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Home My Public Portal About04-05-2018 Minutes WSAC Regular Meeting MEETING MINUTES WATER SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, April 5, 2018 7:00 PM Town Barn 101 East Orange Street · P O Box 429 · Hillsborough, NC 27278 · 919 732 1270 MEMBERS PRESENT: Arthur Sprinczeles, Dan Barker, Volker Mittendorf, Aaron Butner, Daniel Rawlins, Jenn Sykes MEMBERS ABSENT (excused): Jim Parker, Saru Salvi STAFF PRESENT: Joel Lashley, Eric Peterson, Daphna Schwartz, Julie Laws GUEST(S) PRESENT: Town Commissioner Matt Hughes 1.1 Call Meeting to Order & Welcome to Guests Meeting was called to order by Dan Barker at 7:00 PM, and welcome was extended to all guests. 1.2 Consideration of Additions/Changes to Agenda There were no changes or additions to the agenda. 1.3 Consideration, Discussion and Approval of Past Minutes Julie Laws noted corrections to Aaron Butner’s name spelling. Jenn Sykes moved to accept minutes, seconded by Aaron Butner. All in favor of approving the minutes as written. 2.1 Reports from Committee Assignments for Previous Months • February 12 – Regular Board Meeting – Daniel Rawlins reported that the board approved WFER contractor. • February joint planning – Dan Barker. • February 22 – Joint Meeting with Orange County – Jim Parker was scheduled to attend, but was not in attendance tonight to report anything from that meeting. • February 26 – Board Work Session – Aaron Butner reported there were minor WFER updates on how project is proceeding. Nothing else water- or sewer-related was discussed. • March 12 – Regular Board Meeting – Volker Mittendorf reported there was a budget update from Eric with items related to water and sewer. There was discussion about rates not having been increased for 6 years, with a need for an update very soon. • March 26 – Board Work Session – Arthur Sprinczeles reported there was no discussion related to water or sewer, and that most of the meeting concerned the new jail location. 2.2 Utilities Status Report Highlights Joel Lashley went over highlights from April Status Report, and answered questions. Efland-Cedar Grove Road is closed now near WFER for DOT straightening and raising project. Flushing should 101 East Orange Street • P. O. Box 429 • Hillsborough, NC 27278 • 919 732-1270 x85 be completed by tomorrow. Meter site at OWASA is done except for power; lid was put in place 2 weeks ago. Grading and rocking is done. Automatic blow-off is set which makes the line ready to use if necessary. In the past, it took 2-3 days to flush before we could put line in use. Durham has automatic blow-off also. Orange Alamance has manual blow-off but we’ll start exercising this more regularly to keep that line ready and available also. Booster pump station at Forest Ridge will start up next week as flushing will be completed by then. Hoping to re-pave Riverwalk if dried out. TTHMs are the lowest they’ve been in many years. 80-100 work orders are in place for hydrants, and we will start painting hydrants this summer after all repairs are made. Arthur Sprinczeles asked about getting camera information from Al Robertson, as he is familiar with some of the camera brands, and Julie Laws will pass this along to Al. 3.1 Blank Agenda Item None. 3.2 Update on Utilities Director Position Eric Peterson shared that there are four candidates scheduled for phone interviews on Sunday and Monday. He will then select candidates to go through the assessment process on April 20th. As of today, there have been 12 applicants. It is our hope to have someone in the position by early June. 3.3 Revenue Bond Process Eric Peterson discussed recent meetings he has had with the LGC staff yesterday to get ready for the official LGC meeting on May 1, where they will consider approval of our application to sell the bonds. Key next steps: – April 9 Board Meeting: Request board to approve $500,000 budget amendment to pay off remaining debt on reservoir. The town owes BB&T about $470,000 over the next two fiscal years to retire the last of the Phase 1 reservoir loans. This has been included in the bond amount, but we determined it’s more cost effective to simply pay this off now. It dramatically reduces our debt payments the first few years, due to the way this had to be structured. In addition to saving a little bit of money, it provides major assistance in improving our debt coverage ratio the first few years, when it may be