2020 08 19 BAWA MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE BAYTOWN AREA WATER AUTHORITY
August 19, 2020
The Board of Directors of the Baytown Area Water Authority (BAWA) met in a Regular Meeting
on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, at 4:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall,
2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance:
Brenda Bradley Smith President (In Person)
Frank McKay III Secretary (Teleconference)
Brandon Benoit Director (Teleconference)
Nick Woolery Presiding Manager
Karen Horner Interim General Counsel
Leticia Brysch Assistant Secretary
President Bradley Smith convened the August 19, 2020, BAWA Board Regular Meeting with a
quorum present at 4:30 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Director Wilson who
was absent.
1. MINUTES
a. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Area Water Authority Regular
Meeting held on July 15, 2020.
A motion was made by Director Brandon Benoit, and seconded by Secretary Frank McKay III to
approve the minutes of the Baytown Area Water Authority Regular Meeting held on July 15, 2020,
as submitted. The vote was as follows:
Ayes: President Brenda Bradley Smith, Secretary Frank McKay III, Director Brandon
Benoit
Nays: None
Other: Vice President Mike Wilson (Absent)
Approved
2. PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS
a. Consider a resolution authorizing Change Order No. 11 with Pepper Lawson
Waterworks, LLC, for the BAWA 6 MGD Surface Water Treatment Plant.
Assistant Director of Public Works and Engineering Andrea Brinkley presented the item and stated
that in May 2019, the Baytown Area Water Authority ("BAWA") and the City of Baytown (the
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August 19, 2020
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"City") approved the contract with Pepper Lawson Waterworks LLC, ("PLW") for the construction
of a 6 MGD Surface Water Treatment Plant (the "Project").
She noted that the project is on schedule, and items related to the completion of certain critical
items of work related to the completion of the operations building as well as life, safety and code
issues are being addressed as part of Change Order No. 11, in the amount of $188,216.36. Ms.
Brinkley noted that the scope of work included in the change order are the following:
1. The first item of work is an increase in the amount of $9,026.80, to add and
configure the City of Houston flow meter signal to provide signal information
to the Fritz Lanham Surface Water Plant. BAWA staff monitors the daily now
of raw water provided by the City of Houston via the canal, and this will allow
staff to access the information in addition to the City of Houston.
2. The second item of work is an increase in the amount of $169,163.74 to re-route
the chemical containment drain and storm drain lines away from the sanitary
sewer lift station, and direct flows to the sludge lagoon. The City does not
accept industrial waste water into its treatment program, such as what would be
generated by chemical spillage, and this connection must be removed from the
sanitary system and redirected to the sludge lagoon. Also, storm water
generated from two (2) inlets, one inlet along the Operations building bulk
outdoor chemical area, and one inlet at the truck loading area (both not under
roof cover) would allow storm water discharge into the sanitary sewer system,
which can cause sanitary sewer overflows. Storm water discharging to a
sanitary system is considered an unauthorized discharge per Texas Water Code
§ 26.001(6) and § 208 of the Clean Water Act.
3. The third item of work is for an increase in the amount of $4,120.38 for the
Elevator shunt trip disconnect, which is required by the fire code, and not
included in the original design documents, but identified during the state
elevator inspection.
4. The fourth item of work is for an increase in the amount of $5,905.44 for the
addition of protective separation basins to contain and maintain separation of
the sodium chlorite and hydrochloric acid stored in the chemical containment
area at the Operations building. The two chemicals are extremely corrosive and
present a health and safety issue, if not separated, and any leaks were to cause
a mixing of the chemicals. This was not included in the design drawings.
Director McKay stated that his question is, whether there are going to be more change orders
because it just seems like it is a constant bleed of things that have not been considered, and out of
the blue. He also asked about the elevator item and noted that this sounds like something that
should have been included in the original design, as it is nothing special, and if it sounds like it is
required, why would it not already be in the package
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August 19, 2020
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Ms. Brinkley stated that in regards to the first question, she has a two-part answer. The first part
is that there are more changes coming and in the form of one last summary change. There are a
few items that staff was not able to arrive to at an agreement on cost, and these will be brought to
the board at the September meeting. These items have to do with the Authority's contract with the
engineer and the Authority's contract with the contractor, and staff is actively working to write
those so they include everything and all entities are paid correctly.
Ms. Brinkley noted that in regards to the item related to the elevator, this is a code issue that staff
feels occurred during the construction period that could not have been identified until such time as
the state -certified inspected the elevator. So, this is really clean-up to an item that was identified
during construction and has to be brought up to code.
Ms. Brinkley also noted that as it relates to the other items with large cost, include the chemical
containment lines; these are chemicals that are stored in a curve -surrounded basin containment
area, should there be any weak or some kind of catastrophic failure. She noted that these chemicals
are currently draining to the building's sanitary sewer lift station and just even with start-up, and
this is not unusual that there would be a little bit of a slow drip or sometimes hoses could become
worn, or are defective; therefore, these containment areas are built to be able to provide separation.
However, what the staff did not realize, until recently, is that this should not go to the sanitary
sewer system, but to the sludge lagoon and handled in the same way that the main plant handles
it; this is something that staff wanted to make certain was not a long-term issue.
