One consistent theme for the Carroll-Boone Water District Board of Commissioners during 2018 was getting a roof over their heads. At the January 2018 meeting, Manager Barry Connell reported there were several hundred holes in the flat roof of the office building at the Freeman-Raney water treatment plant, and attempts to stop the leaking with patches were futile.
Connell said replacing the roof with another flat roof would cost almost $90,000, but engineer/consultant Brad Hammond of Olsson Associates said his firm had an architect who could provide options. Hammond said he would check with the insurance provider to see if there would be some coverage due to of hail damage.
Hammond recommended replacing the flat roof with a pitched design with a standing seam roof. This choice would necessarily involve extra framing to account for vents and hatches already in place on the roof, and cost to the district would be considerably higher than constructing another flat roof.
Chair James Yates pointed out the additional life expectancy of the roof would offset the higher cost.
At the July meeting, Hammond recommended moving the HVAC units on the roof at the time to allow for an uninterrupted pitched roof and commissioners agreed.
Office Manager Cathy Klein pointed out she had been told if there were a chemical emergency and she had to get above the fumes, she was supposed to get up on the roof. She asked where would staff go if there were a hipped or gable roof? Hammond agreed that was a valid point.
In October, the board voted to authorize Hammond to proceed with getting bids for a hipped metal roof with metal trusses. His estimate for the cost of the roof, HVAC improvements and electrical adjustments was $182,000. Yates suggested they bid out the electrical work separately, but regarding Hammond’s suggestion he stated, “I can’t see not doing it.”
Klein, whose desk sits under the largest leak, stated there had been no further word by the end of the year, but she expected the new roof to be constructed during 2019. Connell acknowledged Klein’s efforts in convincing the insurance company to pay an additional $15,000 more than it originally offered for a total of $59,000 toward replacing the roof.
pH adjustment
In January, Hammond also announced a contractor had been selected through the bidding process for the project of gradually adjusting the pH of the water it sends down the line. Hammond explained adjusting the pH up to 8.6 by incrementally adding that a lime slurry was a standard corrosion control strategy in the industry. He said the end result might be slightly softer water, but the adjustment would produce no adverse side effects and would reduce the solubility of lead from old pipes.
Delays in delivering the equipment for the project held up implementation until late August.
Land purchase
Engineer Chris Hall of Olsson Associates announced at the April meeting the property where CBWD had been spreading the sludge removed from the tanks had changed hands. A new possible site had been identified not far from the previous site, but it was in Missouri and CBWD would need to negotiate a new contract and comply with Missouri regulations.
At the July meeting, Connell announced he had found a 165-acre tract of land near Garfield that would be closer than the Missouri site. He said the property was for sale for $594,756, which he deemed a worthwhile investment because they would never again have to look for another place to spread their sludge or negotiate with landlords. In addition, the property was large enough the hauler could easily rotate where the sludge was spread.
Commissioners approved of the concept, but the challenge was how to pay for it. Different strategies for the best use of reserve funds were mentioned, and commissioners eventually agreed to put the responsibility on Klein and Hammond to figure out the best way to pay for the land. Connell, Yates and attorney Dan Bowers would work on negotiating the purchase.
Master Plan update
Hammond presented his initial proposal for updating the Master Plan at a cost of $56,795. His plan would include, for example, updates to their generators that would improve transmission efficiency thereby saving money by pumping more water with less horsepower. One at the west plant is 33 years old, far beyond what should be expected, and refurbishing that one and another one to the standard of Tier 4 would cost $2.2 million. He recommended the board act as soon as is practical. Hall said an effective retrofit might add two decades to the life of the generators.
Also in the plan would be the next phase of the parallel transmission line project as they prepare for large users, such as the Tyson plant expansion in Green Forest, coming online farther upstream. This project would involve laying additional 36-inch pipe as they continue installation toward Harrison. Both Hammond and Hall noted there are other expansions being considered in the customer cities that would require a demand for more water.
Connell added the Master Plan update would allow him to plan for a move toward automation in the future. He noted there are challenges in keeping enough workers on undesirable shifts at the plant.
Also in Hammond’s plan would be strategies for how to fund their different reserves.
Wind was so hard it blew the paint off
Connell informed commissioners a July 3 storm blew a sizable portion of exterior paint off the Pine Mountain water tower. “This was a complete failure,” Hall said, “The contractor has never seen it anything like it.” Hall said it cost about $550,000 to paint both the outside and inside of the 5,000,000-gallon tank, but this repair might not require a complete repaint, so the cost would be less.