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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - WC - 09/20/2019 Z Commissioners Cohnsset Witter RolfN. Gjesteby D E P A R T M E N T Leonora C.Jenkins %T%11 John W. Steinmetz Minutes of the Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street— Water Treatment Plant Tuesday, September 10, 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, Mary McGoldrick, liaison to Advisory, Chris Senior Rolf made a motion to open meeting at 8:30, seconded by Lee, all in favor. John wanted to explain to Mary all the upcoming projects for the Water Department. Lee also explained about the request to CPC for funding of cleanup of Ellms Meadow. Ellms Meadow CPC Application went in,Jason spoke with Russ Bonnetti who is Chair of CPC he responded by asking if Recreation Department might have money to kick in for the project. Jason projected the cost at$83,000. The majority of the money would go toward fencing. Inmates from Sheriff Department would be doing the cleanup. Rolf asked how Jason made out with the kids who were caught dumping at Ellms Meadow. Jason said it was inconclusive, so he is working on a brochure that will go out to the hillside either by mail or hand deliver. Rolf wanted to know if the Boy Scouts could help with this. Jason asked Carl when the water level could be dropped at Ellms Meadow so that it could be mowed. Carl said not at this point,he asked when it needs to be done. Jason said it needs time to dry out. Carl said with no rain the water table is dropping naturally. STM—Jason revised and submitted forms to Michelle Leary. Preliminary numbers for retained earnings is at$629,000. This would allow the monies for filter media replacement and a review of the plant. The sludge removal would not be a capital expense but an operating expense. Chris Senior is looking for an explanation as to how the Water Department has the increase in cost to remove the sludge which is due in large part to the extra weight with the bag not drying out after the extremely wet spring and early summer rains. This needs to be done prior to STM. John would like Jason to explain to Mary about our rate study and projected projects. Many large projects coming up, but the rate study needs to be completed first. THM study will be sent to Mary for her review. Plant improvements will be needed in the future. Water main replacement 339 King Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org on 3A from Beechwood to Scituate when the State does the road work,plus Elm Street and Atlantic Ave are the primary sites to be looked at for the immediate future. Chris Senior then arrived, and John stated that if necessary,the board will have an evening meeting so that more boards will be in attendance when discussing aspects of the Rate Study with the upcoming projects. Chris said he spoke with Paul Roux yesterday regarding the sludge removal. 20-year facility plan and filter media replacement. Chris suggested possibility using Cohasset 143 to get the word out about upcoming projects that the department is facing. Chris told the board of Brian's concerns about cleaning up Ellms Meadow to the point of making it more inviting to kids or others to go onto property. Hence the need for fencing. T-Mobil Tank Lease—There were changes form Town Counsel which have been submitted to T-Mobil for their review. Agreement still needs to be signed. The rate study is still ongoing. Nothing more to report. Dam Maintenance—J&N will be back once the vegetation starts to die off. Linden Ponds Communication—Awaiting representative Joe Coulter from Ti-Sales to meet with Steve Rose, Woodard& Curran Engineer. Meter is not communicating properly with the radio. Financials Don sent the updated financials thru June;he does not expect any adjustments at this time. Don explained how the monies are calculated at the end of the year. Don is now projecting approximately $979,000 in retained earnings, considerably higher than the $629K he previously reported. Interest income comes in at the end of the year and was a dramatic increase from the previous $700/yr. to over$17K for FYI—no explanation was given for the huge increase. After not providing financial data for July and August, Don said next month he will have current year financials. Lee then asked about the sewer rate being charged. Don explained how he came up with the rate,which is based off of American Waters original charge. Don said he may have misspoken when he reported to us at the June meeting that it would be an increase of$200/month,but it would have possibly been an increase of$200 for the year, which breaks down to $16.00 a month. So, while we assumed there would be a monthly increase to cover our escalating costs,he told Sewer to keep the rate the same as it has been for the last 5 years thus giving Sewer a financial advantage. Lee inquired why Don used an arbitrary hourly salary rate that did not include any standard overhead costs (employer taxes, insurance, etc. typically about 25% above the hourly rate)for Brenda's salary in his calculations when he uses 30% overhead when calculating employee costs for the Town services charged to the Water Dept. He indicated that W&C's were too high in his opinion, so he just excluded them thus drafting inaccurate calculations. Lee also noted that if he just calculated the original 2.5%annual increase over the last 5 years Sewer was supposed to be paying the amount owed to date would be much higher—over$170/month. 339I0ng Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383.0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org John made a motion to approve the 8/20/19 meeting notes 2"d by Rolf, all in favor. John then made a motion to approve the abatement for 55 Stockbridge Street in the amount of $56.67. Brenda explained that she put up a 2"d meter when the irrigation had not been installed yet. This was 2"d by Rolf all in favor. Everyone was in agreement that an evening meeting should be scheduled once the rate study has been complete. It was suggested to have it at Willcutt Commons. Next Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday October 22, 2019 @ 8:30 am which is the interconnect meeting. John made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:07 am this was 2"d by Rolf, all in favor. Respectfully Submitted Brenda Douglas,Re g cretary Approved By: Date: /C7 Jqfin Steinmetz, Clerk ohasset Board of Water mm ssioners 339 IGng Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)3"57 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org