Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm Commissioner Robert Patrick, Chair of Public Works and Infrastructure.

I share the greatness of this committee with my very invaluable colleagues.

Commissioner and Presiding Officer Shakira Johnson, as well as uh Commissioner and Fab Chair, Fab for Fabulous, uh, Commissioner Ted Terry.

And joined today, we have our ERPS committee chair as well.

Thank you, madam, for being here.

We appreciate the company.

Uh we have lots of good things here.

Um we have a very short time frame.

Commissioner Terry has told me five o'clock is a dead stop for him.

Um if we're able to go through a little bit further, and Commissioner Terry doesn't mind, we may tackle some additional items after that.

Uh I know that uh Public Works has a presentation for the 225 ish million dollars that may be ready for today for a present uh discussion that we'll have at the end.

That said, uh I think something that um uh is important and is gonna be a good conversation for us to have.

I believe this was through Commissioner Terry's office.

Youth Commission proposal, sidewalk maintenance and installation update.

I will say that sidewalks are super important.

Uh in my first term, I think we put about a hundred thousand dollars into identifying trip hazards within unincorporated district one sidewalks, as well as uh a company that could go down and grind those those trip hazards down.

Uh they in turn gave us, I think uh a fairly extensive GIS file of every panel within District One that has a broken sidewalk.

Again, this is the uh unincorporated area.

So sidewalks and walkability and connectivity is a high priority.

Uh if y'all are the youth commissioners, come on up here.

We want to please introduce yourselves.

Hello, everyone.

Oh, try it one more time.

Hello.

Hello.

There you go.

Oh, there we go.

Okay.

Hello, everyone.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to us today.

I am Anna Connors, and this is Riley Peret, and we will be talking to you all about improving the sidewalk infrastructure in DeCab County.

Oh, it's right there.

Riley Peret is a graduate from Decatur High School and will be attending the University of Georgia with plans to study international affairs.

Ms.

Peret got involved with DeCav's Youth Commission because she believes it is important to understand policies closest to home before addressing international legislation.

She is particularly interested in issues surrounding transportation and mobility.

Anna Connors is a rising junior at Midtown High School with a passion for international policy and advocacy.

Ms.

Connors intends to continue this passion in her undergraduate career.

One of her recent blogs recently explored how access to menstrual products impact school attendance and educational attainment in Uganda.

Anna became a youth commissioner because she is at heart for community and education.

Lack of sidewalk installation and analysis poses safety and health risks.

Sidewalks help improve mobility for residents and increase accessibility to essential services across DeCAP.

Though SPLOSS is working to install more sidewalks, they are unable to fund maintenance, creating maintenance concerns.

Maintenance can cause issues when it comes to mobility for people in wheelchairs with things such like such as tree routes growing in sidewalks or other forms of uneven pavement that can cause safety concerns.

In general, it's important to improve mobility using non-car dependent methods by doing analysis of sidewalks.

DeCAP will be able to locate areas in high need of repair or installation of sidewalks, allowing the issue to improve.

According to a variety of studies, sidewalks have improved sorry.

Sidewalks have improved to have numerous health benefits by encouraging physical activity and increasing pedestrian safety.

Furthermore, sidewalks encourage walkability, which can decrease traffic congestion and automobile pollution, therefore improving the county's environment.

Our research shows that there were 40 pedestrian casualties in DeCab County in 2024 and 59 the year before that.

Many of these can be prevented.

In fact, the Department of Transportation has revealed that walkways can reduce walkwalking along the roadway crashes by 88%.

There are also economic benefits when improving walkability boosting traffic and sales about 30, 15 to 30 percent in areas considered walkable.

We also found that people in walkable neighborhoods are 47% more likely to be active for at least 39 minutes a day, which is 30, which is nine minutes more than the minimum physical activity that is recommended.

We do not just see the need for sidewalks from credible studies, but also from our own community.

Our team conducted a survey on 75 Jacob residents.

Um 90% of respondents said sidewalks were important to them, and 54% said it wasn't difficult to access essential goods by walking.

Additionally, 72% of residents said that they would support a program that altered the current method of sidewalk installation and maintenance.

We do acknowledge the possibility of bias due to the location in which we show chose this to do to sample data, which was Decatur Square.

However, we took measures to ensure diverse sample population by posting on next door, allowing our study to reach a wider audience.

Overall, this resulted in a survey that represented a variety of decab residents.

With uh 79% of our respondents lived in unincorporated cab, and only 21% claimed to live in the city of Decatur.

Therefore, while we do admit to some bias, we believe that the results hold up hold a fair amount of statistical value.

The majority of people surveyed reported that the areas they found most difficult to walk in were DeCab Avenue, East College Avenue, Glenwood Road, Stone Mountain, and Shambling.

However, in our conversation with Commissioner Terry, we learned that there is progress being made in Glenwood.

Many also mentioned South Candler and Memorial Drive.

While we acknowledge that streets that fall under individual municipalities have separate regulations regarding infrastructure, many of these areas are part of unincorporated cab and would be therefore be affected by this policy.

The Youth Commission worked on this policy with an original goal of improving walkability by providing subsidies for the installation of sidewalks and street lights.

We also wanted to alter the petition process to include renters.

At the beginning of our internship, we had shifted to implementing a five-year maintenance plan for sidewalks that would cycle through one district per year.

However, spe after speaking to SPLOSS, we realized that maintenance work could cannot be funded using SPLOSS money.

So we pivoted, adjusting our policy to accommodate these regulations while still serving the county's current infrastructure needs.

Our goal is to improve the maintenance and installation of sidewalks into CAB County through sidewalk analysis and SPLOS funding.

To put our plan into action and create a more walkable decab, we decide to have two main initiatives.

