HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-29-2008 Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 1 of 12
MINUTES
Board of Commissioners
Public Hearing on the Proposed FY09 Budget & 10-year Financial Plan
And Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Thursday, May 29, 2008 ? 7:00 p.m.
Town Barn
PRESENT:
Mayor Tom Stevens, Commissioners Mike Gering, L. Eric Hallman, Brian Lowen,
Frances Dancy, and Evelyn Lloyd.
STAFF PRESENT:
Town Manager Eric Peterson, Assistant Town Manager Nicole Ard, Town
Clerk/Director of Administration and Human Resources Donna Armbrister, Budget Analyst
Emily Bradford, Finance Director Greg Siler, Wastewater Plant Superintendent Jeff Mahagan,
Assistant Utilities Director Will Baker, and Town Engineer/Utilities Director Kenny Keel.
1.Open the Public Hearing on the FY09 Budget
7:03:42 PM Mayor Tom Stevens called the meeting to order and opened the public hearing on
the FY09 Budget. He indicated that no one had signed up to speak, and determined that no one
was present who wanted to speak.
2.Close the Public Hearing
7:04:40 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Gering, seconded by Commissioner Dancy, the
Board moved to close the Public Hearing by a vote of 5-0. The motion was declared passed.
3.Agenda Changes & Agenda Approval
7:04:44 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the
Board moved to approve the agenda as submitted by a vote of 5-0. The motion was declared
passed.
4.Comments and Recommendations from Water/Sewer Advisory Committee Members
on the Proposed Budget & Financial Plan
7:05:41 PM James Watts, WSAC member, stated that in general the overall impression of the
WSAB was that they were pleased with the proposed budget, but there were things that they
wanted to emphasize. He said they wanted to be able to spend more time in future actually
looking over the budget, and the timing this year was unfortunate in that they were not given that
1
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 2 of 12
time. Mr. Watts said they knew there was a lot of careful consideration going into managing the
rates and keeping them as low as possible. He said they wanted to state clearly that the rates
proposed were probably the minimum acceptable increase, and they saw it as just getting them
by. Mr. Watts said they had some concerns about deferring the purchase of maintenance
equipment, and the potential that those costs would be higher when the purchases could no
longer be deferred.
Mr. Watts said similarly, they believed that creating and upgrading staff positions was a potential
area for concern. He said they had seen both the utility itself and the engineering side of the
Town really upgraded in the last years, and the support the WSAB had received was very good
and they appreciated the staff time provided to them. Mr. Watts said their concern was making
sure those positions continued to upgrade and they continued to work hard to professionalize
those staff positions.
7:09:29 PM Commissioner Gering asked was there some concern with the current budget in
regards to his remarks. Mr. Watts replied that their concern was not specific to individual
positions in the current budget, but was more whether they were increasing the likelihood that
individual positions within the utility or the engineering staff would be overwhelmed and
therefore shorten their tenure with the Town. In short, he said, they were worried about
?burnout.?
Mr. Watts said their last concern with this budget was that it did not address the in-Town/out-of-
Town multiplier, in that it was maintained at 1.95. He said they had stated before that they
would like to see that move towards 1.75, which was likely the correct percentage difference
from in-Town/out-of-Town. Mr. Watts said they understood that when they were trying to
manage increases that it was a difficult thing to do. He said with that being said, that by and
large they were appreciative of the work that they saw.
7:11:18 PM Mayor Stevens said regarding the multiplier, there likely needed to be some
additional discussion. He said perhaps that could take place after the annexation studies and
once cost-saving studies were looked at. Town Manager Eric Peterson stated that the multiplier
had always been a big issue, and it was linked with the annexation issue. He said it was an
equity concern, and you did not have to look out too many years to when the debt service came
on for the sewer plant to know there would be rate increases during that time. Mr. Peterson said
once the annexation study was completed they could begin dialogues with individual
neighborhoods to give them an opportunity to comment on whether or not they would want to be
annexed, and then address the equity issue and the water rate as well as the multiplier. He said in
the past he was much more open to wanting to drop the multiplier, but in this particular year
when they did not know what was going to happen, it would hurt their ability to annex and
address the issue in the long term.
