Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - WC - 08/11/2016 Cohnsset Water D E P A R T M E N T Commissioners S C=M#W&1W 1950 Rolf N. Gjesteby Leonora C.Jenkins John W. Steinmetz Minutes of the Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street - Treatment Plant August 11, 2016 @ 9:30 am Members Present: Rolf Gjesteby, Chairman Leonora Jenkins, Vice-Chairman John Steinmetz, Clerk Recording Secretary: Brenda Douglas Guests Present. Carl Hillstrom, Andrew McDonald(Summer Intern for Brian Joyce) Brian Joyce, Michelle Leary (Sewer Department), Chief Silvia. Mary Gallagher, Kevin McCarthy, Bruce Meehan, Chris Senior, Sean Anderson(Superintendent Scituate Water) &Kevin Cafferty (Director, Scituate DPW) Rolf called the meeting called to order at 9:31 this was 2nd by Lee all in favor. Drought Advisory Carl said he just did the measurement at the reservoir and it is at 60.58'. The reservoir is at 60% capacity= 396 days. Right now we would need 5" of rain to get out of restrictions. Lee asked what would be an average rainfall for the next couple of weeks. Carl said 1" of rain a week. Restrictions stay in effect and no need to go to level 4 right now. If we do go into level 4 there will be no irrigation allowed at all. Lee wanted to know where vegetable gardens lie in the realm of this. Carl suggested hand held only. John wanted to know if we have to go to level 4 do we need to vote on. Rolf would like a meeting scheduled for next Tuesday @ 9:30 am. If level 4 is voted in by the board I will do a code red call, signs will be changed as well as website. Lily Pond is at 41.5' when Lily Pond is at 41' and the reservoir is at 60.5 we can suspend flow over Bound Brook. Brian said by Tuesday we should be able to see if the .33 of rain received yesterday will have an impact on levels. Burning/Campfire Chief Silvia says the only burning restrictions are a camp fire,but obviously not on our property. Lee asked if Brian could put something up about no camp fires on town property. Chief Silvia said that outside burning is not allowed this time of year. This is a DEP regulation. He stated there are no restrictions other than that. The chief said that they are trying to help out as well. They are not training using any hydrants or the tanker trucks. 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Chief Silvia stated that he has been working on the radio system for the town. At the Scituate hill site there is now a building housing the new communications for the police and fire. There is some communication in the chamber still. The goal is to move everything into the new building. The Chief said what they do not have up there is power. All monies have been used up that were supplied by the state. The Sheriffs Department has proposed that they will get power to the new building and take care of the cost to do so as well as pay the monthly bill. What they are looking for is to get permission from the Water Commission to put a microwave dish up on Scituate Hill water tank. Currently the only this up in this vicinity is a telephone pole on the Mass DEP site. A Memorandum of Agreement made up on behalf of the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department and a copy was given to each of the commissioners for their review. Chief Silvia said that he is not looking for it to be decided today. The sheriff goes by the book and memorandum has been approved by his attorney. The building is a 12x20; Chief said we will never fill the building up. Anything we want to put into the building would be fine as it is climate controlled. They want to go up to the handrail on top of tank and put the antenna there they said they could see Marshfield's antenna. Chief would like to get the electric up there in the next couple of weeks. Lee was concerned about security. Chief said that the Fire Department is the keeper of the keys; no one else would be given access. John said they will review the agreement and they will discuss at Tuesday's meeting. Purchase of New Utility Truck Lee stated it's in our 5 year plan as well as rate study. Mary stated that it could be taken out of extraordinary maintenance but the board will have to go in front of Capital Budget but not Advisory. Bonding has been approved for the painting of the Bear Hill Tank. Brian explained that the truck has been spec'd out by Carl Sestito. Rolf will reach out to Sam Wakeman at Capital Budget. There was a review outstanding fiscal year 2016 monies. Mary explained that if the monies are not paid when the demand goes out then the property would be placed on lien. Lee said when doing budget for next year we should reduce tax lien amount since the numbers are much lower now since demands and liens are going out in a timely manner. Mary told the board that it looks like they will have $792,000 in retained earnings. Mary suggested taking some