First, increasing the upcoming SPLOSS III funding to address installation issues.

Second, creating new walkability analysis to grade sidewalks based off of how much maintenance is needed.

In order to address the limitations to CAB County has in sidewalk installation, we decided to plan an increase in transportation funding for SPLOS 3.

This funding will go directly to the installation of sidewalks or other infrastructure projects that improve walkability.

About 10% of SPLOS 2 transportation budget is allocated to sidewalk infrastructure with around 26 million of the 250 million dollars in the SPLOS transportation fund for sidewalk construction.

We are asking to increase the transportation purposes for the SPLOS 3 funding by 20 million dollars, with the intent of this funding going directly towards sidewalk or other mobility infrastructure.

This would increase the sidewalk fund to around 15% of the SPLOS 2 transportation budget.

We decided on 20 million dollars due to the findings of our cost-benefit analysis, which calculated a rough estimate of workers and materials as well as any outreach to add up to about this amount.

In order to address in order to address the limitations DeCab County has in sidewalk maintenance, we want to implement a sidewalk analysis that assesses the which sidewalks in DeCab County need the most maintenance.

It would follow a similar structure to the sidewalk mapping system currently uh in place by SPLOSS and would allow residents to report issues in their sidewalks.

Sidewalk maintenance is necessary as a lack of attention can discourage walking and lead to more safety concerns.

In addition, this analysis would allow the county to track the timeline of sidewalks, meaning the county would be aware of the age of a sidewalk and the likelihood of maintenance or reinstallation being necessary without a formal analysis.

This is an example of the mass mapping system SPLOSS currently has with the green areas showing installed sidewalks and the yellow area showing places in need of sidewalk installation.

For our initiative, we would want to create a system similar to this, with one color showing sidewalks who have already received maintenance, one color showing sidewalks currently receiving maintenance, and another color showing sidewalks that are still in need of maintenance.

While on this slide, we wanted to ensure to thank Commissioner Patrick, who worked with SPLOSS to create this mapping system.

This policy looks to build upon the work that he did and expanded further to allow for a more congruent system that would be updated consistently and would enable residents to report their own sidewalk issues and monitor their infrastructure.

Thank you so much for your time and attention during this presentation.

This slide will present to you some of the survey responses as well as some news headlines that we have collected during our time researching this policy.

We hope you will consider them in your decision.

And with that, the floor is open for questions.

Wow.

Hey uh give you guys and and that was because one of you is going to UGA, right?

Really, Commissioner Terry.

You just can't help.

I'm sorry.

Commissioner Patrick.

I'm tired.

I'm sorry.

It's been a long day.

Admittedly.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

Again, sidewalks in my mind are critically important.

Uh particularly as we learned during the pandemic, uh, mental health is a high priority.

Being able to get out in your neighborhood and just stretch your legs, go for a walk, chill out.

I'd like to believe that that's a good mental health solution to kind of bring people down a little bit more.

So uh thank you for looking into that.

This is uh phenomenal.

Um yeah, you got me you got me silenced.

Uh Commissioner Terry, anything to add?

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Chair, and uh thank you, Riley and Anna, for um all of the hard work that you've done over the summer.

Uh this is your last week, so appreciate y'all's service.

Yeah, as interns, and again, one to um just appreciate Madam CEO Lorraine Cochrane Johnson for providing the additional funding uh so that we could bring on the youth commissioners through the summer work shorts uh program.

Um and I think it's a great idea.

I mean, I think what you've pointed out is you're building on what Commissioner Patrick had started.

I mean, this was several years ago, Commissioner, where you got the sidewalk mapping done, um, but now you're kind of taking it to the next step of well, let's dive a little bit deeper, not just the gaps, but how can we actually um in essence kind of grade them?

It's kind of what we do with our roads, right?

We kind of go worst to first with the roads, and so I think something similar could maybe be employed with um uh maybe in the short term, where we're um, like you said, allowing residents to report their own issues, um, or Commissioner Patrick, maybe there's something that just is I don't know how they would do.

I don't know if it's G if it's satellite or if it's like literally going out and doing a survey.

So we'll have to figure that part out of how we because I know they do a scan of the roads that's digital.

So maybe there's like some technology or something, or maybe it's just going out and getting um feedback on where there are like our bumps or cracks and things.

Um so I think that's a great uh aspect of it, and then totally agree with increase the increasing the funding.

I think we've really highlighted SPLOSS one and two as like road paving and that because there's so many miles that we have to catch up on.

But SPOSS 3 offers the opportunity for us to do a little bit more pivoting towards the sidewalks, trails, you know, the mobility corridors that aren't you know car dependent, and I think that's definitely something uh we should consider when um you know when we're up for SPLOS three, which is that three two, three years from now, Zach.

Yeah, I can't remember what is it three years back there since 29.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so we'll we'll be talking about that before um uh before too long.

All right, thank you, Commissioner Chair.

Commissioner Terry, thank you very much.

Uh Commissioner Johnson.

Yes, thank you, Commissioner Patrick.

We got it right this time.

Um, thank you, ladies, for the presentation and uh the uh really hard and amazing work.

I really appreciate it.

I was actually having a thought, I think yesterday about we need to start thinking about what to ask for in SPLOS 3 because it will be coming up and we need to be considering that.

So this is really timely and really good work on that.

Um I like the idea of the grading system for the sidewalks, specifically for those that need maintenance and repair.

Wondering how we can also put in some type of rating system where we need to install sidewalks based on safety concerns.

I know there is a stretch of a road in my district that I've been working with our SPLOSS team to get uh sidewalks at it because it's very unsafe for um the residents to walk by walk by that area because there is no shoulder and they're in the road.

So I think we can work on including some type of rating system to help us determine what which areas to install new sidewalks as well as uh maintenance and repair, I think is really really good.

