RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - The idiom "Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth" might hold wisdom, but members of the Rancho Murieta Community Services District (CSD) Improvements Committee found themselves doing just that when they convened on Jan. 6.

The proverbial gift horse in question amounted to $1.3 million in funding, courtesy of former Assemblyman Ken Cooley, nestled within the 2021 California budget. The intended purpose was to cover the entire cost of three vital CSD infrastructure projects. Among them, two aimed to replace the chlorine disinfection systems at the water treatment and wastewater treatment plants, while the third aimed at enhancing safety at Granlees Dam, the intake point for the district’s water system from the Cosumnes River.

Director of Operations Michael Fritschi unveiled some sobering updates during the meeting. The initial estimate of $1.3 million for the three projects had burgeoned to $2.74 million, a staggering escalation in costs.

“Staff is concerned that delays in moving forward will result in increasing costs which could potentially jeopardize the district’s ability to utilize the funding within a reasonable time,” Fritschi said.

After a thorough deliberation, the committee devised a strategy to optimize the allocation of the state funding in light of the inflated construction costs. Essentially, the majority of the state funds would be allocated to cover the safety enhancements at Granlees Dam, originally earmarked at $174,000 but now estimated at $834,000. Some of the state funds had already been disbursed to engage consulting engineering firms for the three project designs.

Directors Randy Jenco and Martin Pohl directed Fritschi to expedite the GranleesDam project bidding process. “Let’s get this thing out to bid and see what it is really going to cost us,” urged Pohl.

The Improvements Committee, consisting of Jenco, Pohl, and Fritschi, alongside General Manager Mimi Morris, Plant Supervisor Travis Bohannan, and other staff, meticulously analyzes infrastructure matters, offering recommendations to the entire board.

Losing state money

Morris initially expressed doubts about whether the SB 170 projects represented the most prudent use of reserves. “This $1.3 million gift is turning into $1.3 obligation forcing us to do these projects, as opposed to anything else that might be more necessary,” she said.

Citing her experience with state auditors, Morris highlighted a shift in their scrutiny towards local expenditures, raising concerns about the potential ramifications of inactivity on the SB 170 projects.

“My concern is they could just come back and say, well you didn’t do anything with it so you need to pay it back,” Morris said. “But I don’t think that would necessarily be the worst outcome because it doesn’t seem like the great gift it seemed three years ago because it was insufficient to fund the projects.”

Granlee’s Dam is priority

Morris asked Fritschi if there were any other projects on his “gotta do” list that go back even further than the SB 170 projects. Fritschi said his priority would be the Granlees project.

Fritschi said his contact at Department of Water Resources, which is administrating the state money, told him the district can move the money among the three projects “So, we could put a lion’s share of resources towards one project,” he said.

Fritschi said he became increasingly amazed at how high construction bids have been coming in over the past years. “So, that Granlee’s bid is probably very conservative,” he said.

Pohl asked him if there were a way to cut costs on the Granlees project. Fritschi said he couldn’t think of anything except cutting the contingency allowance. “There are a lot of things that probably should have happened a long time ago to have a fully functioning forebay, which is really the heart of our water system as far as intake goes,” he said. “We’ve also got two gates that aren’t there anymore and a gate that should have been replaced 15 years ago,” he said.

Jenco asked about completing only part of the project. He said when Paul Siebensohn, the prior operations director,  first envisioned the project he was only thinking about replacing the cover that was already there. “And, sometimes his idea was just to use our people and not even put the thing out to bid,” Jenco said.

Fritschi said that in his opinion the district should move forward on the Granlees project because of what has happened in the past and how long it has taken.  He also said the gates pose a safety and liability issue, which is why he included a guard in front of the gates (that was incorporated into final design by the consulting engineers.)

“So, if the gates are open, which they are most of the time, someone jumping into the water won’t get sucked into the forebay and stuck to the gates,” he said. “There’s no way we can stop people from walking across the dam and there are people who kayak out there.”

(The past incident to which Fritschi referred was the drowning of a teenager in 2002 after the  youth jumped into the water intake diversion to retrieve some swimming goggles and was trapped by the currents.)

Fritschi said his second priority would just be replacing the recycled water contact basin at the wastewater plant, which is part of the conversion to bleach project.

Morris asked if CSD staff could be used for the Granlees project as envisioned by Siebensohn.

Fritschi asked Bohannon to explain why the answer was no. Bohannan said that Siebensohn designed a bleach conversion project for the wastewater plant, bought the materials and equipment and began construction with staff before he left the district.

Bohannon said when the consulting engineers looked at their work, they said nearly everything had to be scrapped because it wouldn’t operate and wasn’t appropriate. “The staff here doesn’t have the knowledge to do that stuff and do it safely,” Bohannon said. “Just by past experience alone, doing the work in-house has created more issues than it is solved.”

When asked how much money remained from the state grant, Fritschi said his “just off the top of my head” estimate is that the district has spent $250,000 so far to design the three SB 170 projects.

After further discussion, Morris recommended moving forward on the Granlees project. “A big chunk of the $1.3 million has already been eroded by thinking and planning for it,” she said. “My worry is that it is just going to be more expensive, so I feel like you might as well dive in and take care of it.”

By the close of the discussion, Jenco and Pohl agreed that the district should move forward on advertising the requests for a proposal in March, aiming for construction in late spring or early summer. They also directed that the district’s engineering firm prepare the bid documents.

Fritschi and board members have lamented at prior meetings that CSD didn’t ask Cooley for more money for the projects. When Cooley advised of the funding possibility in 2021, Siebensohn had already submitted his resignation.  Given the time constraints before he walked out the door, Siebensohn probably came up with the best project cost estimates he could, according to comments at past meetings.  

In other business, Jenco and Pohl tasked Bohannan with soliciting additional bids to address rust issues at the Rio Oso water storage tank, with plans to put the repair approval on the consent agenda at the upcoming board meeting on Feb. 21.