Mr. Peterson said up to now, every annexation the Town had done had been voluntary, with the
exception of Cornwallis Hills about 13 years ago. He said the Town had been very passive and
selective, and did not believe any municipality was looking forward to having the legislation
changed and a moratorium be put on annexations.
2
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 3 of 12
7:14:23 PM Commissioner Dancy said the NCLM had been concerned about that issue for
local governments, adding that the counties had a different opinion about that. She said many
counties were pushing for a moratorium, which would really cause an upset for municipalities
who had already invested so much time and money into studying annexations. Commissioner
Dancy said next week was Town Hall day at the Legislature, and suggested that was an issue that
should be discussed. She said there was concern as well as to how the elderly on fixed incomes
would deal with increases in water rates. Mr. Peterson said it could be potentially frustrating if
the annexation study pinpointed a neighborhood for possible annexation, and when they began
the dialogue with that neighborhood they discovered that 90% of the people wanted to be
annexed, but a moratorium was imposed and they could not go forward with the annexation. He
said that could create a lot of problems.
7:16:21 PM Ron Butler, WSAB member, asked what would trigger an involuntary annexation
as opposed to a voluntary annexation. Mr. Peterson said a voluntary annexation was when
property owners petitioned the Town, which was a relatively easy process. He said with
involuntary annexation, the Town identified an area and adopted a resolution of intent to annex
which simply said the Town was beginning to consider that area for annexation. Mr. Peterson
said once that happened, it would take about a year to go through the public hearing phase, so the
entire process took about 18 months.
7:17:33 PM Commissioner Gering said what would trigger that process to be involuntary
would be one property owner protesting the annexation. He said regarding equity, he asked Mr.
Watts if the WSAB had any particular recommendations with regard to the rate assistance
program. Mr. Watts said they had seen the Town?s willingness to continue to provide funds for
that program, and one of the things the WSAB had stated was that they would like to see a
mechanism in place within the fund itself to tie reconnect fees or some new fee which they had
recently recommended to be targeted towards something like the rate assistance program. Mr.
Watts said the program was well run and seemed to work as expected, and it certainly helped the
customers who needed it. But, he said, they wanted the Town Board to consider looking for a
way to perpetuate maintaining that fund, because it was clear that donations from the fund utility
customers would not be sufficient to maintain the fund for the foreseeable future.
7:20:09 PM Mr. Peterson said he had considered using as a barometer of the health of
economic condition that people were facing the penalties collected. He said in theory, if people
were doing better then they would not be collecting as much on late fees and penalties, so they
could earmark a certain percentage of their penalties each year to go into the rate assistance fund.
Mr. Watts said they would not quibble about the method as long as there was one and that the
method met the need. He said up to now the generosity of the Board in recognizing and meeting
the need had been admirable, but they would like to see a mechanism in place to make it
automatic.
7:21:35 PM Commissioner Gering asked if that mechanism would require a budget
amendment, or would it be a policy change dealt with separately from the budget. Mr. Peterson
said he did not believe they would need to change the fee schedule, noting that at the beginning
3
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 4 of 12
of the fiscal year they would pick a percentage, say 5% of fees collected, and that would go into
the program. He said if that was not appropriate, then the percentage could be adjusted through a
budget amendment.
Finance Director Greg Siler said as an alternative, the WSAB had suggested that the interest
earned on the deposits held for customers be contributed to the program.
7:23:07 PM Mayor Stevens asked Mr. Peterson if staff could look at all the alternatives and
make a recommendation to the Town Board. Mr. Peterson said yes, noting they could use a
combination of those alternatives. The Town Board agreed by consensus.
