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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - WC - 01/21/2020 G\4 P O Cohasset Water Commissioners Rolf N. Gjesteby D E P A R T M E N T Leonora C. Jenkins T OMASSET &7*ff*amltl ow SIff 1950 John W. Steinmetz Minutes of the Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street— Water Treatment Plant Tuesday, January 21, 2020 @ 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, Fred Rogers, Jason Federico,Mary McGoldrick(Advisory), Don Piatt, and Mike Schrader(Tighe&Bond) Rolf made a motion to open meeting at 8:30, seconded by John, all in favor. Abatements— Brenda presented the board with abatement papers for Lynne Schwandt of 17 Mohawk Way. She explained that the bolts on the customers 2"water meter which is in a meter pit rusted and the meter leaked. The bolts have since been replaced with stainless steel to alleviate any future issues. Rolf made a motion to approve the abatement in the amount of$756.28, 2"d by John, all in favor. The board then revisited Mr. O'Malley's request for abatement of his 11/1/19 water bill. After a review of the datalog report it still shows a small leak,probably due to the toilet that caused the initial leak. Mr. O'Malley has not fixed or replaced the toilet. Rolf made a motion to deny the request this was 2"d by John,all in favor. John made motion to approve minutes from the December 17,2019 meeting 2"d by Rolf all in favor. Warrants were approved and signed off on. Update on Projects GAC Pilot Proposal—Jason has not been received proposals yet but will have for next meeting. He is planning on getting application so that it can be piloted in the summer. Facilities Study—Jason sent out as a draft. He received comments from Joe Geary,Paul Roux, and Carl Hillstrom. Woodard&Curran would look at the other facilities after the plant is looked at. Lee asked if it would look at future water usage. Lee would like to see if the state will increase the usage per household from 65. Jason said if the board is 339 King Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383.0057 Fax:(781)383.2906 www.cohassetwater.org looking to sell water to another development in Hingham,he suggested that the average day be negotiated not their high peak days due to the drought restrictions in our permit. Main Breaker Replacement—Joe is still waiting on getting info from Patrick Halpin waiting on pricing on automatic switch and installation. System Development Fee—390 C. J. Cushing Highway Jason is working on this. He structured the4 fee on new water sources rather than the cost of new infrastructure in the fee. He is hoping to have this done by the end of the week. CPC Application—After the request from Open Space Committee member, Sue Cunningham re: the graffiti on the dam,Jason got a price to power wash the graffiti which was$9,000. Jason then reached out to Russ Bonetti and asked if that would fall under CPC monies. He asked if the application is feasible and has not received a response. Jason is going to have Sue Cunningham be the applicant. Norfolk County Volunteers—Jason has reached out but has not heard back yet,re: having them come back to help with additional work. We are looking at them painting that pump room at the plant. Lee would still like to see if they can clear the fencing around Ellms Meadow pump station. Lee wanted to know if we should reach out to Peter Pescatore for Earth Day. Lee wanted to know if there would be any volunteers this year. Jason said that there was poison ivy in the area,kids and parents were cautious. Lee suggested reapplying to CPC for the Wellfield again and instead of hiring a company to take out large invasives,use goats. CSCR Test Results—No test results received from Jack Buckley yet,re:the work his students did at Bound Brook in '17, '18 and `19. Lee spoke with Jack Buckley,a few years ago he had kids doing testing at Bound Brook. Lee thought this would be information beneficial to analyze. Lee said that Jack also borrowed our GPS hardware several years ago,which has now been returned. Jason said the equipment will be surplused as it is now obsolete. Cohasset Water Maintenance Needs—Joe Geary of Woodard&Curran reported to the board the following: Chlorine solenoid valve that needs to be replaced. Looking at roof drains that goes into the influent being relocated. Repairs to caustic system upgrades done last week. Filter media should be delivered shortly. Filter head loss seems to not be functioning properly. Poly tank being cleaned in Feb/March,this will be done by clean harbors. Clearwell sample tap being looked at which is under a hatch in the pump room. This is being looked at to possibly move