Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 3/ 24 /14 Ti me : 5 :30 p m Chairman John Troy – Present C on fe r en ce R o om , C or t la nd Wa st e wa t e r Vice Chair William Starr – Present Commissioner Sally Horak – Present Commissioner Todd Morris – Present Commissioner Paul Lorenzo – Absent Village of McGraw Mayor Allan Stauber – Present Village of Homer Trustee Michael Berry – Absent Bruce Adams, Chief Operator – Present Tom McCall, CPWOA President – Absent Meeting called to order at 5:26 p.m. Minutes from February 24, 2014, meeting for approval. Bruce Adams, Chief Operator, recommended an amendment to the February 24, 2014, meeting minutes to include Edward Poole as Plant Representative on the members list. Motion to approve the amendment and minutes from February 24, 2014, meeting by Sally Horak. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for March 24, 2014 (as written by Chief Adams) Administration– We have been advised Byrne’s initial projections for whey disposal needs were too low. The current projection exceeds our digesters’ ability to assimilate. Our engineer is working up a plan to use Membrane Bioreactor technology to reduce the whey’s impact on digester loading. We met with our DEC inspector to discuss the temporary whey treatment plans. She asked for some follow-up information, but appears to be in concurrence this will be a viable option until the whey digester is built. The City and County will be meeting on 3/26 to discuss the potential implications for leachate disposal of the County’s “ash-for-trash” initiative. We have completed all but one required safety training session for the year. Phil Opera and I attended a 4-day PLC programming workshop. It was very informative and Mr. Opera is looking forward to working with the new SCADA system. Luke Hopkins is attending a 5-day operations course this week. Operations- The gravity belt thickener project is operational and did well on start-up day, producing 5.6% to 6.2% solids. Continual operation is waiting on parts to get the odor control system functioning. We will initially operate at about 3% to 4% solids until the new digester mixing is installed. Staff has received training on operating the system. We had two operators out on two weeks vacation each, but it did not negatively impact our ability to operate and maintain the facility. We have temporarily ceased accepting FSE grease trap waste so we can configure the tank to accept whey. We are currently pumping the remaining grease trap waste to the digesters, monitoring to avoid overloading the digesters. Maintenance- We are preparing equipment for the upcoming disinfection season. This should be our last season using gas chlorine for disinfection. Plowed snow as necessary for the numerous storms we’ve been having. All back-logged maintenance items have been cleared. WWAB Minutes 24 March 2014 Page 2 of 3  Our HVAC automation project is complete and we will be getting training on it this week. Our National Grid incentive is being processed and should be sent out shortly. I have entered into a “load-shedding” agreement with National Grid wherein we get paid a certain amount for being prepared to switch over to emergency on request and also paid if we actually asked to do so and then do it. Bruce Adams Chief Operator Todd Morris had asked Bruce Adams why we are treating the whey as a complete waste product. Bruce stated that we are not going to be treating as a complete waste product and that it has to be pretreated to stay within the ability of the plant to process. We will be using the whey waste to generate gas to make electricity, to make heat. The plan is that the monetary value of the electricity and heat will be used to defray the amortization cost of the equipment, so as long as Byrne is able to provide us with the whey waste, we will not charge them a disposal fee. This allows us to pay off the amortization so that the cost is not born by the local rate payer and will also give a competitive edge to an employer. Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Todd Morris. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 2/28/14 and 3/16/14, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Sally Horak. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: No new sewer grievances received. New Business: No new business. Old Business: No old business. Motion to Adjourn at 5:42 p.m by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 24 March 2014 Page 3 of 3