This meeting is being transcribed and summarized.

7 p.m.

on Tuesday, February 10th.

County Levy Court Business Meeting is called to order.

We're at 555 Bay Road, Dover Delaware, Levy Court Chambers, Room 203.

I'll turn it over to the County Administrator.

Thank you, Madam President.

This meeting is being held in person at 555 Bay Road, Dover Delaware in the Levy Court Chambers.

We're also making it available via the internet through WebEx.

Participants can join us by phone or by computer during the meeting.

There will be opportunities for public comments for those attending in person or we're online.

When the President opens a public comment period, those attending in person may step forward to one of the two podiums and be recognized.

If you are joining us by phone and wish to comment, please press star three, which will raise your electronic hand.

Our operator will identify you and bring you into the meeting.

Pressing star six will mute and unmute your line.

If you are online, you will see a hand and microphone icon at the bottom of your screen.

Please use those at appropriate times.

We ask guests to begin public comments by stating your name and address for the record.

County attorney will administer an oath of affirmation to anyone giving testimony during a public hearing.

We ask that the public comments relate to the subject announced by the President.

In addition to public hearings, there will be two public comment periods, one at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items, and one near the end of the meeting for general comments.

This meeting is being recorded and we'll follow the rules and procedures adopted by the levy court as well as the Mason rules of order.

Back to you, Madam President.

Thank you.

I would ask the invocation to be done by Commissioner Pepper.

Pledge allegiance, Commissioner Hertz.

Moment of silence for our troops and first responders.

Commissioner Angel will all rise.

Mr.

Hertz.

Here.

Mr.

Pepper?

Here.

Mr.

Scott.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Here.

Madam President, rule call reveal seven.

Six present, one absent.

Let the record show six present, one absent.

At this point, I'll ask for a motion to adopt our current agenda.

So move, Madam President.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Angel, second by Commissioner Pepper.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel.

Yes.

Mr.

Hall.

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz.

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott.

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney.

Absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, rule call reveal six G's.

One absent.

Let the record show six A, one absent.

This point we open up the uh meeting for any public comment on agenda items not covered by public hearing.

If anyone would like to step forward, please do so.

For our guests join us online.

If you would like to make public comments for items that are not scheduled for public hearing, please indicate by raising electronic hand or pressing star three if you join us by phone.

I see no hands raised online at this time, Madam President.

Thank you.

We have no presentation this evening.

Um so we'll start our our public hearing, Commissioner Hall.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

Uh resolution 4144.

Resolution upon a proposal to extend Kent County Sewage District number one, pursuant to Section 4606, Chapter 4606, Chapter 46, Title IX, Delaware Code as amended for twin maples, MPH Kenton area, and I would defer to our public works director.

Yes, thank you, Commissioner Hall.

Good evening, um Madam President and Commissioners.

My name is Sam Bautista, your public works director.

Resolution 4144 before you is to extend the Kent County Sewage Disposal District number one and the Kenton area for the Twin Maples Mobile Home Park, consisting of 44 mobile homes and one single family home.

Located outside the boundary of the Kent County primary growth zone on the east side of Shaw's Corner Road.

The proposed sanitary sewer service requires connection to the existing six-inch forest main via gravity collection mains, a new pump station, and small small forest main.

There is adequate capacity in the existing downstream sewer system to support this project.

If this extension is legally approved, Kent County would apply for funding from Denrec Environmental Finance.

And the funding would also be used for the main system impact fees.

Staff recommends levy court to open the public hearing and collect any testimonies to decide whether or not to extend the sewage disposal district.

Any questions?

Thank you.

Please come forward.

For our guests to join us online.

If you would like to speak in favor of this item, please indicate by raising electronic hand.

I see no hands raised online, Madam President.

Is there anyone here who would like to speak in opposition to resolution 4144?

Similarly, if you're online and we and you would like to speak in opposition to resolution 4144, please indicate by raising the electronic hand.

Still no hands raised online, Madam President.

Thank you.

Back to you, Commissioner Hall.

Thank you, Madam President.

I move that the sewer advisory board recommend approval.

Recommended approval of the extension of Kent County SDD 1 Kenton area for parcel numbers.

