HomeMy Public PortalAboutTri-Town Groundwater Protection District -- 2011-05-11 Minutes ORLEANS, BREWSTER, EASTHAM GROUNDWATER PROTECTION DISTRICT
BOARD OF MANAGERS MEETING
MAY 11, 2011
Board of Managers Present: John Kelly,Chairman,Orleans; Charles Sumner, Brewster.
Others Present: Jay Burgess,Chief Operator; Cyndi Bachman, District Secretary;
Beverly Carney, Orleans resident; David Burnie, David Burnie Septic Service.
1. Meeting called to order at 9:00 a.m..
2. A motion was made by Charles Sumner to approve the Board of Managers
Minutes dated April 13, 2011. This motion was seconded by John Kelly and
unanimously approved and passed.
3. Haulers questions for the Board:
• David Burnie, David Burnie Septic Service, stated when pricing at the
plant changes and fluctuates, the flow changes and fluctuates. He
currently brings most of his pumpings to Tri-Town, but sometimes it gets
re-routed to Yarmouth, or Chatham. When the price is right, it ends up at
Tri-Town. Today his truck went to Yarmouth because there was about a
$90 savings for that one truck load. If he picks up a load from Chatham,
and his next call is in Dennis, it now makes sense for him to go to
Yarmouth because there is a substantial savings: $20 on a 1,000 tank; $30
savings on a 1,500 tank. What may have been dumped at Tri-Town,
winds up somewhere else. He stated his bigger concern as a hauler, is the
plants' financial ability to keep its head above water. If Tri-Town shuts
down, the immediate impact is on the three towns that are in-District.
There is also an outlying impact from here to Provincetown. I know the
outlying towns are not the Boards concern, because you represent Orleans,
Brewster and Eastham. If this plant folds, what happens when he gets a
call on a day when the Yarmouth plant is closed and there is sewage on
the ground somewhere. Some emergency calls are minor and some large.
His recollection is that when the plant was being built, there were a lot of
questions whether it would be self-sustaining, and if it was not, the Board
was to go back to their towns for funding. Is that an accurate statement?
• John Kelly stated the Board of Managers works under the Intermunicipal
Agreement which does have a provision to go back to the member towns
for funding. I don't think the towns have ever funded the operation of the
plant. The plant has been self-sufficient, but on a shoe string budget.
Unfortunately, we need to raise our rates in order to cover our costs that
continue to go up. We understand that the haulers will go where the best
price is, but part of your costs, I'm assuming, are being passed on to your
customers. We looked at the budget, and looked at the fact that flow was
not as heavy this year. People were not pumping as frequent, and our
costs continue to go up. We don't relish the thought of trying to get any
money from the three towns for the operation or capital for the plant. It's
not going to happen. At this point this Boards' main goal is to keep the
plant running and to continue to do so on operating revenues without
relying on the towns, and that is what we are continuing to do with Jay's
help. We understand that the septage can go anywhere, but from our
standpoint we believe that the rate increase that we have done will
hopefully be the last one that we will have to look at for a couple of years.
We have no plan to close the plant. The Intermunicipal Agreement runs
through 2015, so if everything runs smoothly, we will be here until 2015.
• Dave Burnie asked what happens if the plant cannot sustain itself on the
income it receives?
• John Kelly stated the Board would have to go back to the three towns to
ask for funding. There is a section in the Intermunicipal Agreement which
states if one of the three member towns does not fund their portion, then
they are out of the agreement. Our goal is not to go back to the three towns
for funding.
• Charles Sumner stated he has been in Brewster for 25 years and was here
when the plant was built. He has been on the Board of Managers on and
off over the years. The District employees do a fine job and I don't know
how they pull it all together. I will say that I was on the Board when the
plant had financial problems in the past and we talked about going back to
the member towns for subsidy . I think if it went back to Brewster, it
would be rejected at town meeting. Not a penny can be spent without a
town meeting. We would have to have a separate article for the operating
deficit at the Tri-Town Septage Plant. The Town of Orleans is working
their way to a long term solution. Brewster is trying to hang on because
we want to have access to the plant, and we are trying to catch up with
evaluation of long-term comprehensive wastewater issues in our
community. Our vision is to cooperate here on a reduced level, but the
question we have is, can we keep this plant going, and that's what we need
to figure out. These guys are stressed here trying to keep this plant
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operating with the revenues versus budget issues. If in fact we needed to
appropriate money for capital to help out with repairs, I think that might
be a better possibility from Brewster's perspective to give us a few more
years here, rather than funding an operating expense.
