DSAC Utility Subcommittee Minutes 10/29/2024MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
UTILITY SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING
Naples, Florida
October 29, 2024
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, the Collier County Development Services Advisory
Committee Utilities Subcommittee Meeting and the County, having conducted business
herein, met on this date at 2:00 PM in REGULAR SESSION at the Collier County
Growth Management Community Department Building, Conference Room #609/610,
2800 N. Horseshoe Dr., Naples, Florida, 34102 with the following members present:
Chairman: Blair Foley - Excused
Vice Chairman: Mario Valle
Chris Mitchell
John English
ALSO PRESENT:
Stephen Sarabia, P.E., Project Manager II — Project Management, PUD
Claudia Vargas, Project Manager I — Project Management, PUD
Anthony Stolts, P.E, Supervisor— Project Management, PUD
Drew Cody, Supervisor — Project Management, PUD
Jessee Komorny, Manager — Meter Services, PUD
David Schmitt, Consultant — Bowman Engineering
Jared Mellein, Consultant — Bowman Engineering
Michael Stark, Director— Operations & Regulatory Management, GMCC
Rey Torres Fuentes, Ops Support Specialist I, GMCD
1. CALL TO ORDER
• Meeting called to order at 2:00 pm
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
• William Varian made motion made to accept agenda
• All in favor
3. NEW BUSINESS
a. Revision to the Utilities Standard Manual
Anthony Stolts:
Introduced himself and said were prepared to go through all of our strikethrough and
underlines for all the items or whatever you guys would like us to do
Jared Mellein:
Started with number one, the introduction.
Drew Cody:
Added our county public utilities; part of this review process was looking at other utilities
across the state and looking to adopt some of the best practices and we recognize this
as a fairly common practice with utilities across the state. We've seen many of our plan
sheets come in with just the details from our standards inserted in cases where they
may or may not be appropriate to the project at hand.
Jared Mellein:
Some of the details have information on them that are to be done by the engineer of
record and were just making sure it's understood.
Jesse Komorny:
You require certain details, and we generally put notes on those sheets that say were
signing and sealing these, but these aren't required by the utility.
David Schmitt:
We use that sentence to make sure the engineer of record is aware of the fact that they
are responsible the complete set of plans.
Jesse Komorny:
The electrical is not our expertise at all, I'm not aware of anybody that's getting an
electrical engineer to retire the county pump station details or the flight specifications
Jesse Komorny:
We'll spec the pump and the phase of electricity usually through the phase of electricity
usually through a shop drawing process with the contractor, there's a lot that goes into a
pump station detail, there's concrete posts, structural elements and a statement that
says were responsible to prevent system failure severe damage to other property or
injury to other persons. You've got a structural engineer that's going Louraw or get the
details from what needs to happen or get an MEP engineer involved in the electrical
right. You're just adding layer upon layer then I have never wrong, right or indifferent
I've never supplied an electrical engineer sign and sealed sheet that has the control
panel for the lift station. That's one of the standard details on control panels. There are
concrete posts with footers specified dimensions there's all kinds of conduit
David Schmitt:
The panels and the pumps they tend to typically be vendor driven designs that you do
receive
Chris Mitchell:
That doesn't leave me a lot of room on a pipe that blows because the restraint was bad
or something, you can say he didn't do an extra measure and he's liable.
Jesse Komorny:
Talking about design features, it's saying you have to provide all the rest of the features
A design that aren't in our standard
David Schmitt:
We looked at several different other utilities and the language they put forth. I know
about the liability, and we tried to pull some of that extra liability out.
Anthony Stotts:
I think the point here is that these are our minimum requirements
David Schmitt:
There are some special circumstances that hopefuls the engineer of records made
aware of or looking at and so forth that may require some special considerations
Jesse Komorny: Maybe a statement to something like that would be the required
standards represent a minimum where unusual circumstances may exist
Proceeded to move onto the next one
Jared Mellein:
On this page we revised and got rid of the link for the website because it often changes
so we just made a general statement
David Schmitt:
A lot of this language is to reflect some of the changed with the FDEP and some of their
requirements and so forth about emergency backup power and so forth.
John English:
I halfway interpreted that as in some circumstances just having a connection for a
portable generator would provide capability, emergency pumping capability and it
certain
Chris Mitchell:
When this came online there was a lot of confusion and from developers there's a lot of
pushbacks because of the cost. So, let's just make sure were really clear.
Speaker, who's your first line of defense in the review? Is it growth management at the
PPL or SDP level as to whether or not they would say, this one need power, backup
power?