Um kudos to both of you.

I also have a master's in international relations, so good choice there, even though you're going to UGA, still good choice.

Good choice.

Whoa.

Go yellow jackets.

Anyway, thank you, ladies.

Good job.

Thank you.

Commissioner Bolton, any questions, any comments?

I I do.

Um just very briefly.

I wanted to mention, well, first you guys did a really good job, and you know I'm always so proud of you guys.

I try to show up anytime you have presentations because you do an amazing job.

You do your research, and you also share things that sometimes we may not have considered before.

So that is always a plus.

Um one of the things that I wanted to mention, and I'm not sure if you guys found it in your research.

If you're um familiar with all of the work we've been doing on the water system, you may have noticed that as a result of that work, some communities are getting more sidewalks.

And I'll use the Peach Crest Towers area, for example.

They were working on the water system there.

And um because it obstructed some of the walkway, and the walkway was just really bad over there, it needed to be repaired anyway.

We're now getting a new sidewalk as a result, so we didn't have to dip into any SPLOST or make any budget amendments or anything.

It was all a part of the project.

So that is a plus.

But also, this is something to consider or have you considered.

Um, since we are working on our trails plan, that um diverts folks from having to walk along the road as much as they probably would have done if we continue to keep the sidewalks along the roadway.

So with that um deviation that may assist with some of the engagement with vehicles because now you might be taking paths to through greenery or backyards or parks or open spaces.

And if you did not consider that, do you think it would reduce your budget significantly?

Um that is a really great point.

Um we talked to Commissioner Terry actually, and we were very focused on sidewalks originally and just like specific to sidewalks.

But when we talked to him, he talked about maybe broadening it to mobility in general, which trails I think would play a big role on.

So when we're asking for more funding for SLOS three, that would go to different mobility infrastructure, including trails, bridges, and sidewalks, and so trails would definitely be part of that funding.

Um, but if the commissioners think it would be a good idea, or if there we find research that says that more funding should be allocated in order to increase mobility more, then we will definitely take those steps.

Wonderful.

And then I was also curious just to know with the 247 pedestrian casualties, were those specific to lack of sidewalks, or did that include maybe folks walking through crosswalks or jaywalking?

Um so far as I know, there was 40 um pedestrian deaths, and I'm not sure I believe those were just any type of um roadway casualty um that happened um due to a car.

So I'm not certain if that was only like on sidewalks or if it was also on crosswalks, but I was would be more than happy to look into that for you.

Thank you, ladies.

I appreciate your responses and I yield back.

All right, thank you very much, Commissioner Bolton.

Um just to add to the conversation, you know, um we did the small area plan funding, and what might be a good follow-up is to come up with a safe streets or uh streetscape design uh funding so that we can look at specific streets within district one.

I'm thinking of Henderson Mill Road.

Uh heavy volume, there's two elementary school or two schools on that road, uh, but it would be a great opportunity to reconsider the lane widths to hope reduce uh vehicle speed, also perhaps widen the sidewalks if we can make them as wide as trails with an existing right-of-way or rights of way.

I think that might be a thing worth considering.

Um then, Commissioner Terry, I thought you would mention something about uh an enhanced way to fund sidewalks or approve sidewalks, but I'm thinking in the back of my mind, perhaps maybe uh a special service district that basically can go through and do the assessment that y'all have done and say these are three-foot sidewalks, they're in bad shape.

Why don't we bring them up the current standard and then for the next thirty years, those neighborhoods have more current or appropriate sidewalks for the community.

Commissioner.

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, and then in fact, actually the law department um has been um I was gonna say sitting on legislation, but that's because we haven't asked them to bring it forward.

But um we did work on that special service tax district uh pedestrian shed.

Because the current, I think I told us to y'all that a lot of the reason why you don't see the sidewalk tax district um uh petition process successful is like as soon as you get one neighbor that says no, it just sort of ends the whole process.

And the idea there is we would just look at a neighborhood walkability plan and the entire neighborhood could get their own petitions to do a mobility plan that could involve sidewalks, and then um in essence the law department has come up with a um kind of a statistical analysis that says if you're within a half mile of a sidewalk or trail facility, then that is an appropriate um tax district uh halo.

Yep.

And then basically once you do the planning and study, you can figure out how much money you make from that, and then it's really up for neighborhoods to decide if they want to like implement it, because it would be a self-taxing, like we'd have to agree to tax it.

Um but I think that was one funding solution to kind of is get around the the linear sidewalk discussion and just look at it from a holistic perspective.

Um and that would be like just neighborhood specific.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I I I agree with it.

I love it.

Uh commissioners, unless there's anything else.

Uh I will say thank you very much.

Um since you're going to UGA and you're studying political science.

Uh make sure you take Dr.

Charles Bullock's uh Southern Politic.

And it is very informative.

Um I forget some of the international policy guys that are there, but uh, he ain't retired.

He's he's the man, he's gonna keep going.

Um but thank you very much for your efforts.

It's much appreciated.

Fantastic presentation, Commissioner Terry.

Thank you for the initiative to to uh get them on board and and uh have this presentation.

So thank you all very much.

We're grateful.

Thank you very much so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um tell you what, Ted, I know you got nine minutes.

Would uh Reggie, would your team be ready to give us that presentation and we'll have uh Commissioner Terry here for as much as he's possible.

I know it's it's uh 233 million dollars, and I figure you probably want to be as knowledgeable about that as possible.

It's still waiting on audits approval, but um I think this is uh I think this is a significant component to uh compliance with uh with the courts as well as simply us delivering our services to our residents.

Is this 0854?

Uh it'll be the presentation to go with it.

Okay.

So if I may talk, thank you.

