HomeMy Public PortalAboutTri-Town Groundwater Protection District -- 2014-08-20 Minutes 1 ,1
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ORLEANS, BREWSTER, EASTHAM GROUNDWATER PROTECTION DISTRICT
BOARD OF MANAGERS MEETING
AUGUST 20, 2014
Board Present: John Kelly, Chairman,Orleans; Martin McDonald, Eastham.
Others Present: Jay Burgess,Chief Operator; Cyndi Bachman, District Secretary;
Beverly Carney,Orleans resident; Heidi and Harold Boas,Orleans residents.
1. Meeting called to order at 9:10 a.m..
2. A motion was made by Martin McDonald to approve the Board of Managers Minutes
dated July 23,2014.This motion was seconded by John Kelly and unanimously approved
and passed.Vote: 2-0
3. Chief Operator Updates—Jay Burgess:
• Process—All State permit requirements are being met. Nitrates were 26 mg/I and that is
without running the denitrifying filter that we have been running.We are back to running
it the way that Mike Giggey and I had worked out a number of years ago when we had a
notice of non-compliances for a couple of violations.
• Maintenance—The fire alarm panel fried during the last electrical storm.We immediately
notified the Fire Department and kept them apprised of the situation.We had a new
panel put in and we will submit the bill to our insurance company for reimbursement.
• Primary Clarifier—Maintenance of the primary clarifier is being worked on. Brewster
Welding is doing the metal work.
• Incoming City Water Line Replacement- I have a preliminary spec for the replacement
• of the incoming water line that I mentioned at the last meeting and circulated it to this
Board by email.The incoming city water line to this facility is highly corroded. It is an eight
inch cast iron pipe that is connected to our two backflow preventers and our water meter.
None of it could be taken apart and put back together. Once it is taken apart it has to be
replaced and the corrosion is worrisome enough to warrant replacing it because if it goes,
it could turn the basement into a swimming pool. The Orleans Water Department has
been apprised of it and the engineer that is doing the VFD replacement is the engineer
that is doing the spec. If it is approved by the Board to go ahead with$4,800 for Wright-
Pierce Engineers portion of work,they will submit a drawing with the replacement
materials that we can put out to local plumbers who are qualified for that type of work to
get bids.Wright-Pierce will make themselves available during the installation for any
questions that might pop up.
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• John Kelly asked if Mike Giggey had an idea of what it would cost for the construction.
• Jay stated the most expensive portion of it is probably going to be the new water meter.
• John Kelly stated that repair is not on the list of items you sent around.
• Jay stated it wasn't on the list because I did not receive any information from Mike Giggey
at that time, but I have mentioned it in the past. I just received his information last night.
I did send a brief memo around to this Board and Charlie Sumner did stop by the plant and
gave me the okay to pursue it.
• Martin McDonald asked if the water meter belongs to the Town of Orleans Water
Department or by the Plant?
• Jay stated it belongs to the plant.
• John Kelly stated an individual pays for the meter and the water meters are all approved
by the town and the water department.
• Martin McDonald asked why we would need engineering.
• Jay stated you need a licensed industrial plumber to do the installation. It's an 8 inch main
line coming off of the towns line and my comfort level is not there by just buying the
identical equipment and installing it.These pipes would have to be welded together and
we would have to coordinate with the water department because they will have to shut
down the main flow to the building.Also, I don't know what maintenance goes on the
lines outside of the plant when they go to shut it down.
• Martin McDonald stated it would be the towns' responsibility to deal with the connection
aspect of it.
• Jay stated if that needs replacement, I am sure they are going to want engineers.
• John Kelly stated normally depending on the size of the project, if it is over$10,000,we
have to have sealed bids and put it in the Central Registar.You need specifications in
order to bid it. It is in our interest to make sure it Is designed so that it is installed
properly and Wright-Pierce Engineers will inspect it to make sure that it is going to work
properly. Generally in commercial type construction, everything you do in the building has
to have a stamped plan because you can't simply get permits to do this type of work.
• Martin McDonald stated why have a steel line this time instead of a PVC line?
• Jay stated they are investigating the materials because that area where that pipe comes in
is in one of the septage pumping areas and is surrounded by the old ferric chloride,an
acid tank, and we have an old acid wash system that is not down there any longer but the
acid could have expedited the corrosion on those pipes.
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• Martin McDonald stated he assumes that Wright-Pierce would look at the material.
• Jay stated he will circulate the letter from Wright-Pierce Engineers electronically to the
Board for review.
• John Kelly stated that is a good idea because$4,800 does not sound like a simple process.
• Jay stated their points in the letter are to review the LEA Drawings, make a site visit to
inspect the existing piping and equipment, which they have already done, compile a list of
water usage to get the proper flow water meter,evaluate alternative piping to address
the corrosive atmosphere, prepare technical memorandums summarizing
recommendations, preparing 8.5 x 11 inch drawings to depict a new piping meter,valves
and backflow preventers.You have two backflow preventers to prevent any cross
contamination of what we do here overpowering the pumps and entering the towns
drinking water supply.They will also answer questions by phone and during installation
and on-site inspection.
• Jay stated on the list that he emailed around to this Board he realizes that some of the
equipment is not specified in the Stantec Report.These are the items that I identified and
should have been on their report and probably would have been if I had pointed them
out.We only had a few hours to go over the entire plant when they where here.Along the
lines of using the towns money as the last resort, I am willing to take a phased approach
and start with what I feel are the most critical items,which would be the plant water
pumps. We have to keep our water flow going here. I cannot do all those projects at the
same time. If that approach is alright with this Board I will start with the water line.The
parts and pumps are$16,800.