KH 00044.0202.00 and 02.01 as depicted on the map.

You have a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Motion made by Commissioner Hall, second by Commissioner Hertz.

Any questions?

Control call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes, as per resolution 4144, and no opposition.

Mr.

Hall.

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call reveals six years, one absent.

Let the record show six A's, one absent.

Commissioner Scott, resolution 4142.

Thank you, Madam President.

4142.

Is it up on the screen, Sam?

Yes, Commissioner.

Might at the podium.

I can provide the uh the staff report.

Thank you, sir.

Yes.

So the resolution before Lovey Court today is to extend Kent County Seawitch Disposal District No.

And the double run area for the Barrett Chapel Road subdivision.

This project consists of 52 duplexes and one existing family home.

It is located within the boundaries of the primary growth zone on the northeast side of Barrett's Tapel Road and McGuinness Pond Road, and the proposed sanitary sewer requires connection to an existing 24-inch force main via gravity collection mains, a new pump station and force main.

There is adequate capacity in the existing downstream system.

The developer would be responsible to design permit and construct the proposed sewer system.

In addition, the developer would be responsible for the payment of permits and impact fees.

Staff recommends levy court to open the public hearing and collect any testimony to decide whether or not to extend the sewage disposal district.

Thank you.

Any commissioners have comments?

Thank you.

This point we open it up for public hearing.

Is there anyone here would like to speak in favor of resolution 4142?

If you are joining us online and would like to speak in favor of resolution 4142, please indicate by raising electronic hand.

I see no hands raised online, Madam President.

Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to resolution 4142?

Similarly, if you are online and would like to speak in opposition to 4142, please indicate by raising electronic hand.

Still no hands raised online, Madam President.

Thank you.

Back to you, Vice President Scott for a motion.

Thank you, Madam President.

Mark, can you put that up on the screen, sir?

Sure will.

Thank you.

Madam President, resolution 4142, a resolution upon a proposal to extend King County Sewage Disposal District No.

Pursuant to Section 4606, Chapter 46, Title IX of Delaware Code as amended Barrish Chapel Road Subdivision dual double run area.

We have a motion by Vice President Scott.

Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a motion by Vice President Scott, second by Commissioner Hertz.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel.

Yes, as per Commissioner Scott, and no opposition.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes, no opposition.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney.

Absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call.

Reveals six Y's, one absent.

Public hearings for this evening are now closed.

Do we have any old business?

New business.

Commissioner Hertz.

Yes.

Number item number one is the award to contract number three biosolids capacity expansion project to M2 construction.

All you are, Sam.

Great.

Thank you, Commissioner Hertz.

Tonight's item before you is an award of actually we call we are now calling it phase three of the biosolid capacity expansion project.

As you know that this project has been in construction and we are in the midst of building the building, which is phase two.

And so phase three is the continuation of this project.

So our engineer RK prepared the construction bid documents for phase three.

And phase three is the equipment installation and related work for the driver building at the for the biosolids capacity expansion project.

Phase three is to install the solid handling equipment and electrical equipment into a new pre-engineered metal building and an and an electrical and control room, electrical and control room.

The bid was advertised on October 29, 2025, and November 3rd, 2025, and a pre-bid meeting was held on November 6th.

There were three contractors that were in present and they were also given bid packages.

And we also sent out several bid packages to contractors.

The bid was opened on December 22nd, and we only received one bid.

And the bid was from M2 construction, and their bid amount was 24,496,700.

M2 construction is the contractor that that is out at the site right now who is building the pre-FAB building.

So the bid results were reviewed by staff and RKK.

And our M2 was also awarded the central receptive receiving facility back in December of 2024.

M2 is highly recommended by several local engineers, and thus we are working with them.

Just to let you know, the the uh engineers estimate for phase three was 14 million dollars.

And reasons why the bid was much more expensive is because of high inflation rates on specialized equipment and specialized uh construction like this, and also lack of contractors to provide competitive bids.

Uh several contractors were notified about this project.

However, they did state that they had no capacities to to start any new jobs.

Another contractor said that they can afford to um send the crew from Maryland to Delaware, so they did not bid.

So one of one tasks that we were we uh as staff did was to analyze the bid and determine what kind of options we had.

