BACKGROUND

The approved 2017 Budget for $309,000 includes $215,000 for a new Sewer Televising Camera. The existing camera which was purchased in 2002, is unreliable and prone to repetitive failures due to a design flaw with the cabling connections. The existing camera is not entirely water proof and has therefore been susceptible to electrical shorts. The present rate of repairs is roughly one repair for every three usage occurrences.

It is the goal of the Sewer Unit to televise 25,000 linear feet per year of our sanitary and combined sewer systems, which translates to about one tenth of both systems. In years past, this goal has been achieved, although in recent years our televising continuity has been greatly diminished due to the unreliability of the existing camera system. The new camera recommended for purchase has an expected life of 15 years.

The general plan for televising and processing the reports would be about 2,500 linear feet per day. This would represent about 80 hours per year of camera time allocated to routine inspection. The camera is also used frequently for help in determining the cause of flow problems or to confirm the condition of homeowner connections to our sewer mains.  A recent quote for the rental of a camera similar to the proposed replacement camera is $450/hour on a daily basis. This would place the yearly cost for rental at $36,000 for routine inspections alone. The Sewer Unit must also televise about 80,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer before January 2020 as a requirement of the recently mandated Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Inflow and Infiltration Assessment. The additional MWRD required televising would represent about $115,200 in additional rental fees over the three year period. Based on these rental costs and our projected annual usage, it is more cost effective to purchase a camera.

The National Joint Purchasing Authority (NJPA) is a joint purchasing cooperative that is similar to the Northwest Municipal Conference and offers joint purchasing services/products to local agencies. The NJPA includes a bid for the camera equipment necessary to retrofit our existing high cube van. The total cost for equipment and the retrofit to give us a new fully functional camera system to perform existing and future televising would be $144,739, which includes the trade-in of our existing camera system. This represents a significant savings from the budgeted amount. Atlantic Machinery of Silver Springs, MD won the bid for the camera system.

Staff recommends the Board declare the old camera system as surplus and utilize it towards trade-in for the new camera system, with a trade-in value of $26,705, which brings the purchase total to $144,739.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Village Board declare the current camera system surplus, with a trade-in value of $26,705, and award the bid for the purchase of a Sewer Televising Camera and retrofit to Atlantic Machinery of Silver Springs, Maryland  in the total amount of $144,739 and authorize Staff to execute the necessary documents.