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Home My Public Portal About08-03-2017 Minutes WSAC Regular Meeting MEETING MINUTES WATER SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, August 3, 2017 7:00 PM Town Barn 101 East Orange Street · P O Box 429 · Hillsborough, NC 27278 · 919 732 1270 MEMBERS PRESENT: Frank Cohen, Dan Barker, Volker Mittendorf, Aaron Butner, Jim Parker MEMBERS ABSENT: Arthur Sprinczeles (excused), Saru Salvi (excused) STAFF PRESENT: Will Baker, Kenny Keel, Julie Laws, Eric Peterson, Phil Cordeiro, Jenny Overman BOARD MEMBER PRESENT: Mark Bell GUEST(S) PRESENT: Wendy Schwade and Debbye Kreuger (NCDHHS) Dr. Michael Day (Orange County Health Dept) Christy Raulli, Daniel Rawlins, and Jenn Sykes (applicants for WSAC vacancies) 1.1 Call Meeting to Order & Welcome to Guests Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Chairman Frank Cohen. 1.1.1 Recognition of Will Baker Will Baker is retiring at the end of September, and was presented a certificate for his service. Saru Salvi provided cupcakes for the occasion. 1.2 Consideration of Additions/Changes to Agenda No further changes to agenda. Dan Baker moved to accept, seconded by Aaron Butner. 1.3 Consideration, Discussion and Approval of Past Minutes Regular session minutes from June 1, 2017 were approved as presented. Closed session minutes from June 1, 2017 were approved as presented. 2.1 Reports from Committee Assignments for Previous Months June 12 – Regular Board Meeting – Jim Parker attended. Nothing significant to report. June 26 – Board Work Session – Aaron Butner attended. Nothing significant to report. July 20 – Joint Meeting w/Planning Board – Dan Barker attended. Nothing to report. 2.2 Engineering Status Report Highlights Kenny Keel presented engineering and utility highlights. We had a notice of noncompliance at Wastewater Treatment Plant due to timing of parameters being off and having a new lab person. 101 East Orange Street • P. O. Box 429 • Hillsborough, NC 27278 • 919 732-1270 x85 Noncompliance was simply a monitoring issue. We also had spills due to a surprise excessive rain event. There was a spill over 1500 gallons, which resulted in a Notice of Violation. WFER is now 5 inches below full due to releases needed for construction of Phase II. The reservoir needs to be down 4 feet to begin this project. Flushing will begin in September. 3.1 Fluoride Discussion and Update Speakers Wendy Schwade and Debbye Kreuger from NCDHHS, Oral Section, and Dr. Michael Day from Orange County Health Dept. attended tonight’s meeting. Debbye Kreuger. Spoke about cavities (caries) and how they are formed. There are millions of enamel rods in a tooth, which fill up with fluoride from our water. The rods fill from inside to outside, keeping them strong. Rods start filling up in utero, so it is important for everyone to get fluoride. Taking topical fluoride doesn’t help with lower part of rod, so this is where fluoride from our water supply fills in. She believes that community fluoridation is the adjustment of naturally occurring fluoride anyway. Toothpaste is helping more than in the past so fluoride in the water supply has been adjusted over the years to reduce the amount added. [Side note: Most cases of fluorosis comes from swallowing toothpaste, not from fluoride that was added to the water supply.] Ms. Kreuger handed out an information packet, which included an EPA brochure and a rain function study. At present, there is no valid research project to prove there was any damage caused by fluoride, and the parameter was extremely high (11 ppm) in the study. The study indicated a decrease of 0.5 points in IQ at that level. The addition of fluoride reduces decay 33% beyond that of regular drinking water. We only need a pea-sized bit of paste on toothbrush. Nursing homes don’t always brush elderly patients’ teeth. Since they’ve started brushing at least once a day, flu and pneumonia is down 79%. Dr. Michael Day. Works daily with cavities and has found interesting results. Studies have indicated there is a total distinction between well-water kids and city-water kids. The children were mostly from upper middle class from both sides, with probably the same nutrition habits. Acid, sugar and fluoride were checked to differentiate the two groups. When kids have negative effects from fluoride, it’s because there’s MORE fluoride in their water than what municipal water has, such as well water. It’s good to test water from other sources to make sure there’s not too much fluoride being consumed. Dan moved to close discussions on the fluoride issue, seconded by Aaron. Considering all the information provided by the sources referenced above, and deemed reliable by credentials, the WSAC was comfortable with the Town’s current fluoridation policy. Under these circumstances, there will be no recommendation to change said policy. 3.2 Discussion on Policy Change for Water Leaks Phil Cordeiro presented the amended policy regarding credit for water leaks. Sue Denton's secondary month was suspended pending the Town Board’s acceptance of the amended policy. Customers are saying on Dan Barker’s community email (Beckett’s Ridge) that they can ask for credit even if they leave water hose on by mistake. This constitutes fraud. Jim Parker said he originally thought the policy was unfair because we were only forgiving one month’s billing, even when the leak event could reach over to two or more billing cycles. He stated that he then changed his position when he saw the money that the Town was losing over these adjustments. There was discussion about voluntarily building up a credit on your bill to cover a one-time event. Phil stated that we’re already saving part of each bill to cover these credits, which is a kind of self-insurance for 101 East Orange Street • P. O. Box 429 • Hillsborough, NC 27278 • 919 732-1270 x85 the Town. Volker Mittendorf would like to see the policy covering one leak event happening in a two-year period, but forgiving the entire occurrence, whether it stretches out over one, two, or three bills. This is exactly what Phil is proposing. Frank believes we’ll have to raise rates to cover the extra money credited. The committee discussed empowering staff to make decisions that would differentiate due diligence vs negligence (example, a 6-month leak event!) Aaron Butner moved to take Phil’s proposal to the Board, seconded by Dan, with the stipulation that it could cover two months, and that it could stretch over a longer billing period at Finance staff’s discretion. Phil will rewrite the policy as recommended to present at the next Board meeting. Passed unanimously. Mark Bell would like to obtain “frequent flyer” numbers to see how many people got more than one credit over the past three years. We will also need to determine if a customer is a renter or property owner, as this sometimes affects how quickly leaks are repaired. Phil will reinstate Ms. Denton’s $750 bill and refer her to OCIM for assistance. 3.1 Fathom Update - CLOSED SESSION Committee went into closed session at this point and asked visitors to leave the room. 4.1 Suggested Future Agenda Items for Upcoming Months - Jackie Stonehuerner would like to come discuss water conservation. - Saru Salvi would like to discuss refunding deposits. 4.2 Upcoming Board Assignments August 14 – Regular Board Meeting – Arthur Sprinczeles (Frank Cohen, sub), Aaron Butner will go August 28 – Board Work Session – Jim Parker September 11 – Regular Board Meeting – Volker Mittendorf (Aaron Butner will go for him) September 25 – Board Work Session – Saru Salvi (Volker Mittendorf, sub) 5.1 Adjourn At 8:50 PM, Volker moved to adjourn, seconded by Aaron. Next Meeting: October 5, 2017