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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08252014 City Council Special Meeting Minutes City of Seward, Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 25, 2014 Volume 39, Page 379 CALL TO ORDER The August 25,2014 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Jean Bardarson. OPENING CEREMONY City Manager Jim Hunt led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Jean Bardarson presiding and Ristine Casagranda Christy Terry Marianna Keil David Squires Dale Butts Iris Darling comprising a quorum of the Council; and Jim Hunt, City Manager Johanna Kinney, City Clerk Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING—None APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion (Keil/Terry) Approval of Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous NEW BUSINESS Other New Business Items Give direction to administration to hire a third consultant to remediate hydrogen sulfide emission related to City sewage. Casagranda felt someone should be taking care of odor control in the meantime while the contract of sludge removal was carried out. Darling added that the business Brown and Caldwell, whose offices were in Olympia and Seattle, were experts in advising on odor control. They weren't in the dredging business, but City of Seward, Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 25, 2014 Volume 39, Page 380 specialized in just odor control. She felt they needed to get someone who really knew what they were doing. Keil noted three of the companies listed in their meeting packet were water specialist and septic tank designers. Casagranda suggested the city add a change order to the contract with the successful bidder for the dredging project at the lagoon, Merrell Brothers, for odor control prior to dredging. Butts asked administration to explain if the city were to go out for proposal,how short they could make the process. Hunt said it would not be a short timeframe. It was possible to go out to quotes,but staff would have to look for an appropriation.He saw difficulty in addressing just one gas as noticed in this meeting. He thought it could be one component of many. Public Works Director W.C. Casey said he had been talking with Merrell Brothers on the odor control. Casey feared driving the ph levels up and be out of compliance with their permit or cause any other odors. The smell was subsiding now that it was getting colder. He felt they could ramp up the addition to the calcium nitrate now they knew it was a successful fix until the dredge.He thought the problem was going to be reduced soon. Terry thought the one gas argument was semantics and administration could address the problem as a whole.They needed to be more aggressive and less reactionary. Council and the public needed more updates and the public needed to know staff was addressing issues. Hunt said they could communicate better these happenings.He could not get around the fact that it would smell when they dredged. Terry asked why they wouldn't find a consultant to determine that fully. Squires stated he would rather spend less money on studies and get the job done. He'd be more willing to approve a change order to fix the job rather than go out for another study. He'd be willing to pay more to bump up the timeline on the dredging project. Casagranda said if the city was on the same page to making a change order,staff could work on changing the date of the dredging project to an earlier date.Bardarson said council had given that direction and they could also direct to have the company look into odor remediation until dredging occurred. Keil was concerned about moving the dredge date due to the upcoming flood season. Casagranda thought November was a good month to start. Bardarson thought they should just approach Merrell Brothers and see what they could do and how early they could do it. Butts said he wouldn't support anything that would delay this process at all. Darling said her big priority was to stop the odor as soon as possible. l Casey confirmed the contract should be coming to council for approval on September 8, 2014. There was an email sent to Merrell Brothers last Tuesday asking during the sludge removal City of Seward, Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 25, 2014 Volume 39, Page 381 process if there was anything that could be done to reduce odors and asking them of their proposed schedule. If they could control the odors until spring,they could dredge in the spring and he hoped that would be acceptable. These conversations were ongoing and he didn't want to jeopardize the process.The city had issued a notice of intent to award today and hoped to finish negotiations before the September 8,2014 meeting. Staff was ordering 2,000 pounds of calcium nitrate and intended to trickle it in places instead of dumping all at once. They were ramping up efforts and really hoped they could remediate the issue internally. Casey stated he was optimistic. He hoped they could appreciate his caution with dumping calcium nitrate because the city had to make sure they wouldn't make the situation worse or jeopardize their permit with DEC. Long said the direction from council was pretty clear to go back to the proposed contractor. Staff had been meeting and making progress. Long noticed there were a lot of people trying to sell the city on things. Changing the scope of work and the timeline were possibilities with the contract that was coming before them, but the city needed necessary time to negotiate with the contractor. Staff hoped to get it done by the September 8, 2014 meeting or sooner, if possible. In response to Casagranda, Casey said it took about a week for the calcium nitrate to arrive. In response to Squires, since they have been adding the calcium nitrate to the lagoon, the ph levels were holding at an acceptable level. Four more aereators were coming this week. Terry thought it made sense to keep the same contractor to not confuse issues or opinions. She stressed they shouldn't be reactionary and be more proactive. Council directed staff to find out if they could negotiate changes to the Merrell Brothers contract by changing scope of work to include odor remediation prior to dredging. If this was not possible, administration was directed to seek a third consultant to deal with odor control at the Lowell Point Sewage Lagoon. COUNCIL COMMENTS Darling hoped staff could get this contract negotiated before September 8, 2014. CITIZEN COMMENTS Lynda Paquette recapped what she thought council discussed tonight. The city planned to approve the contract with Merrell Brothers to include odor control. In terms of the third consultant, she wondered about the City Manager's$10,000-$50,000 spending authority. She didn't know what the concern was about calcium nitrate; it was commonly used and not dangerous. Tom Miller stated he lived right beside the lagoon.For him,the smells were not going down. It was terrible and his family's business was losing a lot of money due to the odor. Miller had been feeling health effects and really hoped the city could push the project forward as fast as they could. They had guests leave early and received bad reviews due to the smell. John French thought the concern on other gasses was a red herring.Other gasses were being produced,but the majority of the smell in an anaerobic system was hydrogen sulfide which could be City of Seward, Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 25, 2014 Volume 39, Page 382 masked by calcium nitrate and French was happy to hear it was being recommended by a lot of experts to use it. He hoped the system could be more aerobic and reverse the odor trend it had been taking.French hoped in the future council and administration would make this lagoon a priority and not put it off like before. John Page said he was pleased to see council was interested in pursuing remediation. They really needed to have the work done prior to spring. He spoke on the awful smell and the economic impact it had on all of their businesses. Each day hundreds of tourists drove Lowell Point Road. He was concerned changing timeline of the contract and adding odor control would cost more money but hoped they would not stay on the proposed schedule of starting dredging in April,2015. If the smell remained, many of his employees would not return next season. That impact would reflect on the entire tourism scene of Seward. He was encouraged tonight and appreciate the concern council has shown the community of Lowell Point. State House Representative Mike Chenault,representing Seward and Lowell Point,noted they were able to put state funds into this project to get the problem fixed. He didn't know where they were at specifically,and pleaded with council to take whatever actions necessary to remedy the problem at the sewage lagoon. If money was still an issue,he and Senator Micciche,who was also present tonight, would be happy to help lobby for more funds. Teri Arnold said one of their children was getting married in Seward next June. They were wondering if they needed to call and relocate due to the odor. She asked council to please hurry this • project along and not wait until April. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Casagranda clarified that the contract was slated to come before council at their meeting on September 8, 2014 or if sooner, they could call a special meeting. She thanked Representative Chenault for coming tonight. Keil asked that the air quality list be made available to the public. Butts said some of the concern was about money,but he felt if it came down to more money needed, they would work to find a way to pay for this. The city wasn't penny pinching or slowing down the project due to a dollar sign. They were working on fast response. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:53 p.m. /den e/4/2Jell- 4 L .�I I �/� J• anna Kinney''TC can Bardarson ty Clerk .••y 0 4r.„, � ,'•., Mayor e. (City Seal) : F /� : . ; SEAL ° • • ♦ ACIr 41t. �tigrF OF A�P'c:. . •'