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3 <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: County Commissioners <br />John Link, County Manager <br />Geof Gledhill, County Attorney <br />COPIES: Rod Visser, Assistant County Manager <br />FROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Engine <br />DATE: Apri14, 2000 <br />SUBJECT: Rogers Road community waterline project <br />As per the direction of the BOCC, County staff have met with OWASA staffto develop a plan to <br />undertake the project to extend waterlines to the historical Rogers Road community on the northern <br />boundary of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Attached is correspondence from Imtiaz Ahmad, PE, Director of <br />Engineering for OWASA, outlining OWASA's proposal for its role in the Rogers Road waterline <br />project. This correspondence includes: 1) a draft interlocal agreement between the County and <br />OWASA, outlining the role and financial responsibilities for both the County and OWASA in designing <br />and constructing the project; 2) a projected timeline for the project from start to finish; 3) projected or <br />preliminary design, construction and administrative costs for the project; and 4) a project site map. I <br />have evaluated this material and discussed some potential and minor revisions to the project map and <br />costs with Mr. Ahmad. These revisions are not significant, and of course, will be finalized during the <br />project design phase. <br />From an engineering perspective, the proposal from OWASA appears to be reasonable and to fit the <br />County's needs and the BOCC's expressed desires fairly closely. The proposal does not provide for a <br />sharing of project costs with potential project beneficiaries living outside the target neighborhood as <br />might be accomplished through an assessment process. However, any cost savings to the County <br />through such an assessment process would not likely be significant. Furthermore, the public hearing and <br />other requirements associated with an assessment process could easily add six months or more to the <br />project completion time line. <br />Mr. Ahmad has expressed OWASA's willingness and readiness to initiate the formal Request for <br />Proposal (RFP) process to secure a engineering design consultant for the project at any time, even prior <br />to execution of an interlocal agreement. However, as the overall process by which the County will take <br />responsibility for the landfill and landfill related activities has been delayed, I have advised that <br />OWASA not move forward with the RFP. My assumption is that the BOCC will address an interlocal <br />agreement with OWASA once the Board is confident that the outstanding issues related to the landfill <br />takeover are resolved. I would not advocate that the County ask OWASA to begin soliciting engineering <br />proposals too far in advance of formal BOCC approval of the landfill takeover agreements. However, at <br />the direction of BOCC, the RFP process can be initiated immediately. <br />If I may provide additional information at this time, please advise. <br />