Travis County Commissioners Court
December 13, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 8
8, approve contract award for home alex, plain view estates water connections project, to the low bidder key stone construction, inc.
>> judge, I want to lay this out because this has and a long project that apparently come to some type of closure as far as getting water to the single-family dwellings out there at plain view estates.
as you notice, they did come before us before on trying to acquire water and especially a lot of the things that went dry out there.
if they could lay it out for us, hhs was involved, t.n.r., of course now we have cdbg situations that we may can look at now and the number of homes.
if they can just basically give us perspective on what's going on, how this will work and then the time line on when it will actually come to closure on what we're doing here as far as getting those services and things, it really would help out.
so I'll just let staff at this time go through what they need to go through to just to bring us up to speed.
thank you.
>> good morning, christy moffett, Travis County health and human services.
so back in 2007 the Commissioners court provided some funding for water lines, an extension for water lines that were being -- that was going through plain view estates from one part of Austin's colony to the other.
and at that time the citizens of plain view estates felt like they would be able to afford connections to those mains if the county could assist with general fund dollars to be able to make that extension on to clear view drive.
as economic conditions changed and the water table changed, it was determined that some of the residents weren't going to be able to make those connections.
so plain view estates is sandwiched into two parts of Austin's colony off Austin 969.
it is a -- there are about 40 homes.
we thought we might be connecting about 39 homes.
now it looks like some of the houses connected without assistance, so we're looking somewhere between 19 to 23 homes for connection.
we're actually finalizing that this week to determine how many homes.
and we have gone through a design process.
we had funds made available to us through the u.s.
department of housing and urban development, through the a.r.a.
grant fund.
we received about $226,000.
so we've completed design, we've completed the environmental assessment which is court has certified.
I apologize, I don't remember when.
it was sometime earlier this year.
and so now we're ready to move forward with construction.
my understanding is the construction schedule is about 60 days.
once this contract is approved and we get all of the things in place, it's likely that construction will happen in the beginning of -- in the beginning of January and they will have 60 days to complete that.
so we're hoping for completion by March.
>> I want to -- I would like to move approval of this, but I wanted to make sure that the folks understand that we have not given up on them and I'd like to appreciate what the court has done in the past just to lay out the ground work for -- for this particular deal to come through.
and then those persons that will carry out, and, of course, in the first part of -- I guess the first part of the year, January, will commence, and completion of this project will be about when?
>> well, they have 60 days in their contract to complete the work.
from whenever the notice to proceed is.
there's a variety of factors involved in when that actually gets issued.
>> right.
well, I want to make sure that the folks out there realize that it's been a long haul and a long battle to try to make sure that we get something out there to the plain view estates, which is between kennedy ridge also and Austin colony, that subdivision right off 969.
anyway, I want to thank staff and thank the Commissioners court for approving the past items up to this item.
so like I say again, I move approval.
>> it's already seconded by Commissioner Eckhardt.
>> okay.
>> so when we complete the homes covered by this contract, it will be 100% of the homes in a subdivision?
>> there are some homes that have opted out.
they are not connected to the water main and they are not choosing to participate in this project.
>> okay.
do we think they would be income eligible.
>> they have chosen not to go through the income eligibility process.
so we can't force them.
we have sent out certified letters, we have sent out numerous notices, we have confirmed that they are not interested and if that was a misunderstanding to please let us know.
we have -- we have gone through many levels of communication.
we have also sent our social worker out there to make sure we have our bases covered.
so I feel like the people who have chosen not to participate have been fully informed and have their reasons for not doing so.
but it's very minimal.
I think it's probably around two or three people who have chosen not to participate.
>> the low bid was $88,000.
the highest of the four was 230,000.
we believe that $88,000 will get the job done?
>> we do, judge.
it works out to about $4,000 per connection and we're talking going from the water main to the house.
4,000 should cover it.
>> this is the same subdivision we worked with earlier to get lines laid in place.
>> yes.
>> these lines will tie into the Austin water colony service?
>> it might be manville.
>> southwest.
southwest water supply.
>> we just need to lay the lines.
of course, as you stated, they are laying the lines from the house to the hookups which the line is already there.
>> they are 100% on board.
>> yes.
they helped pay for the extension of the water main, if I recall.
>> right.
>> mr. Reeferseed, anything relevant to this one?
>> yes, when I hear the same southwest water I have to let you all know this is incredibly horrible criminal company that took our water system where I live and lived for 20 years, they moved in, they took it over and they tripled the prices and now it's fluoridated.
and they won't even talk about it.
they deny it and you have to get online on the website and it's the first thing they mention how much fluoride they put in the water.
so it's a bad news company.
they are out of california.
they control things in seven states so it's the absolute wrong way to go on companies to so avoid southwest water company, in my opinion.
>> don't tell them that until after the system is hooked up.
all right?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all.
thank you very much.
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