Watershed management: commissioners approve contract extensions and extra funds for on-call work; board schedules advisory-group amendment for later review

DeKalb County commissioners approved several Watershed Management contract actions and scheduled consideration of a resolution to amend the Watershed Customer Service and Billing Advisory Group's enabling language.

The committee voted to exercise renewal options and increase funds for three on-call water and sewer construction contracts and to extend one contract term to 12/31/2028. The item presented to committee sought additional funds "in an amount not to exceed $59,245,720.87" for GS Construction Inc., Ruby Collins Inc. and SD and C Construction Inc. Director Reginald Wells said the on-call contracting vehicle is being used to perform work required by the county's consent decree and to respond to emergencies and complex projects, including a micro-tunneling upsizing project under I-85 near the children's hospital.

Wells described micro-tunneling and why a longer term is needed for a project that requires specialized construction methods: "This particular contracting vehicle, we utilize, primarily to get a great deal of all consent decree required work done," he said. When asked what micro-tunneling means, Wells explained it is a remote-controlled tunnel-boring approach typically used for sewers where personnel do not ride inside the boring machine.

Separately, the committee approved a change order to exercise an additional contract term for ductile-iron water-main fittings and to allow unit-price adjustments to reflect market changes; staff said unit-price adjustments would be modest percentage changes and that the overall contract award amount has not yet been exhausted. The committee also approved a change order increasing funds for a three-year contract for manhole rings, covers and valve boxes in an amount not to exceed $1,500,000.

On governance, the committee considered a resolution to amend the Watershed Customer Service and Billing Advisory Group to add functions that would allow the (soon-to-be) Office of Customer Advocacy (expected to be a contracted vendor such as the Urban League) to interface regularly with the advisory group and provide monthly reports. Committee members asked administration and law to review language and agreed to return the resolution to PWI on July 15 for review and to the Board of Commissioners on July 22, with the expectation that the Urban League contract and resolution could be coordinated for consideration.

The on-call contract increases and the commodity contract adjustments were approved by committee vote; committee members also asked staff to confirm subcontractor billing details for the on-call contracts and return with clarifications.