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14 <br /> <br /> Mr. Gaffney agreed with Mr. Roberts’ suggestion and stated that a MOU <br />concerning the items agreed upon today would be circulated among all the boards for <br />approval. Mr. Gaffney further stated that consensus of the Boards on the Dredging <br />Feasibility Study will await a report by the SFRR Stewardship Task Force on their <br />recommendation as to whether or not to undertake this study. Mr. Gaffney also <br />commented that the City and ACSA will each conduct a Water Conservation Study and <br />report back to the four boards on their findings. At that time a decision will be made on <br />whether to revisit the 50-year demand calculations. <br /> <br /> Ms. Ann Mallek, Board of Supervisors, asked if the four boards will reconvene <br />after the SFRR Stewardship Task Force issues its report to discuss the Task Force’s <br />recommendation in further detail on whether to conduct a Dredging Feasibility Study, <br />and if so, the next steps in the process. <br /> <br /> Mr. Gaffney said he believes that the four board chairs requested that the SFRR <br />Stewardship Task Force reports its findings at a meeting of the four boards. <br /> <br /> Mr. Rooker read the last sentence under item d in City Council’s resolution as <br />follows: “The team, for comparison purposes, will also develop an updated cost estimate <br />in current dollars to simply make required dam safety improvements to the existing <br />Ragged Mountain Dams with no supply increase.” He asked whether the cost estimate <br />had ever been made, and if not, what would it entail to have that cost estimate made as a <br />separate matter. <br /> <br /> Mr. Frederick said that prior to the 2004 community water supply planning <br />process, a study was conducted specifically to address dam safety issues as part of a study <br />of the various alternatives. The study used 2002 to 2003 market values, so the cost <br />estimates would need to be updated to reflect current prices. Although he was not at <br />Rivanna during the time period of that study, he asked later and did receive confirmation <br />that the Ragged Mountain Dam level would probably need to be lowered during the <br />repair work. He said he feels that it is an important point that the community would be <br />losing some water supply when demand would be reaching its safe yield number. He <br />reiterated that he feels the cost estimate will need to be updated to reflect current market <br />prices. <br /> <br /> Mr. Rooker asked if the results of the Dam Safety team’s assessment of the <br />Ragged Mountain Dam related to addressing safety issues would be added to the scope of <br />work of the expert panel. This item appears to have been added by the City. <br /> <br /> Mr. Norris said the City’s assumption is that the expert panel would double check <br />all the assumptions made by Gannett Fleming related to all the needed dam work. <br /> <br /> Mr. O’Connell explained that this item was added to the proposal due to citizen <br />comments about dam safety issues and the cost for repairing the dam versus full <br />replacement. <br /> <br /> Ms. Thomas questioned whether the boards would ever agree on this item, and if <br />not, why spend the money for engineering experts to determine a comparative cost. She <br />said the Ragged Mountain Reservoir will be an almost unique reservoir that does not silt <br />in and is such a good part of our community water supply that one could not imagine <br />simply repairing that dam and not taking advantage of a situation where you are already <br />going to have to do a lot of construction work there and yet not add to your water supply <br />storage. She then asked if the other members agree with her position on this item. <br /> <br /> Mr. Norris agreed and added that under any reasonable scenario the water supply <br />capacity would need to be expanded at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. Legitimate <br />questions have been raised about the dam height and at what point would the dam need to <br />be repaired versus entirely replacing the dam. He said the City’s intent is to determine <br />the amount of expenditure at various height levels. <br /> <br /> <br />