August 17, 2011
A regular meeting of the Board of Water Commissioner was called to order by Chairperson Lucien Langlois at 12:10pm. Commissioners present were Paul Poulin and Michael Caron and ex-officio member Mayor Grenier. Absent from this meeting was Commissioner Terry Block. Also present for this meeting was Superintendent Roland Viens and Lynne C. Lessard.
There was no Public – Board Comments.
It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Commissioner Caron, with all in favor, to accept and place on file, the Minutes of July 20, 2011.
Under the Berlin Water Works Monthly Status Report dated August 11, 2011, Superintendent Viens reviewed the following with the Board:
a. Superintendent Viens provided the Board with a final number for the cost of the Grandview Project which included labor, equipment and construction materials for an amount of $33k. This project was to provide water service to Mark & Suzanne Carter who paid Berlin Water Works $5k for the line connection. The overrun on the estimate was due to ledge (resulted in additional time, labor, and equipment to remove) and had to re-align the service line.
b. We received the easement from Rite Aid to relocate the hydrant on the corner of Pleasant and Mason. This hydrant is frequently hit by vehicles and snowplows.
c. We received another complaint about our charges for customer & fire protection for shut off accounts by the Estella’s. The property at 445 High Street was turned off October 2010. The Board has already tabled this issue (policy change) until additional revenue is provided by the Federal Prison and/or Berlin Station increase water sales.
d. Superintendent Viens informed the Board that he just received the City’s Annual Report for the period of July 01, 2009 – June 30, 2010. He also stated that the BWW Staff will be working Berlin Water Works Annual Report for the period of July 01, 2010 thru June 30, 2011 and will have the Board review prior to submittal to the City for publication.
e. Superintendent Viens told the Board that we have purchased 1343 cubic yards ($4302) of sand this year to-date from the Airport and are using it every day.
f. 9,700 feet of new water mains have been installed to date this year.
g. As for the Riverside Drive Project, DBU was utilized to horizontally bore 14 services. Horizontal boring saved us from dealing with traffic control issues and paving issues. It was estimated that the savings are more than $5K per service. We saved both time and money.
h. Of the 9,700 feet of pipe installed, over 1,000 feet of 16-inch HDPE pipe has been fused and installed along the river at Heritage Park during the 4 day lowering of the river.
i. We are paving up on Riverside Drive. By the end of next week the project should be completely done. We are continuing work on 8th Street.
j. Godfrey Dam was shut down, and dewatered to facilitate Couture Construction’s removal of the coffer and to complete the punch list items which is 95% done. Bryan Defosses from NHDES Dam Safety conducted a dam inspection on August 9th, 2011.
Commissioner Caron asked several questions about the river crossing project. Superintendent Viens said that we had several issues that developed during the project. The team decided to start on 8th Street and the first thing we encountered was a drain line not marked by the City. We crushed the line and that delayed us three days for repairs. Also ECI Directional Drilling broke & lost a $50k drill bit and cost us three days trying to retrieve it. Their bit is still in the ground about 22 feet deep and 25 feet from the river bank. We shut that job down and are now looking at alternative ways to complete this project such as possibly do more test borings and look at other places to cross the river. We need to look at all
options.
It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Mayor Grenier, with all in favor, to accept and place on file, the Berlin Water Works Monthly Status Report dated August 11, 2011.
It was moved by Commissioner Caron, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor, to accept and place on file the Cashier’s Report dated July, 2011. (Superintendent Viens also informed the Board at we received the State Filtration Grant funds in the amount of $172k on August 16th, 2011. It is the State’s commitment to help BWW pay the 1993, 1994 & 1995 Water Bonds.)
Under Old Business:
a. HEB – 55 Willow Street Facility Upgrade Layout – Contract Status:
Chairman Langlois signed the Contract this morning with AR Couture Construction including an anticipated payment schedule. It spreads the payments out from September 1st, 2011 thru March 1st, 2012. A kick off meeting is scheduled for August 30th, 2011. We signed the contract for the amount quoted, however; if there is opportunity to save money with the “budget beaters”, and then a change order will be signed.
1. HEB Proposal for Construction Management for a sum up to $42,000 – Status: Additional Work Authorization #1 from Jay Poulin, PE of HEB for Office Building Improvements was received August 10th, 2011. This proposal includes Lee Carroll, Electrical Engineer and Dave Larin to work in construction administrative capacity. It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Mayor Grenier, with all in favor to accept the Additional Work Authorization #1 in the amount of $42,000.00.
b. Funding Project Status – Staffing, Equipment (Hydro-Seeder), Progress: The hydro seeder and supplies will be delivered tomorrow with a demonstration for under $10k. (Actual cost $12,010.00 with additional accessories). Staffing: We are going to loose 3 temporary employees to full time employment and all of our 3 college students will be leaving. Claude Frenette, one of the temporary employees has been here from the beginning. We wish them the best and thank them for their service to BWW. We are looking for 2-3 more temps and are working our way thru the applications.
