Item T2
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: 18 September 2002
Division:
Growth Management
Bulk Item: Yes No----X-
Department
Marine Resources
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Approval of a Resolution directing staff to move forward in preparation of a grant to EP A, a feasibility analysis as part of
the grant, and a request for statement of qualifications for construction projects under the grant, utilizing the services of
CH2MHill.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
In the summer of 2000, Congress provided $3,8 M in funds to Monroe County to develop and implement a centralized
management approach for decentralized wastewater systems. The Grant requires four basic components: 1) Up to 75 % of
the grant may be used to cover the cost of design, construction, monitoring, 0 & M, and administering decentralized
wastewater systems. 2) The funds must be used in areas where a decentralized approach to wastewater improvements is a
viable long-term solution (at least 15 year life). 3) Establishment of a centralized authority to manage decentralized
wastewater systems is an essential component of the grant. 4) Any project must be consistent with the County's
Wastewater Master Plan.
The attached document discusses the options for the Board's consideration, which will allow staff and the FKAA to move
forward with the project, if it is the Board's desire and the desire of the FKAA to do so, A Resolution directing staff to
move forward on the project is provided for Board approval.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
NA
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
NA
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS;
Approval
TOTAL COST:
$5.07 M
BUDGETED: Yes
No NA,
COST TO COUNTY:
$1.27 M (User Fees / Fund 304 or other for ineligible costs)
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
No NA AMOUNT Per Month
Year
APPROVED BY:
County Atty
NA
Risk Management
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
DOCUMENTATION: Included ~ To Follow _ Not Required _
DISPOSITION:
AGENDA ITEM NO.:
7~~
BC020970a
09/03/0212:03 PM
Memorandum
DeDartment of Marine Resources
2798 Overseas Highway, Suite 420
Marathon, Florida 33050
Voice: (305) 289 2507
FAX: (305) 289 2536
Email: garrettgltl.mail.state.fl.us or
garrettgeo,{/'hotmai l.eom
Board of County Commissioners
Mayor Charles "Sonny" McCoy, Dist. 3
Mayor Pro Tem Dixie Spehar, Dist. I
Commissioner George Neugent, Dist. 2
Commissioner Nora Williams, Dist. 4
Commissioner Murray Nelson, Dist. 5
DATE:
6 September, 2002
TO:
SUBJECT:
Board of County Commissioners
George Garrett, Director of Marine Resources h- ~
Options for utilizing EP A grant funds to develop and
implement a centralized management authority for
decentralized wastewater systems
FROM:
INTRODUCTION
The EP A grant provides an opportunity to develop a centralized authority for
decentralized wastewater systems in the Keys as a demonstration project. This
document provides an assessment of the issues and some of the options available to
the County and the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority should both Boards wish to
pursue the project. Staff believes that the project can be completed, but that
significant staff time will be required. It is suggested that the County utilize
CH2MHill to complete the grant package and a project feasibility analysis as part
of the grant toward completion of the EPA grant project.
BACKGROUND
In the summer of 2000, Congress provided $3.8 M in funds to Monroe County to
develop and implement a centralized management approach for decentralized
wastewater systems. A 25 % match of the grant was required.
Four basic criteria govern the use of the grant funds:
1. Up to 75 % of the grant may be used to cover the cost of design,
construction, monitoring, 0 & M, and administering decentralized
wastewater systems.
BC02097I
09/03/02 II :54 AM
2. The funds must be used in areas where a decentralized approach to
wastewater improvements is a viable long-term solution (at least 15 year
life ).
3. The establishment of a centralized authority to manage decentralized
wastewater systems must be an essential component of the grant.
4. Any project must be consistent with the County's Wastewater Master
Plan.
PROJECT
This grant program, which involves the development and implementation of a
centralized management authority for a decentralized wastewater management
system, is complicated and will challenge the available resources on both the
County and FKAA staffs. To assist the Board in making its decision on whether or
not to move forward on applying for the grant, the staff has broken the options for
management and administration of the grant into five issues.
Issue 1. Who accepts the grant?