Just want to remind that we actually did present in um March was um as a part of uh upcoming overall capital delivery.

And this is a major initiative uh on the treatment side, in particular Scott Candler for our resiliency and uh reliability.

Uh okay.

Ms.

Dora.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Thank you for having me this afternoon to um refresh a little bit, like our director just mentioned.

We already gave you this presentation.

We're just presenting today the winner um or the contractor who we recommend them for being awarded on this important project.

This is one of the largest projects as co-candler.

So our agenda this afternoon will be uh talking a little bit about our project needs, why we are here, why we need to do this project.

Um, some areal side view and some uh specific uh water treatment process so you get familiar with what we do as co-candler.

Then I'll talk about the scope of work, the major risk with this project and a summary of the proposed hour.

So project need the main reason why we're doing this project, and the main reason why this project is such a large infrastructure investment is because we gotta eliminate the current single point of failure that we have as co-candler.

This single point of failure was discovered about five years ago when we did the risk and resilience um project.

And um then with the emergency response project, we promised EPD that we will work out this um deficiency that we have.

And also when we did um other project uh to test for um the master plan to establish what would be the capacity needed for future resources when our county will grow in uh in a 30 years, in 50 years.

So it came out that we need to get rid of this single point of failure to be able to pump water to our um all our residents.

Uh I will explain you more uh in terms of the infrastructure, what this um single polo failure means.

This uh project would also increase the operational resilience and redundancy for finished water delivery, because at this point we only have one way to pump our water from our plant.

With this project, we're gonna have a couple of ways.

So if we have um uh let's say an operation issue in one side of the plant, we still be able to push water for our resident on another side.

Um so that's why we're increasing our resilience.

Uh we provide storage capacity for future expansion on 20 million gallons.

So currently we have about 28 million gallons.

We have our 3 million gallon nuclear wells plus five five million gallons uh tanks.

With this project, we're gonna add two 10 million gallows.

So increasing our storage capacity in 73%.

Also, this project will ensure uninterrupted treatment water treated water delivery for our residents.

Again, we have more storage capacity, so if we have any operational problem at the plant, we have treated water ready to be pumped out.

And we're adding a second path for the water to get out of the plant in case the main path gets interrupted.

This is a little project area, and you might be familiar already with the plan, especially you, Commissioner Patrick, when you took our tour.

So and everybody's welcome to take our tour.

I think you'll you'll learn a lot if you come down there.

So our plan, the the main plan, let me see if I can point.

Oh, sorry.

The old plan was built in 1942.

And uh in 2007, we just moved to the new plan and left the old plant as it is now.

And this is important later, I'll tell you why.

Um the new plant is currently has the capacity of 150 million gallons that we can treat, but we currently um treat about 85, 90 million gallons depending on the seasons.

The water source, as you might know, is the Chattahoochee River, and we have three large reservoirs that you can see here in this picture.

And together those three reservoirs come to a capacity of one billion gallons.

That capacity will allow us to feed uh to treat water for about a week without need to push water from the Chattahoochee River.

Okay.

What is our treatment process?

Our treatment process is an advanced oxidation treatment process.

It starts uh with the preozone for uh odor and taste, then we add coagulant, and then we have rapid mix, coagulation flocculation, sedimentation, then the water goes to the uh intermediate ozone, which is our main disinfectant, it eliminates most of the pathogen microorganisms.

Then after that, the water goes to the filtration, which um is kind of our final polish.

It eliminates any other solid that we might have in the water, and it is also the main source for eliminating our uh organic matter because the filters have activated media, which means that they have microorganisms that digest the organic matter.

After filtration, then we add um chlorine residual because we need the water to have chlorine to travel safe in the distribution system so we can ensure that at the last house in our distribution system still gets portable water.

And we also have fluoride because as you might know, EPD requires us to have fluoride.

So after we add this in the junction box, the water goes by gravity to the existing clear well, and the existing clear well is only three million gallons.

Then after that clear well, it goes to the transfer pump, says uh the transfer pump station pushes the water to the five um ground storage tanks that you can see in the picture.

There are three blue and two um kind of concrete color, and then from there the high service pump station pumps the water to the distribution system.

So as you can see, the only path out of the plant is the water coming from the junction box to the clear well, then uh to the storage tank and then to the distribution system.

And this is what creates the single point of failure because there's only one path for the water to get out of the plant.

So let's talk a little bit about the scope of work of this project.

So first we're gonna demolish the oil filter plant.

And you you might ask why has what has to do with the clear wells with the demolition?

Well, because we are adding these two large tanks, we need space.

Can I just one second?

Uh, Commissioner Terry, I acknowledge you've got to get going.

Um I don't think there's any items on our agenda that are controversial per se.

Uh, if there's anything, uh we can certainly take care of it on the 14th and try and work it out at uh the BOC at that time if that's all right with you.

That's y'all go ahead, I'll leave it in your people's hands.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you much, Commissioner.

Commissioner, thank you.

Uh please continue.

Absolutely.

Um, as I was saying, we have to install two 10 million gallon uh tanks.

These are huge tanks.

And so for that, we're gonna use the space where our oil uh filter plant was, so we have to demolish it first, and then we'll be able to install the tanks there.

So we're gonna construct uh a transfer pump station because now the clear well is not gonna be underground, it's gonna be above ground.

So we need a transfer pump station to pump the water to the clear well.

And then once we have it in the clear well, we're gonna need the high service pump stations, a new one to pump the water to our distribution system.

So we are going to construct the high service pump station that is going to have five 3,000 HPE pumps, huge pumps to be able to pump all that new capacity, all those 20 million gallons to our distribution system.

And of course, that building is going to have all the process control systems, so new electrical system and everything.

