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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-14-2009 Regular MeetingFEAB MEETING MINUTES January 14, 2009 9:00am Attendees : Jim Horner, Gary Go ver , Ron Heveran, Lisa Adams , Elaine Syder-Conn City of Fairhope Repre sentation : Nancy Milford, Ken Eslava, Jennifer Fidler, City Council Members: Debbie Quinn, Lonnie Mix on, Rick Kingrea Honored Guests: Larry Hipsh , Mike Odom, Anna with the Coastal Foundation, Anna Smith, and Brian Smith Jim called the meeting to order at 9 :00am. Introductions : Minutes from the December 2008 meeting were discussed. There were two corrections . 1) Page 1, Review "2008 " Projects needs to change to "Completed" Projects . 2) Page 3 , 2009 Champion Projects changes to "Future Projects". Gary Gover made the motion to accept the minutes; Ron Heveran seconded the motions. The minutes were accepted with the changes noted above. Jim Horner announced that Elaine Syder-Conn was a new member of the board as of Monday's, January 12th City Council Meeting. Jim commended Gary Gover on his "Parks" report and asked him to please provide copies to Jennifer Fidler, the Mayor, and the City Council. Jim thanked Ken Eslava for taking the guest speaker on the tour of the City 's facilities . WRATT Speaker : Jim stated the need for the City of Fairhope to perform an energy audit and explained that WRA TT was a non-profit organization that charges a basic fee for performing an energy audit. He also said that three of the board members have been pro-active by having an energy audit performed on their own homes. Jim introduced Danny Patterson with the WRA TT organization from Birmingham Alabama. Mr. Patterson gave a brief overview of the organization and location of the offices. The organization is made up by retired engineers and scientists. He said that over the last 20 years they have performed over 2000 audits of schools and municipalities. They charge only their hourly rate and expenses for performing audits. The most important thing for a municipality is to have a 1, 3, 5, and 10 year energy plan. After reviewing, some of the City facilities he noted that the Civic Center had some challenging issues and several avenues for potential upgrades in their energy efficiency . He stressed the importance of looking at the audits in terms of not just energy, but sustainability. The City of Fairhope is a beacon to the community. Mr. Patterson stressed the importance of keeping up with maintenance costs. The WRA TT organization would need copies of utility bills for existing utilities . There assessment would look at the building envelope, vegetation around the building, lighting, HV AC, etc. Some of the buildings their company has assessed include the Alabama Fine Arts Center and Trinity United Methodist Church in Birmingham. The results of the assessments are non-regulatory and handled confidentially. Typically, the responsibility of the municipality would be to determine the priority projects. The report would be broken down in to short term easy fixes and long term capital project solutions. Mr. Patterson suggested that the client's not use local vendors, but rather use the manufacturer of the equipment need since it usually turns out to be a significant cost savings. He gave an example of one project in which the manufacturer's price was 600 percent less than the local vendor. Mr. Patterson said that he typically suggests using only the major manufacturers such as Trane, Carrier, or York. He said that there may also be a cost savings using a "Pac" situation. The Pac scenario means you hire a manufacturer to handle all the upgrades of a building including water, hvac, lights , etc. A bond would be issued for the necessary equipment for the energy projects for the building. If the energy cost goes over a certain $ amount then the manufacturer covers it. Mr. Patterson discussed some general energy issues of the city including the aging equipment and musty odors at the Civic Center, deciding the types of fixes such as louvered windows, use of blinds, window film, installing trees, the inefficiency of roof top units in a Southern Hurricane prone area. He said they typically recommend projects with a 4-5 year payback. He said that utility costs will go up an estimated 30% over the next 15 years. Ron Heveran asked about the potential savings for outdoor lighting. Mr. Patterson said they do not address outdoor light very often as it is often a very political issue. The typical process for WRA TT is to conduct a walk through of selected buildings. They will use 3 engineers from the various offices, and complete the walk through for 5 city buildings in 2-3 days. Floor plans and building plans of the buildings will be needed as well as copies of utility bills. During the walk through they will look for various energy issues such has insulations , HV AC equipment, insulation, doors, windows, seals, they will draw low pressure to check air flow among other things. The report/book of findings is usually produced in three weeks . Sometimes the fix can be as easy as a $25 sensor, other times it may require replacement or redesign ofHVAC equipment. Upgrading Welcoming lighting such as is needed in the Civic Center may not be all that expensive, but will save money. It will be up to the City to set their priorities into a 1,3 ,5, 10 year or further plan. Sometimes the recommendations may be to replace lighting as it goes out. Mr. Patterson said they do sometimes provide instruction to teach energy efficiency to employees. Mr. Patterson suggested that it is very important to during the economic woes, don't fall into the trap of cutting energy savings budgets. Energy cost and demand is not going to go away any time soon. H e said the rough cost estimate for their services is $67 /hour for engineering cost and any miscellaneous incidentals such as gas and mileage. For the City of Fairhope work he would not expect a cost above $15,000. Gary Glover suggested that the City should look at sustainability, not just energy. Mr. Patterson said that they u se d the PAC system at Red Bay at City Hall , State Government, and RSA Tower. Mike Odom asked how does the bid system work with using the three major vendors he mentioned . Mr. Patterson basically said that this has been done in the past with other locations. Some one asked that if WRA TT could work up the requirements for bids. Mr. Patterson said they could look at this scenario and give it consideration. When the City of Fairhope bids it, does it have a maintenance component? Mr. Patterson said that the maintenance package usually kicks in after the warranty runs out. Mr. Patterson explained that the WRA TT Board is made up of some of the following: Business Council of Alabama, Drummond Coal, and TV A. One of the guests, Anna Smith, was concerned about the musty odors at the Civic Center. Mr. Patterson explained that some times musty odors can be a concern. Jim and the other board m emb ers indicated that he and the council members will probably need some time to digest all of the information. Nancy asked if everyone has co mpleted their review of the Conservation Subdivision section. Gary completed his comments, Debbie is still working on her comments and suggested a meeting for address ing the conservation subdivisions. Gary Gover said the Earth Day team invited FEAB to have a display on April 25 th . The question came up a bout th e "Week's Bay at Risk" in the Gulf Coast Newspaper and how can the City of Fairho pe participate . Jim Horner said the Winn Dixie Detention Pond may be the best way to participate. One of the threats mentioned in the article was a planned sewag e treatment plant. The comment was made that the City needs to consider the alternati ve system designs for it s future sewage processing operations. Elaine Syder-Conn said th at tertiary treatment goes a long way to add water quality. One item being discusse d is moving garbage to one day a week at a savings of $250,000 . The board memb ers indi cated general support for once a week garbage pickup.