• Dave Burnie asked if the plant has the ability to sustain itself if there is no
flow from outside of the District?
• John Kelly stated that 50% of the flow volume is from out-of-District.
• Dave Burnie stated that is exactly his point and has a hard time
understanding that it costs this plant more to treat Chatham waste than it
does to treat Brewster waste. When you raise rates for out-of District flow,
you are actually directing that flow away from Tri-Town. As a business
man, I cannot pick up a $90 difference and bring it here. It doesn't make
any sense to me. You are right that we can pass it on to the customer, but
the hauling business is a very competitive business. I can pass it on to my
customer but my competitor might say they can take it to Yarmouth for a
cheaper price. In both scenarios, it doesn't come to Tri-Town. If you raise
the price in the outlying areas, you are actually driving that flow away.
• John Kelly stated what is different now than in the 1980's, is there is no
consent order to abandon the lagoons, which was the whole reason that
Tri-Town was able to come together. This plant was built 90 cents on the
dollar with federal and state monies. What has happened since that time is
DEP does not care where it goes, as long as it is treated. When the subject
comes up about isn't it less expensive for the towns to continue to
off-set the operation than it would be not to have the plant here and have
the individual homeowner pay more, the response sometimes around
this table has been, well that's not the towns' issue. It's up to the
individual property owner, and if it affects some people once every three
years when they pump, the additional costs are minimal versus bringing
several million dollars of tax money into this facility. It's a hard argument
to get passed. We do not have an operating budget in Orleans that pays
anything to the plant, so there isn't any way that you could make that
subsidy. It would be difficult to add a line item to the town operating
budget and it would be subject to town meeting approval. This plant
struggled for many years. We never could get the outside towns to ever
want to help finance this plant, so why should we give them any discount.
The three member towns have the liability of the plant, between the
insurance, the property and the carrying costs of the plant. Years ago this
Board tried to expand the Intermunicipal Agreement to the other seven
towns, and they refused. The other issue is we have no ability to control
flow. How many people in Brewster or Orleans know that they get a
discount when they tell the hauler to bring it here.
• Dave Burnie stated there are haulers that pass the discount on to the
customer, and I am one of them. There are haulers that advertise in the
newspaper. The reality of pumping a residential tank when there is six
inches of snow on the ground or it is seven degrees outside, it just doesn't
happen, so we try to schedule our commercial accounts. I understand
exactly what you are saying, but I still disagree with the thought that
whatever took place in the past whether Chatham would join, or Harwich
join, the bottom line is, it sounds like this treatment plant is fighting for
it's life and when you raise the rates on the perimeter of the District, you
are cutting your own flow. Jeff Wall, Wall Septic Service, called me this
morning to say he could not attend today's meeting but to let the Board
know that nothing he pumps from Chatham, Dennis, Harwich or
Yarmouth will be coming to Tri-Town because he cannot afford it. I think
this is a reflection of every contractor. I understand your point and
problem, but I simply ask you to re-consider the perimeter areas, do the
math, and I think you will find you will attract the gallons from outside
towns and hit your flow numbers. If it remains an in balance of$20 to $30
on a 1,000 to 1,500 tank, it's not going to come here. I have brought flow
here in the past two years, even though it has cost me a little bit more,
because I want the plant here. I can pass on the increased costs a little bit
to the homeowner but I cannot pass on $20 to $30. You hit the nail on the
head that the people here at Tri-Town work hard and do a great job. They
are always extending a helping hand and Jay is running a great operation
here and I hope that it manages to stay in place.
• Charles Sumner stated his goal would be to transition into the next phase
of the new plant so these employees can also transition into that plant.
They have a career here and a lot of years of service, and we have to find
a way to make that happen.
