Contracts totaling $346,982 for components related to the city's $3.5 million project to replace the switchgear at the Ouachita Plant on upper Lake Hamilton are on the Hot Springs Board of Directors consent agenda tonight.
The board will consider the purchase of motors and motor controls for high-service pumps that pressurize large diameter mains carrying treated water from the plant. The new switchgear will control the pumps that push water into a distribution system serving a 145-square-mile area. The Ouachita Plant supplies most of the service area's water, producing about 15 million gallons a day to meet average daily demand, according to the state's most recent survey of the water system.
The $20 million bond issue the board approved last year is paying for the switchgear project, which includes the city's purchase last year of 4.53 acres adjacent to the plant's Cozy Acres Road location.
The new switchgear will be located on the property, which the city acquired for $113,450. A $1.28 million contract for a Kohler switchgear and master control center was awarded to RP Power of North Little Rock last year. Crist Engineers of Little Rock was awarded a $298,250 contract to design the switchgear and oversee its installation.
A $268,557 contract to Irby Electric of Hot Springs for four variable frequency drives, or VFDs, is on tonight's consent agenda. They'll control motor speeds for two 450 horsepower pumps and two 600 horsepower pumps.
Wholesale Electric's $194,800 bid was the lowest of the four received, but the city said the bid included a 500 horsepower drive rather than the 450 horsepower variety specified in bid documents. Multi-Craft Contractors of Springdale also submitted a lower bid, coming in at $250,028, but the 20 to 28 weeks for delivery listed in its bid response did not fit the city's late December timeline for installation.
A $78,425 contract for Evans Enterprises of Fort Smith to provide motors for one of the 450 horsepower pumps and one of the 600 horsepower pumps is also on tonight's consent agenda. The city said only two motors are needed for the four pumps because two of the current motors are compatible with the new switchgear.
Global Energy, $64,600, and Flanders, $70,976, both submitted lower bids than Evans Enterprises, but they included General Electric motors the city said would require additional modifications and a cooling water loop. The Nidec manufactured motors listed in Evans' bid include frames customized for the plant's existing pumps, according to information the city provided the board.
The motor and motor control contracts do not include installation.
The water rate increase that took effect in January 2018, raising the minimum monthly charge by $3 for residential customers inside the city, is securing the $20 million bond. The minimum charge, which is assessed on the first 1,000 gallons of usage, increased another $2 at the beginning of the year, putting it at $10 for residential customers inside the city.
Increases of $4.50 and $3 in 2018 and 2019 for residential customers outside the city raised their minimum charge to $15. Rate hikes in 2020 and 2021 will set resident and non-resident minimum monthly rates at $13 and $19.50. A 3 percent increase will be applied annually starting in 2022.
The new rate structure the board approved in November 2017 will also pay down more than $90 million of debt the city plans on issuing in 2020, 2021 and 2022 to bring its 23 million-gallon average day allocation from Lake Ouachita online.
Tonight's consent agenda also includes the following action items related to the city's water fund:
• An annual supply contract for corrosion control chemicals with Shannon Chemical Corp. The blended polyphosphates the Malvern, Pa., company provides inhibit corrosion from forming inside water mains, Utilities Director Monty Ledbetter told the board last week.
"It's the chemical that we use at both of our water plants to coat mains with," he said. "It protects them and makes them last longer, so we don't end up in a Flint, Mich., type situation. If they had been using this chemical they probably wouldn't have had that problem."
The $4.53 per gallon bid was the lowest of the four the city received. The contract is for a term of three years.
• A $399,891 contract to GapVax of Johnstown, Pa., for a hydro excavation truck. The city said the truck uses a high-pressure water and vacuum system for excavation in areas where gas, electric, fiber optic or other sensitive infrastructure is buried.
Local on 08/20/2019