ORANGE COUNTY SANITATION Memorandum DISTRICT DATE: TO: FROM: Chair and Members of the Board of Directors Orange County Sanitation James D. Ruth General Manager, Orange County Sanitation SUBJECT: April Status Report The following status report is submitted for your review and consideration. 1. Children s Water Festival The 15th Annual Children s Water Festival celebrated its fourth year at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. OCSD was a founding sponsor r of the festival and continues its support by contributing $2,500 and hosting an educational booth. OCSD s activity Microbe Mania teaches kids about the amazing world of microorganis sms and the importance of sanitation to public health. Over the two days, classes of of 4 th 6 th graders spent 30 minutes in our booth. We were able to reach out to a total of 412 students who came from schools in Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminster, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Irvine and Orange. 2. Plant 1 CWEA Plant of the Year On April 15 OCSD will find out if we have been selected as the State Plant of the Year by the California Water Environment Association. Last month we informed you that we won the regional Plant of the Year award and we are hopeful we will win the statewide honor. We will let you know at the Board Meeting. 3. Engineering g Manager Named Manager of the Year Dean Fisher, Engineering Manager was named 2011 Certified Construction Manager of the Year by the Southern California Chapter of the Construction Managemen nt Association of America at theirr Annual Awards event on April 7.
Page 2 4. OCSD s Efforts to Fight a Property Tax Takeaway Staff has been engaged in an aggressive effort to educate Sacramento law makers about the effects of taking OCSD s $ $60 million in property taxes to balance their budget. We have developed a fact sheet and letter explaining the impacts, and staff has been meeting with legislative staff to discuss the issue. 5. Legislative Office Visits: Mansoor Tour, Rohrabacher Meeting On April 8, Assemblym man Allan Mansoor toured Plant 1 with Vice-chaimet with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher to discuss issues related to the Clean Water Act. Edgar, Bob Ghirelli and me. Also, on March 30 Chair Crandall 6. Labor Negotiations Managemen nt met with Local 501 (ternation nal Union off Operating Engineers) and OCEA (Orange County Employees Association) nine times during the past month. We are working through a list of 20 rules-based, non-economic proposals presented by Local 501 in additionn to their economic proposal. Counter proposals have been presented. Management met with OCEA on March 31 to present our economicc proposal. Further meetings are scheduledd with OCEA on April 13, 18, 20. 7. Succession Planning Workshop our continuing effort to develop the next generation of leaders at OCSD, a workshop with supervisors, managers, and EMT was held on March 30. The purpose of the workshop was to continue to work on our program to develop talent in light of the retirement wave that will hit OCSD over the next three years. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Frank Benest, former city manager in Brea and Palo Alto, who specializes in working with public agencies on their succession planning strategies. The workshop was attended by members of the newly-formed Leadership Development Committee, a group of employees from all levels within OCSD, who will help to guidee the further development and implementation of the succession planning program. 8. GWRS Phase II Expansion Approved by OCWD Board The OCWD Board approved the expansion project on March 30, 2011. The project is scheduled to advertise on April 15, 2011 and open bids with Notice to Proceed scheduled for August 15, 2011. Thee start of construction is scheduled to begin September 29, 2011 and will take about three years to complete. There is no cost sharing with OCSD on this project..