Mr. Peterson said he and Mr. Siler would communicate with the WSAB to come up with a
proposal, and come back in June with a recommendation.
Mr. Watts noted the WSAB would meet next week and would be happy to discuss it at that time.
Mr. Peterson said he apologized that the timing for submittal of the proposed budget was poor
this year, and said one thing they could do next year would be to submit the proposed budget to
the WSAB earlier to give them a head start.
7:25:17 PM Commissioner Hallman said that the metric the School of Government had put out
was that the impact on low economic households regarding water rates should be no more than
1% of median income. So as a metric, he said, it would be advantageous to know where the
Town stood in that regard, since it allowed a comparison to other municipalities of
Hillsborough?s size. Mr. Butler said another point was to look not just at the revenue stream,
because when you were encouraging conservation the downside was the loss of revenue. He said
they needed to discuss how they as a Town provided services and how to charge a fee that not
only helped the Town but also supplemented OCIM. Mr. Watts said another issue was that they
did not want to see the numbers for unaccounted for water go up.
7:28:00 PM Commissioner Hallman stated he was impressed by the WSAB, noting they were
doing a great job.
7:28:05 PM Commissioners Gering agreed, noting the WSAB surpassed themselves each year.
Mr. Watts said they had great staff to work with, and it was clear to him there was an emphasis
on professional development which was good to see.
7:28:54 PM Mayor Stevens commended the WSAB for their good work, noting they were
exceptional and had to deal with a lot of detailed information. He said the WSAB did an
incredible job that was very much appreciated.
5.Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
7:30:34 PM Mr. Peterson asked if there were any questions regarding revenue items. There
were none from the Board.
4
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 5 of 12
7:31:25 PM Town Engineer/Utilities Director Kenny Keel stated that he felt good about the
budget, noting there were many needs and he believed they had done everything they could to
get the budget down as much as possible and to delay things that could be delayed, but there
were a lot of necessities that could not be put off. He said there had been things delayed from
previous years which could not be put off any longer, so they were now trying to catch up which
accounted for the somewhat higher budget this year. Mr. Keel said all in all, he felt good about
where they stood and their progress as a department. He said the overall state of the utility was
in really good condition, but they did need to make efforts to make sure it stayed there. Mr. Keel
said the budget as proposed would keep them on that track.
7:33:02 PM Mr. Peterson said that Jeff Mahagan and Will Baker were both present to answer
questions, noting it had been his observation that supervisors on the utilities side communicated
often and thought ?outside the box? by sharing resources and ideas and working well together.
He said their work was impressive and had accounted for much of the good work being done.
7:33:39 PM Commissioner Lloyd asked what had caused the need for more space at the water
plant. Mr. Keel stated that may have been related to sludge handling. He said they were not
proposing anything now but were in future years to address that. Mr. Keel said the sludge
process was not the best it could be but it was manageable.
7:36:06 PM Mr. Keel said regarding the Engineering section, one thing boosting the budget
was that they were moving the Utility Inspector position from Sewer Collections to Engineering
because the position was related to construction of new utilities coming in that were reviewed by
the Engineering Department. He said they were adding a new employee, but that employee was
being transferred from another department within the Utilities Department.
7:37:35 PM Mr. Siler said regarding Billings and Collections, they had reassigned the Billings
and Collections Supervisor to the Billings and Collections Department, who had previously been
under the Finance Department. He said that had boosted the total personnel services budget up,
but had decreased the Finance Department budget.
7:38:20 PM Commissioner Hallman asked if that was a zero sub-gain. Mr. Siler said it was
adding more expense but was justifiable and in his opinion the change should have been made
before now.
