Lead Service Line Inventory

Lead Service Line Survey and Inventory

You may remember that the deadline for completion of this project and results of our survey reported to the Virginia Department of Health is October 15. Due to the partnership between Hurt & Proffitt and our town staff, we have completed this project and hopefully put it behind us as part of the town’s history. I can happily report that no lead service lines were found in our system. I have drafted a letter in evidence of this, a copy of which can be found in your agenda packet.

In the October 10, 2024 report

Lead Service Line Survey and Inventory

As you know, the state has set a deadline of October 15th to have this inventory of EVERY water service line in the town’s system completed. Our engineering consultants at Hurt & Proffitt have spearheaded this effort for the town. However, despite the work done by their sub-contractor, Badger, Inc., your Public Works leadership team was very concerned that we were not going to be able to meet the October deadline. To that end, I authorized our Public Works crew to do overtime hours to bolster the contractor’s efforts and they have done an outstanding job! As of today, we are down to less than 150 to be completed (out of over 2,400!) I am extremely proud of them for jumping in on a brand new process that they had never undertaken and absolutely knocking it out of the park!

While it may have cost the town several hours of unanticipated overtime, I sincerely believe that mobilizing our own staff was the right call because I in good conscience could not risk having our town miss the deadline on this high-visibility statewide program.

Additionally, Chilhowie was selected to be one of the approximately 10 percent of localities required to complete an additional online survey about our water system. I want to thank Mr. Don Cole for taking the time to complete this ahead of deadline.

In the September 12, 2024 report

Lead Line Inventory

The town continues to work with Hurt & Proffit and their contractor, Badger, to work toward completing this inventory. As a reminder, the deadline to submit completed inventory to VDH is October 15th.

Several Public Works Supervisors approached me with their concerns that the contractor may not be able to complete this work at their current rate of work and that their equipment may be excessively large for some of our smaller backroads in our water system. That being said, I have worked with your Public Works team and Hurt & Proffit to quickly put together a plan for much of the remainder of this work to be done “in house” by our staff and utilizing the new Vactor truck. I requested through VDH that our incurred overtime due to this be allowed to be paid by re-allocating a small portion of the grant funds tied to this project. At this time we do not have an answer back, but I anticipate from initial conversations that our request will be denied since this change was not part of the original scope of work. However, I feel that a handful of hours of overtime is worth ensuring that we do not miss this critical deadline. (I represented the town at the Mount Rogers Regional Manager’s Meeting on July 31st and it appears that many surrounding localities have taken the same approach as the deadline rapidly approaches.)

At our new rate of work, we are shooting for a September 15th completion date. I hold a personal goal for Chilhowie to be the first, or one of the very first, localities to get our results in!

In the August 8, 2024 report

Presentation of Phase III Contract from Hurt and Proffitt (H&P) on Lead Service Line Inventory

You have in your agenda packet a proposed Phase III contract on the Lead Service Line Inventory Project. This will be the last phase of the project after completion of Phase I and II.

To recap Phase I involved H&P going through building records identifying houses built before and after 1984, I believe. That date was the benchmark when lead service lines were prohibited. Houses built before that date could have had lead service. Those after that date could not have lead service lines, so those houses could be eliminated. Additionally, Phase I involved our meter crew getting GIS coordinates at all of our 2,500 connections and forwarding that information to Hurt and Proffitt. That task was completed about a year ago

Phase II involved door to door surveys and notifications. We sent about 2,500 letters out to customers asking them to self certify their service lines where it enters their homes. They were to mail that picture back to the Town Hall or send it by QR Code to H&P. We had a very good response getting back and identifying about 550 Reponses from homeowners, or about 22%. Also in that number were responses from going door to door by our staff and H&P Staff. But that was not as successful as the letter.