Issue 2. What are the grant match requirements and what source is used?
Issue 3. What does decentralized utility management look like?
a. Who runs the utility?
b. How is the utility run?
Issue 4. What are the project areas?
Issue 5. To what extent does the project undertake and test experimental
technologies.
Issue 1. There are two options as to which agency accepts and administers the
EP A grant, either the County or the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.
Currently the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority has limited staff, committed to
completing projects in Key Largo, Conch Key, Baypoint, and Big Coppitt. FKAA
staff does not feel that it has the time or staff resources to undertake the grant and
bring it to completion.
The County doesn't have adequate staff either, but does have a standing contract
with the engineering firm of CH2MHill and remaining committed funds to
complete planning for the County's Wastewater Master Plan. In addition,
CH2MHill has completed preliminary documents toward submitting a grant
proposal for the EP A grant funds. CH2MHill could simply complete the grant
package or could be asked to complete the grant package and then be requested to
2
complete the stipulations of the grant once received. The County Marine
Resources Department will administer the grant.
Recommendation: County staff recommends that the County become the EP A
grant recipient and administrator and that CH2MHill be further retained under their
existing contract with the County to complete the grant package to receive the EP A
grant dollars. The staff suggests that CH2MHill be retained to complete the EP A
grant package and to provide the County with a complete "Request for Proposals"
package so that the grant project may be bid out to perspective engineering firms.
They should also be asked to assist in reviewing bid submittals.
Issue 2: A twenty-five percent match is required for the receipt of the EPA grant.
It is anticipated that most of the required match will come from user fees resulting
collected from construction of on-site wastewater systems under the grant.
However, funds may be required to develop options under the grant.
Recommendation: Should funds outside of the grant be required, the County will
need to shift money within its budget, either in Fund 304 dollars or in Fund 148
fund stabilization dollars to meet the grant requirements. It is anticipated that as
much as $200,000 could be needed for the consultant to finish the grant
requirements.
Issue 3: Who runs the decentralized wastewater utility is a significant question.
The County is not technically qualified to become a wastewater utility at this time.
The FK.AA is technically qualified to run the utility but how the utility is run may
be the greater question for them.
The purpose of the EP A grant is to develop and demonstrate a centralized
management approach for a successful decentralized wastewater system
management. A number of factors are involved in the establishment and operation
of such a utility: administration, potential property acquisition, construction, and
operation/maintenance. All aspects of each of these three components must be
analyzed in more detail than is currently possible prior to submitting a grant
proposal. EP A understands this and is willing to make this type of analysis part of
the grant tasks and deliverables.
Recommendation: After discussions with FK.AA staff, County staff believes that
the FK.AA will ultimately operate and maintain the decentralized utility. However,
whether the FK.AA runs the utility directly, contracts all aspects of running the
utility, or retains portions of the utility while contracting other portions is
3
something that should be determined by a thorough analysis in the development of
information toward completion of the EP A grant. Thus, the most significant aspect
of who runs the utility and how, should be determined through the completion of
the EPA grant project. Critical to this analysis will also be the analysis of
economies of scale and the physical options for developing a project site. Analysis
of the scale of proposed initial operations and the ultimate scale of potential future
operations must be considered as well.
A complete and exhaustive feasibility and fiscal analysis of all options is essential
to complete of the grant and to the success of the centralized management authority
for decentralized wastewater systems utility.
Issue 4. Two options exist for the establishment of EP A grant project locations:
the "Coldspot areas" and the low priority "Hotspot areas." In all other areas it is
best to assume, as developed in the Wastewater Master Plan, that these other areas
will receive sewer service in the near future. As noted in the background
information above, the decentralized wastewater system utility must be physically
and financially viable for at least fifteen years.
Recommendation: A thorough analysis of each coldspot and low priority hotspot
must be completed as another essential component of the EP A grant tasks and
deliverables. Key to the decisions about a project location or multiple locations is
the feasibility of constructing on-site facilities in either a coldspot or hotspot area.