David Schmitt:
There probably needs to be some cleanup of that language to reflect the fact the
community pump stations and those that are receiving type of things, to make sure were
still in accordance with the FDEP requirements.
John English:
It seems like is it as simple as there are some stations that require permanent on
location generators and some just simply need to have quick connects for portable
generators.
John English:
These require constant power.
David Schmitt:
This is a new section basically dealing with private pump stations that was proposed
also a deviation that you still have to go through a deviation process for a private
Jesse Komorny:
Most of these we've been getting has been like a single commercial facility wanting a
grinder station.
David Schmitt:
A lot of these parameters and so forth you'll see some footnotes at the bottom of the
page referencing the water pollution control federation a document they publish in 86.
Jesse Komorny:
I want to say a couple of times where you're picking a pump for a really small flow user
you have a really hard time finding a curve that you're going to get an operating point
real close to the max efficiency point
Anthony Stolts:
Yeah, well take it back and talk to everybody and see what we can come up with.
Anthony Stolts:
This isn't intended for single family homes; we're actually going to work on another
standard for that which will be a deviation to the deviation
John English:
I was thinking at these guardhouses the entrance to these gated communities very low
flow situation you're going to use a grinder.
Jesse Komorny:
I think there is an out for that fence as far as appropriate features that get you around
animals and unauthorized entry.
Drew Cody:
When these come in for review what we see for places where the fence is inappropriate,
it's a lockable lid, and it comes in packaged with the original deviation
John English:
Does this allow you to do a lockable lid without having to do a deviation
Drew Cody:
You have to have a deviation to put this in.
Drew Cody:
Typically, we see grinder pump station with lockable lid as like.
John English:
On the maintenance after design and accepted, is that something you guys' catalog? Do
you have a list? How do you know someone has a valid maintenance contract?
Drew Cody: I'm not sure what is one. What comes back is the main point of contact
and contact information.
7. Project record document:
Chris Mitchell:
What are you asking for on a meter box location? Surrey shot on it that says meter box.
Anthony Stolts:
In many instances there were no signs.
Stephen Sarabia:
For location purposes, Locators did not know where the meters were in many instances.
If they had a frame of reference as to where to find them and also for electrical conduits.
Utility is requiring locating by statue.
Chris Mitchell:
Is it that you are having difficulty with older subdivisions?
John English:
It is mostly older neighborhoods.
John English:
Does this apply to any commercial project with SDP.
Speaker, does it apply to everything
Chris Mitchell:
If a meter is not in place there is no inspection where they'll pass. The meter Box has to
be in place with the WIP. If not, the preliminary nor final inspection get accepted,
speaker, if you go to paragraph four, up near the top it's gonna tell you, which again
basically coordinates and so forth on those meter boxes.
speaker, so you want us to survey every single meter box in a single-family division
when we do our record drawings,
speaker, yeah that's the way is set up and its along with other things like your manholes
are gonna be surveyed in.
Chris Mitchell:
If you're getting it in state plane coordinates, we get a comment back saying they're not
in state plane coordinates and it shows a meter box symbol. Wouldn't that be enough if
you're trying to be able to go locate it?
Jesse Komorny:
The record drawing should show the actual location of the meter box. They're shown on
the design and permit drawing.
Jesse Komorny:
You may be a foot off and you don't want me to cross that out and put a box there,
because then you're not going to be able to read the printout of the drawing. If I'm a foot
of where it was, I don't touch it.
Jesse Komorny:
I mostly run the locates department and this is why I'm struggling because our folks out
there are trying to find these things and they can't find the box.
Jesse Komorny:
That should be a little different now because we also had below ground back flow
preventers, now everything is an above ground. If we're creating a spec for going
forward and not solving in reverse, how much do we need it?
Jesse Komorny:
What we want is to see where they are on the plan so that when our locators are going
out there, they're seeing what they should.
Jesse Komorny:
It's really critical to get those assets lined up so it's a big moving forward for many
reasons. The more accurate we get the better we are.
Chris Mitchell:
You get a contributory asset list.
Chris Mitchell:
For the record. We don't spec that; we don't design that. I think it's unfair to have us do
that.
Jesse Komorny, and so that's the exact problem that we're having is that's not shown
anywhere. And we have to locate that as well as our duty.
David Schmitt:
I think the location of the direct buried conduits, those type of things are more related to
wastewater pump stations and so we know where the power is coming from whether it's
coming from this transformer or this pole location just so it could be traced back a little
bit easier.
