Commissioners Present: Douglas R. North Chairman, Joseph C Prior Vice Chairman, Paul C. DeMaio Clerk
Employees Present: Superintendent: Craig W. Jalbert; Secretary: Dale Barnes-Johnson
Open the Meeting: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
Accept the Meeting Minutes: A motion was made by Joe to accept the August 21. 2013meeting minutes, motion seconded by Paul. Motion passed unanimously.
OLD/NEW BUSINESS
Palmer Water Connection ~ The W & S Commission met with the Board of Selectmen and town council’s representative (Jeffrey Fialky) in executive session on Tuesday, September 10th to discuss the agreement in principle reached with the Palmer Waster District and how it may or may not impact the town’s position and strategy in surrounding community impact discussions.
Mechanic Street ~ the guardrail is installed and the job is 90% complete, final paving remains to be done.
Sewer Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) ~ 5221’ is complete, roughly 3000’ to go. The cleaning must be completed before cold weather sets in. The testing and sealing can continue into cooler temperatures. 7 Belmont and 35 Washington Street connections were updated with rubber flex connectors, Tom Gregoire was brought in to do the site work. $67,000 remains in the I&I fund, the Commission discussed transferring money at the Fall Special Town Meeting or waiting until Spring. Next year plans are to continue I & I from the car wash to the Hospital Road Pump Station, this stretch will require police details and be more expensive. The Car Wash to Fenton Road will require 2 police; roughly 900’ of pipe is covered a day, approximately 6,000 ft. if all goes
well. The over 20 feet deep manholes will increase set up time and expense. Herb Murray’s to the car wash has already been completed. There has been a notable difference in flows at the sewer station after the middle section was complete, another significant drop is expected after this stretch is complete and more in the Spring. A motion was made by Paul to move forward with requesting future funds ($30,000) either in the Fall or Spring for I & I services as Craig sees fit, motion was seconded by Joe. Motion passed unanimously.
The sewer easement from Wilbraham Road to Homer Drive (installed in1986) has been marked out, Craig will look into clearing that easement and talk with Leslie Duthie about what will be required.
Department Activity
Generator Hook Up ~ Kinsley Power will be out tomorrow to add Cam-Lok Connectors to the Generator. Craig is still waiting for quotes to install a manual transfer switch for this building.
Brimfield Road ~ two valve boxes were replaced during the road repaving.
Service Line Replacements ~ assisted Mr. Dane in replacing the service line from the end of the 2” line to his house at 18 Cedarhurst Drive, service from main to curb at 30 Washington Street was replaced, and a service leak was repaired at 54 Beebe Road. In the meantime Monson Savings Bank was having problems with their irrigation system near the building. Scott Davis called for assistance in troubleshooting the problem; the meter was removed and the service line flow tested. Testing indicated the problem was in the street (possible clogged corporation), tuberculation formed inside the corporation causing severe flow reduction. We excavated and after modifying our tool we were able to remove the tuberculation and open the corporation up. While in the street the line was
replaced to the property line with a 1” copper. Inside, Craig noticed the heating system which radiates heat to the outside ramp and stairs did not appear to have the correct backflow device installed.
Record Keeping ~ in between jobs, we are continuing to add valve card maps.
Equipment Maintenance ~ Bunyan soda ash pump motor was replaced (bad bearings). The old motor was disassembled, cleaned and bearings replaced for a spare. Knowing now that new bearings can be purchased for about $20, Craig has bought replacement bearings for all the soda ash pump motors for future maintenance vs. replacement.
GIS Mapping ~ A yearly maintenance fee will need to be budgeted for FY2015 for exclusive access to the Water & Sewer Department information which is an overlay to the Town and Assessors mapping program, Water & Sewer information will not accessible on-line to the general public at this time. Data updates and additions will continue, in the future Jan may be able to add data, however it is beneficial to have someone do the updating (Tighe & Bond) rather than in house, which cannot currently be done efficiently, the software alone is $1500 plus man hours needed to do the updates. Jan is putting hand drawings in the computer to be easily accessible, especially with today’s smart phone technology.
Utility Truck ~ the 2012 Chevy truck is going in to Hartford Truck for repairs to the utility body Thursday, October 3.
Tree Planting ~ Tom assisted the tree planting committee with the loader to unload the new trees at the First Church and Veterans field. Friday the sewer service on Veterans field was re-marked, as it would have been done if DIG SAFE had been called.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting has been set for Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 6:30p.m.
ADJOURN: A motion was made by Paul and seconded by Joe to adjourn at 7:30 p.m. Motion passed unanimously.
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Paul C. DeMaio, Clerk
cc: Selectmen
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