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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, August 22, 2011 7:00 o'clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 5 of 14 *6. PROPOSED XCEL ORONO SUBSTATION & 115kV TRANSMISSION LINE - DRAFT COMMENT LETTER Rahn moved, Franchot seconded, to approve the comment letter to Suzanne Steinhauer, State Permit Manager, Energy Facility Permitting, MN Department of Commerce – Office of Energy Security, and to direct Staff to forward it to the Public Utilities Commission. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. CITY ENGINEER'S REPORT 7. ORONO ORCHARD ROAD AGREEMENT WITH MCES Kellogg stated in June of 2010 Staff began discussions with the Metropolitan Council Engineering Services (MCES) to determine their interest, if any, in being a partner with the City of Orono in the Orono Orchard Road reconstruction project. The Orono Orchard Road project is on the City’s street CIP and is scheduled for 2012 construction. MCES has plans to install a parallel force main down Orono Orchard Road adjacent to their existing force main to provide additional capacity and redundancy but that is not on their schedule for improvements until 2020 or beyond. In our discussions with MCES, they have concluded it made sense to move their project up on their CIP to 2012 to take advantage of the City project and capitalize on the cost savings and efficiencies by partnering with the City. The City will also benefit by partnering with MCES and that current estimates indicate the City will realize a project cost savings of approximately 26 percent or $435,000. Staff has worked through the details and crafted the attached Construction Cooperative Agreement and Attachment No. 2. The Construction Cooperative Agreement defines the terms, conditions, and responsibilities for Orono and MCERS in this joint project. Kellogg noted the City sold bonds in anticipation of this project. At the time the cost estimate for the City portion of the project was $1.7 million. That estimate was reduced by a couple hundred thousand dollars with the hope that the Metropolitan Council will contribute towards the project. If the Council chooses to move forward, it is expected the agreement will be back before the Council between now and November sometime. The next step would be to authorize completion of a feasibility report. Kellogg indicated they will hold a neighborhood meeting to identify any concerns the residents may have. The October, November time frame has been identified for a preliminary survey and preliminary design. The final design would be completed by February 2012 and would be let out for bids in March. The project would be awarded in April of 2010, work would begin in June of 2012, and the project completed in October of 2012. Kellogg noted there is not a lot of leeway in the schedule and that he would ask the Council to decide if this is a project they would like to move forward with. Kellogg also noted that because the Metropolitan Council has moved this project from 2020 to 2012, it is their anticipation it will get built in 2012. If the project is not completed in 2012, Kellogg indicated he is not sure what the ramifications will be. McMillan asked if Kellogg has discussed that issue with the Metropolitan Council. Kellogg indicated he has not since he wanted to discuss it with the City Council first. Item #03 - CC Agenda - 09/12/2011 Approval of Council Minutes 08/22/2011 [Page 5 of 14]