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HomeMy Public PortalAboutWater Commissioners -- 2006-05-01 MinutesBrewster Water Commissioners' Meeting May 1, 2006 page 1 oft Meeting was called to order at 9:28 a.m. by Bill Porter, Chairman. Those present were: Walter Rowles member, Paul V. Hicks, Superintendent and Julie A Cahoon, Administrative Supervisor. 1. VISITORS: None 2. MINUTES: April 25, 2006 minutes to be reviewed at May 9`~' meeting. 3. SUPERINTENDENT'SREPQRT: a. Operations report: * Paul informed the Water Commissioners of a conversation he had with a customer regarding a request for a water service to Assessors Map 22 Lot 26-3, 30 Bluejacket Way. This property is on the corner of Bluejacket Way and Main Street, and the water service will be coming off Main Street. A State Permit had to be filed and there were a few problems with the filing and the time frame we have taken to deal with the permit request. The State has now returned the permit stating that the homeowner also has to file an indirect access permit. The customer was very upset with the length of time that the process has taken and threatened to contact his attorney. Paul has requested Fred to have everything cleared up with the State by the end of today. * Due to the time and the extensive work that are needed to accomplish the filing for a State Permit, Paul asked the Water Commissioners if they would consider that a customer with property abutting a roadway, where it is necessary for a State Permit, be charged a $100.00 filing fee in addition to the System Development Fee. Bud made the MOTION: `That from here fr>rward a $100.00 fee will be charged to customers applying for a water service line when the subject property abuts a roadway where it is necessary for a State Permit to be applied tor. 't'his is not to be part of the System Development Fee but will be charged separately.' Bill Porter seconded the motion. PASSED unanimously. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: a. Town Meeting issues Paul spoke to Charlie Sumner and reviewed information with him regarding the new building request. Selectman Ed Louis will be presenting this article. Last Thursday, April 27`h Ed came by the office to walk around the department's grounds with Paul. Ed requested that Paul put together a bullet style summary with what the department currently does in the existing building and what space we are requesting. Paul did so {al ~ichn~ent 1 t3 pages}) and e-mailed it to Ed. Ed informed Paul this morning that he would work with the provided information. Paul informed Ed that he thought that the rates would have to be raised to cover the new building and the next well. The last water rate increase was in 1999. At that time the rate went from $2.50 to $3.00 per thousand gallons. In 2004 there was a proposed $O.l 0 increase that was not implemented. The l 0 year Master Plan was developed in 1998. There has been discussion regarding inclining block rates but Paul would like to postpone this for a time to allow for a greater number of radio meters to be installed giving us a more precise reading cycle. The inclining rate is also more volatile and risky as far as revenue goes. The Water Commissioners agreed that would not be an issue. Other items for the Special Town Meeting are the building design and owner project manager along with an $8,000.00 additional overtime funding request. The three Articles that the department is presenting were reviewed and discussed (attachment 2). ~'-: ~ Article 11/Hazardous Waste Collection Day Program. Bill Porter to read. '.';:f"~ Article 28/ Town Bylaw Amendment for Water Betterments. Bud Rowles to read. ` ' ~ Article 30/ Water-main for Cranview Road. Bud Rowles to read. ~:5. ANTHER UNFINISHED BUSINESS: A letter dated March 24, 2006 was sent to the property ~.-~: own~at 130 Millstone Road regarding the deeded sale of the cottages on this property now addressed as ~- 140P€#hru 140E Millstone Road. The letter informed the owner that water service applications were 4~:+ ~: nee for each unit. He called in reply to the letter and informed Julie that the cottages were only 3% awe inte t deeded. At that time Julie did invite him to attend the Water Commissioners' meeting to further °° discuss this matter. When Julie spoke to Cindy in the Town's Assessor's Department she was informed that each cottage has a separate deed and would be charged the tax rate as such. Paul asked the Water Commissioners to make a ruling on this matter. MIN May 1, 2006.doc/shared/minutes Brewster Water Commissioners' Meeting May 1, 2006 page 2 of 2 Bill Porter