TO: Indian River County Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
Sean C. Lieske, Director, Department of Utility Services
Howard G. Richards, PE, Manager - Capital Projects
FROM: Paola Talavera, Associate Engineer, Utility Services
DATE: September 23, 2025
SUBJECT: Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. Work Order 22 for Facilities Electrical Improvements and Standby Power - IRCDUS Project ID 00.25.522
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BACKGROUND
Indian River County Department of Utilities Services (IRCDUS) owns and operates consolidated water production and distribution, wastewater collection and reclamation, and beneficial use reclaim water systems, that serve customers within the respective service boundaries. Each of these systems have major supporting facilities and infrastructure that are crucial for the daily operations of the utilities. Furthermore, the facilities rely on utility electrical power including IRCDUS-owned electrical equipment to ensure operational reliability. IRCDUS has noted components of their electrical and emergency standby power infrastructure that require improvements to maintain reliability and resiliency.
ANALYSIS
IRCDUS has noted deficiencies with the existing grounding and lightning protection at their major facilities. Thunderstorms are inherent to Southeast Florida and pose a threat to electrical infrastructure that is not adequately protected from lightning. As such, IRCDUS desires to quantify the deficiencies and remediation plan to enhance facility grounding infrastructure which will be outlined in a report that IRCDUS can subsequently utilize for the design, permitting and construction of necessary work.
IRCDUS also desires to improve upon the standby emergency power conditions for each of their existing Upper Floridan Aquifer (UFA) well sites that serve the Hobart and Oslo Water Production Facilities (WPFs). Currently wells, S-1R, S-2 and S-3 receive standby emergency backup power from the Oslo WPF and well S-4R has an emergency standby generator onsite. The remaining wells, S-5, S-6 and S-7 have plugs for portable generator hook-up. The Hobart WPF shares emergency standby power with seven (7) of the nine (9) total wells, with N-7 and N-9 powered from a remote FPL service with a plug for portable generator. IRCDUS desires to investigate alternatives to improve the reliability of emergency power setup for both north and south UFA wellfields to enhance their resiliency against outages.
Lastly, in 2022 IRCDUS completed an electrical evaluation for the Hobart well sites, which outlined the deficiencies and areas for improvement. IRCDUS desires to refresh this evaluation and incorporate civil, process mechanical and instrumentation improvements to provide a holistic current state diagnosis of the Hobart wellfield, similar to what is currently being performed for the Oslo WPF under Oslo WTP Capital Upgrades & Renewals project, Project ID 12.25.505. IRCDUS desires to consolidate this evaluation into a comprehensive wellfield improvements document that can be utilized to prioritize and administer capital and O&M (operations and maintenance) projects for the wellfields.
Upon request by IRCDUS staff, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. (KHA) provided the attached scope of services to perform professional services for the Facilities Electrical Improvements & Standby Power Investigation (Project ID 00.25.522) for $129,734.68.
BUDGETARY IMPACT
Funds, in the amount of $129,734.68, for this project are derived from the Utilities/Gen & Eng/Other Prof/Facilities Electrical Improvements & Standby Power account, number 47123536-033190-25522, in the Utilities operating fund. The Utilities operating fund budget is derived from water and sewer revenues.
POTENTIAL FUTURE BOARD ACTIONS
Upon completion of KHA services under WO 22, a new work order is proposed to be issued to KHA, or other appropriate consultant, for design and construction phase services based on the wellfield’s evaluation.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Infrastructure: Planning, constructing, managing, and maintaining critical public infrastructure in response to our current needs, future demands, and the expectations of our community; embracing innovation, technology, and resiliency.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners approve Work Order 22 to Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. to provide professional services for the Facilities Electrical Improvements and Standby Emergency Power project, Project ID 00.25.522, in the amount of $129,734.68, and authorize the Chair to execute the same. So long as there are no changes in the dollar amount under the amount approved, upon adequate completion of the work set forth in the work order, staff is directed to make final payments to Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.