Montrose, CO — City Councilors met for a work session Monday morning, February 1, to hear a recommendation for a possible upgrade to utility meter infrastructure software and a possible contract award for a new pump house at the Black Canyon Golf Course.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, City Councilors Roy Anderson, Dave Bowman, Barbara Bynum, Dave Frank, and Doug Glaspell met online along with city staff via the Zoom platform. The public was also invited to attend. The following is a summary of the primary topics discussed during the meeting.
Watch the meeting here.
AUTOMATED METER INFRASTRUCTURE SOFTWARE UPGRADE RECOMMENDATION
City Councilors discussed a recommendation to cancel the upgrade of the Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) software to a Software as a Service (SaaS) purchase order with National Meter and Automation (Badger Meter) and award it to Mountain States Pipe and Supply in the amount of $85,663.
Utilities Manager David Bries said the item was more housekeeping in nature as the city has already entered into a contract agreement to upgrade to a new meter system.
In late 2019, the City Council approved an upgrade to the City’s ITRON AMI system to National Meter and Automation, who later became Badger Meter. Shortly after this award, ITRON dropped Badger Meter as a representative. Badger Meter remained committed to completing the upgrade through ITRON but has not completed the work. Mountain States Pipe and Supply, the current ITRON representative, has offered to take over the upgrade for $85,663, the same cost as was awarded to National Meter and Automation.
This cost was included in the 2020 Budget but was not spent. The proposed award of $85,663 is not in the 2021 Budget, however, there is adequate funding available in the Water Fund, according to Bries.
Mayor Barbara Bynum said a supplemental budget could be needed at the end of 2021 to adjust for the change.
The proposed change will ensure proper operation of the city's utility meter system according to Bries.
GOLF COURSE PUMP HOUSE CONTRACT RECOMMENDATION
City Councilors were presented with a recommendation for a contract award totaling $102,010 for fabrication and installation of the front 9 Irrigation Pump Assembly project.
Assistant City Manager Ann Morgenthaler said the pump house, located on the front 9 of the Black Canyon Golf Course property, has reached the end of its useful life, and many replacement parts can no longer be found to fix broken components.
The city currently owns a front 9 irrigation pump station was built in 1992. Due to the age of the pump station, parts are becoming extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate, as are service contractors. During the summer of 2020, course personnel was not able to find the required parts and resorted to manually operating the system with only 60% of the water needed to maintain the course.
The city determined the necessary capabilities of a new pump station and worked with multiple vendors to determine the best options for replacement. The pump station will be placed in the existing location on hole number 6 (see figure 1), which will remain in service until the new pump station arrives.
Construction of the project was put out for bid on December 29, 2020, and bids were publicly received on January 14, 2021. Only one bid, from Watertronics of Denver, was received. Black Canyon Golf Course staff worked with City Engineer Scott Murphy and Utilities Manager David Bries to issue the request for bids and evaluate the bid.
Watertronics is considered qualified to perform the work. Although the city has not worked previously with the company, they have a very good reputation in the golf industry. They have installed over 31 pump stations in Colorado since 2015.
Drawings and fabrication work for the project is scheduled to begin as soon as the city approves the contract. The project is scheduled to be completed ten weeks after contract approval.
Contract administration and project management will be performed by the superintendent of the Black Canyon Golf Course. The 2021 budget includes $100,000 for this project. The $2,010 in additional cost will be allocated from the Black Canyon Golf Course maintenance budget.
City Councilors will consider whether to approve the project at the Tuesday, February 2, 2021, City Council regular meeting.
GENERAL CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION
City Engineer Scott Murphy gave an update about a possible traffic signal at the intersection at Chipeta Drive and U.S. Hwy 550 just south of the city.
The intersection has five different jurisdictions, according to Murphy. At that intersection, Highway 550 is managed and controlled by CDOT while Chipeta Drive is a Montrose County right-of-way.
"It's a county road with city traffic on it," Murphy said.
Murphy presented the council with a number of maps detailing city traffic and property boundaries that show the complexity of the area.
In 2008-2009 Murphy said several high-density developments were being considered for private property south of the Cobble Creek development. A traffic study conducted at that time showed re-routing traffic from Chipeta Drive to an alternate road that would meet the highway several hundreds of yards south of the Chipeta Road intersection. Since this alternate roadway does not exist, that plan was discarded.
Murphy said that since Chipeta Drive is a Montrose County roadway, any traffic signal installed at the Chipeta Drive intersection would be a county project, although the majority of traffic at the intersection was generated from areas within the city limits.
Murphy said CDOT officials and engineers have signaled their support of a traffic signal at the intersection. One such discussion involves widening the bridge over the Uncompahgre River as well as roadway adjustments at the traffic signal area to take into account acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes, and turn lanes.
Murphy said the city and county have been in negotiations to create a potential cost-sharing proposal to install a traffic signal at the intersection. Murphy said an intergovernmental agreement, or IGA, with the county, would need to be completed to begin designing the project, and additional traffic data would need to be collected.
City Manager Bill Bell stated the city would like to begin working with the county to move forward with the project.
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Public Works Manager Jim Scheid said the city is working to repair a failed culvert at the intersection of South 5th Street and Junction Avenue.
Scheid said the culvert runs under the roadway accessing the city's Animal Shelter and Wastewater Treatment facility.
Scheid also updated the council about the construction of the new Public Safety Complex to house the Montrose Police Department. Scheid said site and foundation work would begin early this year while final designs of the building are being concluded. Scheid said the council would see contract awards relating to the project at a future City Council work session. Scheid said protective safety fencing will be erected around the work zone as early as March.
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Police Chief Blaine Hall thanked councilors for their investment in new technology that has helped keep officers out of danger while conducting recent police work. Chief Hall said a dangerous investigation over the weekend was an opportunity for officers to use this new technology, including a drone, robot, and body cameras. They said a barricaded subject at a home gave officers the option to use the technology rather than enter the home themselves.
Hall said officers were able to use this technology to clear the home. The technology was funded from Public Safety Sales Tax funds approved by voters in 2019.
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All City Council meetings are recorded and made available online via the city’s website and cable channels 191 for Charter subscribers and 970 for Elevate subscribers. Replays of council meetings are also broadcast at 6 p.m. on the same channels on days that the council is not in session.
In addition, each regular meeting is archived on the City of Montrose’s YouTube channel.
Residents can watch all regular City Council meetings and work sessions live through the city’s website at CityOfMontrose.org/Video.
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