Members Present: Chairman Douglas R. North, V. Chairman Marshall L. Harris, Clerk Stephen C. Lobik
Superintendent: Craig W. Jalbert
Secretary: Dale Johnson
Open the Meeting: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
Accept the Minutes: A motion was made by Steve and seconded by Doug to accept the meeting minutes of November 9, 2005 as written. Motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS:
Bunyan Road Well Improvements ~ Update:
The new replacement flow meter is installed. Shalin Patel of US Automation will be out the week after Christmas to calibrate the meter and complete equipment hook ups.
Baseline Sampling has begun at the new Bunyan Road wells; VOC’s are required for the next four quarters. This current budget line item for testing will probably go over for this year. Craig has already obtained a quote from the lab for next years testing, which necessitates a slight increase to this line item in the FY07 budget.
Hospital Road Reconstruction ~ Update:
Job Status: Some water taps were done today; it was a very cold day to do the taps. . . This requires cutting the basecoat to put the taps in. Three are done, and one was pulled into the house. All together there are 13 on the street.
Railroad: Doug came in and signed the Installation Cost Agreement. Water main work in the crossing is done, from the brook to MDC is complete and has passed bacteria test, the pressure test remains to be done. Overall some money was saved as the original spec called for 80’ of casing, the job only required 40’.
Tom Murphy reported to Craig something happened to the tapping machine today. Marty suggested borrowing one if need be. Craig explained how originally EJ Prescott was going to do the taps at $600/day that we are paying for and has to be booked ahead. Craig offered to do the taps and have our Palmer Paving Materials account credited to expedite the process. After tonight’s meeting Craig will take a look at the tapping machine.
Upper Palmer Rd/Macomber Rd: It looks like this project is a go ahead with wells on the property. Marty asked if wells affect the lot size, as septic does. Doug believes the wells have to be 100 feet apart. Discussion took place on how the land went from being zoned Agricultural to Village Residential and the financial impact that change made. Lots 6 through 9 on Macomber have access to sewer. Mr. Cortina came in to see Craig as lots 7 & 8 are staked out to have up-scale modular homes constructed; Craig explained to Leo the fees, permit and connection process.
For peace of mind Craig contacted Tata and Howard who is working on the hydraulic model, to see what impact a tank on Bunyan Mountain would have on the water pressure in this area. Brief discussion took place on the Regulations. Doug asked how surface water would be handled and suggested that the Planning Board be alerted. Craig explained how Chip recently ran into this on Heritage Lane and feels it will be dealt with accordingly. Due to the economy, Craig doesn’t expect this development going beyond the initial 10 lots.
Source Water Protection Plan (SWPP) Schedule: The Public meeting was held at 7p.m., November 30th at the High School. Craig commented that the turn out was less then expected. The presenters out numbered the 3 in the audience and the reporter. The presentation went quick; the package will be modified and presented to the Selectmen. The school presentations are going great. Craig is impressed with the participation and has one more 7th grade class tomorrow. He would like to do a yearly presentation to the 4th graders.
Palmer Road Well Improvements: No new comments.
NEW BUSINESS:
Commissioner Term Expirations (2): Marty and Steve will both pull papers to run for another term. Craig briefly informed the commission the agenda for the next Western Mass Waterworks Meeting includes a Tank Debate, Concrete vs. Steel.
FY07 Budget Preliminary Discussion: It is not yet known what the Finance Committee will be expecting this year, they had their first meeting Monday night. Nonetheless, Craig explained the department is overwhelmed with work. Brief discussion took place on what the costs (approximately $40,000) would be to bring another person on, while this is a lot to bring on at once; help is needed in the near future. Craig feels the Salary and Benefit split of 70% Water and 30% Sewer is no longer true and in fairness to the Water Ratepayers and would like to move towards a 50/50 or 60/40 split as there are numerous sewer taps, and mark outs not to mention sewer issues that need to be addressed. The last Sewer Rate increase of 8% went into effect 10/01/04, and was a result of Palmer’s
increase, looking at the projections another Sewer Rate increase will be needed.
As far as Water goes, Craig would like to begin contracting out for preventative maintenance that time does not allow for, this would include hydrant and valve maintenance, leak detection, and lawn maintenance in the summer. Doug suggested hiring a College student in the summer; however Craig explained that would require additional supervision needs, whereas hiring independent professionals does not. Marty agreed there would be advantages to hiring out to do valve exercising, because when breaks occur that is the time you wish they had a program in place, if the contractor discovered broken equipment, our people would then make the repairs. Further burden occurs when the Highway Department decides to overlay a road, Gate Street for example, which
took the department all summer to do 3 services between all the other projects going on, vs. hiring out to replace the services which could have been done in two days. Marty pointed out not all departments do all the work themselves these days. Bethany Road is on the agenda for next year, Craig would like to do every service, and money is saved by being proactive and replacing original 1895 services when roads are redone, such as Green Street. Craig could draw up a scope of work to send out to bid.
Craig has spoken to Tim Pascale about having the Park and Rec. Dept. handle the lawn maintenance at our facilities. Craig figures they are done twelve times a year and require two men for an entire day. Our facilities include Bunyan, Palmer, Hospital Road stations, Ely Road tank, the dam and Bethany Road. Tim offered to take on this task for $2200/year; the Commissioners agreed this was quite reasonable. Doug agrees as just this year a day was lost do to bee stings.
Another possibility is hiring out for Leak Detection vs. the department doing it between jobs, one street at a time. If hired out the entire town could be done, or by sections over a few months and the department could then go and fix identified leaks.
Marty pointed out if we have a serious equipment or infrastructure failure in the Sewer system, the funds need to be available to address it. The Commission agreed it is best to go up slightly and stagger between Water and Sewer vs. doing big increases at the same time. Craig suggested phasing it in beginning with the 60/40 expense split in FY2007 to 50/50 in two years. Sewer spending is not increasing like the other portions of our budget (salaries and Palmer fees). The Sewer station needs so much work, the recent comminutor work that was done was minimal. Discussion took place on the split now that Water and Sewer are Enterprise Funds.
Further discussion will take place at the next meeting, as tonight’s meeting was meant to be preliminary.
NEXT MEETING:
A motion was made by Steve and seconded by Marty to set the next meeting for Wednesday, December 21, 2005. Motion passed unanimously.
ADJOURN:
A motion was made by Marty and seconded by Steve to adjourn at 7:45 p.m. Motion passed unanimously.
___________________________________
Stephen C. Lobik,
Clerk
cc: Selectmen
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