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The Snowflake Town Council voted to approve a new rotor drive and motor retrofit at the sewer treatment facility by Copperstate Machine and Industrial Service, LLC at the Feb. 5 meeting.
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Town Manager Brian Richards shared with the council that the wastewater treatment plant was having some mechanical issues with the aeration units and Copperstate was brought out to do an inspection on all six aeration units. “The inspection wasn’t good,” said Richards. “The existing system is outdated and involves a lot of regular maintenance by our staff. The current units are in need of a rebuild every 10 years and the rebuilds typically cost around $5,000 to $7,000.”
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Copperstate recommended that the town switch over to direct drive units for each of the six aerators, with the first three being done this fiscal year at a cost of $70,000 and the next three in the next fiscal year at the same price for a total cost of $140,149 for all six units over a two-year period.
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Richards said within the direct drive system everything is sealed, so maintenance is minimal and there is a potential of 20 percent energy efficiency that could result in an annual electrical utility savings of $8,000 per year, adding that to the longer life expectancy and lower maintenance costs, the town could realize a savings of $70,000 over a 10-year period.
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Councilman Byron Lewis voiced concerns whether this had gone for bid stating that it seemed a little suspect that the company, who had done the inspection, was also doing the repairs.
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Richards addressed the concern stating, “We worried about that initially, but the product Copperstate is giving us is proprietary because they have to engineer the interface specific to our system and they are the only ones that could give us the direct drives.”
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Richards also said that Copperstate had done conversions in Safford and Surprise with good results.
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According to the proposal submitted by Copperstate, each of the three rotors in Ditch One and the three rotors in Ditch Three will receive and a new drive and motor, a rebuilt rotor, new pillow block bearing and a micro poly solid lubricant.
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The council voted to approve the contract with Copperstate.
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The council went into executive session regarding three matters: the Apache Railway Agreement, the Economic Development Agreement Incentive and the Police Chief Succession Plan. When the council returned from executive session, they addressed those three matters as follows:
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* The Apache Rail Agreement was tabled.
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* The Economic Development Agreement incentive: a motion was passed to direct staff to publish a notice of intent to enter into a Development Agreement with Snowflake, Inc.
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* The Police Chief Succession Plan: a motion was passed to open the application process to anyone that chooses to apply.
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In other business, the council:
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* Approved the purchase of a 2008 refurbished five-yard dump truck from Empire for $42,000.
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*Approved the resolution terminating the Snowflake Volunteer Firefighter 457 (retirement) Plan; all monies will be distributed to each member according to their separate account balances.
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* Approved the January check register for the total amount of $289,224.
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