The economic plates that have shifted under everyone’s feet these last few months are also posing big-picture complications but not stalling all possible preparation work on a filtration upgrade project for the Mattapoisett Water Treatment Plant.
In reporting to Tuesday’s public meeting of the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District Commission, Jon Gregory of engineering firm Tata & Howard identified a key concern: the lead time in the supply chain where it concerns a State Revolving Fund (SRF) is “not good.”
SRF offers affordable loan scenarios to Massachusetts municipalities for the improvement of their water-supply infrastructure and drinking-water safety.
The state-of-the-art membranes that the MRV is working to buy from the Koch Company is 12-18 months off course. In delivering his WTP Upgrade Project Budget update, Gregory said the MRV needs “to get the procurement ‘spec’ on the street as soon as possible and look at the other funding options.”
He said there is still some time as to whether the district will receive funding. He recommended that the MRV decide on two separate contracts, one to get the project on the street and the other to fund full design.
Gregory said he will meet with MRV attorney Blair Bailey (also member town Rochester’s town counsel) to tweak the application just so with all the appropriate language to maximize the district’s consideration at the state level. He stressed that none of that work will change the project or the price.
Bailey explained to the membership that there is a 45-day waiting period in which one of the member town’s select boards can hold a meeting to object to a decision. He and Gregory will presumably amend the application to get the language they want, give it to the select boards, then wait.
It is anticipated that the commission will schedule a special meeting well in advance of its next scheduled public meeting (November 7) in order to take any strategic action based on what select boards have to say at their next meetings.
Paul Howard of Tata & Howard said, “We want to be ready to go with that 12- to 18-month procurement.”
Member Nick Nicholson asked about potential cost increases with the delay. Gregory said that so far, costs have not changed, only the lead time to get the equipment on site. “We’re comfortable with the contingency that’s in there,” Gregory said.
Fairhaven town employee Anne Carreiro, freshly voted on to serve as the MRV District Water Commission and the closely related Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee, asked if funding could come from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), but multitown districts are ineligible for consideration according to Howard.
It was clarified that the MRV is not seeking alternative funding for the project’s entire $7,200,000 price tag, just the material costs.
In his Tata & Howard Report, Gregory told the commission that a site visit was held a couple of weeks ago, after which an additional piping location was confirmed. He said, “Everything is going to work as it should with the existing piping at the plant – everything is going to be a retrofit.”
Also approaching the calendar for the member towns is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) training that Gregory said Tata & Howard is available to conduct ahead of Thanksgiving.
In his Treatment Plant Operations Update, Henri Renauld discussed compressor problems, the HVAC system on the roof and one low lift-control problem that has been repaired.
Bailey encouraged Carreiro to make sure the Fairhaven Board of Selectmen signs off on her additional job. She is scheduled to earn $34 per hour while doing MRV business.
Commission Treasurer Wendy Graves announced a total month-ending balance of $153,378.97, and Committee Treasurer Jeff Furtado listed several invoices for approval and announced a total ending balance of $96,001.50.
The next meeting of the MRV Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, at 3:30 pm with the MRV Water District Commission meeting to immediately follow at 4:00 pm on the same Zoom call.
MRV Water District Commission/Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee
By Mick Colageo