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Important equipment installed at Grand Island WWTP

Dec 2014

DECEMBER 2014 — Wastewater isn’t a pretty topic, but it’s crucial to every person, home, business, and to the environment. New equipment was installed Wednesday morning to help Grand Island, Nebraska, effectively dispose of wastewater. Two new bar screens, each weighing 16,000 pounds and 37 feet long, will help Grand Island properly dispose of wastewater.

“Garney lowered a mechanically cleaned bar screen into the Headworks facility,” said Marvin Strong, Plant Engineer at the Grand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The wastewater treatment plant removes at least 90% of contaminants from the water, which eventually flows into the Platte River. How does it work?

Strong said, “Almost anything and everything comes down the sanitary sewer at the sewage treatment plant. And what the bar screen does is remove the heavy material, basically to protect the pumps and the equipment in the sewage treatment plant.”

The bar screen is a big part of effectively disposing of wastewater. And Garney Construction’s Project Manager, Mark Miner, says installing equipment of this size takes a lot of preparation. “Part of the challenge is the bar screen itself slid into two slots that were built into the concrete walls,” said Miner. “Even though installing equipment like this is Garney’s bread and butter, it’s still a bit of a challenge. It’s kind of a dance of trying to lower the machine down and move it over and lower it down so it’s not easy to get that wedge shape into the concrete holes that are in the walls.”

The two new bar screens are replacing similar equipment installed when the plant was first built back in 1965. Strong says he hopes with good care and maintenance the screens will last another 50 years. The new screens are part of the Headworks Project at the plant, which is 75% complete. The project is designed to accommodate Grand Island’s hydraulic waste water needs until 2062.

*Video courtesy of NBC Nebraska

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2014 ESOP Month

Nov 2014

NOVEMBER 2014 — In honor of Employee Ownership Month in October, Garney sent out special edition newsletters to all our crews to celebrate our appreciation for our employee-owners. The newsletter featured interviews with several retired Garney employee-owners about ways in which the ESOP has impacted their life. The success stories inspire all of us to continue working hard every day to achieve our long-term goal of a secure retirement.

Baseball caps specially designed for ESOP Month were delivered to all Garney employee-owners. In addition, everyone received a miniature “cutout” of our mascot, ESOP Man, to keep on our desks or in our trucks to continuously remind us to always be mindful of the ESOP. While ESOP meetings were held back in May and June, crews and offices also had the choice to get breakfast or lunch catered in honor of ESOP Month. We are proud of all our employee-owners and the hard work they put forth every day in order to secure our retirements.

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Employee-Owners help ‘Give Kids the World’

Sep 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014 — Individuals of Garney’s Winter Garden, Florida, office recently adopted two villas in support of the Give Kids the World organization. The villas, part of the 70-acre, non-profit storybook resort, provide children with life threatening illnesses a place to stay with their families when visiting the local parks. The organization provides villas in addition to a week-long fantasy vacation free of charge, in hopes to provide a memorable experience for these families.

On September 12, Garney employee-owners traveled to Kissimmee to weed the villa yards, mulch and clean the gutters. The team will return on November 7 to decorate the villas for the holiday season. Adopting the villas requires a commitment of no less than quarterly visits for upkeep.

The Winter Garden Estimating Department was tasked with handling the mulch; although, some say our employee-owners had a tough time distinguishing the bushes from the weeds!

Special thanks to employee-owners Justin Smith, Will Gulledge, Jere Wujick, Margie Lewis, Maria Santana, Rocio Torres, Tracy Winsor, Sheamus Togher, Lee Welker, Warren Donnely, and Christina Lopez for your contributions to this worthy cause!

Learn more about how you can support Give Kids the World here.

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Essential Safety Products receives new training vault

Sep 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014 — Essential Safety Products (ESP) specializes in distributing occupational safety, health, ergonomic, environmental equipment and supplies, as well as assisting a wide variety of industries in achieving the goal of total worker safety. Their certified trainers provide courses, including simulated situations, designed to safeguard employees from the hazards they face every day. Due to their recent move to a new training facility, ESP needed a new confined space simulator. After discussions between Garney and ESP, the conclusion was made that the construction of two partially buried precast vaults and a connecting pipeline were what ESP’s classes needed to simulate confined space safety and rescue tactics. Due to the tight quarters of the new facility, each piece of the four-piece vaults had to be placed by a 200-ton crane. The pieces were able to be off-loaded next to the excavation with the largest piece of the vault coming in at 35,000 pounds. The project is now the only realistic training facility of its kind in Colorado.

