Mike Hackett, director of Okaloosa County Water and Sewer (OCWS), asked the Okaloosa County Commission on Nov. 4 to approve OCWSself-performance for two capital projects and a billing-services agreement. The board approved all three items unanimously.

The first was approval to self-perform the Paquito Bayou lift station replacement project, which Hackett estimated at about $920,000. "This existing station is antiquated," Hackett said, adding the new station will sit at higher elevation, "have much greater capacity and will meet all of our current lift station standards." Hackett told commissioners the department plans to pilot a caisson wet-well installation method on this site because it is low-impact for the property owner and could save time and money.

The second approval covered the Longwood area water transmission main, which Hackett estimated at just under $1.2 million. He said the new main will pull water from mid-county Crestview tanks at higher elevation and realize about a 20 psi increase in pressure for the Longwood and Paquito neighborhoods. Once completed, the existing Longwood tank will be decommissioned. The public hearing notices for both projects ran in the Northwest Florida Daily News on Oct. 8; Hackett said the department had not received public comments on either item.

Separately, the board approved a three-year agreement between the county and Auburn Water Systems (AWS) under which AWS will bill wastewater charges set by county ordinance and base those charges on AWS water meter readings. The agreement provides that AWS will receive a 5% processing fee to cover billing, account setup and collections work. Hackett said the arrangement improves customer experience by providing a single bill for water and wastewater and gives the county a practical collections tool because AWS can shut off water for nonpayment.

Commissioners asked procedural questions about self-performance and subcontracting; Hackett replied the statute that drives the self-performance process is keyed to the $300,000 threshold and that use of a subcontractor for portions of a project does not itself alter the statutory self-performance analysis. Motions to approve the Paquito project, the Longwood project and the AWS agreement carried unanimously.

The approvals aim to reduce local infrastructure risks and improve service quality and collections while piloting a construction method the department hopes to standardize.