The Phase III Contract in your packet using grant funding up to $140,000 is the last stage of the lead inventory process. It will involve H&P hiring a crew with a hydro excavator to open up the meter boxes of the remaining 2,000 or so connections. This hydro excavator stirs and removes dirt material in the box itself to then allow the type of service line pipe leaving the meter box to the house be identified. This is a much more efficient method of identification than having to dig out the meter box by hand.

In the July 11, 2024 report

Scoring on Requests for Proposal (RFP) on Lead Service Line Inventory

You have in your agenda packet a scoring sheet I graded on the firms that submitted for the lead service line inventory. The inventory is supposed to be done by October 2024. The scoring for the RFPs was done in according with the Code of Virginia’s requirements by using the Competitive Negotiations Procedure for Professional Services. Five categories were used. These include knowledge and familiarity with the water system at 25 points, experience with the Virginia Department of Health projects at 25 points, qualification of project team at 20 points, capability to perform services in a timely manner at 20 points, and proximity to project area and accessibility to client at 10 points.

Hurt and Proffitt of Blacksburg submitted a proposal, as did Thrasher of Charleston, West Virginia. We advertised the project in the Smyth County News on March 18 and 25 and made an outreach to five (5) Minority and Women Owned Businesses Enterprises (MBE / WBE). Both the advertisement and the solicitation of MBEs and MBEs was required by the Health Department.

As you can see by the scoring sheet Hurt and Proffitt scored 96 points and Thrasher 80 points. Council can accept my scoring, or can do themselves through a committee or full Council. If Council approves my recommendation, I will then begin contract negotiations with Hurt and Proffitt on the pricing, schedule, etc., etc.

In the May 11, 2023 report

Request For Proposal (RFP) for Engineering Services for Lead Service Line Inventory

You have in your agenda packet an RFP for Engineering Services for the collection of data to go into a lead service line inventory. We received a funding package from the Virginia Department of Health in the amount of $250,000 for the assessment, which consists of $95,000 for Principal Forgiveness (grant) and $155,000 in loan at 1% over (ten) years.

We advertised this RFP in the Smyth County News, a paper of General Circulation as defined in the Code of Virginia, on March 18 and March 25, 2023 that met the legal requirements. Additionally, the Health Department required an outreach to at least five firms that are owned by Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Woman Business Enterprises (WBE). I went to a Commonwealth website and found five (5) firms that I directly sent the RFP to.

As you can see in the RFP three copies of the firm’s qualifications are due by 4:00 on April 20, 2023. The scoring grid is listed in Section V. on a 100 point scale. I will present the proposals that are submitted and do scoring from my perspective. I will then present the results to Council at its May 11 meeting. After that firm is selected, we will begin contract negotiations.

In the April 13, 2023 report

Funding Package Submitted by Health Department for Service Line Inventory and Lead Service Line Replacement

You have in your agenda package a November 17 letter from the Virginia Department of Health concerning a $750,000 package for service line study and replacement. The project will be system wide and the application was put in by Hurt ad Proffitt. The funding is a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress.

The package is confusing as is the project, but I will try to explain as best I can in this space. I think the initial package of $250,000 will be for a start of the project and should now be our primary concern. That package includes $95,000 for Principal Forgiveness (grant) and $155,000 loan at an interest rate of 1% over ten years. As I understand it a firm will be hired to do an inventory of service lines that were put in before a certain date in the 1980’s when lead service lines were allowed and map that area. A contractor will also be utilized to dig up the lines to confirm the existence of the lead lines.

The $500,00 package consists of $190,000 Principal Forgiveness (grant) and $310,000 loan at 20 years at 1.0%. That construction package is getting us ahead of the schedule and not pertinent now, as stated above, but it is my understanding that we must replace the lines at 10% a year beginning in 2026.

We will be meeting with H&P personnel on December 1 to discuss this project. The letter said we are supposed to state if we accept the package by December 21, so the issue will have to be addressed by Council at the December meeting. H&P may appear before Council and discuss this package if we need them on December 8.

In the December 8, 2022 report