Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 8/ 25 /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 – Absent Commissioner Todd Morris – Present Commissioner Paul Lorenzo – Present 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 5:30 p.m. Minutes from July 28, 2014, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from July 28, 2014, meeting by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for August 25 , 2014 (as written by Chief Adams) Administration– Marietta Corp has accepted the proposed operations contract without modification. It will go before the Common Council for approval on September 2. Cedarwood Engineering has recommended approval of the sole bids received on the equipment for the next phase of the upgrade. The City requested bids on SBR equipment and a SCADA upgrade. The engineer’s budget for these items was $2,000,000 and the combined bid was for $1,792,000, or $208,000 under budget. This will also go before Council for approval on September 2. The governing board of the Environmental Facilities Corporation has voted to approve Cortland’s application for $13,209,000 in low-interest/no-interest financing for its clean water facility upgrade project. Closing of the bond is anticipated to be on September 4. The Mayor’s proposed budget for the Wastewater Fund for 2015 has been submitted to the Common Council on August 19. The department’s total budget is $3,770,395 covering operations & maintenance and debt service. Cortland Wastewater will be participating in a WERF and NYSERDA-funded research project designed to study the operational effects of co-digesting high strength food wastes with sewage sludge in anaerobic digesters. Operations– Drained, cleaned and serviced both Final Clarifiers and both Chlorine Contact Tanks. Cleaned all eight Aeration Basins. Seasonal grounds work. Maintenance– Replacement of PVC air down lines with stainless steel is completed in all Aeration Basins. Installation of new diffusers is completed in all Aeration Basins. Repaired leaks in Primary Digester domes and recoated both domes. Replaced all water lines in Secondary Digester annular space spray system. Replaced 26 non-functioning tank and parking area lights. WWAB Minutes 25 August 2014 Page 2 of 4  Successfully conducted the Summer demand response test, placing all plant equipment on generator for a designated hour. This is in satisfaction of our energy curtailment agreement and, together with a Winter demand response, will pay $13,500 minimum. Began the retrofit work on the whey receiving tank to do MBR pretreatment of the whey prior to completion of the dedicated digester. Bruce Adams Chief Operator A resolution was made by Paul Lorenzo in support by the board for the Marietta Corp. operations contract and the Cedarwood Engineering bid approval for the equipment on the plant upgrade. Motion to approve the resolution by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 7/31/14 and 8/16/14, were submitted for approval. Bruce Adams submitted a copy of the Wastewater Treatment Facility's proposed 2015 budget to be reviewed by the board for approval/adoption by the Common Council. John Troy made a request to place the budget on the agenda for the September WWAB meeting for further discussion. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was received from Paul Gallow for property located at 37- 39 Port Watson Street, City of Cortland, on 8/18/14. Mr. Gallow reports that a pipe had broken between his boiler and fill valve, draining water onto the floor. The leak was detected on 5/16/14, and repaired at that time. He is requesting credit for the difference from his average sewer portion of his bill. The grievance was reviewed by the board and a recommendation was made by Paul Lorenzo to issue a credit of $386.00, which is the difference between Mr. Gallow's 1st and 2nd quarter billing of 2014. Motion to approve a credit of $386.00, by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS WWAB Minutes 25 August 2014 Page 3 of 4  Sewer Grievance: Adam Megivern submitted a sewer grievance on 8/18/14, for property located at 29 Hubbard Street, City of Cortland. Mr. Megivern reports that a frozen/broken pipe was discovered in the bathroom in March causing substantial damage to the residence. Mr. Megivern further reported that this break had occurred prior to closing when he purchased the property approximately at the end of March. This was subsequently repaired on 4/14/14. Mr. Megivern is requesting relief towards the sewer portion of his bill. Mr. Megivern was present at the WWAB meeting and addressed the board regarding his grievance. A recommendation was made by Paul Lorenzo to issue a credit of $270.74. Motion to approve a credit of $270.74, by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Grievance outcome letter from 7/28/14, was submitted. New Business: No new business. Old Business: No old business. Motion to Adjourn at 6:00 p.m by Todd Morris. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 25 August 2014 Page 4 of 4