Commissioners Present: Douglas R. North Chairman, Joseph M. 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 meeting minutes of January 22, 2014 and February 12, 2014, motion seconded by Paul. Motion passed unanimously.
OLD/NEW BUSINESS
FY2015 Budgets ~ Water & Sewer Budgets for operating and salary line items were submitted to the Finance Director February 19, 2014. Craig is scheduled to meet with FINCOM, Monday March 17, 2014 at 7:15p.m, as always the Commission is welcome and encouraged to come if they so choose.
Town Meeting ~ Monday, May 12, 2014; articles are due Friday, March 28, 2014
Capital Projects~ Bethany Road Well Cleaning: Maher Services quoted $10,877 which includes pump removal, disassembly, inspection and reinstallation. The well will be cleaned and surged using a Muriatic Acid treatment. Although there are no foreseen problems with the pump, Craig will add $2-3,000 in case some pump parts are in need of replacement. Obviously Craig will solicit multiple quotes before we decide on a contractor but these numbers will be fine for budgeting purposes and the article requests. Generator enclosure: Dale suggested there may be space available near the Bellman Barn; it is close by and will allow ease of weekly maintenance. Craig will check with the Building Inspector to see if it would be allowed and what is required. $27,000 remains in the generator
procurement account as the bids were lower than expected. The Commission agreed we should build for the future, space is limited here; the enclosure should have double doors and would not need to be heated, once building requirements are determined footage and cost will be estimated. Sewer Jetter: Craig has one price so far ($40,000) for a jetter similar in size to what we currently have. The question was raised if a bigger unit with higher pressure would be more desirable and able to handle the larger mains. One concern is space, we just don’t have the room in our heated bay for a larger unit and if it is not kept where it’s heated, it must be winterized with antifreeze and Craig felt that would complicate it’s use and he prefers to keep it simple and heated. We also don’t have a high need for a larger unit. When a bigger unit is required we hire an outside contractor. An example is when we do our preventative
maintenance on Main Street or the I&I program with the large diameter mains. All other situations we use our own equipment. Craig will get information on more options. A representative from the McDermott Corp. will be coming out tomorrow to give Craig info and pricing on a different model. Hospital Road Pump Station exterior repairs: Craig wanted to verify with the Commission the material they suggested to replace the wood on the gable ends of the building (Hardiplank). Craig will consult with a carpenter for proper pricing on the siding and painting work. Pump Room Rehab: Jack O’Connell from Tata & Howard (T&H) provided some good ideas and tiered options. Option 1 – install bypass, replace valves and sandblast piping to verify its condition, if ok it could then be repainted thereby only replacing the bad sections. The Commission decided against this option because it didn’t make sense to spend the money to
bypass the pump room and then not have all new piping with its longer lifespan. Option 2 – install bypass, replace valves and replace all piping with epoxy lined pipe. Option 3 – same as 2 but includes replacing the existing add-on flowmeter installed in 1997 with a new integrated magnetic flowmeter. Craig will have T&H work on getting us rough engineering and construction estimates. We are crunched for time before articles are due; a meeting will be set prior to submittal. If pricing is unknown, they can be submitted as a sum of money so that they can be included.
Water Rate ~ to meet the proposed budget, no rate adjustment will be required. A motion was made by Paul to maintain the current water rate at $5.35/1,000 gallons ($33.44 Min/Qtr), motion seconded by Joe, motion passed unanimously.
Sewer Rate ~ estimated revenue has dropped, as discussed a conservative rate increase will be necessary to meet the proposed budget. A motion was made by Paul to raise the current sewer residential flat rate per dwelling unit from $322.60/Yr, $80.65/Qtr to $328.00/Yr, $82.00/Qtr effective April 1, 2014, motion seconded by Joe, motion passed unanimously.
Department Activity
Leak Detection ~ Tom and Tony have been working diligently on leak detection with not too much success. However, they have found several internal toilet leaks.
Meter Reading ~ meter reading to capture Oct-Dec. usage will take place the end of March.
Water Leak ~ a leak was found on High Street after the Building Inspector contacted our office to inform us he had just finished an inspection of the home and had condemned it. Our procedure is to shut the water off to the property and remove the water meter to protect it from freezing and prevent further damage to the property. When our staff arrived, they could hear water leaking in the vicinity of the curb stop but no water was visible at that time. When the curb box cover was removed to access the shut off, water then began to leak out from the curb box and down the driveway. The curb box operating assembly was found to be broken; therefore water shut off would not be possible without first digging up the curb stop valve. A significant snowfall was happening at the time, as the
leaking water was not causing a traffic hazard, the decision was made to hold off on excavating the shut off until the following day. When work commenced the following day, a break on the service line was evident just after the curb stop valve on the property owner’s side of the shut off. Our staff was able to access the curb stop valve and shut it off to stop the leak. However due to the condition of the existing service pipe, water will not be able to be restored to the property until we have replaced the line from the water main to the property line. Under normal conditions, or if there was an emergency of some sort, we could have replaced it that day, however due to the amount of frost in the road, we will wait until spring to complete that work. Craig sent the Monson Board of Health a letter providing a brief summary of the situation as it relates to the water service for this property.
MassDEP Central Regional Office in WorcesterTraining ~ Jan and Tony attended a free Pump, Motor, Valve & Hydrant Maintenance class, worth 3 TCH’s. The following day, Craig and Dale attended MA Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) Overview, New Reporting Requirements and Expanded Delivery Options class, worth 2 TCH’s.
Hospital Road Pump Station ~ the pH probe cartridge was replaced.
GIS System ~ Craig continues to work on valve cards.
Generator Hook-up~ Lagrant Electric finished the transfer switch and connector work for this building.
Monthly Reports ~ completed by Craig.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting has been set for Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 6:30p.m.
ADJOURN: A motion was made by Paul and seconded by Joe to adjourn at 7:45 p.m. Motion passed unanimously.
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Paul C. DeMaio, Clerk
cc: Selectmen
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