The scope of work, I wanted just to show you very briefly.

This is what we're going to demolish.

What you see in color tile is the old water treatment plan, all that area is going to be demolished.

What you see in bright blue, that is what stays because that's our system that we currently have.

And there are two little structures in yellow that we are going to have to relocate.

Those are electrical rooms still existing with live power in the old plant that we're going to have to relocate.

So how will it look when we will have the new configuration?

So what you see in bright red, that's is that is our new infrastructure.

As you see, you have the two uh 10 million gallon tanks.

You have on the right, you have the transfer pump coming from the junction box, pumping the water to the tanks, and on the left, you have the new high service pump station pumping the water to the distribution system.

Um what is our selecting approach?

And here I'm showing in light gray the current path.

I'm sorry, I cannot see that.

So in light gray, we're looking at the current path where the water goes from the um from the finished junction box where we add the chlorine and the um fluoride, it goes to the existing clear well by gravity, and then um is pushing uh with the transfer pump station to the existing ground storage tank, and then with the high service um pump station to distribution system.

That is our current process.

Now, what are we adding?

If you see what is on in the top of the diagram in dark blue, we are adding the transfer pump station too, uh, which is gonna pump the water from the kind of ground level all the way to the clear wells, and then um the high service pump station three is gonna pump the water to the distribution system.

But we are also adding, and you see in the dashed lines, that's a bypass that is gonna pump the water also to the uh existing ground storage tanks.

Why?

Because if we have any issue with the um existing clear well and the transfer pumps, then water is gonna go directly from the new system to the existing ground storage tank and from there to the distribution system.

So we are eliminating the single point of failure by introducing this bypass.

And also because now we have two ways to deliver the water.

Either we keep going the the old way that we're gonna keep it for this phase of the project, or we have the new pad for pumping the water out of the distribution system.

And what you have down there is just the hydraulic profile uh where you can see uh that the high uh that the new um clear wells are gonna be above ground.

Now, what are the major projects as you might as you might ask yourself, you know, this is a huge project, it might have many risks.

Um maintaining continuous water service.

This is our only water treatment plant that we have in the Cap County, and we have the responsibility of produce water for over 700,000 people.

So it's a priority for us to maintain the water service and the water production during the process.

So we are gonna um we we did a lot of investigation to make sure to to provide to the contractor all the subsurface information, any information related to our reservoirs, this construction is gonna take place very close to the reservoir.

So we did a lot of information.

We spent about five years on the conceptual design of this project and gathering information and doing investigation in our plant to make sure we provide the best uh information to the contractors for beat.

And of course, once they come on board, they're gonna do their own uh geotech, their their own investigations that they have to do, but at least they have a good base.

Second thing, in the meantime that we don't have the new system, we're gonna have an emergency transfer pump system, which is gonna be able to bypass the water from the existing clear well and the transfer pump system.

As you might remember, in 2019, we had an issue on the transfer pump system, and our capacity to pump our water out of Scokando was almost compromised.

Um that problem we solved the problem.

Uh but however we want to make sure while construction that that transfer pump system doesn't uh fail again and we still be able to uh pump water out.

And then coordinate closely with planned operation.

Every operation that this new contractor will do will have to be closely uh coordinated with the planned staff.

Construction uh another risk is construction in an active uh water treatment plan.

So we wanna make sure that there's no contamination of the existing water, that all the work areas are properly in s isolated and and the people work within those areas.

Um utility conflicts in Taiwan uh it it requires field verification, utility coordination, and plan and shut down windows.

As you might um as you might um guess, we're gonna need to shut down the plan for some short periods of time, you know, maybe because power needs to be eliminated for some demolition work.

So that requires a very high coordination of what's the best time, when can when can we do it without interrupting the service for our residents?

Schedule and delivery, early procurement.

Early procurement has been one of the tools that I have been using and and all the PMs have been using lately in the past five, six years, because um, you know, as economy gets down, prices go up.

If we know ahead of time that we have to buy a pump, we have to buy a big equipment, we just go ahead and purchase as soon as as as the as the contract is awarded, just to make sure we get the best price.

And also the lead time, the sooner you you procure all the equipment that you need, pipes, tanks, everything that you need, the best um, you know, to keep up with the schedule of the project.

So this will absolutely take it in this place in this uh project.

Uh CM over sign, as you saw before, there was a construction management service for Snapfinger.

We're gonna have a construction management service for Scott Candler, and pretty soon you are gonna see uh that project going through through your uh desk also, because this construction management will help us make sure that we are on time, we are I mean, we are on schedule, and that the contractor is doing his job per specification of the contract.

Um and finally design building coordination, progressive design reviews, and partial release for construction.

So meaning the sequence in this project is gonna be very important because um there are some factors that we found out, like the water table is too shallow.

Um the the whole hydraulic is connected to the reservoirs.

So meaning that as soon as you start digging, you're gonna have it filled with water.

And so dewatering is the most expensive uh procedures that we might have.

We don't want to waste water, we don't want to waste money dewatering.

We want to waste money in infrastructure.

So the sequencing of demolishing and bringing um, you know, covering the whole and bringing the new structure for the ta for for the tanks is gonna be crucial.

And that's why we're gonna have this um partial releases, construction, our construction management team is gonna be checking all the time for constructability and all that.

Um I think I have one more slide.

Yes, the the one for the contractor that we uh awarded.

We had two big um bidders for this contract.

Um one of them was Ruby Collin, and uh they won because um their bid was considerably low, was about a hundred million lower than the second bidder.

Um the contract duration is gonna be uh one thousand three hundred and sixty days for substantial completion and one thousand four hundred and sixty days for final completion.

However, Ruby Collins proposed a schedule that cuts this uh schedule in almost a year.

