City doesn’t answer, Wilson & Co. does—in engineering speak

I asked, at the mic, during public comment at the Nov. 15 Truth or Consequences city commission meeting, if electrical and other work at the Cook Street Station had been cut out of the $9.4-million downtown water project.

I was wondering if the cascade of events that nearly resulted in the city having no water, as reported by Water and Wastewater Director Arnie Castaneda at the same meeting, could have been avoided if all of what was supposed to be done at Cook Street in the original plan had been done. Cook Street is the Grand Central of our water system. It’s where well water is pumped to, chlorinated and pumped out to all other areas of the city. For details on Castaneda’s report:

https://sierracountycitizen.org/shocking-report-from-water-wastewater-director/

I asked who decided what was to be cut out of the project.

I said there is a lack of transparency in how capital projects are initiated, conducted and put in priority and that the city is facing at least $200 million in water and wastewater repairs. We need a master plan, I said, to ensure those repairs are put in priority to avoid such disasters Castaneda had related moments before.

During the city commissioners’ reports, City Commissioner Shelly Harrelson said the $9.4-million downtown water project was “perfectly transparent,” and that “an engineer” made the decisions on what was cut out. Mayor Amanda Forrister said—if I understood her correctly, since she would not repeat or clarify what she said when I asked her during a break in the meeting—that the Cook Street portion of the construction had not been cut out but delayed.

As usual, I had to submit an Inspection of Public Records Act Request to get answers to my questions.

Although state IPRA law says a response should be given in three days, I received one in 13 days. IPRA also states a governmental entity is not required to create a document if one does not exist in response to the request. The document I received was created on Nov. 28 by Wilson & Company engineer Mark Nasi, the project manager of the downtown water project. It is included at the end of this article.

It is very bad that the city is not keeping its own capital projects records. It shows a lack of city oversight and dereliction of duty to protect the public purse.

Nasi does not submit the original plan so it can be compared to what ended up being done.

He states the city opened bids on July 7, 2022, and SmithCo ( a local contractor/engineering firm located in Caballo) was the lowest bidder at $7.52 million, but only $6.31 million out of the $9.4 million budget was available for construction.

“The city elected to negotiate with SmithCo Construction,” Nasi wrote in his IPRA response.

On July 27, 2022, Nasi says a “virtual” meeting was held at which the city, SmithCo and Wilson were present.  SmithCo presented their ideas for cutting down the project and submitted a new bid of $6.32 million, which was still $10,000 over budget. The city and Wilson changed their version a bit, putting back in pipe to be laid on Broadway, but taking out pipe in other sections of Broadway. This got the project down to $6.31 million, Nasi said.

SmithCo suggested the following cuts:

-Foch Street paving and landscaping

-Main Street, 177 linear feet of pipe subtracted

-Well Number 8, computer and electrical messaging equipment that communicates with the pump and gives other data was to be demolished and replaced, but was subtracted

-McAdoo West, Riverside, Daniel, Date and Broadway streets had about 1,469 linear feet of pipe subtracted from the project

The city and Wilson & Co. added and subtracted pipeline from Broadway, Nasi’s IPRA response states.

The next part of Nasi’s report is vague. He writes, “NOTE: Additive Alternate 1 and Additive Alternate 2 were not included in the awarded project scope due to budget constraints.”

The bid request was broken up, evidently, into a base bid section and then additive alternate sections. Someone, Nasi doesn’t say who, decided to cut these sections out.

Alternate 1 was a 300,000 gallon tank at Cook Street Station that would have offered needed redundancy to and enlarged the capacity of the existing 200,000 gallon tank in which the water is chlorinated. That cut $1.75 million out of the project.

Alternate 2 was removing and replacing the Cook Street Generator and its communications systems. Cutting this out of the project removed over $1 million from the project.

The final part of Nasi’s report is also vague and addresses delayed portions of the project.

“The delay of the final completion of the project until July 1, 2024, is only for the electrical work at Cook Street station and SCADA system improvements. This delay is due to the manufacturer’s equipment delay that is justified by the attached letter from the manufacturer. (See attachment for electrical manufacturers’ backlog letters),” Nasi states in his IPRA response.