Mr. Siler said the Water Sewer Advisory Committee had proposed this year that the Town
charge first-time customers a non-refundable connection fee, and that fee was recommended at
$35.00. He said that fee should offset the cost, including fuel costs. Mr. Siler said if the purpose
of that fee was solely to offset the cost of fuel, he would propose a lesser charge than $35.00. He
said based on past connections, a charge of $35.00 would yield approximately $25,000 revenue a
year. Mr. Siler said if the fee were reduced to $20.00, it would bring in an additional $14,000 of
revenue and that was sufficient to cover the fuel costs for Billings and Collections. He said his
recommendation was to have a non-refundable connection fee, but that it not be as high as
recommended by the WSAB.
5
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 6 of 12
7:40:27 PM Commissioner Lowen asked why Mr. Siler felt that way, adding that other
municipalities charged a connection feet that was in the range of $30.00 to $35.00. He asked if
Mr. Siler was trying to recapture only the cost of fuel. Mr. Siler said that was exactly right,
noting that in his opinion that given the rate increase they would have this year that the $35.00
charge may be too much for customers, and he recommended the fee be $20.00.
7:41:20 PM Commissioner Lowen stated it was only a one-time charge. Mr. Peterson stated it
would be interesting to hear the rationale from the Water Sewer Advisory Board regarding that
recommendation. He said his feeling was anytime you could identify the cost of a specific
service, including administrative costs, then that should be what was charged to recoup their
costs for the actual connection.
Mr. Watts remarked that they had identified several mechanisms that could be used to shore up
the rate assistance program, and had also looked at ways other that selling water to provide a
stable revenue structure for the utility. He said when those conversations had taken place the
drought was placing serious pressure on the ability to sell water, and they had concerns about
that. Mr. Watts said today, they had continuing concerns of should all revenue coming into the
Water/Sewer Fund be tied to the act of selling water and transporting waste to the plant. He said
for those reasons, they saw the $35 fee as something that was reasonable that people should
expect to pay to connect to the utility, and was not onerous.
Will Butler asked how much revenue a $20 fee would generate. Mr. Siler responded around
$14,500. He said fuel costs this year would be about $8,700.
7:44:41 PM Commissioner Gering said he believed the Manager?s suggestion was the best
one, in that the Town should recoup the actual costs of providing the service and that should be
the basis for applying the fee. He said he believed that was quantifiable based on the Town?s
costs.
Mayor Stevens said that indirect costs would be a factor, noting that there was some value in cost
stabilization and that was part of what people were paying for. He said for instance, the direct
costs may be around $20, but the fee may need to be set at $25 as a stabilizing fee to cover direct
and indirect costs.
7:46:00 PM Commissioner Gering said his point was that the fee be justifiable. Mayor
Stevens agreed.
Mr. Peterson asked if the Town Board and the WSAB would like Mr. Siler and the staff to look
at all issues and develop a formula and report back at the meeting next Thursday.
Mayor Stevens said it would be better to make a decision based on that kind of data.
6
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 7 of 12
Water Treatment Plant:
7:48:50 PM Mr. Keel stated they were proposing to add some services to the filter system to
ensure that the filters stayed in top condition, including a deep cleaning of the system every three
years. He said the Plant had also looked closely at the energy audit that had been conducted and
had already done many of the suggested changes. Mr. Keel said the largest change was a switch
to an on-peak/off-peak electric rate system where the Plant was not charged as much when
operating during off-peak hours. He said they had been able to adjust their operating schedule
and major equipment use to those off-peak hours, and expected to save a significant amount of
money associated with their electric use. Mr. Siler said the remainder of the budget was
basically the same with no other major items.
7:50:31 PM Commissioner Dancy stated that Duke Energy?s rate increase of 5% would likely
take up most of those savings. Mr. Keel said that was likely, but at least they were not using
more electricity.
Mayor Stevens said they were seeing some payback regarding the energy audit. Mr. Peterson
agreed, noting that many employees were self-motivated and looking for improvements.
Assistant Utilities Director Will Baker stated they were still looking for improvements at the
Plant and would continue to do so.
