Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Purchase of a Pre-Manufactured Construction Water Filling Station Date: May 09, 2023
Written by: Craig Scott, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Recommendation
It is recommended the City of Cotati City Council adopt a resolution approving the purchase of Water Filling Station equipment and associated software license and technical support and appropriating water enterprise funds for the purchase.
Background
As the owner and operator of a public water system, the City provides construction water to contractors. Construction water is provided by lending contractors a hydrant meter, collecting a security deposit, and charging the contractors for water used. The process of providing hydrant meters involves many steps, is labor intensive, and inefficient. An alternative approach to this practice has been identified and is projected to significantly reduce staff time and increase City control of this operation.
Analysis/Discussion
The City’s long-standing procedure of lending hydrant meters to contractors for construction water is problematic for several reasons and City Staff have evaluated the problem and have come up with a solution. The present practice is problematic because it is labor intensive with the many steps to process and issue the meters, many contractors do not return the meters and results in a shortage available meter, contractors will hookup to hydrants and the unusual high flow will cause turbulence resulting in turbid water in those areas.
An alternative approach to providing construction water is to use a self-service water filling station.
The self-service water filling station dispenses water after the user provides a code on a keypad and pays for a certain amount of water. The filling station dispenses the water, and the transaction is complete. Only contractors which have registered and have paid fees on-line will be issued codes to be accepted by the self-serve filling station. The data for the transaction is kept track of by a Cloud based application and includes the transfer of funds from the contractor to the City. The water would be charged in accordance with the quantity charge specified by City resolution as is the current practice.
Use of a Water Filling Station avoids the problems from the current practice. For example, having a predetermined location avoids stirring up sediment in the pipe as the City will ensure this hydrant and the surrounding pipelines are adequately flushed or cleaned ahead of operation, and the regular use as a water filling station will prevent sediment from accumulating. Also, the staff time to process the provision of construction water is reduced and frees up staff for more critical City processes. Missing or lost hydrant meters and their replacement would no longer be a problem as the City would not make hydrant meters available.
The Water Filling Station is the only such unit manufactured in the US with other manufactures located in Canada. Therefore, Staff recommends purchasing the unit as sole source since the manufacturer is uniquely qualified. The manufacturer has stated the delivery time, once ordered is 8 to 10 weeks. Upon delivery, the City would inspect the unit for damage then install it, along with connecting to City water, solar power, and configuring the payment software. The payment software would be leased for a monthly fee. The Water filling station would be located entirely in City right of way behind the sidewalk with trucks to use the existing parking lane while using the filling station.
Financial Considerations
The proposed Water Filling Station, including the hardware, one-year Cloud Hosting subscription, payment software (Portalogic), Warranty and IT support for 2 years, training on the software, and solar package is to cost $39,255. City Public Works Staff is proposed to do the installation and Administrative Services train in using the software. Total City labor costs are estimated at $12,000 which is include in the proposed budget as the labor would be completed by current staffing levels.
The proposed FY23/24 budget includes $75,000 for this effort to account for extra contract services if necessary. Funds from the Water Enterprise unappropriated fund balance would be encumbered in the remaining months of FY22/23 for this effort with most of the funds encumbered in FY23/24.
Environmental Issues
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378.
Attachments:
2023.04.13 Cotati Project PA 061 - Water Filling Station (PDF) 2108-057-2 Elemech FS-43 Quote (PDF)