Members Present: Chairman Douglas R. North, Vice Chairman Stephen C. Lobik, Clerk Joseph M. Prior
Superintendent: Craig W. Jalbert
Secretary: Dale Barnes-Johnson
Guest(s): 11 Residents from Fenton Road, Selectmen Ed Maia
Open the Meeting: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
Accept the Minutes: A motion was made by Steve to except the August 31, 2011 meeting minutes. Motion seconded by Joe. Motion passed unanimously.
OLD/NEW BUSINESS
Fenton Road Repair ~ Craig described the Friday, July 29th sequence of events that began when Mrs. Cote from Fenton Road called the office around noon troubled she had no water. Craig, Tom and Jan immediately went out to Fenton Rd. to investigate the problem and determine the cause. They eventually discovered a large amount of water bubbling up on the property of 24 Fenton Road where the 2” PVC private line runs through and feeds a total of 10 homes on Fenton Road. The water was then shut off to the private line where it begins off of Rt. 32, Palmer Road. Attempts were then made to contact the owner of the property (Mark Gawron) but we were unsuccessful as we only had his home phone number. The location of the break was on private property which is the
homeowner’s responsibility; the MW&SD cannot hire equipment to make repairs on private property therefore the repair had to wait until the homeowner could be contacted. Based on the location of the break Craig knew the depth of the line had to be quite deep (15 to 20 feet) which would require a large machine to properly excavate it. To save time Craig decided to begin calling contractors to see who had a machine close by and if they would be available for hire by the landowner. Craig spoke with Tom Gregoire first and fortunately his large excavator was in town and he could respond if the homeowner desired. Craig told Mr. Gregoire he would call him back after he spoke with Mr. Gawron. Craig then had a discussion with Mr. Jasik and Mrs. Cote of Fenton Rd. regarding the situation and explained to them that the break is on private property therefore it is the responsibility of the homeowner to hire the equipment and pay for the cost of the
repairs. However, Craig also explained he didn’t think it was fair that the Gawron’s be stuck with the entire bill. Mr. Jasik and Mrs. Cote agreed and a suggestion was made that all 10 residents connected to the line share the cost of the repair. It was now approximately 2:00 pm and Craig began contacting homeowners to notify them that water service would be out for an extended amount of time and at that time he also asked the other homeowners if they would be willing to share the cost of the repair. All the homeowners Craig asked tentatively agreed to share the repair costs. Shortly thereafter, Tom Murphy contacted Craig to let him know Mark Gawron had arrived home and that Tom would meet with him to explain the situation. Craig then informed the Commission and our guests from Fenton Road that he initially spoke with Mr. Gawron back in 2006 regarding the private line situation. At that time Mr. Gawron asked who has
responsibility for the line. Craig told him then it was not the Water Department but because the line is on his property it would start with him. Meanwhile, Tom and Mr. Gawron had spoken. Mr. Gawron again asked whose responsibility it was, Tom again explained because it is private property the MW&SD could not hire equipment, but would assist in the repairs. Craig spoke with Mr. Gawron via cell phone, explaining that Tom Gregoire was available but that Mr. Gawron would have to hire him. Craig asked Mr. Gawron if he wanted Tom Gregoire to bring his machine and proceed with repairs. Mr. Gawron said yes but also explained he did not want to be only one paying for it. Before Mr. Gregoire arrived, Mr. Gawron contacted Scott Flagg regarding his availability. Mr. Flagg was not available but he did give Mr. Gawron a good reference for Tom Gregiore. Subsequently, the equipment arrived and began excavating so work could begin.
The line was repaired, service was restored on or about 11:30-midnight, at which point the W&SD personnel began disturbing homeowners to flush the individual lines.
Residents voiced displeasure that they were not made aware they were connected to a private water line; one resident said personally he would have filed a grievance with the builder who put in the water line to service the sub-division of 10 lots; as there was nothing on the deeds to disclose that fact. Residents questioned how the Town allowed the line to be put in, further raising the question about who is responsible for maintenance and repairs. Mrs. Gawron explained that right now she would not be able to sell her house because of the water line issue. Doug made clear this took place a long time ago; we are dealing with past personnel, purchasers and repercussions of the builder, By-Laws are in place that would not allow this to happen now.
Craig contacted Town Council Ken Albano for advice on the Fenton Road Issue, and read the September 13, 2011 response from Attorney Mark Beglane from Bacon & Wilson. Review of the materials regarding the outstanding issues of the water line that serves 10 homes on Fenton Road concluded it is a private line, which is the homeowner’s responsibility. The owners of the 10 homes that are serviced from the private line are responsible for the maintenance, repair and replacement of such private water lines to the extent that such owners are benefited by such water lines. It is also believed the builder (Randy Pascale) could also have some liability since he obligated himself to maintain and repair said lines in an agreement dated April 8, 1988 signed by
himself and former Superintendent Peter Hull. It is not clear what was disclosed to the original or subsequent buyers of the 10 lots as to the private water lines and there is no agreement of record that outlines the specific rights and duties of each of the lot owners with respect to this private water line.