And uh those those options that we looked at were uh rebidding.

Uh we looked at uh schedule, we looked at cost.

And so when we looked at rebidding phase three, um, this would definitely um delay the project at least by a minimum of three months.

Uh given the past bid openings, contractors are either too busy, as they said, or they don't have the capacity.

Um in other bid um bids that we will also have, we've only had single uh contractors.

So rebidding this project would not guarantee additional bidding contractors or better prices.

Um this option would delay the project, and the cost of the project could also increase.

Um two is currently mobilized on site, as I said, and would have the knowledge of having constructed the building and foresee any any problems or issues uh that they could encounter during the execution of phase three.

Um it is an advantage to have M2 already on the site as they are familiar with the construction.

Another factor staff took into consideration was the schedule and the cost.

Uh as you know, this project is a DENREC requirement and is uh in the recent conciliation order and delivery of this project is critical to the operation and of the wastewater facility.

The project has experienced unforeseen subsurface conditions and weather issue uh issues causing the project schedule to slip.

The time loss combined with a potential rebid that could result in higher prices would negatively impact the project.

If phase three is awarded, the equipment would be installed in a timely manner.

And during the course of construction, staff could work with M2 to conduct value engineering to cut project cost.

Although this value engineering is not guaranteed to cost safe, the is not guaranteed for cost savings.

Staff and design the design engineer would continually look for ways to control the cost specific.

Now regarding this funding um issue that we have, the there as I said earlier, phase three uh will cost approximately 26 million dollars.

And I'm rounding up the numbers from the report.

So this 26 million dollars also includes a contingency of 1.25 million dollars for any unforeseen conditions or um inspection services.

Uh there currently is a uh less than 10 million dollars of the overall project left in left for phase three, and in order to fund fund it completely, we need about 16 million dollars.

Funding amount of $8 million would come from the main system capital improvement fees.

And Kent County would need to obtain an obligation bond for the remaining amount.

The bond amount was calculated to fund the ward of phase three.

Staff would work with the finance director to determine the amount of the obligation bond and bring a detailed accounting to Levy Court at a workshop meeting prior to the final bond application submission.

So at this meeting, Levy Court would need to authorize the finance director to prepare the necessary documents to obtain the obligation bond.

In your report, you have a table that shows the proposed funding strategy.

As I said earlier, there's a less than $10 million that's existing within the account.

We would use impact fees of approximately $8 million.

And we're looking at an obligation bond of about $8 million.

However, that obligation bond may go up due to the fact that we might use less impact fees depending on the percentage of capacity related growth in this project.

So for these reasons, it's staff's recommendation to award the contract to M2 construction.

And with that I can answer any of your questions.

Questions?

Thank you.

Back to you, Commissioner Hertz?

Thank you, Madam President.

I move to award equipment installation and related work contract to M2 Construction LLC for the amount of 24,460 correction, $496,700 for the biosolids capacity expansion project and establish the funding strategy as listed in the table above.

Number two, authorize the finance director to obtain the obligation bond to fund phase three, and number three, authorize the President of Levy Court to execute the associated contract documents for phase three of the biosolids capacity expansion project.

Second motion.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Hertz, second by Commissioner Angel.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott?

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney?

Absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call reveal six years, one absent.

At the record show, six J's, one absent.

Back to you, Commissioner Hertz.

All right.

Number two is a contract amendment for tariffs for the biosolids capacity expansion project.

Sam.

Yes, Commissioner Hertz.

As you know, um the current administration imposed tariffs on any goods that are made outside of the country.

And our dryers were made in Germany.

And with that, we had to pay 10% tariffs on those goods that are made in Europe.

The bell dryer.

The impact of the change of the tariffs was $602,864.17 cents.

And we made sure to look at the agreement that we had with Andritz and Andritz did send in a request, and they are entitled to reimbursement costs for the cost arising from the tariffs from a change of law due to the U.S.

government tariff policies.

The county attorney has reviewed the agreement and Andrus and Andretz requested and has found it valid.

Staff recommends a budget amendment to prepare this uh to pay to be prepared to pay the tariff in the amount of $602,0864.71 cents.

Thank you.

Questions?

Back to you, Commissioner Hertz.

