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Home My Public Portal About08-03-23 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 Regular meeting 7 p.m. August 3, 2023 Board Meeting Room of Town Hall Annex, 105 E. Corbin St. Present: Vice Chair Saru Salvi, Mo Rasheed, Daniel Rawlins, Steed Robinson, Barry Weston, Grace Beeler, and Mayor Pro Tem Matt Hughes Absent: Chair Jenn Sykes Staff: Utilities Director Marie Strandwitz, Environmental Engineering Supervisor Bryant Green, Civil Engineering Technician Tyler Freeman, Assistant Town Manager/Community Services Director Matt Efird, Communications Manager Catherine Wright, and Town Manager Eric Peterson 1. Call to order, welcome of guests and new members, commence roll call Vice Chair Saru Salvi called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m., and members participated in a roll call. 2. Agenda changes and approval No changes were presented. Motion: Member Mo Rasheed moved approval of the agenda. Member Daniel Rawlins seconded. Vote: 7-0. 3. Minutes approval (June 1, 2023 and June 13, 2023) No changes were presented for the regular June meeting minutes. The special June meeting minutes were noted to be amended by adding Catherine Wright as in attendance. The minutes were motioned for approval with the change for the special meeting. Motion: Member Steed Robinson moved approval of the June 1, 2023 minutes as presented. Weston seconded. Vote: 7-0. Motion: Member Grace Beeler moved approval of the June 13, 2023 minutes as amended. Weston seconded. Vote: 7-0. 4. Updates A. Utilities status report highlights The water treatment plant has a raw water pump and a finish water pump out of service, both waiting on parts for repair. The 2022 water quality report has been released, and the annual wastewater quality report is being prepared. There is a brand-new controller at the river pumping station next to the wastewater plant. Orange street sewer pipe has been replaced, with the portion under the street pending for quotes on replacement. Elizabeth Brady pump station has increased capacity after installation of two new pumps that have higher flow rates. WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 2 of 3 The Collins Ridge master plan revision has been approved. A part of that revision includes a donation to the town for sewer flow monitoring. Fiber installation is ongoing from both Lumos and Google. One subcontractor hit a 6-inch water main which prompted a public notification. A low-pressure advisory was sent to affected customers. B. SDF Preview: SDF Study Update Environmental Engineering Supervisor Bryant Green outlined the history of system development fees (SDFs). He stated the town had three options to choose from. The options were the capital buy-in method, the incremental cost method, and a combined method of those two. The town chose to move forward with the capacity buy-in method which is calculated based on the proportional cost of each user’s share of existing system capacity. This approach is typically used when existing facilities can provide adequate capacity to accommodate future growth. Additionally, this method must deduct assets donated to the town. This SDF adjustment yielded a gallon per day cost for water and sewer. This cost was then scaled by number of bedrooms for residential developments and other factors for commercial developments. Raftelis will be providing a presentation on the analysis at the joint meeting with the Board on Aug. 28. C. Bill format change The committee previously expressed their preference towards the OWASA bill format. This format will break the bill out to more line items. That change, along with disconnect letter language, are under development with town finance and communications. D. Out-of-town vacancy The out-of-town vacancy is still being advertised. One application was received approximately a week before the WSAC meeting. The applicant used to be on WSAC when Strandwitz was on the board. Strandwitz reached out to him but did not hear back at the time of the meeting. 5. Discussion A. Continued backflow discussion Vice chair Salvi recused herself from discussion as an impacted citizen. Member Rawlins reviewed what the committee motioned at the last meeting to recommend to the town board regarding code changes. Environmental Engineering Supervisor Bryant Green then detailed out additional research undertaken by staff to the committee. Staff found the meters had additional functionality and wanted to see if this additional functionality affected the committee's recommendations. It was shown that the Neptune meters record flow continuously and software can flag reverse flow data. The data is separated into minor and major reverse flows. Staff focused on major flows which is defined as at least 10 gallons of reverse flow through the meter in a one-hour period. To know the exact time and amount of flow, the town would need to go to the affected meter and data log it within a certain timeframe of the event. Green presented a map of the major events over the past year. There was a total of seventy events, two of which were residences with in ground pools. Green also discussed meter setter expansion wheels and how this option might change the committee’s recommendation. An example of the expansion wheel and meter were then presented to the committee. Green opened conversation for revisions to the former motion. Member Beeler asked if properties that are sold with existing pools would be required to get an RPZ. Green said such a process would require tracking home sales and other staff involvement which the town is not set up for at this time. Member Rawlins added that he believes such an option was outside the purview of what the Commissioners asked the committee to WATER AND SEWER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES | 3 of 3 consider. Green added some background with the recent senate bill 166. This would require the state to define what a sever hazard is and would require a backflow be installed on those defined hazards. If the local municipality believes something is a significant hazard, then it must justify why that is the case before it can require a backflow. Green then asked if all this information changed WSAC’s recommendation to the Board. Member Weston felt the recommendation should remain the way it is currently written. Member Rawlins asked if there was a motion to affirm the previous motions from the prior meeting. Motion: Member Grace Beeler motioned to affirm the previous motions on backflow prevention during the June 13, 2023 special meeting. Weston seconded. Vote: 6-0 (Salvi recused). B. August joint board meeting agenda development The proposed joint agenda was printed within the evening’s meeting agenda. No changes to the proposed joint agenda were made. 6. Reports from June/July Board of Commissioners meeting assignments The joint planning board meeting was rescheduled for August 17th. No members attended the June 12th or 26th meetings. 7. Assignments for Board of Commissioners meetings A. Meeting Aug. 14 (Robinson/Salvi sub.) B. Meeting Aug. 17 (Salvi/Robinson sub) C. Meeting Aug. 28 (Rawlins/Sykes sub.) D. Meeting Sept. 11 (Rasheed/Weston sub.) E. Meeting Sept. 25 (Weston/Rasheed sub.) 8. Future agenda items Bill format change status 9. Adjournment Motion: Weston moved to adjourn. Rawlins seconded the motion. All in favor. Vote: 7-0. The meeting was adjourned by Salvi at 9:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Tyler Freeman Civil Engineering Technician Staff support to the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee Approved: Oct. 5, 2023