Sean C. Morgan
Representatives of Jacobs Engineering last week outlined to the City Council the advantages of continuing to contract with the firm to operate the city’s wastewater and water treatment plants, while apologizing for deficiencies identified at the Water Treatment Plant earlier this year by city staff.
Regional Manager Brian Helliwell and Vice President Efrain Rodriguez appeared before the City Council during its regular meeting on Oct. 8 to address the concerns. City staff members have been talking to a Jacobs competitor, as well as exploring the option of operating the plants with city staff.
Helliwell stressed the advantage Jacobs offers cities. CH2M Hill and OMI began providing services to Sweet Home in 2006. In 2017, Jacobs Engineering purchased the two companies.
Staffing at the local level can be difficult, to which Jacobs is not immune; but the company has a lot of staff, including technical and engineering support nationwide, with more than 75,000 employees worldwide, Helliwell said. When projects are short locally they can find resources from the region.
Over the years, Rodriguez said, Jacobs has leveraged its own resources and targeted its efforts to keeping cost increases below the inflation rate, compounding savings of some $500,000 over the past seven years.
Before the state mandated the testing, Jacobs was already working behind the scenes on a plan to test for cyanotoxins after an outbreak in the Willamette Valley in summer 2018, Helliwell said. In addition to operating the plants, Jacobs services reduce other work for the city, including human resources, permit renewal and making payments.
Additionally, OMI and Jacobs have become part of the community, participating in Sportsman’s Holiday and the Jim Bean Public Safety Fair, for example.
Under OMI-Jacobs operation, the Water Treatment Plant has had no violations since it came online, Helliwell noted. The Wastewater Treatment Plant had a minor violation for slightly exceeding the limit on total suspended solids in its effluent last month.
OMI initially charged the city $658,000 to operate the treatment plants. Jacobs has requested a 3-percent increase this year, totaling $1.093 million, up from $1.061 million. According to data presented by Helliwell and Rodriguez, annual increases since 2012-13 have been below the Consumer Price Index, by .91 percent this year.
Since the council declined to approve the increase, Jacobs has offered an additional $30,000 in repairs at no charge to the city. That’s in addition to $30,000 already included in the contract between the city and Jacobs.
Recently, Jacobs has rebuilt a couple of pumps and replaced a “knife gate valve” as well as draining, cleaning and inspecting two clarifiers at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The company has addressed a number of deficiencies listed by a city staff audit of the Water Treatment Plant in March. According to Helliwell and Rodriguez, heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems are working properly. Lights have been replaced with new LED lighting.
Ceiling tiles have been replaced, as needed. Non-skid strips have been installed on stairways. Doors have been adjusted, with a new closer installed. Universal power supply batteries have been replaced and screws tightened on a door hinge in the control room.
Chemical pumps have been replaced, and the hypo-chlorite system has been repaired. The plant networks and Internet connections are now working properly. Jacobs is checking belts and filters routinely.
Other issues remain.
The city and Jacobs still need to deal with a 24-inch valve that does not close properly.
The valve and its pump were over-built, Helliwell said. It was set up to deal with the plant operating at its full potential capacity – 10 million gallons per day.
Treating much less water, said Public Works Director Greg Springman, causes “cavitation” and warping, which results in leakage from the valve.
A major project, Jacobs is working with the city to include replacement as a capital improvement project.
Jacobs also is getting quotes for replacement of obsolete turbidimeter controllers. Other electronics are operational, with a factory representative scheduled to do additional calibration and training this month.
Jacobs is working on quotes from vendors to address condensation issues on pipes and fittings, which have become corroded. Helliwell said the pipes were not coated correctly, and everything is “sweating and dripping.”
Jacobs has cleaned one of the plant’s three treatment “trains.” The remaining two are scheduled for cleaning this month and next. Jacobs has inspected the re-circulation system in one train, and the other two are scheduled this month and next.
The fluoride system has new parts but continues to await additional parts for an online meter and to calibrate dosing and alarms.
Jacobs is obtaining quotes for divers to inspect the clearwell in November or December, and it is working with Siemens to correct any issues found in the plant’s SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) computer system, which is used to monitor and control the plant.
“We could do a better job on the communication side of things,” Rodriguez told the council; he is working with staff to get a level of information that is more helpful.
Reports from the plants “quit happening” last January for some reason, Helliwell said, but Jacobs wants to ensure reports to the council happen monthly in the future.
“I’m really proud of the work we’ve done the last 13 years,” he said. “That audit wasn’t appealing to me, and I apologize for that.”
Going forward, Jacobs is planning a facilities assessment of its own to better plan for facility needs, Rodriguez said, and Jacobs plans to bring its own technical experts and develop suggestions for the facilities.
“I do live here,” Helliwell said. It’s his goal for Jacobs to become an integrated city resource, with a wide range of ways to help, from grant writing to facilities planning.
Councilor Diane Gerson asked if Jacobs kept written maintenance records. Helliwell told her it does, and they’re available for inspection.
“The problem I have,” said Councilor Dave Trask, “These seven people (the councilors) do not have a clue what’s going on in that building. We rely on you to tell us.”
If something needed to be fixed, he said, “get in here and tell us we need to fix it.”
To find out about deficiencies at the plant from a city audit, “that is unacceptable,” he said.
“I can’t defend what happened,” Helliwell said.
“We should have managed that better,” Rodriguez said. “We’re addressing the root cause.”
And Jacobs is also addressing its reporting and communications, he said. It’s “owning up to it” and “covering a lot of the cost. We do recognize it’s not a great situation that happened.”
It can take a long time to get back trust, Trask said, adding that he’s glad Jacobs is working on it.
Mayor Greg Mahler said he would like to see an updated audit by city staff before the council makes a decision about how to continue operating and managing the treatment plants.
Rodriguez said Jacobs fully supports whatever decision the council makes, and Jacobs will work with the city throughout the process.
“(We) hope to regain your trust and stay here another 13, 20 years,” Rodriguez said.
Following with a presentation to the City Council, Springman outlined a timeline for a city or competitor takeover of the plants, which would cost $1.08 million.
If the council decides at its regular meeting on Oct. 22 to terminate its contract with Jacobs, the city would advertise a request for proposals in November, evaluate proposals in December and send a formal letter to terminate its contract with Jacobs by Dec. 31. The cost of termination is $53,000.
Signing an agreement with a new vendor, the city would coordinate the transition in February, and a new vendor would take over July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Under a city takeover, the council would decide make a decision on Oct. 22, with a formal termination letter to Jacobs by Dec. 31. The city would advertise nationally for certified operators Jan. 1 and evaluate, interview and hire candidates February through April. It would select chemical and laboratory vendors and bring on key staff in June and take over on July 1.
City Manager Ray Towry said he would like to submit an audit update and a request for council action at the Oct. 22 meeting.
Present at the meeting were councilors Cortney Nash, Susan Coleman, Lisa Gourley, Mahler, Gerson, James Goble and Trask.