Wastewater Treatment Plant Present: Ken Troup
April 25, 2006 Harold Brown
Jodi Ross
Mark Sprague
Burt Shnitzler
Bill Spratt
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee met at 8:00 a.m. at the Town Hall. Present for the meeting: Mr. David Formato of Tata and Howard; Carol Gumbart, Conservation Commission Administrator, and Curt Plante.
Minutes of March 16 and March 30, 2006 were read and approved.
The Committee was provided with a copy of the presentation prepared for town meeting on May 1, 2006 entitled “Wastewater Treatment Plant for Bolton Schools, Article 8, May 1, 2006”. Mr. Shnitzler suggested that the “Project Schedule” page be revised to read Construction begins summer of 2007 and in operation no later than April 2008.
Mr. Formato informed the Committee that testing conducted over the last few weeks went very well. They mimicked a full scale loading on the area. Water was added over a period of time and they continued to monitor for 3-4 days. Preliminary results confirmed 25,000 gallons per day. Mr. Formato stated that they are confident that there is ample capacity for the wastewater treatment plant and all data will be put into some modeling software to confirm the information.
It appears that only 1 to 2 feet of fill will be required rather than the 6 feet of fill previously anticipated. Plans will also include the creation of a playing field approximately 100 X 60.
The 25,000 gallons per day will also support the addition of 600 students but will not accommodate all Main Street residents and other municipal buildings. The Committee agreed that it would be beneficial to add additional trenches to the leach field now for future expansion. The cost of future expansion would be minimal. The cost of an additional membrane would be approximately $6,000.
The Committee agreed that they were not comfortable with reducing the cost of the treatment plant to a lesser amount at town meeting because of the uncertainty of costs with construction not occurring for another year.
There is no additional cost associated with abandoning the existing leaching field.
The Committee reviewed the plans proposed for treatment plant and leaching fields.
Mr. Plante encouraged the Committee to look out side the box and the possibility of what this treatment plant can offer for the future needs.
The Committee also discussed giving town meeting the opportunity to decide on the type of building to be constructed for the treatment plant. A vinyl sided building would cost approximately $12,000; a wooden building would cost approximately $30,000 and a brick building would cost approximately $60,000. Mr. Plante reminded the Committee of the criticism the School Building Committee took with the end result of the school but the bottom line was that was all they had to spend for aesthetics and design. He recommended that for the 2% more of the overall cost for the treatment plant that the Committee go with a good looking building and not give town meeting the option.
After much discussion the Committee decided not to provide the building alternatives as part of their presentation at town meeting.
Mr. Troup informed that Committee that he had contacted Flatley regarding access to the treatment plant area and their feeling was that we basically already had access. Mr. Troup stated that he has not closed the loop with Flatley at this point but that discussions so far have been positive.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee is scheduled to meet with the Board of Selectmen on Thursday, April 27 at 7:00 p.m. to give them an update on the project.
The next Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 8:00 a.m.
Meeting adjourned.
| 
