LRPC March/April 2020

The Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) efforts continue to focus on MC Engineering (MCE) Amendment 6 and Asset Management Plan approvals and implementation. Over the past month, through multiple communications and additional data received from MCE, the LRPC obtained the details required to make informed recommendations to the board at our March 14th Meeting.

Amendment 6 The current Engineering and Construction contract values (including all approved change orders to-date) are $10.4M, which together with our accumulated eligible reimbursements (including interim loan interest) amounting to $.929M, leave our remaining USDA funding balance at approx. $.893M. Based on our findings, it was determined that the Amendment 6 proposed additional support for the agreed to critical new scope tasks, as well as the 6 month construction schedule extension rationale were valid and reasonable. Amendment 6 amounts to $214,372. It was also noted that there are additional pending, in-process and highly probable potential change orders required that must be accounted for in the near term.

With the approval of Amendment 6 and all other additional new scope change orders mentioned above, the remaining USDA funding balance is estimated at approx. $370K (3% of contract value). The LRPC recommendation which was approved by the board included: (1) approve Amendment 6; (2) authorize MCE to proceed forward with completion of the additional new scope change orders mentioned above with the caveat to receive concurrence from the board prior to starting Task A1c (Water Treatment Plant Mains/Vault Replacements); and (3) request MCE obtain firm construction quotes to complete four remaining high priority new scope projects estimated at $356K and submit to BLSMWC for approval and authorization prior to proceeding. The approval of these last four projects will be on a case by case basis dependent on the USDA funds remaining at the time.

Asset Management Plan During the past month, based on recommendations included in the Asset Management Plan (AMP), we conducted a detailed review of several plan sections with BLSMWC management and staff to determine applicability to our operations and how well we comply. These areas included but were not limited to: 1. Operations Manuals and systems in place for record keeping 2. Levels of Service Goals, Performance Targets, and Compliance Criteria to validate the service areas and ensure we agree with the goals and performance targets 3. Maintenance Requirements and Standard Procedures 4. Annual budget estimates for predictive, preventative, & emergency maintenance inventory Based on these discussions, it was determined that the BLSMWC processes, procedures, operations manuals, record keeping, etc. fully satisfy the AMP recommendations.

We are still in the process of reviewing the final draft asset management database details, which provides the “Long Term Facility/Component Annual Cost to Replace” for all assets within our system over the next 90 years. Our goal is to ensure that the asset data and cost estimates are as comprehensive and accurate as possible. It is estimated that the efforts required to fully analyze the AMP data and develop implementation plan options that will meet our long term strategic financial goals will take another 2-3 months.