it. Chlorine scales to be tied into SCADA. Polymer pumps need to be tied into SCADA system. Sedimentation valves have failed several times and are being replaced with a new valve. Raw water pumps check valves 1 and 3 have been installed 1 more to be installed on pump 2. Filter Effluent flows were not talking to each other,now the valve openings are and flowing simultaneously. Flocculator drives we are waiting for an electrical bucket to be delivered, and Mike Pieczak from Hi-Voltage will be installing. Jason asked if the roof drains could be added to the roof being replaced. This will be looked at as a possibility to add to the new roof being put in,currently the appear to be dumping into the raw water wet well. 339 King Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Carl said that we have to have a compliance plan if we are going to exceed 65 gpd per person. He suggested possibly an insert in the billing or a mailing to those with irrigation systems. Lee suggested putting the info on Facebook and the town website to save printing and mailing costs and may have a more positive impact. Don Piatt—Financials Revenues looking good 1.4 mill billed to date 2 mill budgeted. Debt service for the year almost paid down. Don does not see any issues with the board meeting their projections. Lee had a question about the indirect cost as to why the insurance was reduced. Don said that this is an actual amount and he did not have the actual breakdown for the higher $3500 amount that was charged to us last year and was not inclined to credit us for that amount. Don reported that this is approximately 2.5%increase. MIAX has promised a 0%increase for next 2 years if there are no incidents. John asked if there were concerns with the increase. John said that he is in favor of the increase and Lee stated that she is opposed. Rolf felt that it was fair, and Lee said that she felt that especially with the increased technology and people paying online that especially the amount of time billed for the Treasurer's Office should be looked at. John made a motion to approve the indirect costs this was 2nd by Rolf,Lee did not agree. Lee also had a question regarding the receivables report that Don gave the board,the numbers did not equal either of the two other reports. Don said that it was a number in the ledger and did not give any other specifics. Michelle Leary spoke to the board about the purchase of the conveyor belt, she wanted to know if it was necessary to purchase. If it will not be used,then the monies should be returned. Jason said if the board decided to harvest again it would alleviate the cost of Iaria at$1500 per day. Michelle wanted to know if there was still time to cancel the order since Jason reported that the parts are on order,but it has not been built yet. Lee wants to find out if it can be cancelled and how many other towns have a conveyor. The PO was placed in July of 2019 and approved. Michelle asked again if it can be cancelled, Rolf said yes. Since the money was received by the town in June 2019 specifically for a Water Department expenditure what can be done with it. Rate Study—Mike Schrader of Tighe& Bond presented the board with a slideshow of the proposed rate study. There were still questions regarding the proposed rates, especially not increasing the town hydrant fees as had been done in the current study. It was noted that the town does not pay Rate 2 for any water use,only Rate 1. Mike will amend his report and remove the cost of insurance for plant personal as that is included in the W&C contract price and we have no town employees outside of the Indirect Costs to incur OPEB liabilities. Don wanted to speak with Mike separately to make sure his assumption of the debt roll off timing were correct. Mike will reach out to Don next week. John suggested that Rolf contact Chris Senior and Capital Budget committee to get a meeting scheduled. Lee suggested having it at Willcutt Commons. John had to leave at 10:3 7 for a prior commitment. 339 King Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Budget- Jason suggested doing one budget and if the rate increase does not pass then we would need to remove a capital project from next year. Next Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 25,2020 @ 8:30 including interconnect. Rolf made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11:05 am this was 2"by Lee, all in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Brenda Douglas, Recor 'n e r Approved By: Date: hs J Steinmetz, Clerk ohasset Board of Water Co sione 339 King Street,Cohasset,Massachusetts 02025 Tel:(781)383-0057 Fax:(781)383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org