Town Manager’s Report to Mayor and Town Council

October 17, 2011

Bids on Replacement of Roofs at Water Treatment Plant and Pump Station at Hot and

Cold Tanks

As I discussed at the October 6 meeting, we are taking bids on the roofs at the water treatment plant building itself and at the High Level Pump Station at the Hot and Cold Tanks. The pre bid on the tank will be on Friday, October 14 at 10:00 and the bid will be received at the town Hall on Thursday, October 20, 2011.

We have budgeted for this roof replacement in this year’s budget. This money will come out of the water escrow fund, therefore having no direct effect on the cash flow. In the interest of getting this project moving before the advent of the cold weather months, I am going to request that Council allow the Water and Finances Committees to approve the bids at a meeting after the October 20 bid opening. I want to do this because the next scheduled meeting of the Council will not be until November 7, three weeks after October 17. I think that if we wait until November 7 to approve the bids it will jeopardize having the project done this Fall and could possibly push the project into next Spring. We had planned to get the project done this Fall so the new roofs could be installed before the winter.

Scheduling of Flu Vaccinations

You have in your agenda packet an October 10, 2011 memo from Purchasing Agent Billy Hamm. In the memo he give the date and time of the flu vaccine shots. The flu shots are offered to all Town of Marion employees, all members of the Marion Life Saving Crew and all members of the Marion Volunteer Fire Department.

We are going to do it a little differently this year. In the past we have utilized both the Health Department and Virginia Department of Health at around $25 per shot. This year we talked to Rite Aid Drug Store here in Marion and they can do it a little differently and this process will be

cheaper to the town. Almost all town employees carry town provided health

insurance. For those employees the shot will be charged directly to the insurance company with no direct cost to the town or them. For all town employees who do not carry town insurance, their carrier will be charge the $27 fee. If their insurance does not pick up that cost then town will then pick it up for them. The same goes with the Fire Department and Rescue Squad. If the individual’s health plan will not pick up the cost the town will pick it up. We normally administer about 75 shots each season.

New Brush Pickup Schedule and Fall Leaf Pickup Schedule

You have in your agenda packet two documents. One is the schedule leaf pickup for this Fall and the second is the new brush pickup schedule.

Concerning the new brush schedule, we are now in the stage where we pick it up brush only once a month. The brush will be picked up the week of the fourth Monday beginning October 24. For the remainder of 2011 brush and bagged grass will be picked up the week of November 28 and December 26. Brush will be picked up on the same day as the garbage is picked up

that week. As always brush can only be removed that is three inches or smaller and no more than six feet in length.

Concerning the leaf schedule, we will be using the same plan that we have used successfully the past eight or so years. We again have sectioned the town into three zones with North Main Street, Chatham Hill Road and South Main being the dividing lines. We will begin in Zone 1 which is the northeast corner of town bounded by Chatham Hill Road and North Main Street. It will be picked up the weeks of October 24, November 14 and December 5. Zone 2 is the northwest zone of town and is bounded by Main Street and Chatham Hill Road. It will be picked up the weeks of October 31, November 21 and December 12. Zone 3 is the southern zone of town bounded by the Main Streets. It will be picked up November 7, November 28 and December 19.

Digester Biogas Project Update

We met with the contractor, Frizzell Construction, for the biogas project on October 6 with mixed results. At the meeting were representatives of Frizzell Construction, the low bidder on the project, and several members of our engineering and sewer treatment plant staff. We were meeting to try to find cost savings in their bid that came in over $200,000 over the engineer’s estimate.

Bids Items 1 and 2, for the cogeneration unit to the dewatering building and for the mixing unit, respectively, were fairly close to the engineer’s estimate, at nine percent and 23% over. However, Item 3 for all the piping was over by a substantial factor. At the October 6 meeting we tried to get a cost break on that item but the contractor was not willing to give very much. He stated that that had thrown a variety of their costs elements into this line item and that it could not be deemed as piping only.

On the positive side, extra money may be available to run electrical to the influent pump station our engineers, Thompson and Litton, reported at the meeting. Our engineering and sewer treatment staffs were very excited about this. Our electric bill has historically been around $2,500 per month for the pumps and by running the service from the cogeneration unit approximately 90% plus of that costcould be saved by the town.

I had asked for Thompson and Litton to get all the cost increases, costs saving, cost / benefit analysis, additional funding scenarios together for the October 17 meeting. However, upon on talking and contacting them on several occasions, I found that Frizzell Construction had not gotten them enough information to make accurate determinations / recommendations.

Accordingly, that information will be provided for Council at its November 7^th meeting. At that meeting Council will be presented with a recommendation to move on with the current contractor or to rebid the project. We have until on or about November 30 to accept or reject Frizzell Construction’s Bid, a provided in the 90 contract window. Bids were received on

August 31.

Respectfully Submitted,

John E. B. Clark, Jr.

Town Manager