THE ClearView A Publ icat ion of ClearWater Solut ions, LLC

AUGUST 2018Goodbye, Gator!Some days just aren’t your typical work day. A Moss Point, MS resident recently heard his chihuahua barking and went outside to investigate. He found a large alligator lurking in his backyard, called the Police and Wildlife Fisheries, and they decided to put it down. The CWS team arrived under the impression it was a small 6 - 8ft gator, but quickly learned they needed more than strong backs to carry it out...so they brought in some equipment to help load and dispose of it. The alligator was located at a home that backs up to one of the city’s bigger bayous. Of course, the resident was happy for the quick action taken by the Wildlife Fisheries Department and the CWS team so that the little dog didn’t become an appetizer for the big gator.

Mississippi Municipal League HighlightsOver 400 mayors, aldermen/councilmen, and other governmental officials participated in the recent MML conference held in Biloxi, MS. Most of them took time to stop by our booth over the 2 day event. It was great to see many of our current clients and meet some new faces (and hopefully some NEW clients) as well. In addition to having a booth, CWS hosted a Hospitality Room on Tuesday night at the Beau Rivage Hotel & Casino. An open invitation was extended to anyone attending the conference and the turnout was amazing with about 250 to 300 people joining us for drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

Insurance Reminder!Have you gone to the doctor lately and afterwards received a bill in the mail stating that the insurance didn’t pay? Or maybe while you were standing at the check-in counter in the dentist office, they tell you that you will have to pay for your visit since you don’t have insurance coverage? You are apparently not alone! We have received MANY calls over the last few weeks wondering what was going on with our insurance company. Turns out, many people have forgotten that effective January 1st we have new insurance plans and have failed to update their insurance information on file in the doctor/dentist office. Our health insurance is still with Blue Cross Blue Shield, but has new policy and group numbers. You also have a secondary insurance (Alliance Health Supplement) which picks up the deductible. Be sure to give the doctor’s office BOTH cards! If you participate in our dental and vision plans, you have one new insurance card (Guardian) for these services. Please remember: If you receive a bill in the mail that doesn’t seem right, be sure to verify first that the healthcare provider filed the correct insurance. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact Natalie Young, the CWS HR Coordinator.

Greenville’s New Warm WelcomeGreenville, Mississippi residents and visitors are receiving a new warm welcome into the city. A bright, newly redesigned entrance sign welcomes those who travel in to town at the Reed Road and US 82 intersection. CWS employees in the City’s Traffic Division led the effort. Undra Washington provided the conceptual design, while Charles Williams and Tevin Hunter helped with the painting, lighting, and final touches around the sign. The Traffic Division is under the supervision of Russell Davis. The sign project was completed in June. Great job, guys! It looks amazing!

Before After

Photo courtesy of DDT News

Being Audible - Ready - By Rick AiliffThere are so many cool and exciting things happening within CWS. New work, new business leads, new employees, a formal training program, new corporate office in Auburn, and a ton of other things. After experiencing a disappointing financial quarter for our company, it would be easy to get down. But instead, we have a great leadership team that has remained positive and focused on the “why” of CWS - and that is Building Communities and Impacting Lives. We take that mission seriously.

I recently asked a group of CWS leaders to give me their most inspirational quote on leadership. Steve Cawood’s favorite is “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it” quoted by Charles Swindoll. I asked this question to get the leaders’ pulse on where they were after experiencing the down quarter. Each quote told a lot about the person that submitted it. I was pleased to see that ALL were positive, inspirational, and relevant to our current situation. We plan to use these quotes in our new office.

One of my favorite quotes from Don Shula kept coming to my own mind. Winning coaches make their teams “audible – ready”. An “audible” is a football term, verbal command used to alert the player to substitute new assignments for the ones they were prepared to perform. Suppose, for example, that the quarterback goes to the line of scrimmage and realizes that the defense has figured out their strategy and is ready to stop them. Does he follow through with the doomed play? Of course not. He signals for a different play that has a better chance of success. An audible allows the quarterback to do what makes sense. Audibles are not just last-minute ideas the quarterback has dreamed up out of nowhere. These are strategies that players know about and have practiced.