Mrs. Gawron has gotten advice from a lawyer with experience with easements and believes repairs should have been billed separately to the 10 homeowners and this is the Towns mess and the Town needs to produce a document that proves this is their (Gawron’s) responsibility. Mrs. Gawron believes it was right to make the repair, but not for them to pay summarizing her research on all individual deeds, which do not clearly define the private water line, or outline the specific rights and duties of each of the lot owners with respect to this private water line. Selectmen Ed Mia asked the group if at the time of their closings if they had purchased title insurance, if so, the title search should have picked up any easements. Mrs. Gawron insists the Town
should have billed separately, Doug disagrees as we don’t own the line and therefore cannot bill for work an outside contractor performs on private property. The majority of the homeowners present tonight voiced their willingness to pay their portion of the bill.
From the MW&SD perspective this situation is similar to a condominium association with each person having their own meter, unlike the trailer park which has one master meter. For informational purposes Craig described Woodridge Condominiums and Quaboag Heights as examples where an association is responsible for the grounds, the individual owners are only responsible for their home and they are all individually metered. At the time these developments went in research was done on how surrounding towns handled them, which were all different. Wilbraham has a master meter at the street and bills the association, leaving the question if not paid, who would get shut off since there are no individual shut offs. The MW&SD made the decision to
individually meter each service with each individual responsible for their bill. Each connection was inspected to ensure compliance with our standards as we are responsible for the quality of the water to the last free flowing tap.
Attorney Beglane also included recommendations in order to allow the private line to be made public. The Board of Water Commissions must first approve making the lines public, secondly the Board of Selectmen must agree to accept an easement from all 10 property owners of the existing lines, and then lastly Town Meeting must vote to accept the easements. Because the lines do not meet current Town standards, and may not last as long, before voting to move forward with public water lines it recommended the Board of Water & Sewer Commissioners calculate the future costs of repair, maintenance or replacement of these lines based on the life expectancy of the lines and have the owners and Pascale contribute their pro-rated costs to the Town for taking on these
water lines, as there may be significant costs and risk to the Town making these lines public without a fair contribution from the homeowners and Pascale who would benefit from making these lines public. Doug explained this would open up similar issues with every existing private line. The Commission explained they do not accept water lines on private property, especially 16’ down, if a problem can happen it usually will. Doug cited the example of the road construction on Hospital Road where the road grade had to be redesigned and raised. The water main went from 5 feet deep to over 8 feet and the Commission fought it. Water Rules and Regulations / Construction Standards state where and how lines are to be placed.
Selectmen Ed Maia suggested since all residents have a mutual interest they might want to hire one attorney and split the cost to get the deeds straightened out and get this resolved instead of having 10 different attorneys. Steve agrees this is a communication breakdown where lots were sold, but the buyers were not told they were connected to a private line. Craig also added the developer made a financial decision at the time that saved him money and hopefully was represented in the ultimate price of the home or lot. A deep well in that neighborhood is extremely expensive. The issue here is that the proper information was not disclosed to the buyers and unfortunately beyond the control of the Town and the Water Department. Doug acknowledged the
group for bringing the issue to the Commission; however, the MW&SD cannot fix the problem and cannot accept a bill from a contractor and distribute it to other properties. Steve agreed the best thing to do is have one voice, one attorney to all be on the same page. Selectmen Maia agreed we can only speculate on whose fault this is, but if all the homeowners got one attorney it could get straightened out
Craig was asked how expensive would it be to make the line public. Craig responded the right of way where the line was placed would need to be cleared (approximately 2500 feet) and then the section of the line where fill was brought in to make the driveway would have to be replaced at a normal depth. It could be tens of thousands of dollars. Craig was then asked isn’t that what the water rates pay for? Craig explained the water rates pay for the maintenance and repair of the tanks, wells, Town water mains, electricity, oil, telephone, employee pay and benefits and our building. Department funds are not spent on private property. Doug continued by saying the Water Department is self funded through its water rates. This
Department has always been customer service oriented and pro-active with its leak detection program by always helping customers locate leaks on their property. The employees of the Department do the best they can within the rules and policies of the Department and are not responsible for anything curb box in, helping on private property is a bonus; however there are liability issues if something were to go wrong while we are assisting on private property. Understandably there are safety issues in a trench over 5’ which are intensified with a 16’ deep line. In the future the department may have to advise homeowners that Water Department personnel can no longer assist with repairs on private property. However, repairs would still have to be inspected by the Department. The integrity of the line and the cost to maintain it is very large concern. There have been no other known problems in the past 20 years but to make the private line
public would not be fair to the other 1,300 rate payers.
Selectmen Maia suggested they set up a neighborhood meeting and volunteered to help facilitate. The residents again voiced their willingness to pay their portion of the existing bills if copies could be distributed. Mrs. Gawron paid the MW&SD materials and labor bill “under protest”, however sent a letter to Tom Gregiore saying they were not responsible for his bill. The general consensus of the Fenton Road group is to get the deeds cleared up and reach an agreement on how future repairs will be handled. The group thanked the Commission for their time and the Departments assistance in repairing the line and exited the meeting at 7:55p.m.
