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HomeMy Public PortalAbout01-06-22 Minutes Regular Meeting 101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-732-1270 | www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 1 of 4 Minutes WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE Remote regular meeting 7 p.m. Jan. 6, 2022 Virtual meeting via YouTube Live Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel Present: Chair Arthur Sprinczeles, Vice Chair Jenn Sykes, Paul Cough, Saru Salvi, Barry Weston, Daniel Rawlins, Commissioner Matt Hughes Absent: Barry Hupp (excused) Staff: Utilities Director Marie Strandwitz, Administrative Services Director Jen Della Valle, Finance Director Tiffany Long, Communications Manager Catherine Wright 1. Roll Call and Establishment of Quorum Utilities Director Marie Strandwitz took the roll call and introduced staff and Commissioner Hughes. 2. Call to order and welcome of guests Chair Arthur Sprinczeles called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 3. Agenda changes and approval No changes were presented. A motion was not taken. 4. Minutes review and approval Minutes from regular meeting on Dec. 2, 2021 Motion: Vice Chair Jenn Sykes motioned. Member Paul Cough seconded. All in favor. Vote: 5-0. Ayes:5. Nays: 0. 5. Updates 1. Strandwitz indicated the reservoir experienced a good rain event. She explained the upcoming work on Lake Orange would require them to drop their reservoir and they were looking for some support from the town in keeping the minimum flows. She also felt that voluntary water restrictions which were mentioned in December could be postponed. 2. The two preliminary FEMA BRIC applications scored well, in the top 25 for the state. Final applications are due January 7. She explained how the process would play out. 3. The school board requested more information about the River Pumping Station which she will provide. 4. Collins Ridge is going to be moving to their next phases of construction. 5. The Interconnections project is completed. WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 2 of 4 6. Development is still hot. 7. She will be speaking to someone soon about the Civil Engineer position. The remaining inspector is leaving on January 7 to move to Texas. Other staff have been in and out due to COVID related matters, but the Department is still managing okay. The Department is still looking to hire a Utility Maintenance Technician. 8. Strandwitz is preparing information for the Board of Commissioners regarding removing taps as one of the town services. The costs are very high in most cases, and the town is not achieving cost recovery. She said other utilities are split on whether they make taps, and it takes a lot of resources to perform with our small crew size. She also mentioned that our ordinance does not say the town makes sewer taps. The code requires a licensed utility contractor to make them, although the town patches the road afterwards. Certain steps need to be set up to eliminate this service like a connection application and an observation method in addition to updating the specification and code. Both Sprinczeles and Cough agreed this was a smart decision. 9. Sykes asked about any water main breaks or other issues with the ice and snowstorm. Strandwitz reported no sanitary sewer overflows or no main breaks. She mentioned the town was working on the chlorine line feed at the Water Treatment Plant. B. Strandwitz reported there are about three in-town applications. She reminded the committee of the process which is generally the chair and a town staff member who interview applicants. Sprinczeles said he would call the people for interest. The applications maybe could be sent to the group to decide. A selection could be made in February. C. Salvi updated the group on the outreach subcommittee activities. Sykes was the only person to provide suggestions which were passed to the town communications group. Communications Manager Catherine Wright looked over everything and they are going to give it another review. There are currently seven months of the year for regular messaging already established. They are thinking of restarting the “Did You Know” promotions. She will present a list of additional items. Strandwitz added that a dedicated playlist for water and sewer videos had been developed for the town’s YouTube channel. She also did a piece on a manhole which will be in the January citizen’s newsletter. Discussion occurred about art on manholes. D. From the last meeting question about water only customers, Strandwitz presented a map of out-of-town customers to show water only areas. There are approximately 1,625 water-only customers out-of-town. Cough asked how it came to be this way. Strandwitz could not explain why or how annexation or past service extensions occurred. Salvi asked the same question of the Town Manager. She reported the town commissioners at the time decided not to annex Churton Grove at the time by one vote. Strandwitz also mentioned that some of the areas served were on failing septic. Sykes observed that several of the mobile home parks seemed to have been prioritized for water and sewer service with annexation, possibly due to failing septic. E. Strandwitz provided the Charter for annual review. Cough commented that it seems the responsibilities are modest. There is not a lot that they must do and for big items, the town hires experts to confirm impactful decisions. Sprinczeles sees the committee as a group to bounce ideas off and provide recommendations. Strandwitz said she concurred and welcomed more recommendations if they had them. Cough stated it seems the areas where they could be most useful would be on more social issues. Strandwitz explained several years ago when she was on the committee that citizens brought their issue to the committee for action for recommendation first, like leak adjustments or code policy changes. WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 3 of 4 6. Discussion A. Rate structure prioritizations 1. Matrix results were only received by three members. The differential was the first recommendation with commercial rate structure for the second. Salvi thanked Cough for his objectiveness and depth of comments provided. Cough was surprised how much analysis had already been done across the nation in his discussion with Stephen Lapp at the UNC Environmental Finance Center. Strandwitz reiterated she was not looking for the committee to solve the rate questions, just guide what the town should look at with respect to rates. 2. Cough updated the group more on his discussions with Stephen Lapp. He asked several questions. 1) What are comparable small utilities? Stephen referred to other sized utilities on the rate dashboard but cautioned that there are many differences which makes it hard to compare. 2) Are other utilities subsidized by the general fund? NC Local Government Commission discourages this. But some do it anyway. 3) Differential rates? Differential is quite common. 62% of water and 64% of sewer has a rate differential and it is dependent on the system itself. The town theoretically is supposed to justify the out-of-town rates but there is no clear guidance. Geography and cost drive some of this. Cough received more information via E-mail from Lapp and shared it with the committee prior to the meeting. 3. Salvi asks if we are ready to present a memo to the board. Sykes suggests the memo state the two priorities for rate analysis and request to meet with the Board more routinely to discuss it. She thinks the memo will more request collaboration than indicate what the committee wants to analyze. Sykes offered to work on the memo. Commissioner Hughes said this also came up at the last Board meeting and a reason why he has been nominated as a routine representative. The final memo will be put in the next agenda packet. Hughes mentioned it could potentially be a hot topic item for the workshop. Strandwitz indicated that not creating new meetings is ideal, but to work with what is already scheduled. 4. Regarding the survey, the town needs to be involved and budget will be needed. Sykes will include such mention in the memo. Wright mentioned some of the engagement platforms the town was testing have ended, like Bang the Table. The town does use SurveyMonkey and another polling site. B. A drought surcharge was discussed and changing the code to include one was not recommended by the committee. However, the committee does want to investigate increasing the existing fines in the code. 7. Future agenda Items A. Rate structure prioritizations 1. Potential memo to Board B. Outreach subcommittee (Salvi) 8. Member reports Rawlins updated the group on the board meeting discussion related to zoning and allowing higher density. Sykes said the town board also approved some language regarding waivers and variances. 9. Assignments for other meetings All main assignments for upcoming meetings were accepted (Rawlins for board meeting on Jan. 10, Sykes for joint planning board on Jan. 20, and Cough for Jan. 24 workshop). WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 4 of 4 10. Adjournment Sprinczeles thanked everyone for their participation on the committee and how much it meant. He also thanked Hughes for being our steady board representative going forward and how he thought it was a good thing. Motion: Sykes motioned. Weston seconded. All in favor. Vote: 5-0. Ayes:5. Nays: 0. Sprinczeles adjourned the meeting at 8:34 p.m. Respectfully submitted, K. Marie Strandwitz, PE Utilities Director Approved: Feb. 3, 2022