After the first six months of 2018 and a down second quarter, we are calling “audibles” to redirect our team and take the lead. Though increased power bills, abnormal weather conditions, unplanned equipment repairs, extra pay periods, and various unexpected expenses threw us off course, we have met to discuss ways to effectively manage those unexpected bumps in the road. It has inspired me to see our team of leaders come together for the common good of CWS. Of course, the audible doesn’t just affect the quarterback of the team, but every position on the field. That team includes YOU! With your support of our company, your help managing expenses, and your diligence working efficiently, CWS can be more successful than ever before. We feel positive about the remainder of the year.

We all need to be “audible-ready” with our jobs and in everyday life. Not everything happens the way we plan and we are constantly making adjustments. Brent Stauffer’s quote, “continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential” by Winston Churchill says it all. Whether you are the administrative assistant in the office, the laborer mowing the grass on the side of the road, or the project manager - the effort of your position affects the potential of our team. You are vital part of CWS and we truly appreciate your “audible ready” attitude! REGISTER TO WIN!!!

Do you have an inspirational or motivational quote that means something to YOU? Send

it to us! We’d love to include them all in our upcoming newsletters. Plus, in case you need some additional “motivation”, everyone who submits a quote will be registered in a

drawing for a

$50 VISA GIFT CARD! Email your favorite quote to Beth Turner

(beth.turner@clearwatersol.com) by August 30th. We’ll draw a winner on

Friday, August 31.

Kudos on a Job Well Done! A special kudos to David Lewis and his crew! David, our Gautier Project Manager, recently received a thank you message from Mayor Phil Torjusen. The text read “Good morning David! Your weed eating crew did a really nice job on the bridge railing on Graveline Road. Thanks!” It is always nice to hear from our clients that our team is making a difference in the communities in which they work. We appreciate your hard work!

Gautier Team Enjoys Food & FunGautier team members were honored with an “Employee Appreciation” get-together for their hard work and dedication through the intense hot weather. According to David Lewis, CWS Project Manager, “Our Gautier team works so hard every day and I just wanted them to know that it hasn’t gone unnoticed. They are very much appreciated. We couldn’t do this job without them.” The employees enjoyed a crawfish and shrimp boil prepared by Stacey Ford’s husband, and had some fun playing horse shoes and cornhole games.

Davis to Lead Flow Monitoring & Smoke Testing EffortsCWS is pleased to announce that Billy Davis has been promoted to lead the Flow Monitoring and Smoke Testing Division for CWS company-wide. Billy has received training and certification through HACH to provide these services and his schedule is already filling up with new projects starting soon in Ardmore, Prattville, and Lanett, AL; Tyndal Air Force Base, as well as various locations in Georgia. His previous clients have included Aiken, SC; Franklin, TN, and Fort Oglethorpe, GA. “CWS can assist with sewer flow monitoring, sewer smoke testing to find infiltration, confined space entry, and storm water flow monitoring services. Promoting Billy to lead this effort will allow him to focus on these responsibilities and ensure that each project is given ample attention. He has the experience and equipment necessary to provide services throughout the Southeastern US”, said CWS President, Rick Ailiff. “These services are available to anyone – you don’t have to be an existing CWS client to receive them,” Ailiff added.

Billy has been with CWS since August 2014. In his most recent role, he has served as the Project Manager for the Town of Billingsley, AL. With an extensive construction background, his role as CWS Project Manager provided the Town and its residents with first class water treatment operations and distribution including flow monitoring, installation of sewer lines and water mains, repairs of leaks, installation of manholes, and testing of sewer lines and manholes. In his new capacity, Billy will use this project management and hands-on construction experience to assist his clients with the right monitoring and testing solutions, as well as recommendations for necessary improvements when needed.