Road Project - Margaret Street ~ The last piece of work to be done in preparation of the road reconstruction was replacing a 60 foot section of 1” iron pipe that extends from the end of the 2” cement lined iron pipe and services 12 & 13 Margaret St. The plan was to replace the 60 foot section with 1” copper; however, complications soon changed the scope of work. A perforated rusted out drain pipe was hit and damaged 10 minutes into the work bringing an abundance of water into the trench hindering our ability to see what we were digging. That in turn contributed to us breaking the sewer service pipe to 12 Margaret St. Then while opening up the trench to get access to the sewer service the backhoe broke the 1” iron pipe line we were to replace, gushing water and
filling the trench. Tom immediately went to the top of Margaret St. to shut off the valve that controlled the whole line. However, in the process of shutting off the valve it broke. Fortunately it broke in the 95% closed position so we had mostly controlled the flow of water. Unfortunately, we now had four things to fix. Continue replacement of the 1” iron pipe line, repair the sewer service pipe, repair the drain line and now also replace the 2” valve that controlled Margaret St. so water could be turned back on. We needed another backhoe so Craig contacted Tom Gregoire who was working on Bethany Road that day. Mr. Gregoire arrived and began working with Craig to replace the 2” valve. Meanwhile Tom and Jan continued down below with Bruce Harris to complete that work. Work continued all day with no breaks or lunch, and at 5:30 pm repairs were complete. The 1” iron pipe was replaced with 1”
copper, the sewer service was repaired, the drain line was repaired, a new 2” ball valve was installed to control Margaret St. and the line was flushed and disinfected.
SRF Project Inspections
DEP Inspection - Mike McGrath from DEP came out on Wednesday September 7th on behalf of the Bureau of Resource Protection Division of Municipal Services to closeout the SRF projects. The External Closeout Audit Checklist, Contract Certificate forms for each construction contract that were part of the project and Project Completion Certificates were completed and submitted, to John Felix in Boston, all project records must be maintained for seven years.
EPA AARA DWSRF Project Inspection – The EPA will be sending out two consultants from the Cadmus Group to conduct a project inspection of the $313,712 Tank Rehab project to verify compliance. The inspection is scheduled for Monday, September 26th and will consist of: a review of all documents (plans and specs, change order and submittals), Davis Bacon provisions (weekly payrolls, employee interview documentation, wage determinations, etc.), Buy American provision, reporting forms submitted to the State and a site walk-through.
Group Homes ~ Our office has been contacted by Sherman Frydryk about water connection to two proposed houses on the Pfisterer property, their client has asked them to look into water service connections directly into the Town main. Separately another contractor has stopped in regarding plans for a group home on Bethany Road. November 15th is believed to be the pavement cut off day.
Tower View ~ The fire sprinkler service to 288 Main Street has been reactivated. The system had been brought up to code; they went with 2 separate back flow prevention devices with bypass metering.
Meter Reading ~ July –September usage meter readings will take place next week.
Appreciation Letters ~ Mrs. O’Shea sent in a card thanking the department crew for their quick and courteous response to their water pipe problem, they did not expect to get such prompt service, which was appreciated.
Mr. Gary Jarvis sent in a letter informing Craig how extremely helpful Tom Murphy was when he had a sewer problem on Lakeside Drive. Tom was sent out and helped diagnose the problem, located the clean out openings and when it was determined that the clog was on private property Tom did not leave, he continued to try to help resolve the issue and offer suggestions.
Request for Abatement ~ The property owner for 12 Washington Street and 20 State Street sent a letter requesting an abatement of the sewer bills for their properties, both properties contained four apartments damaged by the June 1st tornado. Dale spoke with the owner regarding 12 Washington Street and explained the FY2012 1st quarter bill was for usage period April 2011- June 2011, a full quarter bill was generated as service was not shut off until July 6, 2011. The property at 20 State Street remains on, our billing policy is to bill the quarterly minimum as long as the water meter is in, which they do not want removed as there are workmen at the property and water is needed, therefore Dale suggested a letter be sent to the Commission.
The Commission discussed concerns regarding documenting when apartments come back on line and how the owners typically have the option to file for a loss of use with their insurance company, which would cover the bill. It is unclear to the Board who required the tenants to vacate as there are other buildings in Monson that received yellow placards that remain occupied. The Commission agreed to send a response letter asking the property owner to produce a letter from the Town Building Inspector stating that the property at 20 Sate Street is uninhabitable at this time due to tornado damage, and would then revisit the request for abatement.
Chlorination ~ Low levels of chlorine have been added to the drinking water since May 11, 2011 as preventative maintenance measure to avoid any possible issues like we experienced last summer. The plan was to continue until the end of September. Levels are where they need to be at the tanks and with all the activity and construction work going on it has proved to be beneficial. Craig would like to include on the agenda for our next meeting a public discussion regarding the possibility of continuing chlorination throughout the year on a voluntary basis.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting has been set for Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
ADJOURN: A motion was made by Doug to adjourn at 8:40p.m. from Open Session to go into Executive Session and not return to Open Session. Motion seconded by Steve. Motion passed unanimously.
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Joseph M. Prior, Clerk
cc: Selectmen
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