• Jay stated there also was talk about the fence on the plant's property. I tried walking out
by the fence but it is overgrown with vegetation and in order to replace the fence,we are
going to have to get a machine here to cut everything away along the fence line.That
would be an October project.
• John Kelly asked if that is where the trespassing is occurring.
• Jay stated, no the trespassing is occurring down at the compost building.We replace a
piece of stockade fencing about every month down there and it is pushed down again.
Something has to be done to make it more secure. It's not just kids, I see adults walking
dogs.
• John Kelly stated he has asked his DPW Director to make sure the kids cannot dismantle
the fence and separate the section of the fence. Why don't you have the fence company
deal with that piece of the fence at the compost building and bike trail. In the Fall, I could
get my public works department come in with their equipment to help remove the growth
so the fence company can get in to replace the fence. I will have Tom Daley get in touch
with you to coordinate a work plan for the Fall.
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• Martin McDonald stated the compost building liability belongs to the Town of Orleans.
• John Kelly stated yes, but it also impacts the rest of the plant's property,so anything that
goes on down there presents a problem. The perimeter fencing that we are talking about
is in both areas.
• Jay stated the other issue is the RBC modules.When I sent the memo around to the Board
I did not have pricing at that time. I have since received the pricing-$26,000 for one
section of RBC modules, eight bundles for the RBC's. I went through Stantec's report and
they are not in that report.We identified problems with the RBC's many years ago. We
actually had a manufacturer representative come down to the plant for inspection and to
make sure they were installed properly. But yet they still failed.Since the Stantec Report
came out it did not identify it. We have had a complete failure of one of the RBC's and
had to replace the media on it the beginning of the busy season.We got caught with
another issue during the July 4th weekend, and actually had to shut down for a couple of
days.These are not the RBC's that we replaced that failed in 2002.These RBC's have been
in service since 1988 and we have welded them more than 50 times.They are only going
to hold together for so long before we come in one day and they are broken and cannot
be repaired.The last time I purchased media the cost was$8,000, but now it is up to
$26,000 for one section of media.
• John Kelly stated things are going to break at the plant that are not in the report that are
still critical to the operation.You cannot operate without the RBC's.
• Jay asked if he should order them to have them on hand or do you want me to wait for a
failure? It is a 5-8 week turnaround from the time I give the order to the company.
• John Kelly stated Charlie Sumner needs to have prior approval from his Board before
Brewster will release any funds to the plant.
• Jay stated Charlie is on vacation and will not be back in his office until next week.
• Jay sated we can probably wait until the next Board meeting.
• John Kelly stated he doesn't have a problem putting a motion on the table to approve all
three items on Jay's list plus the work in the basement subject to the Town of Brewster
approving it.Once the bill comes in,we simply ask our towns to fund one-third of the bill.
• Jay stated he does not have a total number as to what he sees as needs now.
4. A motion was made by John Kelly to approve the funds for the RBC media bundles,the
filtrate pump,and the plant water pump, plus the design of the new water meter
installation items that are identified in the email from Jay dated August 13,2014 in the
amount of$70,000, plus or minus,subject to the Town of Brewster approving the use of
the funds for this purpose.This motion was seconded by Martin McDonald and
unanimously approved and passed.Vote:2-0
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5. The Board reviewed the District's bank balances.
• Jay stated the collection agency has collected $19,000 from Neighborhood Wastewater
Services and have them on a $5,000 a month payment plan. We have received$6,000
from the collection agency so far. I spoke with them yesterday and there is supposed to
be another$6,000 check in the mail to us.The collection agency holds the funds for 45
days before they release it to us. I now correspond to them by email to keep a paper trail.
They did suggest that in the future we add additional language to our invoices that states
collection efforts will be added to their bill.
• John Kelly stated when you go to print invoices again add that wording that collection fees
will be added to their bill.We can add that to our policy that if their bill is net 20 and goes
to collections they will incur additional fees.
• Martin McDonald asked if we get some kind of a statement from the collection agency
that says they have collected so much and the arrangements they have set up.
• Jay stated they have a website that I can visit that shows their collection efforts,the
amount that they collected,the amount that they will distribute to us,etc. I can give you
that website and you can view it as well They have a spreadsheet that is updated daily
that I check on line.
• John Kelly stated for the next meeting give us the status of the collection activity and a
copy of the one page chart from the collection agency in our packet for next meeting.
• John Kelly stated he sent Charlie and Martin a copy of the Water Quality Panel schedule of
meetings through May 2015, and a decision timeline for Tri-Town in which our consultant,
Mike Domenica,took my original target dates and started to add some of the milestones
in the study.We hired Stantec to do our septage and wastewater planning study and we
would like to have a Tri-Town Select Board meeting the first week of November.That will
coincide with being able to review the timeline where we are with the study with the idea
that we will have another meeting in late February or early March so that we can make
sure that whatever we are going to have to put on our Town meeting Warrants with
respect to either further design for whatever the town decides to do with the plant. I will
provide both Brewster and Eastham with copies of all of the reports which will coincide
with the Water Quality Panel meetings so that everything will be on our website now
dealing with wastewater and the Water Quality Panel has its own page. We are underway
with our utility survey study. We are focusing on the downtown,and then the wastewater
septage study is for the re-use of this property and potential re-use of the plant.Critical to
that study is to find another location to discharge because the Board voted that there will
be no discharge on this site. Stantec has signed off on the contract and they are now
underway.The Water Quality Panel Meeting is September 10, 2014.
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6. A motion was made by Martin McDonald to approve Treasury Warrant#3 for payment.
This motion was seconded by John Kelly and unanimously approved and passed.Vote:2-0
7. A motion was made by Martin McDonald to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 a.m..This
motion was seconded by John Kelly and unanimously approved and passed.Vote:2-0
Respectfully submitted,
Cyn Bachman
District Secretary
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