So instead of delivering the project in four years, they're planning to deliver in it in three years.

Wow.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um and so their proposal was for 233.

And you know, uh of course, uh provided that that you approve it, we are planning to start the uh NTP on the last quarter of 2026.

Perfect, perfect.

Thank you.

Um I believe that's the end of the presentation.

Commissioner Johnson, do you have any questions you'd like to put forward?

I do uh and you did thank you for the presentation and really detailed and did my nerdy heart well.

Um you touched on this a little bit about the uh early procurement process.

I was curious about the lead time for these large pumps.

I know these huge pumps usually we have to get them what like are we getting them from Germany?

Uh well, no, because I believe this is a GIFA contract, so we have to get everything from American speaking.

I didn't know we had anyone in America to make so there's similar topic procurement, you have to do your due diligence and and and show that you've done absolutely everything to do that, then if that's not possible, then then what's next?

You have to do your due diligence and and and show that you've done absolutely everything to do that, then if that's not possible, then what's next?

But whenever you're getting federal or state, the biomeric and Davis Bacon.

Yeah.

But you're not going to be able to do that.

You know what you know.

I'll say that.

They didn't we were not able to procure those pumps from and there's usually uh minimum about a year lead time.

Yes.

This can be really interesting to see Ruby Collins deliver this in a one year shorter than we had it been anticipating.

But are we giving them incentives to deliver it in the three years versus the four years?

So did there's not any rent in the contract.

Okay.

But if you notice there is a time lapse between substantial completion and final completion, uh and and the contract, you know, like anything else.

If the market just don't allow and you bring that documentation, we you you know we'll have to adjust accordingly.

But as we are, we're gonna hear to the contract until there's reason to do otherwise.

Got it.

And you said there'd be a construction management services for this project as well.

Have they been selected or is that still going through the process?

We're going through the procurement process.

Okay.

Um couple of follow-up questions.

So uh it is impressive that you have found a hundred million dollar potential savings.

Um but what's to prohibit change ordering up that hundred million dollars as well?

Does that does that make sense?

So it's coming to us for 233.

So but how do we know that change orders aren't gonna bring it back up to 333 at the end of the day?

So that's why we vet the scope.

We also follow up with the vendor to make sure it's real, and quite frankly, unless there's some force major or some natural disaster, um we we intend to hear on the cost that was stated, unless it's something that's completely out of anyone's control.

Uh I intend on getting exactly what was promised to the county and us contracted to the vendor.

Absolutely, sir.

We we've been down there.

I hear intentionality in your voice, and I'm comforted by that.

So thank you very much.

And determination and determination.

Absolutely.

Um and then uh uh my my next question is this.

So um, sort of familiar with that area, obviously.

Uh does this include potential work on retaining walls?

Uh or is that not part of this scope of work?

No, no.

So most of this will be in the back of the plant that you guys won't even be aware of.

Okay.

However, uh Winters Chapel, you'll see construction traffic ultimately.

Okay, but not much because most of the construction is happening within the confines of the actual property.

Um, do you guys a couple of assumptions?

Assuming that this is passed out of committee uh when it comes back from Mr.

Campbell's group, uh gets passed by the Board of Commissioners.

When do you anticipate a start date?

Um we do have a anticipated schedule, but once and until we get from procurement that we pretty much ready to go on the NTP late is spending, then we can understood.

Okay.

Yeah.

We'll we'll leave it at that.

And it is a design bill.

So you we will have to agree first into design, at least come to 60% of the sign, and then we'll see some mobilization.

Okay, okay.

Um, my next question is is uh and this is really intended for the residents that live around the water treatment plant, both the cab as well as Gwinnett residents.

Uh would you guys be comfortable with maybe a town hall sort of introducing the concept that there's gonna be a lot of construction in the area?

Um usually when there's a large contract, uh residents want to know what's happening in their backyard, and this is literally in the backyard of a good portion of uh Dunwoody off of uh Winters Chapel, and I believe also uh um Peeler Tilly Mill area.

So um I know there would be a considerable amount of interest if if that's something that you guys would be comfortable with, uh I think the residents would really appreciate knowing what's going on.

We're here, we're here to serve.

Okay, so I will I will find a location.

Um quite frankly, being that there's gonna be minimal impact given that it's all on property to rear of the property, that they may see some rigging cranes or whatnot, the tip of them, but it's so far back into the acreage that they won't they really won't see much.

You don't anticipate much construction or traffic off of uh was it Laurawood, that road that runs to the back of the property as well?

No, once you once you enter the property from uh winter's chapel, you're you're going to be able to do that.

You're good.

Okay, perfect.

Perfect.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh directors, I'm grateful for your time.

Uh Commissioner Johnson, uh, unless you have any other questions, I'll say thank you to the team.

Again, we're waiting for Mr.

Campbell's uh report from audit, and then we'll be ready to move forward with that one.

But uh again, thank you very much.

And and um I'll reach out with Commissioner Terry, and I'd love to have CEO in attendance as well uh for a town hall to sort of engage on this topic and just let people know what's happening.

I think that's gonna be crucial for us.

Uh final question do you guys anticipate any blasting?

Um as you're digging no clear wells and such.

Um I don't think the jail report shows that um and we'll be the demo.

No blasting.

I don't know if uh demo may require some dynamite.

I don't know.

Gotcha.

Um, but it won't be any blasting.

Okay, all right.

It's a difference.

Understood.

Um as long as uh we can say that there are no vibrations that are gonna cause damage to the residents.

That's really the absolute to the concern I want to speak to.

Um seismically, it's gonna be almost impossible given the amount of acreage, but we probably need to ensure monitoring anyway.

Oh, yeah.

Perfect, perfect.

Okay.

Let's get science to the guy.

