HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018 Public Works Annual Report Division of i
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- 2018 Light Up South Bend: Partnered with I&M to identify areas whore liglitilfetWAH.ElYNLEditi
new poles to bring additional lighting to neighborhoods. Due to l&M dri srtt'iv`d16n eO E H BEND, IN_
hurricane areas last year, l&M installed the 2017 lights (70) in May and completed the 2018
installs (74) in the fall.
- Angela Bridge Lighting: New lamp posts were mounted on the existing bridge abutments.The
project installed similar lighting to the Portage Bridge, providing consistency for bridge lighting
throughout the City.
- Riverside Lighting: A rewiring project along Riverside Drive restored lighting to the existing,
historic posts and fixtures.The project included rewiring of the lights on Riverside Drive from
Lafayette Blvd.to Forest Avenue and adding a new Tesco cabinet to replace the existing service
point in Leeper Park.
- Solar Lamppost Pilot: Revamped the cost-share program, which provides for the installation of a
decorative lamppost in a resident's front yard, after only 10 applicants applied in 2017. Piloted a
program targeting lower income areas, this time installing solar powered lampposts with a cost
share of only 10%of the $400 material cost. In a short roll-out period, 88 lampposts were
installed.
- Safe Routes to School (SRTS): As part of this year's SRTS project, the City received federal
funding to install 8,424 feet of sidewalks and 5,854 feet of curbs near Monroe and Studebaker
Primary Centers.
- Fire Stations: Closed out the new Station 4 project in 2018. Continue working on Station 9 and
training center.
- FEMA Coordination/Flood Damage Repairs: Served as the main point-of-contact between the
affected City Departments, mainly VPA and DPW, and the FEMA investigation team for the
February flood. Coordinated the collection of data related to damaged assets as well as the
initiation of projects to repair buildings, trails, and parks.
- Long Term Control Plan: Completed major secondary treatment improvements at the waste
water treatment plant, resulting in greatly increased capacity to treat waste water.
Renegotiations with federal and state environmental regulators continued as the City attempts
to adapt a new smarter and greener alternative for the remainder of the LTCP.
- Downtown Cross Streets: Designed for secondary streets in downtown, the 2018 project
included new lighting, curbs, sidewalks and landscape improvements to Michigan Street
between Colfax and LaSalle Avenues, as well as Colfax between MLK Jr. Blvd. and Main Street.
- Quiet Zones: Completed a study that explored the feasibility and conceptual cost of adding quiet
zones on the West Side of the City.The study provided budgetary expectations and insight into
the magnitude of improvements necessary to silence train horns along the remainder of the
Norfolk Southern and Canadian National corridors within the City.
- Community Crossings Grant Project: Provided local governments with funding to make
immediate road and bridge improvements in their communities. City made$1.3M in
improvements which included paving Ironwood Drive from Corby Blvd. to Edison Road, the
reconstruction of approximately 600 feet of concrete pavement at the intersection of Ironwood
and Edison, and modernization of the intersection, including new poles and traffic lights.
- Sewer and Manhole Lining: Lined approximately 4,400 LF of large diameter combined sewer
main in the CSO 18 drainage area. Lining this stretch of sewer will remove groundwater
infiltration and thus increase the pipe's capacity to handle storm water when it rains.
- Curb and Sidewalk Contractor Project: As part of the City's efforts to improve curbs and
sidewalks throughout the entire community, 7,377 feet of sidewalk and 6,293 feet of curbs were
replaced in 2018 using a combination of the city's in-house concrete crew and contractor bids.
New curb ramps and trees were replaced as well.
- MBE/WBE Contract Awards: In 2018, the Engineering Division bid a total of 46 public works
projects, of which 37 projects showed a good faith effort to use MBE/WBE contractors.The total
amount of public works projects bid out was$50,130,137.73, with approximately 6.85%
allocated to MBE/WBE vendors ($3,433,310.46). The average amount of work performed by a
MBE/WBE per project was 14%.
- Income-based Rate Study—Engineering kicked off an initiative to study the City's ability to offer
a customer assistance program for Water and Sewer utility customers. This important work will
assist struggling residents who can't afford to pay their bills. In 2019, we will continue to study
what other cities have done, implications of the oversight body IURC, and what develop a
proposal for a plan to serve South Bend rate payers.
