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 Paul to accept the April 16 and May 7, 2014 meeting minutes, motion seconded by Doug. Motion passes unanimously.
OLD/NEW BUSINESS
Town Meeting ~ All W&S articles were approved. Craig has not proceeded with any of work yet.
Storage Building ~ the design phase will not begin until Park & Rec has a dollar amount from the insurance company.
Hospital Road Pump Station Pump Rehab Project ~ Tata and Howard (T&H) is preparing the engineering services agreement for the upgrades to the existing Hospital Road Pump Station (replacement of the interior piping and valves, replacement of the existing Venturi flow tube with a magnetic flow meter, and the installation of an emergency pump connection to by-pass the station during the project).
Jetter Replacement and Pipeline Video Inspection System ~ Craig would like to see a demonstration of the jetter and the different sewer cameras available before making a selection. He is scheduling appointments during the next few weeks.
Bethany Road Well Cleaning and Rehabilitation ~ Craig will obtain two more quotes for comparison purposes.
Hospital Road Pump Station Exterior Repairs, two additional quotes will also be obtained.
Department Activity
Training and Education~ Craig attended the Mass Rural Water Sustainable Management workshop, which went over key management aspects of the W&S system. Craig and Tom attended the Mass Water Works Association Water Audit Methodologies training that introduced new methodology to classify unaccounted for water. Currently when filling out the MassDEP Annual Statistical Report (ASR), water pumped, billable water and water lost must be identified. Water used for hydrant flushing and firefighting is estimated. Anything left is considered unaccounted-for-water. Mass DEP has standards requiring systems to achieve no more than 10% unaccounted-for-water. American Water Works Association (AWWA) has developed a complicated methodology for prioritizing loss control options. They
realize losses are unavoidable on a 120 year old system and their methodology incorporates that fact. Craig explained how we are ahead of other departments in the way he and Dale track Quarterly usage.
Tom, Jan and Tony are awaiting the dates to appear for their Hoisting Machinery licenses.
New Services ~ Craig informed the Board that the new owners of 245 Palmer Road have contacted him about the possibility of connecting the subdivided lots located there to town water and sewer. The Commission was in agreement that any formal discussion would not take place until a formal proposal is submitted and our Rules and Regulations would dictate the Commission’s decision.
Road Projects/ Palmer Road ~ cut and capped 3 abandoned services, repaired/replaced 3 valve boxes.
Water Leak ~ service leak was repaired at 6 Cedar Swamp Road.
Monson HS Baseball Field Irrigation ~ the water service is onto the property, they can proceed.
Chlorine ~ Craig noted we have observed better chlorine residuals throughout the system since we have diluted the solution strength.
Completion of Term ~ this is Doug North’s last meeting as Commissioner. He has served on the board since 2004 and his knowledge and experience have been invaluable. Many problems have been solved and numerous projects and improvements have been completed during his decade of service which was the most productive and busy in the history of the department. He truly was an outstanding Water & Sewer Commissioner and we wish him well in his future endeavors.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting has been set for Wednesday, June 17, 2014 at 3:30p.m. to reorganize the board.
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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