I appreciate you a lot.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh Commissioner Johnson, I know it is way past five o'clock.

Um is there a hard stop for you?

Can we go 530?

I could do 530.

I could do six.

15 minutes.

15 minutes.

Okay.

All right.

Um we are gonna go to what was that?

I I think y'all did a dad joke on me, and I didn't catch it.

That's what I think just happened.

Dang it.

All right.

Uh being serious, we're gonna hop to page two, and this is agenda item 2026-0950.

Uh this is for commission districts three and super six RFQ request for qualifications.

23-500646 design services for South River Trail Phase 6 uh for use by public works transportation to obtain design services for South River Trail Phase 6 from the near Boulder Walk Drive to Intrenchment Creek to Crestdale Circle.

Recommend award to the highest scoring proposer, Kimley Horn and Associates, amount not to exceed 3,124,930 and 28 cents.

Yeah, I'm gonna say good morning, but it's way past morning.

It's way past morning.

It's been a long day.

It's been a long day.

Um, so this is uh the portion of the South River Trail um design, full PDP, GDOT design process, basically connecting from the from the Donzi area.

Um down to Michelle Obama Bouldercrest Road Park, which will connect to um the bull the existing path.

And I believe this one did come out of audit.

Uh I believe it did come out of audit, and uh my little notes say about 220,000 additional was needed.

Right, and that's the same um thing that was explained yesterday where we had the total, and then the total wasn't the total.

We had to add the fixed um fixed fee so there will be a substitute.

There will be a set.

Okay.

So we would ask for approval of the substitute.

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Johnson, any questions?

You know, my only question was about the audit.

So if you're comfortable moving forward, uh maybe some language that says conditioned on the substitute addressing the audit, and then we'll have it ready for the 14th.

Yes, sir.

I move to approve a substitute forthcoming substitute for 0950 that will address the additional amount identified in the audit.

I'll go ahead and second.

All those in favor, raise your hand and say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

Uh moving on to our next item, which is gonna be page five, top of the page.

And this is under watershed management.

Agenda item 2026-0197.

This is for all commission districts.

Change order number two to contract number one two eight zero zero two eight.

SCATA controls and instrumentation, three-year multi-year contract for use by the Department of Watershed Management to obtain SCADA software systems management services at water and watershed treatment plants within the county, seeking to increase the contract funds awarded to Tesco Controls Incorporated, amount not to exceed five million dollars.

Um Director Wells, I see is coming to the podium.

And uh in my notes, let's see here.

I don't know.

I don't think we've heard back yet from uh Mr.

Campbell's office yet um and if that's the case we'll just hold this one in it in uh committee okay and then um without sounding it out with the presentation we just had uh agenda item 2026-0854 we're also waiting on that one from Mr.

Campbell's office uh as I recall yeah still waiting for audit on that one so we'll just keep that here in uh committee as well next item is uh 2026-0861 this is for all commission districts this is an 18 million dollar one uh and I have that we're still waiting on that one from Mr.

Campbell's office so we'll we'll hold that one as well in committee uh moving over to the top of page six under public works transportation we've got agenda item 2026 0680 this is for commission districts two and super six low bid invitation number 2025-110 ITB North Decatur Road at Ridgewood Drive pedestrian hybrid beacon 180 days for use by public works transportation to install a pedestrian hybrid beacon crosswalk and two school zone flashing beacons recommend award to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder GTG traffic control excuse me traffic signals LLC amount not to exceed 11035 dollars director so this is um like you said to build a pedestrian hybrid beacon and also remove some ex a couple of existing crosswalks that um are cross four lane road with just signs so we're consolidating making a super crossing that's just a standard bid very excited about this advisor yep you're you're in the right department for or committee for for sidewalks like this is yeah we're all sidewalks that's a big deal um okay uh commissioner any questions is this one of the ones that you needed to add the fee to will there be a substitute no this one will not need a substitute awesome thank you okay um ready for a motion move to approve item 0680 I'll go ahead and second all those in favor raise your hand say aye aye aye all right moving on we have agenda item 2026 0949 and uh let's see do I have that on my list 04 uh I'm not sure that that's come back in since it's 4.1 million so we'll just hold that in committee unless uh something's come in just recently we're good okay um all right so let's put that there next item thank you director uh next item is public work sanitation this is agenda item 2026 0884 this is for all commission districts this is a renewal contract number two zero zero zero three five eight herbicide growth regulator services annual contract with two options to renew for use by public works sanitation to obtain herbicide and growth regulator services throughout the county exercising the first renewal option through july 31st 2027 awarded to American Eagle LLC amount not to exceed 176 dollars and eighty cents director good to see you had to leave but uh yes just like it we're just a small uh harbic side um we spray on the roads to kill a weeds understood okay uh commissioner no questions no questions open floor for a motion move to approve item 0884 I'll go ahead and second all those in favor raise your hand say aye aye aye all right uh next item is uh public works fleet management this is agenda item 2026-0955 all commission districts cooperative agreement fire fighting apparatus and fire service vehicles source well contract number 082025-su t for use by public works fleet management to be used by the Department of Fire and Rescue to obtain one uh Stutfin Heavy Duty Midmount Aerial Platform truck model number SPH 100 awarded to the Sutfin Corporation amount not to exceed 2 million four hundred thirty nine thousand eight hundred twelve dollars and ninety five cents director good to see you good to see you again good good afternoon this is uh a normal replacement for uh one of the a ladder flat fire trucks um it's a 12 year old truck we go ahead and put the order in there to be ahead of the game but it takes about you know two to three years for trucks to come in understood but it's a regular replacement okay um commissioner johnson any questions and it's just the one truck yes I mean we take them out as I know I'm just looking at one truck and then thankfully it's only one yeah okay no no question okay uh I'll open the floor for a motion and that was 0955 correct yeah that's correct all right move to approve zero nine five five I'll go ahead and second all those in favor raise your hand say aye aye aye all right top of page seven or in the home stretch uh agenda item 2026 0986 this is for all commission districts renewal of contract numbers two zero zero zero zero two eight and zero two nine anti freeze uh annual contract with two options to

Yeah.