- The Morris: A three-foot section of decorative plaster was found broken in multiple pieces on
the mezzanine level. Emergency work was completed to secure the ceiling with netting and gain
occupancy approval after plaster fell from the rim of the main dome. Following this temporary
solution, Engineering will work with the Consultant to study and design a permanent solution
for construction between special events in 2019.
- Century Center: Assisted in the design for various improvements: marquee and exterior signage,
convention hall entrance, Bendix upgrades, storage deck, parking lot automation, soft scaping
and wayfinding. Assisted with emergency repairs to the men's and women's restrooms in the
lower level.
- Managed the design, bidding and construction of these critical VPA MySBParksandTrails
projects: Howard Park, VPA Restroom Remodeling, West Bank Trail, Leeper Park, Pulaski Park,
Seitz Park and Pinhook Park.
- Safe Streets Academy: As one of three communities selected by the National Complete Streets
Coalition, South Bend participated in a free technical assistance program that provided
education and training on redesigning and engineering roads to reduce traffic speeds and save
lives. South Bend completed a traffic calming demonstration project in the Near Northwest
Neighborhood incorporating creative community involvement techniques and placemaking
activities utilizing temporary installations.
- Neighborhood Traffic Calming: Due to the high number of traffic calming requests, Engineering
developed a formal procedure to identify, evaluate and prioritize these requests in order to
provide an objective, clear and transparent process for acting on these requests.
o Construction contracts were awarded for the installation of five speedhumps, along with
signage and pavement markings at three locations on East Longfellow Avenue and two
locations on North Riverside Drive.These speedhumps will be constructed in the spring
of 2019.
- Downspout Disconnection:Towards the end of 2018,the Engineering Division encouraged
residential properties that had been identified as having downspouts connected to the City's
combined system,to take advantage of the City's free program to disconnect by the end of
2018. In less than a month,the City received almost 700 applications from residents.
- Capital Improvement Plan/Project Map: Developed a mapping application that identifies
locations of all capital improvement projects within the city, including current status of the
project and important dates.
- New Projects: Initiated 117 new projects while maintaining an active project list of almost 200
ongoing projects in the design or construction phase. Engineering Project Management is spread
out among various City Departments: Parks, Fire, Community Investment, Code, as well as Public
Works.
- The City's engineering standards and specifications were updated.These standards and
specifications were prepared to establish consistent design elements and requirements for
developers, contractors, utilities, and other private parties as well as for providing guidance for
work within or affecting the City's Right-of-Way.
- Engineering Site Plan Reviews: Reviewed 54 overall site plan reviews,41 of these included a
drainage review. 11 minor subdivisions, 2 major subdivisions,4 requests for replat, 20 rezoning
requests, 19 Rule 5 Erosion and Sediment Control permits, and three annexation requests.
Division of Streets
Exceeded paving expectations, originally planned to pave 18 miles but completed 20.30 lane miles.
Sewer insurance was used for only 40 digs in 2018, compared to 47 digs in 2017.
Sewers saw 633 backup calls—only three of those were caused by the city. Three is the lowest number
in five years.
Traffic & Lighting changed out 97 LED lights throughout the city.
Curb & Sidewalk Reimbursement Program had 57 participants, which translated to 2,601 LFT of new
curbing and 2,844 LFT of new sidewalk.
Picked up 1,623 cubic yards of leaves from 2,500 residents during Spring ReLeaf.An additional other
42,938 cubic yards of leaves from 21,525 residents were picked up during Fall ReLeaf.
Filled 22,100 potholes.
Cleaned 2,933 catch basins.
Division of Solid Waste Accomplishments
95%of the Solid Waste fleet has been converted to CNG.Three new trucks were added to the fleet this
year.
New disposal Contract.
Using Natural Gas in the CNG Trucks generated by the WWTP.
Upgraded Elemos System
Yard Waste Program
17,271 (or 51%of trash service customers) participated in the yard waste program
Collected 3,763.53 tons of yard waste
For yard waste containers, SW delivered 1,509, repaired 70, exchanged 186 and removed 299.
Conducted 4,228 extra yard pickups for the year
Collected 1,343 Christmas trees
Trash Pickup Service
34,124 customers serviced per week
Collected 30, 543 tons of trash
Conducted 15,543 extra pickups for the year
For trash containers, delivered 1,542, repaired 203, exchanged 804 and removed 1,329.