Thank you, Madam President.

I move to amend the agreement with Antridge Separation Technologies Incorporated as submitted, increasing the contract amount by $62,864.17 cents to pay the tariff.

Funding is working in capital reserves and the main system capital improvement fees.

And number two, move to authorize the President of Levy Court to sign the contract amendment subject to the county attorney's concurrence.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Hertz, second by Vice President Scott.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz.

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper.

Yes.

Mr.

Scott.

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney, absent.

Mrs.

Maston.

Yes.

Madam President, roll call reveal six J's, one absent.

At the record show, six A's, one absent.

Back to you, Commissioner Hertz.

Thank you, Madam President.

Number three is a contract amendment number nine, biosolids capacity expansion project for RK and K.

Yes.

Thank you, Commissioner Hertz.

Just to preface this.

So with this, we need the expertise of our engineer to conduct the additional engineering services that is it that is presented in this memo to Levy Court.

Engineering services during construction are necessary and typical for any large construction project.

RK and K has submitted a request for a contract amendment to address the engineering services agreement for design, submittal review, and bidding services for bio solid capacity for phase three.

In the memo, there's a list of modifications such as preparation of contract documents, project meetings, shop drawings, doing uh important um important inspections, um, you know, commissioning uh inspections in in addition uh to help us value engineer the project and conduct some of the uh permitting um class A permitting through denrec and air modeling.

Uh so with that uh staff looked at the proposal and felt that it was um um it was valid and uh staff does recommend this um this uh amendment and with that I'll answer any of your questions any questions thank you back to you or Commissioner Hertz.

Thank you, Madam President.

Move to amend the agreement with RK and K is submitted, increasing the contract amount by one million one hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and sixteen dollars and accepting rate schedule.

Funding is main system capital improvement fees and obligation bond.

Number two, move to authorize the president of Levy Court to sign the contract amendment subject to the county attorney's concurrence.

Second amount.

Motion by Commissioner Hertz, second by Commissioner Angel.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott.

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney, absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call reveal six years, one absent.

Let the record show six years, one absent.

Back to you again, Commissioner Hertz.

Okay, and number four, the Worship Christian Center contract user agreement.

Sam?

Yes, Commissioner Hertz.

In 2013, the Worship Christian Center was approved, was approved to be a contract user and obtained the county sewer service agreement, and it was approved and executed.

Um now the Worship Center has begun building the construction as nearing completion.

Um it's located at Locust Grove Road and South South State Street, south of Rising Sun.

The engineering division has prepared a new agreement uh using a new template incorporating uh legal language provided by the county attorney's office and uh other updates.

Um the church has installed a grinder pump and forest main connecting to the 24-inch central bypass main on locust grow, and the agreement outlines ownership responsibilities related in operation and maintenance of the grinder pump and billing methods similar to the previous agreement.

Um the Worship Christian Center has reviewed the new agreement and reviews to all its terms and public works um recommends approval for this contract user agreement.

And with that, that is the the end of my presentation.

Any questions?

Back to you, Commissioner Hertz.

Thank you, Madam President.

Move to approve the contract user agreement with Worship Christian Center Incorporated and authorize the President of Levy Court to execute the agreement on behalf of Levy Correction on behalf of Kent County Sewer Disposal District Number One.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Hertz, second by Vice President Scott.

Any questions?

Roll call.

Mr.

Angel?

Yes.

Mr.

Hall?

Yes.

Mr.

Hertz?

Yes.

Mr.

Pepper?

Yes.

Mr.

Scott.

Yes.

Mr.

Sweeney.

Absent.

Mrs.

Maston?

Yes.

Madam President, roll call.

Reveal six J's, one absent.

But the record shows six J's, one absent.

I don't believe we have an executive session this evening.

Is that correct?

County Administrator Zipple?

No, ma'am.

Do we have any information items?

Any public comment?

Anyone here like to have comment?

For our guests to join us online, if you would like to make public comments at this time, please indicate by raising electronic hand or pressing star three if you're joining us by phone.

I see no hands raised online, Madam President.

We have any commissioner comments?

Motion to adjourn?

So move.

Second.

Motion and second.

All in favor?

Thank you all, as always.