Reservoir:
7:51:55 PM Mr. Keel stated they were requesting funds for several expenditures related to the
reservoir. He said the reservoir construction project was still not completed, in that there was
some wetlands work that had been overlooked and not yet done. Mr. Keel said there was about
$300,000 left from the construction project, and the wetlands work would be paid for out of that
$300,000 and it was likely it would take all of that. He said the work would be started in 2009
and was scheduled to be completed in 2010.
Mr. Keel said there was some construction work they were proposing, in that when the riser was
built in the water there was nothing put inside that would allow you to get inside and maintain
the valves setting on the wall at 12, 22, and 32 feet above the bottom of the structure. He said
they had experienced some issues with those valves and needed a better way to access them. Mr.
Keel stated they were proposing an expenditure of $80,000 to build platforms inside the structure
to allow access to the valves for repairs.
Mr. Keel stated they were also proposing to contribute $25,000 to Orange County for the County
to do improvements at Lake Orange, including more automated equipment. He said the upgrades
would benefit the Town. Mr. Keel added that he did not know the status of that project as far as
Orange County?s budget and approval of funds.
7:56:41 PM Commissioner Gering asked what percentage of the total cost of the Lake Orange
upgrade was the proposed $25,000. Mr. Peterson stated he believed the total cost was around
$88,000.
7
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 8 of 12
Commissioner Gering said then the Town was contributing between one quarter and one third of
the cost.
7:57:24 PM Commissioner Lowen said since they did not yet know what Orange County
would do with their budget, it may not even happen this fiscal year. Mr. Keel said that was a
possibility, but he believed they would know something definite in the next few weeks.
Commissioner Lowen said in all likelihood the Town would adopt its budget before the County,
and if that $25,000 did not have to be budgeted that would be good to know. Mr. Peterson said
they could encumber the funds or transfer it to Contingency. He said he had alerted the County
Manager that the $25,000 was in the Town?s Recommended Budget, so hopefully that
information would allow the County to make up its mind.
7:58:53 PM Commissioner Hallman said in the water capacity analysis, there was a concern
about sedimentation in Lake Orange. He asked if addressing that was an expense that the Town
might be asked to bear in the future. Mr. Keel said it was possible, but he had not heard any
discussion about that. He said there was some sedimentation in that lake and it would likely
need to be dredged in the future.
Mayor Stevens said that sounded that like something that would be important to include in the
Town?s long-range planning.
8:01:27 PM Mr. Keel said at present they had design work scheduled for FY13 and actual
construction of Phase II scheduled for FY14. He said that Commissioner Gering had mentioned
recently about using a draw-down matrix similar to what OWASA used, and he had included
funds in the budget in FY10 to do that. He said the matrix would allow them to forecast what the
probability was that the lake would go dry given certain conditions. Mr. Keel said he had not
budgeted funds to do that in FY09 because the State was in the midst of conducting a hydrologic
study for the entire Neuse River basin, and it would be much simpler to do the matrix once the
hydrologic model was completed.
Mr. Peterson stated it was important to note that when the reservoir came on line, that by using
the capital facilities fees on the water they were projecting that they would have enough to pay
for the design of the upgrade and to make debt service payments for several years out.
Water Distribution:
8:05:29 PM Mr. Baker stated they had experienced a good year, noting they had made
improvements at the Mayo pump station which were critical for service to the southern part of
the Town. He said for the future they would need to look at adding another pump station as well
as another tank.
Mr. Baker said they were looking at obtaining a device that would locate leaks and also do flow
monitoring, which should help them reduce their water loss. He said that $20,000 was
8
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 9 of 12
earmarked for that device. Mr. Baker said they were also proposing to obtain a GPS receiver
which would allow them to save some funds in future by allowing them to plot the valves and
manholes, and would assist meter readers in locating meters when they were obscured by
landscaping or paving.
Mr. Baker said they were not looking at adding additional staff in the next couple of years, but
additional responsibilities and new technology were being added and eventually new staff would
need to be added to keep up with that technology.