Division of Sustainability Accomplishments
l&M Rate Case Intervention—Sustainability intervened to keep the rate increase low to residents, while
also advocating for low-income programs and climate-responsible decision-making. Other results from
City's intervention were:
- Argued for and won rebate of new charges on streetlight accounts
- Argued for streamlined energy data reporting for commercial customers.
- Argued for and won support for EVs and weatherization in South Bend
- Argued for and won a minimum of$156,000 in economic development grants
Electric Vehicle Leadership-
- Installed the first public EV charging station in the city at the southeast corner of Jefferson and
Lafayette Boulevards. Responsible for the installation, policy development, and marketing and
communications.
- Hosted "Ride n' Drive" educational event at May First Friday
- Completed EV decision memo and EV cost analysis
- Mentored city leaders from Plymouth and Goshen in EV issues
Planned and Hosted the Sustainable Operations Workshop
- Day-long workshop with 30 expert speakers across three topics (fleet, facilities, and
sustainability management), solutions expo, keynote speaker(Mark Fisher, Cincinnati Zoo).
- Regional audience of 150 attendees
South Bend Green Corps
- Awarded an annually-renewable AmeriCorps grant of approx. $150k
- Providing green jobs to two FT staff and several AmeriCorps members
- Building partnerships and filling service gaps
- Empowering residents to increase safety and comfort and reduce energy bills in 2019
- Collaborated with DCI and Mayor's Office on coordination and marketing for unified resident
experience
Climate Leadership
- Educated and mentored leaders from other communities interested in climate action. Helped
plan a state-wide training and support network for creating GHG inventories.
- Supported council and community interest in a local climate resolution. Briefed council
members.
- Provided a plenary and workshop session at the Indiana Climate Leadership Summit.
Participated in Urban Land Institute's Sustainable Development Summit. Collaborated with one
of Notre Dame's sustainability working group. Presented at numerous community events.
- Engaged regionally with the Urban Sustainability Director's Network.
Commitment to Global Covenant of Mayors
- Completed two of four steps of this public commitment
- Completed community-wide GHG inventory
- Completed first-ever submission to Carbon Disclosure Project
Division of Utilities
Organic Resources
- Record land application season—pad emptied in both the spring and fall in record time.
- Increase in revenue of 15.4%, highest revenue achieved over the last 9 years.
- With a run of good weather this fall, land application was completed in 6 days leaving no
biosolids on the pad again for the second year in a row.
- Received 2,564tons of biosolids.
- Sold 3,834 tons of compost and 900 tons of mulch.
Water Works
- 587 miles of water main and 7,134 main line valves
- Serviced 112,400 customers in 2018. Delivered 5.31 billion gallons of safe reliable water.
- Average amount of water treated per day was 14.5 million gallons.The daily maximum as 25.04
MG. Minimum was 10.87 MG.
- Total service calls:49,781 with 22,943 handled through the customer service office.
Capital Improvements
North Pumping Station Filtration Plant
- New free chlorine analyzer at mid integrated into SCADA
- High service pump#4 rotating assembly and motor refurbished
Edison Filtration Plant
- Upgraded to run on auto residual. High service pump#3 replaced failed soft start with 250 horse
power variable frequency drive to provide operational flexibility
Cleveland North Treatment Plant
- Riser for meter vault installed and surroundings graded.
Pinhook Filtration Plant
- Hypo feed upgrade—raw feed hypo pump and mid feed and finish hypo system
- Installed chlorine analyzer at mid-process
Fellows Booster Station
- Local #2 motor replaced, pump end refurbished,failing floor deck plates replaced and grating replaced.
Water Distribution
A comprehensive Main Line Valve Turning Program was started in 2018 to exercise our valves in the
system. With the 1,081 valves turned, we learned which valves are accessible, operable, which position
they are in (open/closed),which direction to turn, and how much torque is needed to turn them. In the
process, we discovered valves that were broken or had rounded caps that could not be turned.This
program will make planning a repair more efficient, rather than figuring this information out during an
emergency.
A total of 2,594 fire hydrant inspections were completed in Maximo in 2018.As part of the flushing
program,the distribution staff was able to flush 1,622 hydrants for system maintenance and water
quality.
