Board of Water Commissioners
Minutes of May 3, 2010
Wellfleet Town Hall Conference Room
Members in Attendance: Emily Beebe, Steve Gazzano, Jean Schaefer, Dan Wexman, Lori Vanderschmidt.
Others: Mary Fisk taking minutes.
At 6:37 PM Emily called the meeting to order.
Anomalies
Jean recused herself and left the room prior to the discussion of this issue.
Motion made by Dan and seconded by Emily: On those properties connected to the system since 2004 and for which the connection fee assessed exceeded the current connection fee as voted by the Board in the Rules and Regulations as approved April 5, 2010, a refund in the form of a water use credit will be applied. The motion carried unanimously by a vote of 4-0.
Motion made by Emily and seconded by Dan: Mary Fisk is directed to notify the owners of the properties affected by the previous motion. The motion carried unanimously by a vote of 4-0. The letter will be reviewed by Steve before it is sent out.
There was further discussion regarding those properties hooked up to the old Marina System, to wit: Mac’s Seafood, Higgins, Parlante, WHAT, and the Marina.
There was further discussion about crediting those properties that already hooked up under greater fees. These properties would have the first year discount applied as if they were hooked up under the current rate structure.
Further discussion determined that anyone who was hooked up and charged an amount less than the current rate structure would not owe any more.
Motion made by Emily and seconded by Dan: Properties on the old Marina system which became part of the Wellfleet Municipal Water System as outlined in the email from Jean Schaefer will not be charged any connection fees and as stated in Appendix A of the Wellfleet Municipal Water System Rules & Regulations adopted April 5, 2010, those properties not yet connected to the system previously known as the Coles Neck Water System will conform to current connection fee rates. The motion carried 4-0.
Easements
Grist Mill Way has an easement from 1987 or 1988; therefore, no further easement is necessary.
Freeman Avenue and Highland Avenue need easements. The Board needs to approach the property owner to obtain the easement, but approvals from other town agencies are not necessary. The Board is awaiting direction from Town Counsel on how to proceed. This is a straightforward process. The easements need to be in place as soon as possible. Since Chet Lay is most savvy about easements it was suggested having Slate Associates take care of the easement issue. More than likely offering the property owner a free connection in return for the easement will avoid any additional cost. Emily and Paul Millet will approach Chet Lay on this issue.
Meter RFP (Request for Proposal)
Russell put together a package on the different types of meter systems available out there. Emily discussed the email she had received from Russell in regard to this. We need to estimate how many meters we will need for this first proposal -about $80 per meter on top of cost of the meter. See the differential from putting this on a contract or billing per meter separately.
Russell’s lead issues with the meters are: Remote meter reading systems, software that might feed into it and then additionally feed into the bookkeeping system. Neptune Meters $96,000 quote for 350 meters $165,000-177,000. Mark Vincent seemed to think we didn’t need 350 meters at the outset. We could start with 250 meters.
The other problem we have is storage. Storage space will be for 80 cases of four each. Russell thinks they can go under the tank. Storage of chemicals might be at the new building at the Boy Scout camp. Buying too many will mean storage and they may go out of date. Buy what we need and maybe 10% cushion.
Supposedly Rex is working on the contract for bid for the meters. Emily will call Rex re this issue. Rex is going to get a presentation from the vendors. We need to know what we need. The meter reading guns may come for free with the meters, depending on the vendor.
Make it part of the bid as to numbers of initial order and then what we get on subsequent orders – numbers and cost.
Need to get back to Russell on exercising the contract options or billing.
Another option is to subcontract for billing. This includes all software including the billing system.
Budget Cost summary
We have balance as presented on the sheet.
On the paving issues Mark Vincent is going to take care of this from other budgets.
On May 17 we get the USDA money and can pay off our loans. But we need to keep a contingency fund ($100,000) for emergencies. Need to find out if that is legal. Our other option is to get a line of credit. Questionable whether or not we can do that or if USDA will object. These are questions for Mark Abrahams. Jean has this for action.
On the issue of curbs and sidewalks, we need to see if the town vote funds it and then wait for the grant. If we don’t go forward with phase two it changes everything. Everything is contingent on funding. We will get funding but it may be 50% rather than 75%.
The issue was tabled until after we know about the USDA funding, which could take 3 or 4 months. However, if we put this off there is a lead time on obtaining the curbing because it is custom. Practically it won’t happen until spring of 2011 anyway because the merchants don’t want anything happening in the fall. The only problem with waiting is losing a good price, but we could be looking at a different contractor. Curbs and sidewalks are important for a marketing and credibility perspective. It is what people can see.
Water Tower
Emily got an email from Kurt Felix. He asked to consider holding public meetings on the water tower and at those meetings discuss possible mitigations for the tower because of its appearance from various view sheds.
Jean made a motion and Lori seconded: To hold a public meeting to discuss the water tower.
Discussion ensued regarding holding a public meeting to discuss the water tower. In view of the fact that the board has already had three meetings regarding the matter of the water tower, it is a done issue. There is not a groundswell of people who are objecting to the tower.
Dan moved to table the issue until another meeting.
Jean withdrew the motion. Lori withdrew the second. Motion was withdrawn.
It was agreed to make plans for a broader focused public meeting to discuss the entire system as a future agenda item in approx. 3 months.
Preservation Hall
Preservation Hall wants to connect to the water system not just for their service but for fire suppression with a 4” service for their sprinkler system – wet tap installation. They want to do it this week and they want to use some water for construction purposes between now and the end of July. Board needed to make a decision on hooking up the fire prevention system and to establish a fee schedule beforehand. Various other town rates from $600 to $1500 were discussed.
Motion: Made by Emily. Seconded by Steve: To establish the fee for a 4” fire suppression service at $1,000 for tapping the main and that the contractor cost is the responsibility of the property owner in accordance with the specifications as submitted provided the contractor is on the approved contractor list and that they submit an application. The motion carried unanimously by a vote of 5-0.
Application Status
Mary Fisk will have the application ready for review this week.
The board has returned to Tuesday nights for its meetings. Next three scheduled meetings: May 18th, June 1, June 15 – at the town hall conference room 6:30 PM
Discussion of the work plan was postponed until May 18th.
Minutes were not discussed.
Mary Fisk left at 8:45 PM prior to the meeting being adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Fisk
Interim Administrative Coordinator
June 10, 2010
The Water Commissioners approved these minutes at the meeting held 6/15/10.
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