made the MO'T'ION: Foe the purposes of the Water Department's regulations; If t:he ']'own Assessors assesses Real L;state Waxes separately to two or more individually owned livi-1g units on the same property on which they stand, the Brewster Water Department will consider them a condominium. As such, each unit must then conform t.o the current Brewster Water Department policy stated in the Regulations '~ Services p<u»phlet, ~[~his reads in pa-1: ``In the case of condominiums, each family unit in the condominium sha11 be separately water metered unless another arrangement is approved by the Water Commissione-s, but in any event, each family unit. will be carried as a separate account o^ the Water Department records, and will be billed the same as any residential account." Bud Rowles seconded the motion. PASSED unanimously. A second letter will be sent each owner and to the sales agent, Mr. Samuel Webb. Copies of this letter will also be sent to the Town Administrator Charles Sumner, the Building Department, Planning Board and to all of the Water Commissioners. 6. NEW BUSINESS: None 7. ANY OTHER NEW BUSINESS: None 8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Tentative: Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Tentative: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:OOam 9:OOam 9:OOam 9:OOam Bill Porter moved to adjourn at 10:15a.m. Respectfully Submitted, Julie A Cahoon, Administrative Supervisor MIN May 1, 2006.doc/shared/minutes New Water Department Operations Facility WATER DEPRRT~IENT OFFICE GARAGE DESIGN SERL7CE.S ARTICLE~VUr1.IBER ~, SPECL-?L TOWN~~IEETLVG, ~t'L=tY1. ?006 The Water Department building space needs known since 1998. Other projec~~ have peen completed with higher priority. In 1973 the department had four employees one truck and a backhoe. • The system was comprised of one storage tank, two wells, 42 miles of water main, 1,1.0 service connections and 365 hydrants, all new. • In 1973 the Department pumped 58,263,342 gallons of water. Today the Department requires 12 employees, eight light vehicles of various types, five pieces of trailer mounted equipment, a dump truck and a backhoe. • The system includes two storage tanks, four wells in three welffie!ds and a fifth vve!I in a fourth wellfield planned. There are three treatment facilities, 126 miles of wat°r ~~ain, 7,112 service connections and more than 1,000 hydrants. • In 2005, the Department pumped 473,114,000 gallons of water. Main building The original building had one main office with two desks, a conference room, parts and materials caged area and three garage bays. • Today the main office has three workstations and houses all active service records. . The original conference room now has one workstation, the main office computer equipment, all meter reading equipment and stores all project, personnel and regulatory compliance records. • Half of one original garage bay was converted in 1988 for new conference space. i nis row has three work stations and houses sampling field water analysis equipment storage, ail system mapping and records, operational records and classified system information. . The second half of the converted garage bay houses one wor'~station, storage racks for 600 seasonal meters, meter testing and repair area, personnel safety monitoring equipment, staff break and lunch area and locker storage. • Every space is maximized including storage in hallways. • There is no space for conference with customers, engineers or personnel without displacing one or more workers. • There is not adequate conference space for meetings and planning, training and emergency operations. • There is not adequate space for personnel lockers, routine break and lunch facilities or for emergency operations. • There is not adequate space for personnel safety equipment. • There is insufficient space for proper records storage and retention. • Insufficient staff workstation locations for all Department functions. Ne~c ops facility bullets fix TM.doc Paae 1 of /~TTR~C~Iin~ p ~ New Water Department Operations Facility Two remaining garage bays house two pieces of equipment, one compressor trailed, all small equipment, service parts, service repair tools, work shop, confined space safety equipment, tubes and fuels, paint storage and the building emergency generator. • Equipment storage is two tiered making access difficult. • There is not adequate space for parts and supplies. • There is not adequate space for equipment storage. There is not adequate space for proper storage for paint and flammabies. An overhead void created by creating the conference