the most difficult to meet this standard. – Next week: Bond rating agency meetings with Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. – April 23: Final board votes needed on resolutions. This should take place before or after the State of the Town address. Bond Counsel Bob Jessup will be there for the presentation. – April 27: Rating process completed – May 1: LGC meeting to consider approval – May 9: Bond sale – May 23 or 24: Closing 3.4 Budget Update Eric Peterson provided handout of budget preview for water and sewer for FY19-21. We are projecting a 5% rate increase in the next year. We need to have a 7.5% increase for the next 3 years to catch up from losing capital facility fees and Efland-Cheeks sewer money. There will be a Town Board budget retreat on Saturday. There was a lot of discussion about moving money from the 101 East Orange Street • P. O. Box 429 • Hillsborough, NC 27278 • 919 732-1270 x85 affordable housing fund to the water billing fund instead of increasing rates. Dan Barker suggested moving that item to the next meeting. Eric has $30K budgeted for a rate study. 3.5 WFER Phase 2 Update Eric Peterson shared that the bond meeting will be in May. Thalle will continue dam and spillway project, and we’re hoping to start logging and clearing in late summer. 3.6 Water Assistance Fund Daphna Schwartz shared handout from OCIM. The fund balance was zero in February, but we have now sent $600+ to OCIM. We need to find a way to increase donations somehow. New Bern is doing a rounding program, but we will not bring that before the Board until we bring our new software online later in the year. 3.7 Code Changes Daphna Schwartz shared handout with Town Code changes in Sec. 14-6 through 14-34. Any place that a fee was quoted in the code was eliminated so the code doesn’t need to be updated every time fees change. Dan Barker suggested pulling the remaining two fixed dollar amounts from the updates for consistency. The Town should run this by our attorney before changing, especially the parts that leave decisions to staff discrimination. Volker Mittendorf wanted to know about Sec. 14.26.B, deleting notification. Daphna said IVR calls customers and notifies them about termination of service. The IVR can note if there’s no answer. Volker wanted to know if customers can request a hearing, but Daphna stated that this discussion can be done through either a phone call or appearance to Daphna. She will check with other municipalities to see what they do. Good faith language to be added by Daphna. Rates for credit cards: There was discussion about who pays for these bank fees. It was agreed that we should pass fees along only to customers who use them, and not to every customer. We encourage bank drafts, which do not require a fee. Volker Mittendorf moved to accept this policy, seconded by Jenn Sykes. 3.8 Recurring items: a. Interim Water Fund Balance & Projection - Eric Peterson will send a draft of the budget and the committee will discuss at next meeting. b. WWTP Utilization and Improvement for the Year – Jeff Mahagan will be invited to next meeting for this discussion. c. Town Growth and Usage Projections – Eric Peterson will send current spreadsheets to WSAC members, so there is no need to carry over to next meeting. d. Member Term Expirations – Julie Laws shared that Artie Sprinczeles and Dan Barker are up for re-appointment in December 2018. All others are late 2019 or later. 101 East Orange Street • P. O. Box 429 • Hillsborough, NC 27278 • 919 732-1270 x85 4.1 Suggested Future Agenda Items for Upcoming Months • Affordable housing vs. increasing bills - where does Town want to put their money to help people, rather than increasing rates. • WWTP Utilization and Improvement for year - Jeff Mahagan • Interim Water Fund Balance & Projection – Eric Peterson will send budget to members for discussion. 4.2 Upcoming Board Assignments • April 9 – Regular Board Meeting – Jenn Sykes (sub, Daniel Rawlins); will trade with Daniel and take his May 14 meeting. • April 19 – Joint Meeting with Planning Board – Dan Barker (sub, Jim Parker) • April 23 – Board Work Session – Saru Salvi (sub, Aaron Butner • May 14 – Regular Board Meeting – Daniel Rawlins (sub, Volker Mittendorf); Jenn will take this one for Daniel. • May 29 – Board Work Session – Jim Parker (sub, Arthur Sprinczeles) 5.1 Adjourn Artie Sprinczeles moved to adjourn at 8:45 PM, seconded by Jenn Sykes. Next Meeting: June 7, 2018