c. EPA Grant/Brown Farm Well – Review & Comments – Engineering Design Contract Status: Superintendent Viens discussed the Change of Scope #4 with Provan & Lorber. The Change Order is PLI’s Scope of services for Brown Farm Improvements, Lee F. Carroll, P.E. Electrical Design fee Proposal and GeoInsight, Inc. Scope of Work. A significant amount of the proposal is for GEO In-sight. Those dollars will cover and they will test and increase permitted GPD with the new upgraded well with the NHDES, We also want a spare well for1.5MGPD. If one well system fails, we will have a backup. Once we have that, we can see if the aquifer can handle more than a million and a half GPD. Then we can increase our license to sell/produce more without getting into a major permitting
process. We are going to replace but with bigger. Lee Carroll’s E & I cost are also in this proposal. The net product of the project will be increases capacity, and reliability, as well as shutting down all services to old Androscoggin Facility buildings. It was moved by Mayor Grenier, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor, to extend the contract in the amount of $114,195.00.
d. AFSCME’s Negotiations – Review/Approve Proposed 2-year Contract Status: After negotiating an agreement package for the seven (7) Berlin Water Works – AFSCME Local #1444 employees’ an agreement has been reached. The total package is a reduction in cost from the previous contract and about $10,000 savings to the FY2010 budget. The contract includes a Health Insurance coverage change to Harvard Pilgrim HMO HIGH (same as the Police Department for each of the two years and continue the bargaining unit employees from their current 80/20% split on Health Insurance premiums. Mayor Grenier stated that he cannot support that the #1444 will have a different insurance coverage than the Public Works Department which is also #1444 and that all City “labor”
groups should have the same insurance policy. He said the City’s Police and Fire groups are “safety” and can be in a different insurance package. He also acknowledged that the Council would not approve this contract. It was moved by Commissioner Caron, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, except for Mayor Grenier, to accept the Working Agreement between the Berlin Water Works and Local Union #1444 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO for the period of August 01, 2011 to July 31, 2013. .
e. Berlin Station LLC Water Contract Proposal Status: The July Minutes were approved and a copy will be sent to Charles Grecco - Executive Vice President of Cate Street Capital, Inc.
f. Other Old Business:
a. It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Mayor Grenier, with all in favor, to make payment to the State for our SRL #06 in the amount of $123,329.64.
b. Regarding our health insurance billings from the City Comptroller, we have not received a bill since March. We owe about $120k. Part of that is for last year (FY2011). And also there is minor paper work to do with the City Comptroller for the EPA grant, like population & City financial data that we need to supply to Mark Spinale Regional DWSRF Coordinator EPA New England. The Grant won’t be approved until we receive that information and BWW could lose this grant if we delay in completing the application. And at the urging of Mr. Spinale, that we need to send the submission of the match waiver documentation for our FY10 earmark as he is concerned that with the current recession climate down in Washington, he said some recipients have lost their earmark funding. Superintendent Viens told the Board
that only this City would know some of the information. He spoke to City Manager Pat McQueen the other day about this.
Under New Business:
a. 2 Wentworth Avenue billing for property: December 28th, 2011 BWW had to dig the curb stop to shut off the property as the sprinkler line was broken inside. This property in is the Town of Gorham. He does not have a water service at the property, only a sprinkler line. After discussion, it was moved by Mayor Grenier, seconded by Commissioner Caron, with all in favor, to have the office to abate the billing in the amount of $9.80.
b. Other & Communications:
1. We are running a trial with Vari-Tech using their Poly Horse Equipment which loads HDPE 50ft pipe lengths into the fusing machine to be fused. This is to be set up by Heritage Park/Brookfield power. It facilitates a faster & safer fusing of pipe.
There was no other new business at this time.
The Board agreed to hold their next regularly scheduled meeting at 12:00 noon, on Tuesday September 20th, 2011 instead of Wednesday September 21, 2011.
There was no Public – Board Comments.
It was moved by Commissioner Caron, seconded by Mayor Grenier, with all in favor to enter into the non-public session under RSA 91-A:II(a) Personnel-Wages and Grievance and RSA 91-A:21(b-c) – Collective bargaining and consultation with legal counsel. By roll call vote will all members voting in favor, the Board entered into the non-public session at 1:15pm. At about 1:26pm, by unanimous roll call vote, it was moved by Mayor Grenier, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor that the Board returns to their regular public meeting.
There being no further business to come before this meeting at this time, it was moved by Mayor Grenier, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor to adjourn this meeting.
The meeting did so adjourn at 1:27pm.
A True Record: ATTEST:___________________________ Paul Poulin, Clerk of the Board
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