Stephen Sarabia:
Were responsible to locate from the can on the back of the lift station to the handhold
Chris Mitchell:
Don't we do dedicated transformer on all the new stuff? For the lift stations?
Mario Valle:
We have a conversation, everybody here is good and three years down the road we
have a new person that says no you need everything, you need to show me everything.
Speaker, that's what I want to make sure we are signing off on that or were saying no
let's add this little caveat that that's what we're talking about.
David Schmitt:
That's why we put the word county assets.
Jesse Komorny:
It's just for the portion that we're maintaining, were not talking about FPL or their
equipment.
Jesse Komorny:
We want to get a more heavy-duty plastic box with a non -float lid that we have a lot of
damage on our construction sites.
Jesse Komorny:
$100 for a regular box and $110 for a jumbo box.
Mario Valle:
I don't want to undersell them and then say yeah fine and then have them come back
and a year from now it be $200.
John English:
Is this predominantly an issue in new single-family subdivisions.
Jesse Komorny: Yeah, it's gonna be AMI all over.
Jesse Komorny:
The box for this extra $100 it's one of these big trucks can drive over it and won't break.
John English:
I was just curious, are we spending $100 and 80% of them still gonna break.
Jesse Komorny:
No, it's a very low percentage, I'm confident this box is gonna suffice our needs.
John English:
The construction fencing, how long is that stuff gonna last? You get a 200-lot
subdivision its gonna take a while for those things to sell out and build in years. Are
these things gonna be required to be maintained.
Jesse Komorny:
Our utility code enforcement requested this because they find that when silt fences are
placed around meter boxes, they're getting fewer illegal connections, people stealing
water from next door and less damage.
Moved to item 9, diesel backup pump
Jared Mellein:
We added sections 1.1 B, 2.5A and 2.513
David Schmidt:
It's only for those that we do need to have these platforms, it's not gonna be every
pump station in the county. We're gonna see them more to coastal facilities where the
FEMA elevations have jumped up a bit.
Mario Valle:
The physical impact depends on the elevation and complexity.
Jesse Komorny:
When you go in for your building permit your electrical permit on a pump station, you're
gonna have to comply with requirements.
Jesse Komorny:
You can say it's always been a requirement you have to meet the electric code
Jesse Komorny:
This is a case where you got a lift station whose top is 3 / 4 ft above.
Jesse Komorny:
We have a waterproof lid, and all our electrical components are on some aluminum with
a foundation platform
David Schmitt:
We're seeing more and more of them that are gonna be needed.
Moves item 10, standby diesel generators
Jared Mellein:
Some of the errors were corrected in the final version already.
Drew Cody:
This was a request of the utility review team; they suggested a decreased tolerance
because there's no longer a preliminary acceptance.
Chris Mitchell:
If there's a problem with gravity main from the get -go and you don't have a lot of settling
over time, it's an issue with installation. I'm not for reducing, you know when you put it if
you got a problem.
Mr. English:
I agree with Chris, I struggle with the idea that an inch is much different than an inch
and a half.
Mr. Stotts:
They were having trouble getting to one and a half and that's why they were wanting to
get to the one to make sure they were getting closer.
Chris Mitchell:
Are we creating a standard that creates more work, is there a problem associated with
the inch and a half?
Mr. English:
You're gonna encounter it more often that multiple places in the subdivision roads.
Jesse Komorny:
We'll take it back to him and discuss it some more
John English:
This communication is proposing fiber optic connectivity at pump stations, a letter of
availability shall be requested to the county for review and approval.
Jesse Komorny:
The county has fiber optics available, instead of using an antenna you can use fiber
optics to connect to their system.
Anthony Stolts:
We've added some specification and details for fiber optic connection later on here.
John English:
So, in all cases the developer is paying for this.
Jesse Komorny:
Correct
Line H is the Platform Language
John English:
Are you implying it needs to have railing guide rails to pull the pumps out with?
Chris Mitchell:
You can't go in the wet well to do any maintenance, everything has to be done outside
the wet wall.
David Schmitt:
There is a detailed WW7D that shows some things about that, without reading the
OSHA you may have to get a confined space permit.
John English:
It sounds more like if you're responsible for maintaining this you're a contractor that
provides maintenance services from lift stations you might need an OSHA confined
permit.
Chris Mitchell:
If were doing specifications for private life stations, s under the grinder heading. Do
we need item B as a spec? You're not concerned with the maintenance its private.
John English:
It's always a possibility there might be a needed maintenance activity inside the station.
Jared Mellein:
Parts R and S are platform language.