Ms. Brinkley further noted that the two inlets that are on the operations building would be
delivering chemicals and the truck docks that would take deliveries are not covered by a roof and
are instead open to all the elements. She noted that if staff does not try to take care of this issue,
and eliminate all of the stormwater from entering into the sanitary sewer system, it will really
create issues with the flow of filtration standpoint. Additionally, as it is now, this is not considered
best practice and staff wants to ensure that it is in line with the Texas Water Code. Ms. Brinkley
stated that staff wants to make certain that they are really not running afoul of that, and noted that
in this situation, staff felt that for the longevity of the building, this change was needed. She noted
that this is certainly something that staff wished they could have avoided in design, and they
certainly want to address that separately with the engineer, but this is something that needs to be
addressed during construction.
Mr. McKay asked if the chemical bag separators should have been something that was engineered
correctly from the beginning. Ms. Brinkley noted that staff believes that this should have been
straightened out from design and they wish that this had been addressed earlier in the design
process.
Assistant General Manager Nick Woolery noted that staff is going to be bringing back some
resolution hopefully to give the board a better idea of how the staff is going to move forward on
some of these design questions and how they plan to get all this resolved.
President Smith noted that in generalized terms, there is no perfect project and everyone recognizes
that; however, in general terms, change orders in a perfect world, are only to address unforeseen
circumstances, regulatory changes, things of that nature. She noted that the elevator issue does
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August 19, 2020
Page 4 of 5
sound as though it probably falls into the classic, universal accepted form of a change order item
as it was a code change that occurred after design and perhaps even after construction. However,
things that do not fall into that category are sometimes treated differently.
A motion was made by Director Brandon Benoit, and seconded by Secretary Frank McKay III to
approve Resolution No. 2020-12, related to Item 2.a. The vote was as follows:
Ayes: President Brenda Bradley Smith, Secretary Frank McKay III, Director Brandon
Benoit
Nays: None
Other: Vice President Mike Wilson (Absent)
Approved
RESOLUTION NO. 2020-12
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BAYTOWN
AREA WATER AUTHORITY AUTHORIZING CHANGE ORDER NO. II
WITH PEPPER LAWSON WATERWORKS, LLC, FOR THE BAWA 6 MGD
SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT PROJECT IN THE AMOUNT OF
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED SIXTEEN
AND 36/100 DOLLARS (SI88,216.36); AND PROVIDING FOR THE
EFFECTIVE DATE THEREOF.
b. Consider a resolution amending the Baytown Area Water Authority's Investment
Policy and Strategy Statement in accordance with the Public Funds Investment Act, Section
2256.005(e) for (i) the addition of an investment officer and (ii) the addition and deletion of
broker/dealers.
Finance Director Victor Brownlees presented the item and stated that this proposed resolution
approves the Baytown Area Water Authority's Investment Policy and Strategy Statement in
accordance with the Public Funds Investment Act, Section 2256.005(e) in order to add him as an
investment officer and to add another broker/dealer to the list.
A motion was made by Secretary Frank McKay III, and seconded by Director Brandon Benoit to
approve Resolution No. 2020-13, related to Item 2.b. The vote was as follows:
Ayes: President Brenda Bradley Smith, Secretary Frank McKay III, Director Brandon
Benoit
Nays: None
Other: Vice President Mike Wilson (Absent)
Approved
RESOLUTION NO. 2020-13
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August 19, 2020
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A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BAYTOWN
AREA WATER AUTHORITY ADOPTING THE BAYTOWN AREA WATER
AUTHORITY'S INVESTMENT POLICY AND STRATEGY STATEMENT;
AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE THEREOF.
3. REPORTS
a. Receive an update regarding the Baytown Area Water Authority East Plant Project.
Assistant Director of Public Works and Engineering Andrea Brinkley presented the Board with a
drone video to show the progress of the construction of the new Baytown Area Water Authority
East Plant Project, along with an overview of staff trainings and timelines.
b. Receive an update regarding the Fritz Lanham Surface Water Plant Chemical Feed
Improvements Project.
Assistant Director of Public Works and Engineering Andrea Brinkley presented the board with an
update regarding the construction of the Fritz Lanham Surface Water Plant Chemical Feed
Improvements Project. Ms. Brinkley showed the pictures of the clean and remediated chemical
containment area, the sludge area and chemical feed pipes.
4. MANAGER'S REPORT
a. The next Baytown Area Water Authority meeting is scheduled for Wednesday,
September 16, 2020, at 4:30 p.m., in the Council Chamber located at City Hall, 2401 Market
Street, Baytown, Texas 77520.
Assistant General Manager Nick Woolery presented the item and stated that the next BAWA
meeting is scheduled for September 16th, and he thanked the staff and the Board for all of their
hard work and dedication towards making the BAWA East Plant Project successful.
5. ADJOURN
With there being no further business to discuss, President Bradley Smith adjourned the
Wednesday, August 19, 2020, BAWA Board Regular Meeting at 4:53 P.M.
Leticia Bryscb, Assistant Secr to �G + �Ga
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