I looked up what I had reported for the Sierra County Sun on the project. In a May 2, 2020 article, I cited a Rural Development Office letter that describes the project. The Rural Development Office is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s subdivision that oversaw the project, including the USDA’s grant and loan funding requirements.

Here is the Sun article:

https://sierracountysun.org/government/t-or-c/preview-city-of-torc-city-commission-nov-13-meeting/

Here is the pertinent part of that article:

“The Rural Development Office letter states the project will consist of the following:
–Replace 32,800 linear feet of 6-inch, 8-inch and 12-inch old and leaking lines on Broadway, Main, Pershing, Foch, Daniels, McAdoo, N. Broadway and Austin streets. The document does not clarify if the lines are water and sewer lines.
–Replace gas chlorination system at the Cook Street Facility.
–Install variable booster drives on existing booster pumps at the Cook Street Facility.
–Install a new backup generator at the Cook Street Facility.
–Upgrade the drinking water SCADA/HMI system (supervisory control and data acquisition/human machine interface system).
–Replace remote terminal units at the Cook Street Facility, well #1 and booster station, well #2, well #4, well #6, well #7, well #8, Morgan Tank and Booster Station, Pershing Booster Station, Cemetery Road Tanks and Dispatch Center.”

I am not sure, but I think that the parts of the project that have been delayed are the last three in the above  list.

Castaneda, on Nov. 15, said the city was having “electrical problems with the wells,” starting around Oct. 1. He did not state if they were resolved. The Rural Development letter says electrical upgrades would be made to six wells about three years ago, but Castaneda said on Nov. 15 that the city has “three or four wells.”

The New Mexico Environment Department website data and the city’s own numbering system shows the city has eight wells. Looks like less than half may be operating.

About two and half years ago, previous-City Manager Bruce Swingle, in a verbal report, said he had to make an emergency purchase to fix a few of wells. Only two were operating and the hospital and schools were in danger of not getting necessary water, Swingle said at the time. He did not specify if electrical problems were the cause of the problems.

Castaneda said on Nov. 15 that Cook Street had two pumps but one was “pirated to fix the other,” and the engine on the remaining pump blew out and caught fire on Nov. 6. He vaguely stated that there was a “voltage problem with the electrical panel.”

Nasi’s IPRA response does not include pump replacements at Cook Street and does not refer to overall electrical upgrades at Cook Street. The delayed electrical work appears to be to subsidiary computer and electrical components that hook into the grid.

It is not clear, therefore, if the city and Wilson & Company’s downtown water project properly prioritized work to avoid the city nearly running out of water the first week of November.

Castaneda’s Nov. 15 report and Nasi’s IPRA response raise further questions:

Why was only $6.3 million out of $9.4 million available for construction?

Why was the public told verbally by City Manager Angela Gonzales several months ago that this project was finished when it is not?

Should Wilson & Co. have examined the Cook Street electrical panel in its planning phase?

Or should the city’s electric department have caught electrical panel problems or inadequacies at Cook Street? If so, who should coordinate asset/equipment reports so that interdepartmental fixes occur?

The Eaton electrical company’s portion of the downtown water project that has been delayed: Would it have prevented the electrical problems with the wells (starting Oct. 1or possibly two and a half years ago when Swingle said only two wells were operating)? Would it have prevented the pump engine from blowing on Nov. 6? If so, should the city have cancelled the Eaton award and gone to the next bidder to ensure quicker delivery?

How much was the Eaton portion of the $6.3 million construction budget?

There is no doubt that more sunshine is needed on capital projects to ensure that priorities are properly set—and communicated and discussed at city meetings.

A hired engineer, whose job is to make money for his company, responded to my IPRA, which demonstrates the city is not tracking projects and is probably incapable of doing so. The project was cut down by the “city” and Wilson & Co. in a virtual meeting. This is secrecy and not transparency. The city commission is avoiding accountability.

To protect its citizens and the public purse the city must hire a planner/engineer to oversee and to report on its capital projects. We desperately need this planner/engineer to be a good communicator.