Okay.

No, no question.

Okay.

Uh I'll open the floor for a motion.

And that was 0955, correct?

Yeah, that's correct.

All right, move to approve 0955.

I'll go ahead and second.

All those in favor, raise your hand say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

Top of page seven.

We're in the home stretch.

Uh agenda item 2026-0986.

This is for all commission districts.

Renewal of contract numbers 2000 eight and zero two nine anti-freeze, uh, annual contract with two options to renew for use by public works fleet management to obtain anti-freeze for various types of vehicles and equipment within the county.

Exercising the second renewal option through September 30, 2027, and seeking consent to assignment awarded to Napa Auto Parts and Taylor Enterprises Incorporated.

Total amount not to exceed 108,000 dollars.

Okay, and uh this is a renewal, as you read, um, for the existing vendors that we have.

Okay.

For Anna Freeze.

Commissioner?

No question.

All right.

Open the fork for a motion.

Move to approve item 0986.

I'll go ahead and second all those in favor, raise your hand say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right, moving on.

We've got agenda item 2026-0976.

This is a uh all commissions, statewide contract number that everybody can read.

Public mass transit vehicles and related options, equipment and accessories for use by the public works fleet management to be used by the Department of Human Services to obtain one StarCraft All-Star 28 foot light transit vehicle awarded to Model 1 Commercial Vehicles Incorporated, amount not to exceed 138,916 and 13 cents.

Director.

Okay, this is um this is a a bus for I think it's Central, the Central Senior Center.

Um it was a it was approved in the budget for them to get this particular bus.

And it is a to my understanding, it's a bus that it's a 24 passenger, so it's larger than the one they have, and it also has the wheelchair accessibility.

Yep, understood.

Uh I will say for my own experience with District 1 North uh Senior Center.

Uh the buses are much appreciated and the seniors appreciate the travels and uh tours that they go on.

So um totally support this myself.

Commissioner, any questions?

No, but I concur these buses are very important to our seniors.

Yes, they are yes, I've heard.

And we and we listen.

Uh open the floor for a motion, Commissioner.

Move to approve agenda item 0976.

I'll second.

All those in favor, raise your hand say aye.

Aye.

All right.

And uh last but not least, 2026-0994.

This is for all commission districts.

Cooperative agreement, class four, eight chassis and cabs with related equipment, accessories, and services.

Source well contract number 032824 KTC for use by public works fleet management to obtain two Kenworth rollback record trucks, model number T 280 and one GD, excuse me, GM DC 100 Charger awarded to Kenneth Truck Company doing business as H uh MHC Kenworth Atlanta, amount not to exceed 784,000 165 dollars and eighteen cents.

And director, did I see a charger as in this is an electric vehicle?

Yes, sir.

So that's why I stepped up here.

This is something we started on over a year ago, uh working on um uh getting this to be the first what we call heavy duty truck.

Okay that's uh electric that we've had.

I'm really disappointed to I know besides.

Yeah, we should have had uh taking care of the first, yeah.

Uh I've been I've been waiting to get up here and gloat about it a little bit.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh he's always on me, but this will be our first step into the heavy truck side.

A lot of research, test driving.

Okay.

Uh Kinworth has really got the mileage that we need, and we'll believe these are gonna be do the job, and it'll be a perfect fit for what we have.

Uh we'll go ahead and put the charger in there with it.

Uh so there would be a replacing diesel trucks.

Yeah.

Very excited about it.

Wow, wow.

Oh man.

Well, we've we'll find another option.

Please come back on the 14th, because we're gonna have to have to have uh Commissioner Terry hear this one directly with his own ears.

That's uh that's really impressive.

That's a big one.

Um Commissioner, any questions?

Just one quick question.

So what will this truck primary purpose use before?

All hall of cars, um automotive vehicles, yes, sir.

Like you're right, it said total.

Yeah, it's a record.

It's a rollback.

Uh so maybe police cars, anything light duty at all.

Interesting.

I really want to see this.

Um very good.

The early electric trucks only had about a hundred.

And uh it's got a lot of batteries, but uh it's gonna do the job.

Very confident.

How long does it take to charge?

Pardon me.

Do you know how long it'll take to charge it fully once?

The charges that we have are charge it overnight.

Roughly 12 to 16 hours, depending on how dead it is.

It's a pretty big charger.

That's my is the I'm sorry, you can't.

Uh is the 250 mile range with with load or without load?

That's with a load.

With a load.

Wow, okay.

Um the tests that they've done, they they really made a lot of improvements.

Uh the early ones just didn't have enough batteries.

Yeah.

And uh it's a pretty heavy truck because of all the batteries.

They weigh a lot, but uh it won't fit.

And of course, you start up hills in wintertime, summertime, you know, it's gonna drop down some.

Yep.

Uh but uh the ones we test rove was you know they were doing exceptionally well on the mileage.

So that's fantastic.

That's pretty good.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Director.

Uh Commissioner, unless there's anything else.

Move to approve agenda item 0994.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All those in favor, raise your hand say aye.

Aye.

One minute later than expected.

Sorry, thank you.

We did good otherwise.

Um motion to adjourn would be appreciated.

Move to adjourn.

Second.

All those in favor, is your hand say aye?

Aye.

Thanks y'all for hanging out with us.

We appreciate staff time as well as the residents for paying attention.

Thank you all.