Water Board

ALBANY WATER BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING February 28 2020 A regular meeting of the Albany Water Board was officially convened at 9:25 am, in the Conference Room at the Albany Water Board, 10 North Enterprise Drive, Albany, NY on Friday, February 28, 2020. PRESENT: Charles Houghton, Chairperson; Barbara Smith, Secretary, Karen Strong, Assistant Secretary; Anthony Owens, Treasurer; Rachel Johnson, Vice Chairperson STAFF PRESENT: Joseph E. Coffey, Jr., P.E., Commissioner; Thomas Dufresne, CFO; William Simcoe, P.E., Deputy Commissioner; Emily Lyons, Confidential Assistant BOARD ADVISORS PRESENT: T.J. Ruane, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna Approval of Meeting Minutes Chairman Charles Houghton introduced the minutes of the Regular Meeting held on January 24, 2020. With no objection, the reading of the minutes was dispensed and Mr. Houghton called for a motion to approve the minutes of said meeting. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously. Public Comment Period No public comments. Committee and Staff Reports Report of the Governance Committee: Rachel Johnson, Committee Chair Committee met this morning, and recommends to the board to adopt anti-harassment, code of ethics, indemnification policy, internal control policies. The Committee will work to review the operating agreement and review the enacting legislation for continued discussion next month. The board will also continue discussion of the Board evaluations next month. Financial Report: Tom Dufresne, CFO 2019 Preliminary Year End and January 2020 MTD/YTD Financials: It was a great month for cash collections, and we are in a good cash position at the end of the month. We had a slight increase in expenses due to new staff positions added. Debt contribution is lower than previous year, because we prefunded some contributions from last year. We are not yet seeing effects of the 2.5% rate increase, but we are from collections of some back bills. In line with our budget for the month. We exceeded the budget in one area due to the hospital buy outs to staff who decline insurance coverage. We didn’t spend any capital expenditures for the month and we received $8 million in grants and financing. Overtime exceeded in January due to several water main breaks. We came in just shy of the budget for 2019 and expenses are pretty consistent. We are also seeing a depreciation of assets. Admin costs are also up mainly due to salaries and positions that have been added. Our interest income is up slightly. We met debt coverage ratio for the year. All in all it was a great year. Line of Credit RFP: The RFP was sent out to several banks directly and posted to the website and bidnet. We received one proposal so far, and they are due back on Monday. We also received several questions from banks and we filed an addendum to clarify for all. Once received, proposals can be shared with the Authority and Board. Commissioner’s Report: Joseph Coffey, P.E., Commissioner; William Simcoe, P.E., Deputy Commissioner Key Performance Indicators: still working on safety audits and inspections, but looks good so far. We have had some issues with dust in the garage that we are working to address through various controls. Ambient Environmental is doing some dust/air monitoring next week. We will probably try some engineering controls to minimize the dust. We have all completed sexual harassment training, but we did another training session with the foreman about implicit bias recently. We were recognized by the MHLC for the completion of the Alcove’s conservation easement status at their annual awards dinner. Lead pipe replacements: we are contacting residents on Winnie St. and Spring St. to replace lead pipes concurrently when other construction work is being done on those streets. Beaver Creek Clean River Project: Also includes some lead replacement on 3rd Ave. The financing is closing on March 12. We may plan another community meeting in April or May. Upper Washington Sewer Pump Station and Force Main - This project is mostly done, and we anticipate a second quarter start-up of activities. Upper Washington Water Pump Station and Tank – The tank is in place, and we are waiting on electrical contractor to finish the work. Anticipating a June completion. Feura Bush WTP Projects - The sedimentation building projects financing should be closing soon. I-90 Sewer Lining Project - We have done some sewer lining on Tremont St. The work we are now doing by I- 90 is an extension of this and will help make sure we have a good sewer running from the Harriman campus to the county interceptor. Mereline – We received a grant of .5 million for this project. Old Business New Sandidge Way Water Mains – Water mains were constructed by the development. Some were in the right of way, but some needed an easement for us to take control of the mains. New business - Promenade Connection Request – The Promenade requested a connection to Albany’s water service even though they are not within City Limits. We agreed to this connection and we are waiting for their plan to connect. Intermunicipal LTCP Agreement – The agreement with the local sewer districts needs to be renewed to reflect the timeline of the LTCP. Resolutions Mr. Houghton called for a motion to approve each of the following resolutions. A motion was made and seconded for each; and each passed unanimously. ● Resolution 20-10: Approving revisions to the Albany Water Board Anti-Harassment Policy and Complaint Form. ● Resolution 20-11: Approving revisions to the Albany Water Board Code of Ethics Policy. ● Resolution 20-12: Approving revisions to Albany Water Board Internal Controls Policy. ● Resolution 20-17: Authorizing Extending the Contract with Capital Safety Services for the second option year (April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021) with a budgeted fee of $125,000. ● Resolution 20-18: Authorizing execution of Task Order with OBG Engineers with for Construction Phase services associated with Sedimentation Basin Renovation, Alcove Reservoir Sodium Permanganate System and Feura Bush Electrical Upgrade in a not to exceed amount of $265,000. ● Resolution 20-19: Authorizing award of contract for the I-90 Sewer Rehabilitation project to Green Mountain Pipeline Services, LLC of 768 S. Main Street, Bethel, Vermont 05032, in the amount of $407,295.00. ● Resolution 20-20: Accepting the Map of water mains and Easement from Dawn Homes for Sandidge Way. The easement is for a portion outside of City ROW. The value of the asset is $115,000 per Dawn Homes’ Spencer Jones. ● Resolution 20-21: Authorizing Chairman to execute the Long Term Control Plan Intermunicipal Agreement with the Sewer Districts. The Board found no purpose to enter Executive Session for this meeting. Being no further business, Mr. Houghton called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 AM Next regular meeting of the Water Board is scheduled for Friday, March 27, 2020 – 9:00am. A Governance committee meeting will also be held at 8:30 AM and an Audit Committee Meeting at 8:00 AM. Recorded by: Emily Lyons, Confidential Assistant Approved by: ___________________________ Barbara Smith, Secretary