Mr. Baker said years ago there was a 5-inch water line with a galvanized well casing that was
pushed under the interstate without any permits. He said a contractor had done the work without
the Town?s knowledge, but the Town had inherited that problem. Mr. Baker said that was an
expenditure that the Town would have to deal with, and they were now looking at various
options to correct the problem and replace the pipe.
Mr. Peterson commented that cost would likely be around $250,000.
8:11:15 PM Mr. Keel said the older that line got, the more nervous they became about what
would happen if the line ruptured, and the fact that it was under Interstate 85.
Mr. Baker said it could already been leaking, noting that galvanized pipes could allow pin-prick
holes to become much bigger and they would eventually cause craters to form under the
Interstate. He said since the work was not done properly many years ago, they needed to address
the problem before it became a larger issue and even more expensive to fix. Mr. Baker said if
they hit rock during the boring for a new line the cost would be higher.
Wastewater Collection:
8:13:09 PM Mr. Baker stated they had taken the Old Mill pump station off-line and were
removing the equipment at present. He said they had conducted a lot of smoke testing this year
which was done free of charge, which had identified a lot of holes that were then plugged. Mr.
Baker said since then they had seen a reduction in infiltration at the plant, especially during the
last two rain events.
Mr. Keel said the NC Rural Water Association had conducted the free testing, noting they were
subsidized by the federal government. Mr. Baker added that that Association also lobbied on the
Town?s behalf, since the Town was a member of that Association.
8:16:03 PM Mr. Baker stated they had extended the sewer main and installed a new manhole
on South Churton Street near the new bank to service all the lots in that area in anticipation of
future new development. He said regarding the overall outlook, they were requesting many of
the same items as last year that had been delayed for various reasons, including the television
inspection camera equipment and the vacuum.
9
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 10 of 12
Mr. Baker said they had created a new line item for chemicals to control sewer odors. He said
they had worked hard to identify a chemical to help alleviate the problem and they had found
one, but it was expensive. Mr. Baker said it was important to keep the odor under control and
that was important to the Town?s customers. He said they were expanding the use of that
chemical to the north side of Town as well where the affluent hit the Eno outfall, which was an
area where they had received complaints of odor.
Mr. Baker said they were budgeting to complete the Tulip Tree Phase II outfall, as well as a
generator purchase that had been delayed in previous budgets. He said they were looking at
lining some older sewer mains in the downtown, some of which actually ran underneath
buildings. Mr. Baker noted that the GPS system previously mentioned was split between the
Water Distribution budget and the Wastewater Collection budget, since the equipment would be
used by both. He noted there was also a line item for pump replacement, noting the budget for
this year had been overdrawn due to several pumps going out in a short period of time. Mr.
Baker said the pumps were expensive and had to be replaced.
Wastewater Plant:
8:22:18 PM Wastewater Plant Superintendent Jeff Mahagan stated he had taken over the role
of Superintendent a year and a half ago, and had a vision of where he wanted the Plant to be in
three years. He said they were now beyond that vision, and thanked his staff and his supervisors
for their amazing work. Mr. Mahagan said everything about the Plant was safer and more
reliable that it had ever been, and he was very proud of that accomplishment.
Mr. Keel noted with all their improvements, they still needed to upgrade the Plant.
Mr. Peterson noted they had dropped their nitrogen poundage by almost 11,000. Mr. Keel said it
had dropped significantly, noting it had been about 32,000 the year before, and it was now
around 24,000.
8:24:08 PM Commissioner Hallman asked how had they accomplished that. Mr. Mahagan
responded it went along with the $20,000 reduction in utilities bills, which was mostly for
electricity. He said they had modified the way the Plant was run and incorporated some on/off
aeration techniques that produced better affluent and drastically reduced the amount of energy
used.