The following companies provided goods and services for this project: Garney Construction provided more than 180 hours including a crew of six, Project Superintendent, and Regional Safety Manager; Duffy Crane and Hauling provided services of the second largest 350-ton hydraulic Terex crane in Colorado that required 200,000 pounds of counterweights and volunteered a crew of three; Oldcastle Precast provided one 7 x 11 vault and one 8 x 8 vault, as well as 40 feet of 48-inch diameter reinforced concrete pipe (RCP); and Hockaday Trucking provided transportation services for Garney’s excavator and crew equipment to complete this project.

ESP owner Ed Stephenson is thrilled with the outcome of this project, and believes it will tremendously help their training program with realistic confined space simulations. “We couldn’t turn down Garney’s offer to build this vault; having a real-life vault simulator that is good enough for a contractor will definitely be beneficial for training municipalities and engineers. This project exceeded all my expectations,” Stephenson said. All team members worked collaboratively together to complete a successful, and above all else, safe project, in just over three days.

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Garney tees up for annual golf tournament

Sep 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014 — The Alpharetta, Georgia, office hosted the Advancing Water Invitational at the Trophy Club of Atlanta. Nearly 90 golfers participated in the second annual tournament on September 26, complete with breakfast, lunch, door prizes, and an awards ceremony.

Scramble play was the game of the day. Each foursome battled for a chance to claim the title and their ultimate prize. Individual prizes were also given for longest putt, longest drive and closest to the pin. Among the popular prizes included Apple TVs, Bluetooth speakers, Gates headphones, and wine bottle refrigerators.

Thank you to all who participated and to our sponsors!

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WEFTEC hopes for record setting crowd in New Orleans

Sep 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014 — The Water Environment Federation’s annual Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC), is the largest conference of its kind in the United States and is set to kickoff Sunday, September 28. This year, New Orleans will be bustling with more than 22,000 water quality professionals from around the world. The conference and technical sessions aim to provide the best water quality education and training available in our industry.

Among these educational benefits, attendees will gain an intimate outlook on the latest practices, solutions and regulations in water and wastewater technology; it will provide a chance for attendees to design their own learning path; and it serves as an opportunity to build upon continuing education credits.

“WEFTEC brings new, cutting edge technology to the spotlight,” said Mike Gardner, Vice President of Garney. “For Owners, WEFTEC can be a solution to their problems by searching out new technology and speaking one-on-one with industry professionals.”

The exhibit hall will feature the most innovative technology in the marketplace and is a major draw in WEFTEC’s large-scale crowd. The exhibit hall will have nearly 1,100 exhibitors and is free of charge to attendees. It aims to foster an unparalleled environment for industry peer networking.“I personally find gain in the exhibit hall by putting a face to a name and working with manufacturers to discover new technology and solutions,” Gardner said.

Registration is still open with the conference running September 28 – October 1. Explore more about WEFTEC or register here.

Attending WEFTEC? Be sure to stop by booth #2965 and visit the Garney team to learn how we may be able to help with your future project and for your chance to win an iPod!

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Garney conquers energy efficient facility in Midwest City

Sep 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014 — Several years ago, public officials of Midwest City, Oklahoma, recognized that the previous treatment plant upgrades to their Pollution Control Facility were nearing the end of their life expectancy. Besides the need to maintain a functioning plant that would allow compliance with current and future DEQ permitted discharge limits, Midwest City also desired to build an environmentally friendly and cost effective facility.

The existing 10 MGD plant was originally built in 1963 with the most recent renovation in 1989. In recent years, key components of the facility began breaking down and replacement parts were becoming extremely hard to find. Thus, Garney was selected to provide new plant upgrades that offered advanced technologies to give the City the energy efficiency that they desired while also improving their effluent quality.

The moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process was the first of its kind that DEQ approved for use in a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Oklahoma. The technology consists of a large treatment tank subdivided into six reactor zones and two treatment trains. Three high speed turbo blowers are the workhorses of the MBBR system. This blower technology has only been on the market for eight years and borrows heavily from NASA jet turbine engineering. The low amount of friction during operation, the turbine design, and magnetic induction motor combine to make these units some of the most efficient blowers on the market while also having one of the lowest maintenance costs.