Page 3 Our next steps include: receive and file an addendum to the GWRS Final EIS/EIR and approving a license agreement for the project storage tanks which will be located on OCSD property. 9. Plan of Secondary Treatment (POST) Workshops Start-up of the new trickling filter solids contact facility at Plant No. 2 and the new activated sludge plant at Plant No.1 will occur this calendar year, bringing the total number of secondary treatment processes to five. The Plan of Secondary Treatmentt (POST) iss being developed to provide a road map for optimizing the operation and maintenance of these five secondary treatment processes, considering many factors, including regulatory compliance, GWRS requirements, staffing demands, costs, and control of pollutants of emerging concern. Two of the three scheduled workshops have been completed. The workshops gathered input from a diverse group of internal stakeholders. Additional meetings with process experts have taken place to clarify and refine issuess and data. The final workshop is scheduled for May 5 and the final report should be complete in June 2011. 10. Enertech Update March, 33% of OCSD s biosolids production was handled by EnerTech. Thirty seven percent (37%) of our material managed by EnerTech went to the Rialto facility, the rest (63%) was diverted to land application. During the month of March, an average of 281 tons per day was managed at the Rialto facility. An average of 259 tons per day was processed through the dryer only. The Slurry Carb process had four successful runs; eachh run averaged 126 tons per day. The highest production for a single day was 491 tons ncluding dryer and Slurry Carb runs. Milestone status update: 1. Final engineering is to be completed no later than August 26, 2011. As of March 18, 2011, engineering has been completed with the exception of liquid treatment which is scheduled for completion on May 17 th. EnerTech is currently working on remaining construction specifications. 2. Procurement of all equipment and materials is to be completed no later than September 14, 2011. During March, 5 items were advertised for bids, one item has been awarded andd bids have been received for one item. 3. Construction of all improvements described in the Technical Plan is to be completed no later than November 23, 2011. The scheduled start date for this milestone is June 3, 2011.
Page 4 4. Start-uscheduled for November 3, 2011. to be completed no later thann March 13,, 2012, and is currently 11. Honor Walk March, the Steering Committeee selected former chairr Doug Davert to receive an Honor Walk brick for his distinguished public service. The ceremony with Mr. Davert will take place just prior to the Board Meeting on April 20. 12. SAWPA Update Chairman Crandall sent a letter to SAWPA s Chairman indicating OCSD s decision to operate under our current agreements and discontinue efforts to obtain a new operating agreement with SAWPA. Chairman Crandall offered to convene a meeting of the leadership of OCSD and SAWPA boards of directors to discuss how we will work together under the current agreements. We are awaiting SAWPA s response. 13. SARI Line Relocation Project Update Relocation of the SARI Line is being constructed under two separate contracts, the Yorba Linda Spur and the Main Line. Bids were opened for the Yorba Linda Spur on March 9, 2011. Fourteen bids were received and the apparent low bid is $ 7,210,000 compared with the Engineer s Estimate of $7,321,200. The Orange County Board of Supervisors will consider awarding the contract at their May 3 meeting. Construction of the Yorba Linda Spur is scheduled for completion on February 22, 2012. The SARI Main Line Contract was advertisedd for bids on March 2, 2011 and bids are scheduled to be opened on April 27, 2011. The Engineer s Estimate is $ 77,500,0000 and is scheduled for award by the Board of Supervisors on June 7, 2011, with construction n completion scheduled for May 1, 2013. 14. Beyond 2012 Reorganization Update Last October, I informed the Board of the Beyond 2012 reorganizational changes where we reassigned nearly 100 staff and changed ourr department and division structure. April, we made a few tune-up moves to better clarify roles and responsibilities. The main reason for the moves was to position OCSD for the future: the completion of full secondary treatment in 2012 and succession management ensuring the right people are in the right place at the right time. I am very pleased
Page 5 that we completed all the staff moves in a short amountt of time and over time we will be reducing management-level positionss through attrition. 15. Magnolia Project Update The Magnolia Trunk Sewer Project is movingg along. The project is repairing an aging sewer line along Bushard and Magnolia Streets in the cities of Fountainn Valley, Westminster and Garden Grove.. The first of 13 pits is now completee which will minimize traffic impacts in Fountain Valley. Work in Westminster will begin later this month; construction of two pits along Magnolia between Hazard Avenue and McFadden Avenue was moved up in the schedule to accommodate city projects. This portion of the work is scheduled for completion in June 2011. We are working closely with city staff, local businesses and residents to keep them informed of our project and schedule. the last month we distributed two Neighbors Bulletins, three notification alerts,, sent out three website updates, responded to approximately 20 construction hotline calls and had one community meeting. We believe all questionss and issuess expressed by the community have been dealt with and resolved. For additional information about the project please visit the websitee at www.ocsd.c com/construction or contact our Constructionn Outreach Specialist, Daisy Covarrubias at 714-593-7119. JDR:gg H:\dept\gmo\110\110 Admin\RUTH JAMES\GM Status Reports to Board\2011 GM Status Report\2011 04 13 GM Monthly Status Report.docx