CWS TURNS AROUND GOLDEN FLAKE EFFLUENT PROBLEMS

At the end of May 2018, ClearWater Solutions (CWS) began a month by month contract with Golden Flake Snack Foods, Inc. (GF) to assume operational control over its wastewater treatment facility. The CWS team operates and maintains the ADI membrane bioreactor (MBR) facility at the Birmingham production facility which consists of two parallel 32,000-gallon membrane tanks equipped with submerged membrane units (SMUs). The system also includes an influent pumping station, influent force main, 370,000-gallon pre-aeration tank, a reaeration chamber, sludge dewatering system, control building, and a laboratory. The MBR system treats up to 400,000 gpd of GF’s raw snack food wastewater following fine screening and a primary clarifier. The plant’s production mix can fluctuate causing its wastewater to have varying strengths and consistencies. The system also has flow rates ranging from 100,000-350,000 gpd.

Golden Flake normally discharges its wastewater effluent into an adjacent stream. However, in May 2018, declining effluent quality caused the need for GF to discharge to the local sewer which created exorbitant wastewater surcharges. In less than three months’ time, CWS wastewater operators improved the effluent wastewater quality to undetectable biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations. Additionally, the NH3-N concentrations are now below 1.5 mg/L. Now that the prescribed effluent standards are met, GF is discharging into the adjacent stream thereby eliminating surcharges.

Corrections and improvements made by the CWS team included removal and replacement of more than 1,200 submersible membranes for physical solid/water separation in the MBR tanks; the installation of a missing splash plate on fine screen shaker table; oversight of daily primary clarifier solids removal and hauling; super chlorination, cleaned and drained the effluent pre-aeration tank for sludge worm eradication; identified and corrected several spill containment deficiencies; and streamlined laboratory testing operations.

CWS NAMED MOSS POINT’S “PARTNER OF THE YEAR”During the July 16th ‘State of the City’ address, CWS’s Moss Point, MS team received the “Partner of the Year” award. The award, presented by Moss Point Mayor Mario King, celebrated the accomplishments that worked toward the Mayor’s vision to rejuvenate Moss Point. He stated that the CWS team is always quick to respond to the needs of the City and its citizens. Roy Hutchinson, CWS Project Manager for Moss Point, accepted the award on behalf of the team. CWS President Rick Ailiff and Regional Manager Brent Stauffer were also in attendance for the event. According to Stauffer, “Roy and all of his team work very hard for the City and the Moss Point residents. They take great pride in their work. We are honored that Mayor King recognized our team with this award and we appreciate all of the support that Mayor King and the City’s Aldermen continue to provide to our company.”

Since February 2016, CWS has partnered with the City to provide O&M services for the City’s Public Works infrastructure of 28 square miles, including water distribution, sewer collections, 60 lift stations, 811 locates for utilities, natural gas system, storm water maintenance, street/sign maintenance, right of way maintenance, grounds maintenance and building maintenance of the city-owned structures, as well as all work orders, approved city capital projects, and customer complaints. In April 2018, the City expanded the scope of services of the CWS contract to include meter reading of 7,000 water meters and 2,100 natural gas meters, as well as customer service and billing.

Congratulations to all of our team members in Moss Point! Thank you for your hard work and dedication!

Pictured above Rick Ailiff, Brent Stauffer, Mayor Mario King, and Roy Hutchinson

CWS Training Program Classes are UnderwayThe newly formed CWS Training Program is underway! Training has begun and is going great for both Water and Wastewater classes. Trainers, Chris Thomas and Tim Mitchell, are continuing to study and improve the training material to be in line with the new ABC testing being administered in most states. According to Tim who leads the Water Class, the training methods are different for each course. “We are operating different,” he said. “I am traveling two days each month to Selma, AL and Marion, GA to meet with the students for a full day session. I send out study material, videos, and questions each week. Chris’ wastewater classes, however are handled remotely with conference calls every Friday. Powerpoint material is sent out ahead of time for review.” Each course takes three months to complete. There are currently 20 students enrolled in the inaugural training program. Both the water and wastewater courses will end in October with the participants taking their exams shortly after that. Other than the investment of time, there is no other expense to the employee- CWS covers the cost of the training and the exam fees. Good luck to everyone who will take the exam! We are rooting for you!