room and meter storage area is now useo' as storage. Head height is 5' 7" and was not built for load bearing use. This now houses records requiring permanent retention, safety equipment, system maintenance tools and stock of new meters and meter parts. There is insufficient space for proper records storage and retention. Poor access to poor storage space used as last resort. • Fumes from equipment started in the garage permeate the offices. No ad yuate separation or ventilation of equipment and office space. Rear Garage A former DPW 4 bay garage on the same main street site was given to the Water Department ~r use in 1990. This houses two vehicles and two trailers. Water service and main maintenance ?nd repair parts, trench shoring equipment, spare tires and ladders are ~ ored here. Parts storage is now tiered three levels high making it difficult to safely handle heavy parts. Equipment has to be taken out of the garage to access parts. • Poor and unsafe access to parts and supplies. Time consuming usage of area as equipment has to be moved to access parts. There is not adequate space for parts and supplies. • There is not adequate space for equipment storage. New ops facility bullets for Tbt.da: Pace Z of i i\few Water Department Operations Facility Storage Containers Two 20' storage containers are also on property storing a trailer mounted pump, large pump piping and associated equipment, road and traffic control equipment and service tubing. This is a poor temporary solution to proper equipment storage. . There is not adequate space for parts and supplies. . There is not adequate space for equipment storage. General Most of the floor space does double or triple duty such as starf work stations and storage in conference space and storage and equipment in office space. Most wall space is deuble s~wcked with book cases on top of file cabinets and additional stored items on top of storage cabinets. Virtually every space is being used to capacity. Yard area used far water main, fill, loam and hardening is insufficient and conric~,~ with other uses of the area property. . Parking and equipment conflicts with recreation and Council on Aging. Space Needs Evaluation In 2005, a space needs evaluation of the Department was performed by AKRO Associates Architects. The first part of the Feasibility Study evaluated current staffing and equipment, cmc~ and operations functions that take place in the building and future growth potential. The original Department building contains 4,000 square feet of space. 1,000 square feet of overhead dead storage was created in 1988 when one of three garage bays in the original building was converted for office, meter storage and meter testing space. Ceiling height of the overhead storage is S foot, seven inches. The rear 4 bay garage contains 1,920 square feet, making a tot; i of 6,920 square feet of Department space, including the overhead dead storage. The 2005 Space needs evaluation determined that the Department needs at least 12,000 square feet of operational space including garage and storage. The second part of the Feasibility Study looked at the space needed and how to create it on the existing site. This assessment showed that there is not enough land area available for either a practical addition or complete replacement of the buildings without changing other site uses. This Main Street Town property area is shared with Council on Aging, Brewster Fire Department, Town fueling facilities and the Recreation Department's ballfield, tennis and basketball tour`s. Afrer reviewing the study recommendations, the consensus is to build a new facility at a different town location. New ops facility bulled for Ti~t.~ioc Pace ~ of ~ Water Department 2006 Annual Town Meeting Article 11 /Hazardous Waste Collection Day proQr I move that the town vote to approve article no. 1 as printed in the warrant and to transfer the sum of $9,000.00 from the Water Revenue account for this purpose. ~f~7T~-~lfiYlE~T-o2 3r~+~s Water Department 2006 Annual Town Meeting Article No, 28 /Town Bylaw Amendment for Wate~- Betterments I move that the town vote to approve article no. z8 as printed in the warrant. Water Department 2006 Annual Town Meeting Article No. 30 /Water-main for Oranview Road I move that the town vote to approve article no. 30 as printed in the warrant and to appropriate the total sum of $75,000.00 for this purpose, and in order to appropriate this total sum that the town transfer the sum of $75,000.00 from Article no. 23 Slough Road Water-main) of the May 2001 Annual Town Meetir:g for this purpose. bv: ~ d o t ~dw ~o.