A new ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system was also installed by Garney to help lower the City’s operation and maintenance cost. A new three channel, 12-bank system was installed and brought online in May 2014. This new system eliminated the hazardous chemicals that had to be stored and used in the old disinfection process. The new system requires only periodic cleaning and inspection of the UV bulbs in order to operate efficiently. The performance of the new system has exceeded expectations and Midwest City officials are pleased with their new equipment.

Garney is also responsible for a new 35,000 square foot compost facility, which will ultimately produce an organic material that can be used by the general public or by Midwest City to improve their local parks and recreation facilities.

As with most facility projects that Garney encounters, all of the work has been intensively scheduled to not interfere with the plant’s daily treatment activities. The entire project is on schedule to be complete in early 2015.

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Monumental design-build project underway in Colorado

Jul 2014

JULY 2014 — Construction of the Northern Treatment Plant, responsible for serving 300,000 customers across five Colorado metropolitan cities, is in full swing. Garney Construction, in partnership with Metro Wastewater Reclamation District and CH2M Hill, is delivering one of the largest design-build wastewater treatment facilities in the United States. Communities and residents of Aurora, Brighton, Thornton, Commerce City and Denver will all benefit upon completion of the wastewater treatment plant. These residents, businesses and communities are among 1.7 million served by Metro Wastewater Reclamation District in the Denver metropolis as well as the northern part of Colorado.

For this $254 million contract, our team has completed 360,000 man-hours and anticipates executing 730,000 man-hours by August 2016 when the project is set to be complete. At present, 350 construction workers are on site daily in an effort to construct this 24 MGD plant, with a build out to 60 MGD, in under four years.

Features of the 100-acre project site in Brighton, Colorado, include 36 structures, 24 miles of yard piping with nearly 3,000 valves to date, and 14 miles of interior piping. Since the inception of the project, crews have placed 46,000 CY of concrete, amounting to roughly 3,800 CY of concrete per month. While these numbers mark great magnitude, Garney has been able to accomplish this all with no lost time accidents on the project.

A treatment plant project of this scale is historical for Garney. It would not be possible without the work of Garney’s 20 crews in addition to the partnerships of our design-build team members. Garney has been working in the Colorado market since 1978, which has afforded us with the opportunity of building a six-year relationship with Metro Wastewater Reclamation District and a 15-year relationship with CH2M Hill in the region.

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Theo Castellano returns from active duty

Jul 2014

JULY 2014 — Employee-owners are elated to share in Theo Castellano’s Garney homecoming. Theo returns home after being deployed to Afghanistan in May of 2013. While overseas, Theo monitored Corps of Engineer infrastructure projects for the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. He traveled all over the Eastern region, near the Pakistan border, mainly in the provinces of Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar.

In October of 2013, Theo was medically evacuated after a combat stress/fatigue incident due to a mortar attack. He spent seven months recovering from his injury in a medical unit at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Theo is fully recovered and started back in Garney’s Nashville office on June 2.

The Winter Garden office, where Theo was based when he initially joined Garney, celebrated Theo’s return on May 23. During this small reception, Theo presented Tim Behler, Vice President, with a U.S. flag that was flown over Afghanistan. Theo has served as a Project Engineer at Garney since 2012.

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Golfing for a cure

Jul 2014

JULY 2014 — The Tee Off for Kids with Cancer Golf Tournament, hosted by the Shining Stars Foundation, was held June 6 on the Front Range of Colorado. Garney employee-owners Alex Engelbert, Joel Heimbuck, Michael Huff, and Nick Campbell were among the golfers at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colorado. Golfers spent the day enjoying scramble play, followed by lunch and awards.

All proceeds from the 10th annual golf tournament benefited the foundation. This organization provides aid to children and their families who are braving cancer or a life threatening illness. The program aims to transform their lives through year-round recreational and social programs. The foundation is currently the only non-profit in Colorado and one of few nationally, which provides long-term, year-round care for the children at any stage in their cancer battle, including treatment, relapse or remission. Activities encouraged throughout the program include skiing, snowboarding, outdoor education, adventure sports, music, cultural and community events, and animal-based therapy.

Explore more information about how you can help the Shining Stars Foundation here.

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