Water Quality&Compliance
Water Works met 100%compliance again with 4,395 results reported to the Indiana Department of
Environmental Management. Water quality staff ran a total of 25,020 tests to monitor the water at
treatment facilities as well as throughout the distribution system.
2018 was the Utility's year to test for Synthetic Organic Compounds, which are carbon based, man-made
chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and degreasers. The water leaving each of the drinking water
treatment plants was tested during the second and third quarters. Each sample was tested for twenty-
nine different regulated compounds and thirteen unregulated compounds. No SOCs were detected in
any of the samples.
The Utility had plumbers begin distributing door hangers to residents before a repair was done through
the service line insurance program. Special hangers were provided to residents with a lead service line.
Recent studies have shown that lead may temporarily increase in tap water when a lead service line has
been disrupted. With the goal of being transparent with customers and our dedication to their well-
being, the Utility is exercising accountability by making customers aware of precautions they can take to
minimize their exposure to lead after a scheduled disruption occurs.
Customer Service
Received 22,943 calls presented to the Colfax office plus 355 call backs handled.Therefore, 1,615 calls
were handled on average per month by the customer service office.
Waste Water
The South Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant operates under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit. This NPDES permit, issued December 1, 2016 by the Indiana Department of
Environmental Management, allows the plant to discharge treated wastewater into the St.Joseph River
in accordance with permit conditions.
In 2018, the South Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant treated a total of 13.545 billion gallons which
converts to an average daily flow of 37.11 million gallons per day.
The Treatment Plant facility underwent continuing construction upgrades. Projects included:
Dewatering Improvements:The four belt presses were rebuilt and put into use.
Secondary Improvements Project: Focused on certain major components which included a new
aeration effluent channel, improved final clarifier flow control, improved final Clarifiers 6 and 7,
replacement of return sludge pumps for Clarifiers 6 and 7, a new effluent pipe for Clarifiers 6 and 7,
replacement of groundwater dewatering system, and new return sludge piping direct to each
aeration tank.
Operations Key Performance Indicators for 2018 are as follows:
NPDES Permit Violations 0
Operations Staff Work Requests Generated 657
Total Work Orders Complete 3,460
Completed the construction of the Digester Gas Utilization project, which included the addition of a
buffer tank for storage, the extension of cleaned gas piping from the Digester Gas Cleaning Skid to the
Compressor Building and the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Fuel Station, and instrumentation for
monitoring flow.
Operations Major Accomplishment: Final completion of Secondary Improvement Project led to total
automation of the secondary system which reduced energy usage and increased efficiency of the
treatment process.
Maintenance Major Accomplishment: Completion of tank coatings for all Primary Clarifiers and
concrete channel walls as well as the Blending Basin and the North Gravity Tank.
Computerized Maintenance Management System Upgrade
Utilities upgraded its CMMS system to the latest version of IBM's Maximo 7.6. It is now a web-based
program and is being hosted off site.The Maintenance Staff utilizes iPads to access work orders and to
document work performed. This allows supervisors to access real time data and assists in completing
reports and scheduling upcoming work and projects.
Maintenance Key Performance Indicators for 2018 are as follows:
Preventative Work Orders Completed 6,946
Work Order Backlog Hours Monthly Average 1,194
After Hour Emergency Calls 92
Combined Sewer Overflow
The City has 35 active combined sewer overflow points ranging in outfall size from 12-inch to 96-inch
diameter pipes.The total number of CSO monitoring devices is around 120. Each of the metering
devices has data outputs that are collected via the CSO.Net communication system and then displayed
on graphs and excel spreadsheets over the Internet.
The total amount of wet weather overflows recorded in 2018 was 613 million gallons.There was a total
of 105 days in 2018 when at least one overflow occurred.There was a total of 1,483 individual wet
weather overflow occurrences. Annual precipitation from the CSO MRO was 63.98 inches.
Key performance indicators
Number of Dry Weather Overflows—1
1 due to contractor oversight during sewer lining project.
Average CSO EmNet System Critical site uptime for the year—97.21%
Average CSO Em Net System Non-critical site uptime for the year—95.35%
Number of total work orders completed
Corrective Work Orders Generated = 14,994
Corrective Work Orders Completed= 14,921
Number of preventative work orders
Water Works-Water Treatment
Preventive Maintenance Work Orders Generated =4,228
Preventive Maintenance Work Orders Completed =4,206