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Ridgewood Water seeks SCADA, modeling and PFAS construction funds; council presses HVAC designer on humidity issue
Summary
Ridgewood Water presented five agenda items on May 7 including a SCADA software upgrade, field‑service support hours, second‑year hydraulic modeling, HVAC modifications to address humidity at Water Headquarters and a change order for PFAS treatment construction administration.
Rich Kalbi, director of Ridgewood Water, presented five items on the council agenda and answered questions from council members about scope, budgets and vendor performance.
Kalbi said the utility recommended a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software upgrade from Emerson Process Management Power and Water Solutions not to exceed $34,399.89, funded from the water utility capital budget. He also presented a separate award to Emerson for a bank of field‑service hours not to exceed $18,717.78 to assist with start‑up of several new wells; that item was to be funded out of operating budgets.
A third item continued a professional services contract with Circular Water Solutions for hydraulic modeling (second year) at an amount of $66,620, to support prioritization of system upgrades and water‑quality improvements. Council members asked for, and Kalbi described, demonstrations of the modeling tool; he invited the deputy mayor and any interested council members to attend modeling meetings.
Kalbi then proposed an award to Great Meadows Design Engineering, not to exceed $24,100, for HVAC modifications at Water Headquarters to address recurring summer humidity. One council member strongly questioned why the original designer had not included humidity controls and pressed staff to review the original specifications. Kalbi said humidity control was not in the original scope and that Great Meadows would propose a solution to provide the required humidity removal. The council asked staff to pull the original retrofit proposal and to discuss next week whether to delay the HVAC resolution until the vendor/architect relationship and scopes are reviewed; the mayor suggested holding the resolution for the next meeting while staff checks the original contract language.
The fifth item was change order No. 2 to Mott MacDonald for construction administration and inspection of the Ravine PFAS treatment facility, not to exceed $37,000, funded from the water capital budget. Kalbi said delays in securing an appropriate building had led to extended contractor time; the contractor was on its fifth building vendor. Mott MacDonald provided a contingency plan to operate the system without the building free of charge, but the change order would pay for extended administration/inspection time. Kalbi said the new contract total would be $597,500 if the change order is approved.
Council members asked routine clarifying questions about timing and vendor experience. On the HVAC item, council members suggested a closed‑session review with the architect and vendor if necessary; the HVAC resolution was held for further review. The PFAS change order was presented as recommended action and expected to be voted at the next meeting.
