Members Present: Chairman Stephen C. Lobik, Vice Chairman Douglas R. North, Clerk Joseph M. Prior
Superintendent: Craig W. Jalbert
Secretary: Dale Barnes-Johnson
Open the Meeting: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
Accept the Minutes: A motion was made by Joe and seconded by Doug to accept the February 11, 2010 meeting minutes. Motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS:
SRF Project Update/Final Loan Amount ~ Notification from the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust announced ARRA Funds have been successfully Committed. The loan of $313,712 qualifies for principal forgiveness of $63,317 representing over 20% in savings on the project costs. $313,712 will be borrowed and $309,932 will be paid back, including interest, the actual first payment will be $17,488 vs. the estimated payment of $21,000.
FY2011 Budget/Revised Water/FINCOM ~ The Operating/Salary Budget line items remain as submitted, however the SRF Project for Ely Tank #1 payment reduction lowers the overall expenses allowing the water rates to be revisited. The reduction in bond payment lowers the previously discussed $4.95/1000 gal. rate adjustment to $4.90/1000 gal. Discussion took place with regards to how beneficial the establishments of Water and Sewer Enterprise funds have been in funding projects upon approval vs. borrowing.
FINCOM had requested to meet February 22nd for budget discussion; Craig and Joe attended to discuss the water and sewer budgets. Because all Commissioners were not able to attend, they would like to meet with FINCOM to address any remaining concerns they may have before voting to recommend budgets. Brenda has confirmed they will be included on the agenda Monday, March 15, 2010. Dale will verify the time.
Chlorination Equipment ~ Craig has ordered one skid mounted feed system ($3,850) and a VFD Controller ($1,075) for the Bethany Rd. station. Craig will keep installation in house; the pre-plumbed skid mounted system allows a great deal of flexibility for locating the pump. Craig, Tom and Randy have been installing quills at the stations, Bethany is done, Palmer Rd. and Bunyan Rd. will follow. For the time being liquid chlorine will be used until the tablet system (ConstaChlor) is DEP approved. Bob Flagg has been keeping Craig informed about the pilot system progress at MDC, and mentioned better pricing could be had if Monson was to buy in combination with MDC when it is approved.
Sewer Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) Remediation ~ Trees have been cleared on the Rt. 32 overpass easement, Don Frydryk is modifying the easement plans for use in soliciting quotes for road construction.
Margaret Street Sewer Brook Crossing ~ Craig received an additional quote from Barrows Contracting ($9,500) which is a difference of approximately $4,000 from the Northern Construction proposal of $5,600. Craig would like to contact Northern to have them take another look at the job and confirm pricing.
Mechanic Street Water Main Relocation ~ Craig and Karen Gracey from Tata & Howard (T&H) found the FEMA-funded Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) meeting to be very helpful. T&H is working on the application which is due in April, unfortunately there is a long lead time, possibly a year before construction can begin, this includes engineering if it is to be included in this grant which would be for 75% of total project cost which is estimated to be approximately $100,000.
PVPC/Park Avenue ~ The survey and mark outs have been completed. The survey crew was out today to measure the inverts of sewer manholes. Craig and John Morrell met with National Grid to determine pole and tree locations before project starts, National Grid would like a copy of the plan to prepare their work.
Department Activity ~
~ Hydrant Maintenance is underway; Tom and Randy are removing hydrant caps, replacing gaskets and treating them with food grade anti-seize to allow easy access in the event of a fire. $1,623.62 has been spent on gaskets alone. Craig explained the pricing was secured by calling two local suppliers, however found USABlueBook to be the cheapest (gaskets at $2.50 vs. $7.50, pumper nozzles at $4.00 vs. $11-$12 and we also got better pricing due to quantity, there are 215 hydrants). Although time consuming, once this initial maintenance is done yearly maintenance will not take as long.
~ Meter Reading will begin the last week in March.
~ Hydrant Flushing will begin in April, however preparations (marking gate boxes and valves) starts now.
~F250 Craig contacted Ford directly about the rust/corrosion of passenger side quarter panel of the 2005 truck and requested quarter panel be replaced and refinished as needed, SARAT Ford did the work, Ford paid $2,000 toward repairs, the remaining $900 is our portion. The other side is starting to bubble as well and although this shouldn’t be happening Ford was not receptive to assisting further repairs.
Buckwell Property Trust~ No final decision was made on the special permit. Water has been shut off to the un-inspected building. They have also connected the un-inspected building to the public sewer system without permission, permit or inspection. If the Zoning Board denies the permit, the Sewer connection will have to be dug up and capped, if the ZB grants the permit, it will have to be exposed for inspection. Craig documented all this in his letter to the Zoning Board.
NEW BUSINESS:
Tower View ~ The Fire Sprinkler system leaks, in the past we have worked with them, and were aware of one leak on the system that we were promised would be addressed during 2009, however it was never repaired. On January 18, 2010 our personnel were called out to shut the fire sprinkler service off because of a burst sprinkler line in the building. The burst line was cause by freezing and when building temperature warmed the pipe thawed and began leaking at a significant rate. This is the second time a situation like this has occurred and to the best of our knowledge there have been no modifications to prevent this situation from happening again. Daily average water pumping for January 2010 was 421,806 gallons per day. The fire service was shut off on 1/18/2010, the daily average water
pumping for February 2010 was 346,893 gallons per day. That is a difference of approximately 75,000 gallons per day. The Fire Department has sent them a letter asking when they planned to have the fire sprinkler system turned on. The Commission discussed two options, one would involve converting the existing wet system to a dry type system, the second would be to have a fire sprinkler service meter sized by an engineer and installed on the system. Both options would also require bringing the system up to code with the installation of proper backflow prevention device. Craig will send a letter to Tower View.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting has been set for Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:30p.m.
ADJOURN: A motion was made by Steve and seconded by Doug to adjourn from open session to go into executive session at 7:00p.m.
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Joseph M. Prior, Clerk
cc: Selectmen
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