Englewood board renews lead service-line contractor; staff seek contingency funding

Staff recommended and the Englewood City Water & Sewer Board approved renewal of the city's lead service-line construction contract with AGL, continuing a program the city started in March 2023 to identify and replace lead or galvanized water service lines.

The contract renewal was presented by Staff member Sarah (Staff member). She said the lead reduction program began in March 2023 with Hazen hired as program manager, an initial service-line inventory developed in fall 2023, and a State Revolving Fund (SRF) application submitted in December 2023 and closed in May 2024. The RFP for construction was issued in January 2024, AGL won the contract in May 2024 and construction began in June 2024. As of the morning of the meeting, staff reported 654 service-line replacements completed.

The Nut Graf: The board approved continuing AGL's work after hearing staff say the program has verified about 1,900 properties so far, has an estimated 6,100 properties left to verify, and is tracking to replace about 3,000 lead or galvanized service lines. Staff asked the board to approve $10.45 million in program funding for 2025 and requested a staff-managed contingency of $2.8 million.

Staff described the program's field methods and customer engagement. For each pre-1960 property the contractor physically verifies service-line material, typically by three potholes: one at the street (main connection), one at the curb stop or meter pit, and one on the homeowner side of the service. Staff said that potholing at the main has revealed a residual short length of lead or galvanized pipe at the street connection in about 10'to 11 percent of the locations previously thought to be copper because homeowners or plumbers had replaced the interior portion of the line but not the short segment to the main.

Sarah summarized pricing and scope: the single-family replacement cost is held at about $7,000 per service line, commercial replacements about $8,500, and the staff requested program authorization of $10,450,000 for 2025. Staff reiterated that AGL agreed to hold its pricing for the program and that the contract includes customer engagement (pre-construction consultation and in-home access where needed), installation of meter pits for inside-set meters, installation of insertion valves, and some aging water-main replacements that were added to the SRF loan amendment.

Board members asked about notification procedures (postcards, open houses and door hangers typically delivered the week before work), inspection and oversight (Hazen, the program manager, provides onsite inspection and program administration; city staff perform spot checks and zone closeout inspections), and records (city records are incomplete for historical replacements, so the program is creating an electronic inventory).

One board member raised graffiti on contractor signs in the field; staff said the contractor was notified and removed signs within hours of being reported.

The board approved the item by voice vote; staff recorded that the motion carried.