Created on 07/20/2015

May 18, 2015

The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners of Columbus, Georgia was held at the office of the Columbus Water Works on Monday, May 18, 2015, at 3:30 p.m., the following Commissioners being present:

Carole Rutland, Chair
Karl Douglass, Treasurer
Reynolds Bickerstaff
Sanders Griffith

Absent: Mayor Teresa Tomlinson

Mayor Tomlinson was excused from the meeting.

Receipt of the Minutes of the regular meeting on May 18, 2015, was acknowledged by the Board and approved as written.

The Financial Report for the month of May including Ft. Benning was provided to the Board. Motion was made and seconded to approve the reports. Motion carried.

Joey Murphy gave a brief update on the Automated Meter Reading (AMR) Project as outlined below:

RECAP of Monthly Meter Reading Conversion Project

CWW reached a milestone in January with 51% of our meter population capable of being read using Automated Meter Reading (AMR) Technology. (We are currently at 58% as of April 2015).

One of the major goals was to position CWW to convert from bi-monthly to monthly meter reading and corresponding billing.

An extensive marketing plan was developed and deployed with the major media kick-off on March 19

^th

Results from April – 1^st Month

As planned, Routes 78-160 were converted to monthly reading and those customers received their volumetric “catch up” on their April bill.

These routes represented +/- 41,000 meters or +/- 61% of our active billable accounts.

The transition has been managed very smoothly for the 1

^st

month with fewer than anticipated customer contacts.

Customer Contacts April – 1^st Month

For the fiscal month of April, customer contacts increased:

Walk-in Customers – a

+/- 4%

increase in the number of walk-ins as compared to April 2014

Phone Contacts – a

+/- 14%

increase in the number of phone interactions with customers as compared to April 2014

Email/Social Media Contacts – a

+/- 14%

increase in the number of electronic contacts

Monthly Meter Reading – 2^nd Month Status & Planning

As of May 13^th (1/2 of read cycle completed) CWW has maintained our current exceptional Customer Service Levels:

Walk-in Customers – maintain limited customer wait time. Estimate

+/- 20%

increase this month compared to May 2014.

Phone Interactions – maintain call volume readiness to minimize wait time and abandonment rates. Estimate

+/- 25%

increase this month compared to May 2014

Email and Social Media Interactions – maintain current response rates. Estimate

+/- 10%

increase

The Board acknowledged Mr. Murphy’s report.

Next, Mr. Murphy gave a brief report on the R. L. Tant Memorial Golf Tournament.

FORE! A Good Cause
On April 28^th, the Columbus Water Works had 112 golfers tee off for the 7^th Annual R. L. Tant Memorial Golf Tournament. This tournament was the brainchild of Robert “Bob” Tant to support the Georgia Association of Water Professionals (GAWP) Building Fund. Under Bob’s commitment, CWW would raise a minimum $100,000 for the building fund. CWW met that goal in 2014! Moving forward, the net proceeds from the tournament will be divided between the GAWP Building Fund and CWW’s Educational Initiatives including the Environmental Education Scholarship currently administered by Columbus State University.

Yearly Totals

Year	GAWP Building Fund	CWW Education Initiatives	Golfers
June 2009	$21,946.51		99
June 2010	$20,327.35		108
June 2011	$21,040.81		102
April 2012	$18,309.84		85
April 2013	$16,246.26		87
April 2014	$10,074.98	$10,074.98	93
April 2015	$11,735.24	$11,735.24	112
TOTALS	$119,680.99	$21,810.22

The Board acknowledged Mr. Murphy’s report.

Kevin White gave a brief update on the following activities conducted in the Engineering Department:

NCWRF Reroofing Project

This project is part of the 2014-2015 Capital Improvement Plan approved in March 2014. The rehabilitation will allow for the replacement of several roofs at the North Columbus Water Resource Facility that are currently leaking causing electrical issues. Architectural plans and specifications were completed by Hecht Burdeshaw Architects, Inc. The bids were received on March 19, 2015.

They are as follows:

Contractor	Bid Amount
S. Garrett & Company	$1,178,158
Integrated Building Services	$1,320,500
Columbus Roofing	$1,474,576
MJR	No Bid
Lott Sheet Metal	No Bid
West Georgia Roofing	No Bid

The architect’s estimate was $899,000. The architect/CWW and the contractor value engineered the project and removed (two buildings) or decreased items to reduce the cost before award. The architect has reviewed and tabulated the bids and recommends contract award to S. Garrett & Company as the low responsive, responsible bidder, at the value engineered price of $882,937 (Funded via 2014 Bond).

Following discussion, motion was made and seconded to award the NCWRF Roofing Project to S. Garrett & Company at the valued engineered price of $882,937. Motion carried.

President Davis presented the 2015-2016 Operating Budget which was previously provided to the Board for their consideration. Following discussion, Management requested the Board’s approval for Capital Reserves to be used for the two identified capital improvement projects (Meter Change-Out/AMR and GC/MS Laboratory Equipment Capital Projects) not to exceed $1,589,500.00. Motion was made and seconded to adopt the Operating Budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 to include an allocation from Reserves of $1,589,500. Motion carried. A copy of the 2015-16 Budget is on file at the office of the Columbus Water Works.

President Davis provided the following items of information to the Board:

Gwen Ruff received a thank you letter from Sue Else and LaDon Shaw of the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia thanking her for supporting the Columbus Women of Distinction event this year.

President Davis received a letter from Judson Turner, Director, GA Department of Natural Resources, informing him that he has been reappointed to serve on the Middle Chattahoochee Regional Water Planning Council.

Gwen Russell received an email thanking her for attending and exhibiting at One CSU Day.

Gwen Russell, Zack Williams and Morton Reed received a thank you note from the AFLAC Green Committee for participating at AFLAC’s 8

^th

Annual Earth Day Celebration.

Jeremy Cummings received a thank you note from Allyson Moyer, Director of Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education for his participation on the Human Resources panel’s Work-Based Learning Recognition Program for Muscogee County.