10,000
per month. He stated that because of the vital importance of this pump to protect the public
health or safety, this repair is being made on an emergency basis without competitive bidding
and repairs will begin immediately, as the City Council approved the agreement at its meeting
held on October 9th. Additionally, he stated that once the repair is done, they will proceed
with normal competitive bidding and purchase a new pump to replace the old pump, and then
have the old pump rebuilt.
A motion was made by Vice President Mike Wilson and seconded by Director Frank McKay III
approving Resolution No. 2014 -20. The vote was as follows:
Ayes: Director Brandon Benoit, President Brenda Bradley Smith, Director Frank
McKay 111, Vice President Mike Wilson
Nays: None
Other: Secretary Wayne Baldwin (Absent)
Approved
BAWA Board Regular Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2014
Page 5 of 6
RESOLUTION NO. 2014 -20
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BAYTOWN
AREA WATER AUTHORITY DECLARING AN EMERGENCY;
AUTHORIZING THE GENERAL MANAGER OF THE BAYTOWN AREA
WATER AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENT FOR
EMERGENCY REPAIRS FOR THE BAWA PEERLESS VERTICAL
TURBINE PUMP EMERGENCY REPAIR PROJECT; AUTHORIZING
PAYMENT BY THE BAYTOWN AREA WATER AUTHORITY, IN THE
AMOUNT OF SIXTY -FOUR THOUSAND AND NO /100 DOLLARS
($64,000.00); MAKING OTHER PROVISIONS RELATED THERETO; AND
PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE THEREOF.
REPORTS
a. Receive an update regarding the Baytown Area Water Authority (BAWA) East
Plant Project.
General Manager Leiper presented an update on the BAWA East Plant Project and stated that the
City closed on the property of 60 acres. He stated that once all paper work is done and approved,
the City will sale the property over to BAWA. He stated that they met with NRG to work on a
cross access to allow the City to share their road that is access to the property. He stated that they
are working on the metes and bounds of the easement for the utility access across FM 1405 that
crosses over the Bayer property. He further stated that they are continuing to have conversations
with the City of Houston in regards to amending the agreement for water supply and would also
like to work with Chambers Liberty Navigation District to purchase water, to have two sources
of water supply.
b. Receive the Baytown Area Water Authority's Revenues and Expenditures Report
for the Quarter Ending September 30, 2014.
Finance Director, Louise Richman presented the Baytown Area Water Authority's Revenues and
Expenditures Report for the Quarter Ending September 30, 2014. She stated that the revenues
were 3% over budget and that in the miscellaneous line item there is $913 which was for late
fees from smaller entities. In regards to the expenditures, she stated that there were some
vacancies in personnel, chemicals were more expensive, and that the electricity and supplies
were under budget. Ms. Richman further stated that there's one invoice from the City of Houston
for untreated water waiting to be received and that the debt services payment are on schedule.
Additionally, she stated that the CIP fund had carry over funds which are accumulated for
capital.
C. Receive the Baytown Area Water Authority's Quarterly Investment Report for the
quarter ending September 30, 2014.
BAWA Board Regular Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2014
Page 6 of 6
Ms. Richman presented the Baytown Area Water Authority's Quarterly Investment Report for
the quarter ending September 30, 2014. She stated that there were $18.5 million total in all fund
investments and that the interest rates were still low.
4. MANAGER'S REPORT
a. Reminder that the next Baytown Area Water Authority meeting is scheduled for
Wednesday, November 19, 2014, at 9:00 A.M. in the City Council Chamber, 2401 Market
Street, Baytown, Texas 77520.
General Manager Leiper stated that the next Baytown Area Water Authority meeting is
scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, 2014, at 9:00 A.M. in the City Council Chamber, 2401
Market Street, Baytown, Texas 77520.
Director McKay inquired if there was a master list of future projects and if the SCADA project
was included in the budget. General Manager Leiper slated that there is a master plan of future
capital projects and that the SCADA project was included in budget.
5. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, President Bradley Smith adjourned the October
15, 2014, Baytown Area Water Authority (BAWA) Board Regular Meeting at 9:36 A.M.
Leticia Brysch, AssistaVSccrctary !X//--
City of Baytown _