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HomeMy Public PortalAbout04-07-22 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 3 Minutes WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE Remote regular meeting 7 p.m. Apr. 7, 2022 Virtual meeting via YouTube Live Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel Present: Chair Arthur Sprinczeles, Vice Chair Jenn Sykes, Paul Cough, Saru Salvi, Commissioner Matt Hughes Absent (Excused): Barry Weston, Daniel Rawlins, Barry Hupp Staff: Utilities Director Marie Strandwitz, Communications Manager Catherine Wright, Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Mahagan, Finance Director Tiffany Long, Billing and Collections Supervisor Linda Daye, Economic Development and Planning Manager Shannan Campbell, Administrative Services Director Jen Della Valle 1. Call to order and welcome of guests Chair Arthur Sprinczeles called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Director Marie Strandwitz took the roll call and confirmed a quorum. 2. Agenda changes and approval No changes were presented. Motion: Vice Chair Jenn Sykes moved to approve as presented. Member Paul Cough seconded the motion. All in favor. Vote: 4-0. Ayes:4. Nays: 0. 3. February and March minutes review and approval Motion: Vice Chair Jenn Sykes moved to approve the February minutes as presented. Member Paul Cough seconded the motion. All in favor. Vote: 4-0. Ayes:4. Nays: 0. Motion: Vice Chair Jenn Sykes moved to approve the March minutes as presented. Member Paul Cough seconded the motion. All in favor. Vote: 4-0. Ayes:4. Nays: 0. 4. Updates A. Strandwitz asked if anyone had questions about the Utilities Status Report. She highlighted two absent items. The first was a force main break on the Strouds Creek pumping station force main. Some water did get to waters of the state and a Sanitary Sewer Overflow Notice of Violation is expected. The other item was staffing. Lucas Cates, inspector, is starting on April 11. Tyler Freeman, Civil Engineering Technician, WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 2 of 3 accepted our job offer. The Engineering Manager will be readvertised. Vice Chair Sykes asked about the Whole Effluent Toxicity Notice of Violation. B. Member Vacancy update was presented. Two candidates were interviewed. Steed Robinson will be presented to the Board of Commissioners for appointment at the next board meeting for a term of four years ending April 2025. C. Joint meeting schedule update to revise the schedule of which group visits which meeting. The Board of Commissioners will join this committee in May. D. Strandwitz presented the capital improvement budget requests. She said a better update would be provided in May. Many of the requests were carryovers from prior years. She indicated more staffing is requested justifying the addition of several miles of new water and sewer mains yet a stagnant number of full-time equivalents over the past few decades. E. In preparation for future discussions, example water bills were provided as information. F. The outreach report was noted as being in the packet. Strandwitz indicated that the communications group will attend future meetings as requested. She said the utilities web page was slated for redesign and will use a “tile” format and has been working on some different forms. Member Saru Salvi brought up Last Friday’s and learned more about what it is and what to present. She suggested the fat trappers and wants other ideas. G. The results of the community survey related to water and sewer was presented by Strandwitz. The town is doing better than last year and better on a regional and national scale. Member Salvi asked if a survey will be presented to all water and sewer customers? Strandwitz says that is not off the table. A discussion ensued about the survey and how to reach everyone. Sykes felt the County would survey their citizens where water and sewer would be covered. Commissioner Hughes added that the board will be looking harder at annexation when water and sewer is extended. There could be some exceptions, but it has been talked about by the board. Administrative Services Director added more about the town survey and what it 5. Discussion A. Finance Director Tiffany Long presented the aging report for 2020 and 2021. The aging report is past due accounts by time, also known as a skip report, where customers move away and do not pay their final or outstanding bill amount. There was a percentage increase, and it was likely due to the pandemic. 503 customers were excessive late, and these accounts are inactive and will be turned over to collections. B. Economic Development and Planning Manager Shannan Campbell presented an update on developments around town. She demonstrated a new map that is on the planning website where project sites can be clicked to reveal more information. Sykes requested the town do all in their power to get broadband to the area to allow big tech companies to allow employees to work remotely. Chair Sprinczeles mentioned the lack of housing and affordable housing. He also asked about how much property UNC owns in the Waterstone area. They own 25 undeveloped acres in addition to the hospital site. Campbell mentioned there has been movement on affordable housing but have not been able to make the same impact as other towns. She said the partnership with Habitat for Humanity has been successful. C. Wastewater Plant Superintendent Jeff Mahagan presented on water and wastewater plant utilization and Whole Effluent Toxicity. Member Cough asked about inflow and infiltration investments. Strandwitz said that is the Lawndale project and then the town crews are going to look at a few other basins with smoke testing. WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 3 of 3 D. The agenda for the joint meeting with the board was reviewed. History of the committee was an added topic. Otherwise, the proposed agenda was accepted. Sykes discussed preparing a PowerPoint. Motion: Vice Chair Jenn Sykes moved to approve the proposed agenda with the added topic. Member Salvi seconded the motion. All in favor. Vote: 4-0. Ayes:4. Nays: 0. E. The committee will return to in person meetings in May. 6. Future agenda Items A. Leak adjustments/code changes B. Town bill statements C. Last Friday’s 7. Member reports Sykes and Sprinczeles were not at the meetings. Strandwitz reminded of an annexation request that went to the board. Sykes listened to the budget retreat and mentioned the increase in chemicals and fuel and the discussion on outreach. 8. Assignments for other meetings A. April 11 general meeting had Hupp scheduled but he was not present to accept. Sprinczeles is the substitute. B. April 25 work session: Rawlins will be requested to attend by Strandwitz as new member is not yet present and was scheduled to be the primary. C. There was a request to switch the April 21 Joint Public Hearing with the Planning Board to Salvi as primary as Sykes rolled off the board. 9. Adjournment Sykes motioned to adjourn. Salvi seconded. All in favor. Sprinczeles adjourned the meeting at 8:48 p.m. Respectfully submitted, K. Marie Strandwitz, PE Utilities Director Approved: Aug. 4, 2022