• Jay stated his big concern is the finances. Mechanical equipment can be
fixed but you need the money to buy the parts. Our average now is 11
cents a gallon, which is what it will cost to run the plant and breaking
even. We are giving a 1 cent discount under what it actually takes to run
the facility to the member towns.
4. The Board reviewed the Draft Budget and deferred it to the next Board of Managers
Meeting for approval.
5. Chief Operator Updates—Jay Burgess:
• Process—Nitrate is 25 mg/1. All others are single digits.
• Historical Process and the States Non-Compliance—Jay stated he and
his staff researched 20 years of data for the Return to Compliance for the
State. We are only required to maintain three years of data.
Jay also reviewed the final reports from Wright-Pierce Engineers with the
Board. He suggested asking Brian Dudley, DEP, to attend the next Board
of Managers Meeting in June for discussion on the reports.
• Maintenance— The scada system has been repaired by Woodard&
Curran. They have informed me it would cost approximately $3,000 to
upgrade the software. Hopefully, the current software will run until the
plant is renewed.
• No. 2 Primary Clarifier Drive— We have installed a new motor on the
No. 2 Primary Clarifier Drive, which also needs some metal work and the
main shaft may need replacement in the future.
• Filter Press- Jay has been in contact with a plant in North Carolina who
also have filter presses and routinely purchase parts from a company in
England. They have offered to include our orders with theirs, saving the
District shipping costs from England. We would only pay shipping costs
from North Carolina.
• Dave Bennett—Jay received a call from Dave Bennett requesting the
information on Hurley's Bog and discharge nitrate numbers. Jay sent him
the information in PDF format, which he replied that he would like the
information re-sent in Excel form. Jay informed him that he would need
permission from the Board to forward the information in a different
format.
• Charles Sumner stated he has no problem sending the information in the
Excel format, as long as Jay receives a copy of whatever Mr. Bennett
enters on that spreadsheet.
• John Kelly stated that he also has no problem sending the information in
the Excel format, as long as at any time Mr. Bennett makes reference to
that information, it be known that he has re-entered the numbers.
• Grease Pricing Rates—Jay stated that from time to time we receive
unscheduled grease and he would like to recommend an unscheduled
grease rate of 18 cents in-District and 20 cents out-of-District be
implemented.
6. A motion was made by John Kelly to authorize the District to charge the
following for unscheduled grease: 18 cents per gallon for in-District and
20 cents per gallon for out-of- District. This motion was seconded by Charles
Sumner and unanimously approved and passed.
7. A motion was made by John Kelly to authorize Jay to submit the Return to
Compliance Plan to DEP today as proposed . This motion was seconded by
Charles Sumner and unanimously approved and passed.
• Jay stated the District has spent $2,700 on the Return to Compliance
which does not include any future expenses that may involve Wright-
Pierce going to a meeting or anything else.
• John Kelly stated the current permit for the plant expires 2012. It was
suggested the District begin the renewal process six months prior to
expiration. The District does not have anything in the budget for
engineering for permit renewal and we need to get a proposal to account
for that expense.
8. The Board reviewed the Districts' bank balances.
9. A motion was made by Charles Sumner to approve Treasury Warrant No. 12
for payment. This motion was seconded by John Kelly and unanimously
approved and passed.
10. The Board reviewed the Districts' flow.
11. A motion was made by Charles Sumner to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 a.m..
This motion was seconded by John Kelly and unanimously approved and
passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Cyn i Bachman
District Secretary
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ORLEANS, BREWSTER, EASTHAM GROUNDWATER PROTECTION DISTRICT
BOARD OF MANAGERS MEETING
MAY 11, 2011
AGENDA
9:00 A.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER
2. APPROVAL OF BOARD OF MANAGERS MINUTES:
• April 13, 2011
3. CITIZEN'S FORUM
4. HAULERS QUESTIONS FOR BOARD
5. REVIEW OF DRAFT BUDGET
6. CHIEF OPERATOR UPDATES- JAY BURGESS
7. FINANCIAL UPDATE:
• Bank Balances
8. APPROVAL OF TREASURY WARRANT NO. 12
9. OLD BUSINESS
10. NEW BUSINESS
ANY OTHER BUSINESS THAT MAY LEGALLY COME BEFORE THE BOARD