LTC 212-2018 Deferred MaintenanceAA
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City of Miami Beach, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, www.miamibeachfl.gov
Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
Tel: 305-673-7010 , Fax: 305-673-7782
NO. LTC# 212-2018
LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members of ; e City mission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: April 20, 2018
SUBJECT: DEFERRED MAINTENANCE
The purpose of this LTC is to provide feedback about deferred maintenance from the ULI public
listening session earlier this week.
By way of background, the City of Miami Beach stormwater system consists of 108.4 miles of
gravity pipe, 1.74 miles of force main pipe, 8,202 structures, 37 pump stations, and 367 outfalls.
The city is over 100 years old and many of its assets were installed soon after its inception.
There are many cases of deferred maintenance and reinvestment presumably going back for
decades. With our current aggressive approach to maintenance most of the city's stormwater
system is functioning near its existing design flow rates and capacity. Lack of maintenance has
not been the cause of flooding in the lowest lying areas of the city such as Alton Road, Indian
Creek, Orchard Park, or Crespi Boulevard. We have experienced record high tides and extreme
weather events that have led to flooding.
Unfortunately, there had been deferred maintenance to our system, but the current
administration has tasked staff with operations, maintenance, and renewal of its stormwater
assets to provide dependable drainage into the future. Staff reported many examples of
deferred maintenance such as inoperable pumps and obstructions in the system due to sand
and debris. Previously purchased pumps were from a variety of manufactures and repair parts
were not readily available. The system cleaning was being performed by a contractor based on
an hourly contract rate that yielded minimal results, and City employee teams were using
vacuum trucks originally purchased for the sewer division that were near the end of their useful
life. The vacuum trucks assigned to the stormwater team were inadequate and spent an
inordinate amount of time out of service needing repairs.
A series of needed improvements were identified and implemented. With the approval of the
Commission, action was taken that all future pumping equipment will be standardized to insure
availability of parts and service. An additional contractor was hired to perform cleaning services
on a pay for production basis to yield better overall performance. Two new vacuum trucks were
purchased, at a cost of nearly $800,000, taking delivery of one in 2016 and the other is
expected in 2018. A staff training plan was initiated where team members were incentivized
with rewards to increase their skill set through certification programs in stormwater operations
and maintenance.
All of these improvements in the management of the system have resulted in significant
increases of effectiveness for typical daily summer rainfall events. In many areas of the City the
best management practices for the existing systems are not sufficient to mitigate extreme tidal
events or even worse extreme tidal events coupled with rainfall. Particularly in areas where the
ground elevation is below the tidal elevations no amount of maintenance is going to make the
water flow uphill. Historically lack of maintenance may have contributed to some localized
flooding however the programmed stormwater system improvements are the only solution to
date proven to be effective in abating the influence of extreme tidal events.
Deferred maintenance unfortunately is a common occurrence in cities across the nation,
fortunately here in Miami Beach our City Commission is investing in our resources and our staff
is identifying needs and improving our system. With record high tides and extreme weather
becoming more and more prevalent, we not only need to protect and maintain the assets we
have, but also invest in new and improved infrastructure to reduce our risk in the future.
JLM/EC/R