Mr. Schmidt:
This is something from another consultant we didn't do a lot of detailed review in
comparing it.
Anthony Stotts:
We hired a consultant to do his fully and they've spent time and effort on this.
Jesse Komorny:
As this gets utilized more, we're gonna find the issues and try to clean it up more.
John English:
How long ago was this work done by the prior consultant.
Jesse Komorny:
Two years ago.
David Schmitt:
Theres a detail in the back that was supplied by the other consultant.
Chris Mitchell:
You may be able to remove the NEMA 4X enclosure, NEMA6P if you have it on the
approved product list.
David Schmitt:
As we were talking, I did write down the thought we might want to specify three or four
different manufacturers or models.
John English:
If you're designing a new project there's a It station near an entrance and they would
like the idea of not having an antenna we reach pout to you, at that point somebody's
gotta design a fiber connection from the station to your closest facility.
Jesse Komorny:
Yes
Jared Mellein:
Item 24 cover page, this was a webpage got rid of the link and made a general
statement
Chris Mitchell:
What's the benefit on these sites, because we have two sources of communication.
Jesse Komorny:
I don't want to say in all cases there'll be no antenna because sometimes we do have
cellular available
Jared Mellein:
Item 25 modified table of contents, to reflect changes and correct scriveners' errors.
This was just details we revised we have a new date as January 2025
Item 26 title block was changed on a bunch of details that didn't have a title block and
collier county's logo was added
Item 27 detail G10 pipe restraint schedule, the detail was modified to include
additional and restrained pipe length tables for vertical bends
David Schmitt:
That was something not on the original restraint joint tables was the vertical bends, so it
was something that needed to be added.
Jared Mellein:
Item 28, detail G12, IT, fiber optic telecommunications.
Jesse Komorny:
That's roughly the $15,000 is this new panel and you got a handhold for the fiber.
Chris Mitchell:
This is what you use on the capital improvement project.
Jared Mellein:
Item 29, detail W1, temporary blow -off assembly of bacterial sample point detail
Item 30, w2
Item 31, w3, fire hydrant detail, replace fire hydrant connection point range, minimum
18 inches, maximum 24 inches with note height of hydrant was set based upon
manufacturers recommendations
Item 32, added distance from EOP slash curb to fire hydrant based on rural or urban
area
Chris Mitchell:
In asingle-family subdivision your urban minimum four feet from curb to your hydrant is
in conflict with your seven six minimum to your valve pad.
John English:
The two foot minimum radius, the sidewalk had to be two feet off that.
Jesse Komorny:
You gotta have a clear zone round there that they can get around that hydrant.
Jared Mellein:
Item 33 permanent brass models added to approve product list, stainless steel models
removed.
David Schmidt:
This came from the water side, they were having issues with the stainless -steel devices,
and they wanted to switch back to brass.
John English:
We've had experience where there's a high incidence rate of failing back tees with
stainless steel fittings, bacteria seem to cling to it, or its growth is promoted.
David Schmitt:
We can look at and discuss with the water department. Those stainless -steel inserts in
the polyethylene pipe, if they come in a variety of types of materials because brass may
be a little too soft to use for that insert.
Jared Mellein:
Item 34, detailed W-12, typical short and long side water service meter setting detail for
connection to water main, temporary construction fence, graphic added around meter
boxes with no reference seen, note 8 on detail W-12A, revised meter calls out to AMI
slash AMR meter.
John English:
Shows the temporary construction fence, the CO or installation of sod.
John English:
I think it's going to be a maintenance thing, there's work we do, and we get it to look
right at the day of inspection and then you're signed off.
Jesse Komorny:
It becomes a vertical construction inspection not the site.
David Schmitt:
There needs to be modification of that fencing at some point.
Jared Mellein:
Item 36, W-13, three inch and over potable water meter assembly detail, added note
number nine to equipment specification including maintenance access in county CUE or
right of way.
Chris Mitchell:
Wasn't that part of the requirement?
David Schmitt, it was but it's just making sure its plainly put out there
Proceeded to talk about scheduling the next meeting and stopped with today's
meeting.
Next meeting will be on Monday, November 18'h at 2pm
4. OLD BUSINESS
NONE
5. PUBLIC SPEAKERS
NONE
G. ADJOURN
There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was
adjourned by the order of the chairman at 4:23 p.m.
COLLIER COUNTY DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
UTILITIES SUBCOMMITTEE
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These minutes were approved by the Committee/Chairman on 02/05/2025
(check one) as submitted x or as amended