of the retained earnings and putting them into Capital Stabilization. Ellms Meadow Update Carl said that DEP would have a response this week, but we are still awaiting response. Rolf asked how the results were coming back from Lead & Copper. All results have been fine so far. Rolf asked about 8 James Lane Brian introduced Michelle Leary who was hired as the new Sewer Administrator and she is getting up to speed, but neither her nor him have heard anything new, but they are working at the site. Lee asked Andrew if there is anything to report from the sampling that has been done at the reservoir and Lily Pond. He reported that they are at week 4 out of 6. They found that Doane Street seems to be a problem spot with coliform. He said that now that the under drain has been opened up at the reservoir he is wondering if the flow will make a difference in the sampling. 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Then there was a discussion about the milfoil and harvesting. Joe spoke with Wellesley College and they are not willing to rent out their equipment. He is checking with Norton who has one as well. Chris Senior then discussed we have a slot with the state but this is unfunded. There was a discussion about maybe dredging pond. Carl suggested maybe looking into upkeep at the reservoir and not worrying about lily pond. Chris said that we can't do that. 15 years ago there was a quote of 4 million. Brian asked to see the report. Chris asked if Scituate had reached out to us yet. Carl said they had and the superintendent will try and get here today by 11:00. John said if we go on a complete ban how can we sell to Scituate. Chris said that if Scituate has a fire protection issue then the board might want to consider helping them out. Brian said if we had to give them water it would probably be best at the Church Street connection. We would have to put in some sort of meter to calculate. Brian said that anything we could give to Scituate would be helpful but their daily usage and population is much higher than that of Cohasset. Kevin suggested that we give them some but once our levels get to a certain point we shut it down. Rolf then asked if there were places along Lily Pond or the Reservoir where a tanker could come in and siphon from the sites. Maybe the end of Beechwood or Doane but not likely Scituate Water came in to discuss with the board the possibility of getting water through one of the connection. They do not need today but are trying to be proactive in reaching out. They are down 12-15% from the wells. They don't want to draw too far down due to manganese etc. They are running the wells 24-7 currently. Carl asked if after Labor Day they see any reduction. They said that they do have a reduction, people leave town. Carl then explained our current restrictions. Rolf asked how much they like would. They suggested a maximum of 500,000-600,000 a day for a two week period. Bruce said we are currently running 16+hours a day at 1.2 mgd. Carl explained we have a very small crew and we would have to run longer. Brian asked what would be the trigger point for them to request the water. Sean said that once they get to 6%. Sean has been told that they have been at-109 before but anything lower than that is unchartered. Rolf asked how they are policing for people violating the water ban. They have the assistance of the Police now. If the night detail sees irrigation going they call into dispatch then report in the morning to the plant, who then goes and delivers the ticket. Brian asked if the board would have to vote to approve getting water to Scituate. Rolf said that there would have to be a discussion on this. Scituate explained that they are connected to Humarock but not Marshfield. There is nothing under the bridge. Brian asked that they take a pressure test on their hydrant and we will take one on our side. The board told Scituate that they would review their request. At this time John Steinmetz had to leave due to a prior appointment. Lee made a motion to approve the July 21, 2016 commission meeting notes 2nd by Rolf all in favor. 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Abatements David Hackbarth - 1 Cedarledge Village: Lee made a motion to approve abatement request in the amount of$296.38, this was 2nd by Rolf all in favor. Peter & Midge Stone---39 Black Horse Lane: Request was denied due to the fact that they did not meet the abatement policy criteria. Mark Sullivan—391 South Main: This request was tabled until the next meeting. The Commission wanted to review rainfall data for previous years. Motion made by Rolf to adjourn the meeting at 11:53, 2nd by Lee all in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Brenda Douglas, Reco in c . Approved By` �, Date. Jo Steinmetz, Clerk C asset Board of Water Commissz ne 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org