4 Turkey Hill Road Richard B. Zang,
Newtown, CT 06470 Chairman
Tel (203) 270-4300 Marianne Brown
Fax (203) 426-9968 Louis Carbone
Philip Cruz
Fred Hurley, Alann Shepard
Director TOWN OF NEWTOWN
Carl Zencey
WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
Richard Conte
The Newtown Water and Sewer Authority held a regular meeting on Thursday, August 13, 2009, at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, Commerce Road. Chairman Richard Zang called the meting to order at 7:08 PM.
Present: Lou Carbone, Marianne Brown, Alan Shepard, Carl Zencey, Richard Zang
Absent: Phil Cruz, Richard Conte
Also Present: Fred Hurley, Director, Jason O’Brien and Julio Segarra of AOS, Inc., Michael Burton, Ted Kreinik and Bob Rau of the Economic Development Commission, Lee Farris from Rand Whitney
Public Participation - None
Approval of the Minutes – Lou Carbone moved to accept the minutes of the June 11, 2009 meeting as presented, Alan Shepard seconded, motion unanimously accepted.
OLD BUSINESS
107 Church Hill Road Benefit Assessment – Alan Shepard abstained from the discussion. Dick Zang informed Mr. Burton that the $9,900 was a flat residential sewer benefit assessment at the time the sewer was put in. Commercial properties were essentially doubled that of residential. Once you are in the sewer district, you have to hook up. In this district, flow doesn’t come into play. There is a right to appeal.
Mr. Burton asks to consider a lesser assessment – reduced by $9,900. He also requests no payment on phase one and build the balance into the other phases. Mr. Zang suggested tabling this and give this to the appraiser for there rebuttal. At the same time, he is asking Mr. Burton to come up with some concrete proposals, such as payment schedules.
Marianne Brown moved to table the assessment for 107 Church Hill Road, Lou Carbone seconded, motion unanimously accepted (Alan Shepard abstained)
Gallons Processed vs. Gallons Billed Study – Mr. Zang put together a chart of the flow. It does show that the wet increase the following day of the dry weather that there are some leaky pipes at FFH. Mr. Hurley responded that one of the things they were uncovering at FFH; during the installation of the gas line is clay pipes and sealing them as they go. When the mapping is complete, they can compare the water bills with the areas and see what that shows.
Mr. Shepard spoke on the mapping. There are a few properties that still need to be checked. If the street address is on the map from GIS, it would be a lot easier to check.
Private NPDES Permit – Lynwood Place, LLC, 75 Glen Road, Sandy Hook – The WSA has the option to put them into the sewer district but they are not interested at this time. There are no issues with this permit.
Solar Feasibility Study – Bob Rau of the Economic Development Commission introduced Ted Kreinik who presented their current thinking on the solar project. Conservation is not interested in having solar panels on pristine land; put them on roof tops, but not in a field. While the town owns the land, part of it is EDC’s and the other is WSA which would require legal assistance. The next step is to solicit Private Power Associations to see who is interested. This is for a private investor who would put up the panels; take the depreciation and so on. Its purpose is to find out if it is economically viable for an investor to put up panels here. Mr. Zang informed Mr. Kreinik that part of that land that he is looking at is part of a sewer plant expansion reserve area.
There is still land available, but not as much as in the original mapping. The price of solar panels has dropped dramatically. At this point, they will talk to the Town’s attorney and if they find a PPA interested, they will come back to the WSA to discuss further.
NEW BUSINESS
Randy Whitney- Lee Farris of Rand Whitney wanted to thank Julio Segarra for all of his cooperation, and coordination to address the Copper that came in to the Waste Water Treatment from Rand Whitney. Also wanted to thank the board and the town for all the benefits that they have made available for Rand Whitney. They are performing a turbidity test daily to be proactive to make sure this doesn’t re-occur.
Annual Base Compensation Adjustment – This year there is an increase from the flow and loads but the CPI is down. Alan Shepard moved to recommend to the purchasing authority to increase the Annual Base Compensation Adjustment from $519,735.72 to $526,647.33, Carl Zencey seconded, motion unanimously accepted.
Amendment of the Water Pollution Control Plan – There are some basic updates that need to be made. The Public Hearing notice of the changes is attached. Marianne Brown moved to approve the updated Water Pollution Control Plan as presented. Lou Carbone seconded, motion unanimously accepted.
2010 Water Budget –The last fiscal year had positive revenue. The basic revenues and expenses are in balance so Mr. Hurley’s suggestion is to keep the current budget. This budget includes rate increases which are in balance.
2010 Sewer Budget – At this point, there is a $75,000 short fall from a cash flow stand point. The question is budgeting going forward. What does the board want to do with the rates? At this point, there needs to be a rate increase from 7% up to 18% to balance the budget. The board would like to see budget scenario’s using 4% and 6% ranges.
Marianne Brown moved to accept the water budget as presented to the Legislative Council in September 2007, Lou Carbone seconded, motion unanimously accepted.
Report by Public Works Director – The USGS Rep is setting up a meeting to come into town next week to address the short items that have not been addressed. Julio put together a pack of expenses for the damage to well 3 that was damaged due to the work that USGS did. United Water was in and discussed the use of fire hydrants. Since the hydrants in FFH need to be blown off it makes sense to have the Fire Departments use a meter with a backflow preventer at FFH.
105 Church Hill Road has come to the WSA for hook up for their addition as well as change from residential to commercial. The bank at the Caraluzzi property has opened. The original assessment for with no changes for Caraluzzi’s was not including the bank in the benefit assessment.
Carl Zencey moved to authorize Karin & Fazio to do the benefit assessment for 105 Church Hill Road and 26 Church Hill road and to have him review the benefit assessment for 107 Church Hill Road. Alan Shepard seconded, motion unanimously accepted.
Report by AOS Operating Company – the plant has been running reasonably well. The Taunton Lake pump station seems to have some sort of voltage problem. CL&P has installed a voltage meter. Hawelyville pump station soft start is not working. The station is running because it has another starting system other than the soft start. On the Water side, well 3 has iron bacteria again. Stephen B. Church as been notified. This was expected but not this soon.
Having no further business meeting adjourned at 10:22PM
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