8:24:43 PM Mayor Stevens remarked ?well done.? Mr. Mahagan said he appreciated the kind
words, but remarked that the Plant still needed to be upgraded. He said the new Plant would not
produce significantly better water affluent than it did now, but as the Town continued to grow
the affluent they now had would continue to degrade. He said as well, there was 30-year-old
equipment now on-site which was experiencing metal fatigue to the point where it needed to be
addressed, and that could not be put off too much longer. Mr. Mahagan said it was ?scary?
enough now that they had a contingency plan in place in case of rupture.
10
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 11 of 12
Mr. Mahagan said as far as the new plant, they were planning on the engineering for the design
to begin this year. He said he was optimistic that the Town would receive the $500,000 grant
applied for.
Mr. Keel stated they would know about the grant in October, and that was when they would
move forward with the design work.
8:27:13 PM Mr. Mahagan said they were planning to do a major upgrade to the water system,
noting it would be done in-house. Mr. Keel said the upgrade would allow them to reuse the
wastewater affluent just before it went into the stream for such things as washing equipment and
other water uses on-site that did not require potable water. He said that should allow them to cut
their water usage at the Plant significantly, and would also allow them to fill bulk containers
provided by customers who did not need potable water.
8:29:39 PM Mr. Mahagan stated they usually used around 600,000 gallons a month, and he
believed the new upgrade would allow them to reduce that to around 3,000 gallons a month.
8:30:30 PM Commissioner Hallman asked if most of the in-Town restaurants were complying
with the ordinance regarding grease traps. Mr. Mahagan said they were just starting to do the
necessary inspections, but noted that the majority of the work that was required was more
administrative. He said they needed to come up with good best management practice for
restaurants to follow, as well as educational programs. Mr. Mahagan said they were looking for
more innovative ways to get the message across, and they were just starting with that process.
8:31:46 PM Mr. Keel said most if not all of the existing restaurants had something in place for
fat, oil and grease, and their first concentration had been on getting to the places that were not
doing anything. He said they needed to do more work on places that may have a trap in place
but was not adequately sized, as well as making sure that new customers coming on-line were in
compliance with the ordinance.
Mr. Mahagan stated as they identified trouble spots they would focus attention on those
businesses to get them in compliance.
8:32:49 PM Mr. Keel stated it was difficult to know how well the program had worked, but
believed the best way to put some recognition on that was to note that sewer spills had greatly
decreased that were due to grease build-up at the line or clogs that were due to grease in the
lines. He said they had experienced two sewer spills last year, but neither was caused by grease.
8:34:23 PM Commissioner Lowen asked if the $10,000 noted in the budget would be used for
such things as brochures that could be used for information purposes. He said he believed it
would be advantageous for members of the department to talk with community groups about the
problems associated with putting grease down the drain and into the sewer. Commissioner
Lowen said he believed the information should include what residents needed to do with the oil
or grease other than putting it down the drain.
11
May 29, 2008 Budget Public Hearing &
Water/Sewer Fund Budget Workshop
Approved: July 14, 2008
Page 12 of 12
Mr. Mahagan agreed, noting that some municipalities were beginning to conduct recycling
programs for used cooking oil and the like, and then used it as bio-fuel. He said such programs
were in its infancy, but it was an interesting concept and a good idea.
8:38:08 PM Mr. Peterson stated that the budget was scheduled to be adopted on June 8, and
changes could be made up until that time. He encouraged the Board members to contact him
with any questions they may have. Mr. Peterson said they would draft a budget ordinance based
on the changes already discussed and have it on the agenda for June 8.
6.Other
8:39:06 PM Commissioner Hallman said just to be clear, they would not need an additional
budget workshop.
8:39:29 PM Mayor Stevens that was correct.
7.Adjourn
Upon a motion by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner Dancy, the Board moved
to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m. by a vote of 5-0. The motion was declared passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna F. Armbrister, MMC
Town Clerk
12