Attendant issues include:
1. the number of homes or commercial structures to be served;
2. the proximity of each existing residence or commercial structure to one
another;
3. the availability of vacant properties to locate clustered wastewater facilities
if deemed appropriate; and
4. the number of on-site systems that may have already been replaced in the
area.
The coldspot areas are already well defined. Several potential low priority
hotspots have been suggested, such as the upper Sugarloaf Key area.
Issue 5: The EP A decentralized wastewater system utility concept also focuses on
reviewing and potentially testing new or developing technologies under field
conditions. Part of this grant project may involve assessing new technologies or
simply better ways of improving the efficiencies and economies of scale possible
within a utility structure,
4
There are two basic options available to the utility as it develops:
1. develop a rigorous approach to monitoring the operations of the utility, from
administration, to construction, to operations and maintenance, or
2. develop a rigorous test facility in which new technologies or improvements on
new approaches to managing existing technologies can be tested.
The possibility of utilizing the Department of Corrections facility on Big Pine
exists, as it has been used in on-site wastewater system field tests in the past.
However, should such an approach be taken a relationship for such an effort would
have to be reestablished with the Department of Corrections and an assessment of
the resources needed to construct, operate, and manage the facility would be
necessary .
Recommendation: Staff believes that the greatest effort should be placed on
developing the basis for utility organization and operation and in constructing the
project demonstration area. A rigorous monitoring approach for all aspects of the
utility for decentralized wastewater systems should be adopted to allow the FKAA
as the ultimate management authority for the utility, to assess its efficiencies and
inefficiencies and how improvements to the operation of the utility could be made.
This type of information will be crucial to the new utility and to the EP A, who will
need this type of information for adopting similar utility structures in other areas.
The concept of developing a test facility at the Department of Corrections site
should not be abandoned, should be analyzed as part of the grant project, but
should be placed as a lower priority to ensure that the utility and its project areas
are fully and adequately developed.
CONCLUSION
County staff recommends that the County be the grant recipient and administrator
of the EP A Decentralized utility demonstration grant. The County's engineering
firm, CH2MHill should develop the grant package and, once the grant is received,
prepare a detailed feasibility analysis for the project, a subsequent Request for
Statements of Qualification package for completing the construction portion of the
grant project under its current contract with the County.
A majority of the grant project must involve the coherent development of the
utility concept for the FKAA as the ultimate manger of the utility. This includes
5
aspects of administration, construction, and operation and maintenance. It must
include an assessment of the potential site locations for construction of the project
with the limited funds provided in the scope of this project. It also must include an
assessment of how to best achieve the economies of scale anticipated for a utility
under the criteria established through this EP A grant. The utility concept when
completed, adopted, and implemented by the FKAA, must be workable.
An important aspect of the grant project must include a decision point, before
which a significant amount of information is assembled with which a decision can
be made about the physical and fiscal feasibility of the project. If the project were
shown to be not feasible under the specific conditions available in the Keys,
implementation of the project should not be carried out.
Finally, the project should focus on the fundamentals of developing and
constructing the utility. While a test facility may be a laudable goal of the project
its creation, administration, and maintenance create and entirely different layer of
responsibility once the grant project is implemented by the FKAA. Monitoring
should be rigorously carried out on the administrative processes developed for the
FKAA, construction of wastewater systems in project areas, and in the operation
and maintenance of those facilities.
If in the project analysis it can be shown that the goal of developing what amounts
to a research facility at the Department of Corrections or a similar site is feasible,
only then it should then be achieved.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Board of County Commissioners adopt the attached
resolution directing staff to proceed with the preparation and submittal of a grant
application for the centralized management of decentralized wastewater systems.
As part of the grant staff should also work with CH2MHill to prepare a rigorous
and detailed feasibility study concerning the administration, construction, and
continuing operation and maintenance of the utility As part of the resolution staff
should also be directed to prepare a request for statements of qualification package
to complete other anticipated stipulations of the grant concerning construction
aspects of the project.
