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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - WC - 08/20/2019 Cohasset Water Commissioners Ro1fN. Gjesteby ' D E P A R T M E N T Leonora C. Jenkins onnssCT +'_ O:,�,,,, ��n wN 1r1 �!/[G ammow s a I7iJ1/ John W. Steinmetz Minutes of the Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street— Water Treatment Plant Tuesday, August 20, 2019 @ 8:30 am Members Present: Rolf Gjesteby, Chairman Leonora Jenkins, Vice-Chairman John Steinmetz, Clerk Recording Secretary: Brenda Douglas Guests Present: Joe Geary, Carl Hillstrom, Jason Federico, Randall Steele 31 River Road Rolf made a motion to open meeting at 8:30, seconded by Lee, all in favor. There was a discussion about the request for abatement for the property located at 31 River Road. John said that it was due to a faulty pipe in the irrigation system. All were in agreement that the abatement should be denied. Brenda informed board that the owner will attend meeting at 10:00. The board questioned the application dates for CPC and Jason informed the board that he will have to manually change the date. Lee added language to the application to plant native plants for the reemergence of birds, butterflies and bees. Jason has also reached out to the County Sheriff to have the inmates clean up the area. The application needs to be signed off on by Chris Senior since he is the owner of the property. Jason has 1 surveillance camera up and running he had to return the other which will be reordered today and should be received tomorrow. Rate study and upcoming expenses—Chris would like to have this go to Spring Town Meeting. It was suggested having 2 budgets just in case the rate study does not go through. Jason and Lee have reached out to find out who the liaisons are for the Water Department and have received no feedback. John feels that the board needs to go in front of the Selectmen sooner rather than later. The Water Department has a lot of large expenses coming up. Jason suggested having a public meeting at Wilcott Commons. The engineer doing the rate study said he would have a draft ready sometime in September if he receives all the information requested. John requested Rolf to send an email to Chris, BOS, Advisory and Capital Budget informing them of all the upcoming projects and the rate study being done. 339 Kng Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org There was then a discussion about putting in another sludge lagoon. Lee asked if there was a way to filter the effluent from the sludge lagoon. Jason said that there probably is, but it would be at a high cost. USGS has finished their study, now we are waiting for EPA to issue our new permit. Carl is not sure how long this might take. Lee asked if there was a better place to house the lagoons. Carl stated that a much larger sludge lagoon needs to be put in place. Special Town Meeting Capital Projects Carl suggested replacing filter media in the winter. It is on the Capital Project list for $100K, Lee asked if$150K would be sufficient. Jason will check on the cost for labor to get a better number. Lee asked if the filter media is replaced will that help with the removal of organics. Carl said that it would not. Jason suggested doing an analysis of the plant, Carl said last time it was done was in 2002 and Weston& Sampson did the analysis. 10 Year Facility Needs Analysis is how it would be worded for the article. Carl informed the board that Bourne will not take the sludge and it has become critical, Saybrook& Synagro won't take it either due to the solid content. Scotts Fertilizer is no longer taking it as well. Carl spoke to a company yesterday from Vermont. They said they can get to 18% solids if this happened then Connecticut will take it. This may become cumbersome working with 2 contractors. Carl has two other contractors to reach out to before a decision is made. The priority would be Sludge Removal,Filter Media Replacement then 10 Year Facility Needs Analysis for Special Town Meeting. Linden Ponds communication is complete,but we are currently monitoring to make sure of its accuracy. The reads can be seen on SCADA here at the plant. Water Treatment Plant Roof—RFP is out to engineers awaiting responses. Jason is hoping to get it done in the fall. Tank lease with T-Mobile -Town council has reviewed the contract twice and T-Mobile has the contract now. Once approved it will be signed off on by the board. Financials—Water sales for a second month are down 15%due to the nearly 8"of rain in July which is almost double the monthly average. Don Piatt was unable to attend the meeting again because of a Drs. appointment that he had forgotten. He supplied the Board with a draft of the end of FYI but questions that arose at the meeting were unable to be answered. Brenda supplied her usual up to date(August 19)financial information of Expenditures, but nothing has come out of Town Hall for the first month of this Fiscal Year regarding Revenues. Carl asked Jason about the weed removal. Jason left it up to Woodard& Curran and the board if they want the raking/harvesting done again. Carl felt that it is not needed at this time due to the fact that with the high waters there has not been much growth this year. Lee asked about the conveyor belt; Jason has not heard anything; he calls 3 times a week. 339 Mng Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Dam Maintenance was discussed, contractor is out there removing trees etc. Carl Sestito will be checking the site to see if they can clear it, if not then a contractor will need to be hired to mow the grass. Abatements -Mr. Steele explained that it was a crazy water bill, which should have been detected last year,but the property was being managed by his sister at that time. This was his dad's property that he took over in January when his dad passed. Once the irrigation was turned on in the spring there was a lot of water in the basement which they pumped out and come to find out there was a leak in the irrigation line. Rolf made a motion to deny this was 2"d by John all in favor. Warrants dated August 20,2019 were signed off on. John made a motion to approve the July 30, 2019 meeting notes, 2"d by Rolf, all in favor. There was then a discussion about what the Sewer Department is paying each month. There has been no increase in years. Lee thought that after Don Piatt reported to us at our June meeting that he calculated a new rate that was $200/mo more that we would be receiving the new amount for FY20. Jason will speak with Marge and Don to see what was said at the meeting. Joe informed the board that Ted Lavin has given his resignation papers. A new person has been hired as of last Friday and hopefully he will start in the next couple of weeks. Next Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday September 10, 2019 @ 8:30 am John made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:09 am this was 2"a by Rolf, all in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Brenda Douglas, ReecoSecretary Approved By. Date: to aUlq J hn Steinmetz, Clerk ohasset Board of Water mmis 'oners 339 King Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org