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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - WC - 03/04/2015 _ ryy Cohasset Water D E P A R T M E N T Commissioners Leonora C. Jenkins Cti =xay&-)%W 1950 Daniel A Varney Rolf N. CJesteby Minutes of the Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street— Water Treatment Plant March 4, 2015 @ 1:00 pm Members Present: Leonora Jenkins, Chairman Rolf Gjesteby, Clerk Recording Secretary: Brenda Douglas Guests Present: Carl Hillstrom, Paul Roux, Brian Joyce, Lee Jenkins, Karen Quigley, Toby Fedder & Jessica Richard Motion made by Lee seconded by Rolf to call the meeting to order at 1:10 pm all in favor. Public Comment No public comment Meeting Notes Motion made by Rolf to approve the following meeting notes: 11/19/14, 11/21/14, 12/2/14, 12/3/14, 12/10/14, 1/14/15 and 2/3/15 this was seconded by Lee all in favor. Abatements Cohasset Cove LLC/Atlantica 40 Border Street-This was tabled till the next meeting since Dan was not present. Shawn& Madeline Groman 441 King Street-The owners had a burst pipe while they were away on vacation. A motion was made by Rolf to do a 1 time abatement of$470.12 for the February 2, 2015 water bill. This was seconded by Lee. Marie Higgins 211 North Main Street-Mrs. Higgins stated that she had a high bill due to a leaking toilet. A motion was made by Rolf to do a 1 time abatement of$91.98 for the August 1, 2014 water bill. This was seconded by Lee. Chris & Megan Driscoll 141 Linden Drive This was tabled till the spring when the irrigation system get turned on. This way the board can see if there are issues with the system. Since the system is new there is no history on the account to reference. Warrants Warrants dated March 4, 2015 were signed off on by Rolf and Lee. 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 Woodard & Curran Operations Carl reported that the plant is producing a lot more water this season. Carl said that the plant is producing about 100,000 more a day compared to last year. Probably due to freeze up and broken pipes, another cause may be that people leaving their water running in their homes or maybe even a hydrant that was hit and running into the ocean or harbor. Rolf asked Brian who is doing the digging out of the hydrants. Brian stated the town has hired a company from Pittsfield to do snow removal and clearing the hydrants. The company came off of the MEMA list. Paul reported that the unidirectional flushing will begin in April after the meter reading is complete. Woodard& Curran has found this type of flushing to help with water age. Rolf wanted to know how the pond has stayed up due to all of the ice and snow. Carl stated that the ground water and brook are full and flowing into the pond. Paul then reported that once the weather clears that the entrance to the lagoons will be cleaned so that they can start with the transfer into the geo bag and eliminate overflow into the area. Paul noted that he spoke with Billy on Monday and according to his doctor he is not capable to come back at this time. Meeting temporarily stopped awaiting W&C setup for rate stud presentation. b P Y pP g p Y Meeting called back into session at 2:02 Rate Study—Toby Fedder& Jessica Richard,Woodard & Curran Toby presented the model via the smart board. He also handed out a printout for everyone to review. This is available at the Water Department. Allocations are as follow: A. Ba se- Normal Capital and Operations costs not impacted by flow C. Fire Suppression-Fire Costs D. Customer-Customer Costs These are specific to Cohasset: E. Blended costs for capital and operations F. Blended cost for distribution related capital operations Rolf questions the percentage of each allocation. Toby reiterated in his experience that the percentage he felt comfortable about but if the board would like to change that he would. Karen questioned if the bond issues were just current for FYI 6. Toby stated that is was only current debt service. For the contract service portion the W&C current fee was used. Toby took the last 2 years budget and did a 2.5% increase each year going out to 2020. They reviewed the expenditure budget and Lee suggested changing system maintenance to $200,000 and extraordinary maintenance to $100,000 as these line items have been consistently under budgeted. Capital budget costs were reviewed as well as Lee stated that she wanted to have retained earnings to pay for capital projects. Toby said if the board plans on paying for capital projects with retained earning then budget costs & debt service be taken out the equation. Karen stated that at town meeting it was explained that the Capital Recovery Charge would reduce dramatically once the debt service rolls off. Lee & Rolf stated that unfortunately at the 2012 STM the majority of previous board and Town Meeting voted 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 to reduce rates by 10% instead of reducing the Capital Recovery Charge. In addition rates for the town were reduced by 85% as of the beginning of FY13. The above 3 items filter into Cost Allocation. This is broken down to cash financed& debt financed. Debt financed looks better due to it starts at $4,852,580 vs $5,320,580 on the cash financed. Kevin asked if they should be looking at creating a profit in the projection. Toby stated in the state of Mass that is not done, it is turned into retained earnings or capital stabilization. Once the desired level of retained earnings has been achieved, the towns in Massachusetts keep their rates without increasing. There was a very lengthy discussion about the percentage of the fire suppression costs as Karen was confused about the percentages presented in the two categories. Toby then went back to cost allocation. There was a water rate calculation. Toby stated that based on everything it is necessary to have a large flat fee. He has found that if the board was to just raise rates that the amount charged would be so high that people would stop using water. Then the rate structure proposed was keeping the same 2 tier. Lee asked about the town's reduced rate and how it should be handled. Toby stated the town should be paying the same as the customers. This is an enterprise fund and that is what he would suggest. He said that they are proposing to do a 5 year plan,with the standard 2 112 %rate increase per year, as the town does. Kevin wanted to make sure that there is a presentation by Toby in a public forum. Also he would like Toby to be at town meeting which is May 2"d. Kevin stated that this is a critical issue and it needs to be spoken clearly. Next meeting will be Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 11.00. Brenda will post tomorrow and notify everyone. Karen wanted to make sure that Chris Senior is aware of the meeting. Brenda told her that everyone would be notified. Lee wanted to know if Toby had any suggestions for rewording"Capital Recovery". Toby suggested"Debt Recovery". Motion made by Lee to adjourn the meeting at 4:00 pm this was 2nd by Rolf, all in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Brenda Douglas, Recording Secretary Approved Ey. Date: S L /,J- Rolf Gjesteby, Clerk Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906