Proposed Outline of Activities
for Receipt and Administration of the Grant
6
Q) CH2MHill will prepare the EP A Grant Package in consultation with County
and FKAA staff
Q) CH2MHill will submit the grant package to EP A and respond to comments
form EP A as necessary
Q) CH2MHill will work with County and FKAA staff under the grant, once
received, to complete:
1. A Detailed assessment of needs for creating the new utility
management approach including
. Administration
. Land acquisition
. Construction
. Operation and maintenance
2. A detailed assessment of project siting options
3. A detailed physical and fiscal and feasibility analysis
Q) The consultant will provide information to the County and the FKAA to
allow the agencies to determine the overall feasibility of continuing with the
project.
Q) CH2MHill will then prepare a Request for Statements of Qualification
package for contracting construction portions of the EP A grant stipulations and
will provide the County with an estimated cost range for the proj ect.
Q) CH2MHill will participate with the FKAA and the County in reviewing all
Statements of Qualification and in making a recommendation for selecting a
project construction contractor.
Q) A recommendation will be made to the BOCC and FKAA for selection of a
consultant to complete the EP A contract stipulations.
Q) The Consultant will work with County and FKAA staff to create necessary
transition requirements in order to implement the utility, should the County and
FKAA agree the implementation of the utility is feasible
Q) FKAA will take over the implementation of the centralized approach for a
decentralized wastewater system utility. Remaining grant funds and user fees
will pass through the FKAA for further development and implementation of the
utility concept.
7
Marine Resources
RESOLUTION NO. 2002
A RESOLUTION OF THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS DIRECTING STAFF TO MOVE
FORWARD ON THE COMPLETION OF A GRANT
APPLICATION TO EPA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A
CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR
DECENTRALIZED WASTEWATER SYSTEMS, TO
COMPLETE A WORK ORDER WITH THE COUNTY'S
WASTEWATER ENGINEERING FIRM, CH2MHILL, TO
COMPLETE THE GRANT PACKAGE, COMPLETE A
DETAILED FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS, AS PART OF THE
GRANT, AND COMPLETE A REQUEST FOR STATEMENTS
OF QUALIFICATION TO COMPLETE THE
CONSTRUCTION PORTION OF THE EPA GRANT
PROJECT.
WHEREAS, Congress through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has made $3.8 million dollars available to Monroe County for the
development of a centralized management approach for a decentralized wastewater
system utility; and
WHEREAS, it is the County's desire to accept the EPA grant and to move
forward toward the establishment of a management approach for a decentralized
wastewater system utility; and
WHEREAS, it is believed that this approach to on-site wastewater system
management may lead to more efficient and cost effective ways to construct and
maintain on-site wastewater systems, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA THAT:
Section 1. Staff is directed to work with FKAA staff and its Board to ensure that
the FKAA agrees with the County's approach toward the receipt of the EPA grant.
Section 2. Staff is directed to develop a work order with the County wastewater
engineer to complete the application to EPA for receipt of the EPA funds, a Scope
of work and work order to complete a feasibility analysis under the grant, and to
BC020971
09/05/0212:07 PM
Marine Resources
prepare a Request for Statements of Qualification to solicit contractors to complete
the anticipated construction portions of the grant requirements.
Section 3. The BOCC requires that a task be placed in the grant contract with
EP A, which will establish the physical and fmancial feasibility of the project in
Monroe COlmty. This task and the information developed as part of it, will allow
the County and FKAA to make a decision as to whether or not to move forward
with the development and implementation of a decentralized wastewater system
utility beyond the development of the feasibility study.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners,
Monroe County, Florida at a regular meeting of said Board held on the 18th day
of SeDtember , A.D., 2002.
Mayor Charles "Sonny" McCoy
Mayor Pro Tern Dixie Spehar
Commissioner George Neugent
Commissioner Bert Jimenez
Commissioner Murray Nelson
BOARD OF COUNTY CO~SSIONERS
MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
BY:
MAYOR/CHAIR PERSON
(SEAL)
ArrEST:
DANNY 1. KOLHAGE, CLERK
BY:
BY'
DEPUTY CLERK
BC020972
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