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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - WC - 09/16/2014 Cohasset Water D E PARTM ENT Commissioners }- COT1A55�T S� Leonora C. Jenkins Daniel M. Varney Rolf N. Gjesteby Minutes of the Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street— Water Treatment Plant September 16, 2014 @ 10:00 am Members Present: Leonora Jenkins Daniel Varney Rolf Gjesteby Recording Secretary: Brenda Douglas Guests Present: Carl Hillstrom, Karen Quigley, Chris, Attorney Lenny Kesten, Peter DeCaprio, Kevin McCarthy, Karen Quigley, Jack Keniley Motion made by Lee seconded by Rolf to call the meeting to order at 10:00 AM all in favor. Peter questioned the board to see if the board was aware of the contract with Aquarion/Linden Ponds. Peter asked Rolf specifically if he knew about the contract with Linden Ponds. If he was aware of the agreement payment plans etc. Rolf stated he had some knowledge of it. Peter asked if Rolf had ever been to an interconnect meeting? Rolf stated YES. Peter then asked who governs the withdrawal from one watershed to another. He then asked what the maximum allowable to withdraw a day is (no time for Rolf to answer). Peter then asked Rolf what would make him state that Peter had cut a deal with Aquarion to withdraw additional water from our system. Peter stated that this was done at a party. Peter stated that the inference was that he had done something wrong. Jack Keniley then spoke up and stated that Rolf had said at a cocktail party that 6 million gallons were given to Hingham. Peter asked that Rolf be very careful when mentioning his name. Peter said that there was no special deal done with Hingham or Aquarion. The agreement with them predated him being on the board. Also the contract with Linden Ponds was signed by a prior Town Manager not the board of water commissioners. He stated that he was slandering him and he needed to watch what he says. Rolf stated that he may have mentioned his name but no misdealing's were mentioned. Rolf stated that he did not mean to offend Peter. Peter then wanted to know why Lee called a member of the board of selectmen and stated that the revenue projections on the spreadsheet were shenanigans. Lee stated that she did not refer to anything as shenanigans and was concerned about the deficit that was presented to the Board out of the blue on Sept. 4. She stated she talked to Steve Gaumer and was wondering what was going, as he seemed as taken aback by the deficit as the Water 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org Board members. Originally we were told we would have $200K in retained earnings only to find out that it was-$293K shortfall for FYI 5. Peter asked for the board to be very careful. Peter stated that if there were any questions to ask first before accusations were made. He asked that he not be accused of anything without getting the facts. Peter then stated that they need to be careful since they are now town officials_ Lee stated that she tried to reach out to Peter to get specific information and Peter never returned her calls or e-mails. Lee stated she sent an e-mail questioning the $350,000 given to the Water Commission from the town which was never paid back. Peter then asked Lee if she was aware of the open meeting law. Lee stated she was,then Peter reiterated that if he had responded to her through e-mail or a call that he would be breaking the law. Peter stated that any questions like that should have been brought up at a Commission meeting. Lee said that she sent the e-mail out to several former commissioners on September 41h to get any answer to her question and since Peter was no longer on the Board that there was no possibility about it being an Open Meeting Law violation. Peter stated that he never received the e-mail which Lee promptly read to him.. Peter then left the meeting. Attorney Kesten then told the board that he was not there in a legal sense on behalf of Peter. He stated that he and Peter were in a meeting previous to the commissioners meeting and Peter asked him to come along. The typing he was doing on his computer was for his own work he was not taking notes for this meeting. Attorney Kesten then left as well. On another topic, Lee clarified that the debt service does not drop to below the low FYII amount till FYI 8. Lee stated that Karen Quigley insisted at the last meeting that it was her understanding that once the debt starts to drop off the capital recovery charge will start to decrease. There was nothing in the Town Meeting article or vote the explicitly set a pattern for the decrease. As the debt service is reduced revenues will always be looked at to make adjustments. Warrant Articles Lee stated that she and Brenda went thru the assessor's list and figured which properties have one meter with multiple units. Currently there are 293 additional user fees calculated by going through the Assessor's and Water records. This is without the business categories being included. Lee suggested $90.00 as the user fee. She stated this is not a set price and needs Board discussion. Lee stated we have all these properties accessing our system and not paying for the infrastructure upgrades. This access fee would give us a revenue number needed to meet the state requirements for the tax rate to be set and not cripple us by having our budget cut. Kevin stated that you need to make sure that at town meeting it is shown as being fair to everyone. In-law apartments are not considered 2 families. Kevin wanted to make sure that everyone in town had a meter at this point. Lee stated that every property did have a meter and does have to pay for the infrastructure. Dan was concerned that we would lose business if the rate is too high. Rolf looked at the rules and regulations and it states not to give water to someone else without authorization. Dan wants to see what the final number is or when we will have that number so that instead of just saying $90.00 we might be able to reduce it to $75 just so 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 www.cohassetwater.org that we can get to that number. The warrant article needs to be presented to the selectmen by tomorrow. Lee said that going forward this number could change as well as the capital recovery charge. Lee indicated that in the future the water rates will have to increase to keep up with increasing costs but the capital recovery will decrease. Lee suggested going retro to July 1st. Rolf does not believe that this will fly, as you can't past bill a higher fee than was contracted. It was then suggested to increase the charge to $100. The revenues for this year vs last year are up $46,000. Both Carl and Lee noted that since it has been so dry people are using more water and the consumption has increased for the last couple of months. Chris Senior stated that did not matter as the state would not accept a revenue increase from more sales as sufficient to satisfy the state for setting the tax rate. Karen stated that if she was to hear that it is the fairness. This is the objective that needs to be used at town meeting. Karen stated that she would rely on Town Manager and Finance Director for their guidance. If they stated this would work,then the selectmen would be more liable to back it. Lee stated that an access fee of$90.00 per unit would be warranted. She will check old warrants for wording so that it would be effective the February 1, 2015 billing. Motion made by Dan to create an access fee of$90.00. This was 2"d by Rolf, all in favor. This will go to town meeting as Article 1. Article 2 discussion was to take $15,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund to replace section of water treatment plant upper roof. Then there was the discussion of receiving payment from the Sewer Department for all the work that the Water department does for them. The Sewer department is aware of the work and had been paying under the previous contract with American but it was deceided not to bill until this current FY. Karen suggested having a joint water/sewer meeting to discuss. Article 3 would be to take $100,000 out of Capital Stabilization to put towards debt service. There was then the question if Article 1 does not pass could they request additional monies for Article 3. Lee will find out if they can change the amount when on the floor at town meeting. Motion made by Dan to adjourn meeting at 11:47 am. This was 2"d by Rolf; all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 11:47. Respectfully Submitted, Brenda Douglas, Recording Secretary Approved By:_e( ` � ' Date: ii�r �Li y Rolf Gjesteby, Clerk Cohasset Board of Water Commissioners 339 King Street, Cohasset, Massachusetts 02025 Tel: (781) 383-0057 Fax: (781) 383-2906 - www.cohassetwater.org