Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 10 /2 7/1 4 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 – Absent Commissioner Sally Horak – Present 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 5:32 p.m. Minutes from September 22, 2014, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from September 22, 2014, meeting by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for October 27, 2014 (as written by Chief Adams) Administration– Wastewater staff operation of Marietta’s pretreatment equipment is going well. Labor requirements have been in line with expectations. Because of the delays in closing the EFC funding, we have a very compressed time frame for any work being done this season. This is complicated by the amount of vacation and holiday time typically taken this time of year. We have expressed to staff the importance of getting this work done and that diligence in performing the work in the available time will prevent the need to deny additional requests for time off. On October 3 I discovered that DEC had modified our permit effective September 1 but had neglected to send the modification to us. I later found out they had also neglected to send it to our DEC inspector. The modification includes additional requirements for sampling biological nutrients. I added those to our sampling schedule immediately upon receipt of the information but obviously we didn’t sample for what we didn’t know in September. Our inspector is giving us a pass on it. Operations– We have continued to accept whey from Byrne Dairy. Volume has been variable but the average over the past month has been about 3,300 gallons per day, which is considerably below our DEC-stipulated max of 8,000 GPD prior to completion of the MBR pretreatment. Installation of the MBR equipment has been consuming considerable staff resources. This is partly due to the almost on-the-fly engineering to nail down the details and partly the failure of the equipment vendor to properly coordinate submittals with the engineer, causing delays in shipping equipment and shipping improperly configured equipment. We’ll get through it but it has been trying. We discovered two issues with whey acceptance: acidity problems and BOD loading spikes. The former is due to the acid nature of the whey. We have started adding magnesium oxide and sodium bicarbonate with each load accepted. The latter has to do with the whey partially passing through the GBT belt in one big dose each morning. We have addressed that by slowing down the operation of the GBT to spread the impact out over 8 hours instead of two. Finished up the quarterly industrial sampling. Maintenance– Installed a new fuel valve in the Primary Complex emergency generator. Began the process of preparing equipment for winter. WWAB Minutes 27 October 2014 Page 2 of 5  The facility’s new truck is in the fab shop being fitted for the roll-offs. We are hoping for delivery next week. At that time we will turn over our two 10-wheel trucks to DPW for use as salt/plow trucks in winter and dump trucks in summer. DPW removed two mature oak trees in the southwest corner to address resident concerns about damage to a pool and loss of enjoyment of the backyard from large quantities of acorns. Bruce Adams Chief Operator Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Sally Horak. Seconded by Paul Lorenzo. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 9/30/14, and 10/16/14, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was received from Mr. Dirk VanPatten on 9/29/14, for property located at 36 Hubbard Street, City of Cortland. Mr. VanPatten reported that due to issues with frozen water lines in the property's crawl space, he has had to replace the copper lines that were present with pex tubing and spray foam to insulate the lines. Mr. VanPatten stated that he believed the problem was resolved, only to find that a faulty pex union was leaking water into the crawl space. The leak was detected in February of this year and repaired at that time. Mr. VanPatten is requesting relief towards the sewer portion of his bill. The grievance was reviewed by the board and a recommendation was made by Paul Lorenzo for denial due to the grievance being past the 60 days from the quarterly billing mailing, as per the board's policy. Motion to deny the grievance by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was received on 10/02/14, from John Pellegrino, Property Manager, on behalf of Cortland Coed Rentals, for property located at 133 Tompkins Street, City of Cortland. Mr. Pellegrino reports that at the end of April, he had made repairs to a shower faucet, replacing a shower head as well as replacing two toilets. Mr. Pellegrino had called the Water Department on 7/23/14, when he received his water and sewer bill showing an increase. Water and sewer grievance applications were sent to WWAB Minutes 27 October 2014 Page 3 of 5  Mr. Pellegrino by the Water Department. He is requesting relief towards the sewer portion of his bill. The grievance was reviewed by the board and a recommendation was made by Paul Lorenzo for denial due to the grievance being past the 60 days from the quarterly billing mailing, as per the board's policy. The board also noted that the water has already been processed through the system. Motion to deny the grievance by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Two sewer grievance applications were submitted by Kitty Jones on 10/06/14, for property located at 29 Helen Avenue, City of Cortland. Ms. Jones reports that a leak was discovered in the crawl space of her residence by the Water Department, whom she had contacted upon receiving a notice in the mail regarding high water usage. The leak was located between the meter and the furnace connection. Ms. Jones called a plumber who subsequently repaired the leak in the crawl space and also repaired a leak discovered in the garage on 9/18/14. The water issue has reportedly been going on for at least two quarters, with water being absorbed into the ground. She is seeking relief towards the sewer portion of her billing from the 2nd and 3rd Quarters. Upon reviewing Ms. Jones application, a recommendation by Paul Lorenzo was made to issue a credit of $169.45, for relief towards her sewer billing. Motion to approve a credit of $169.45, by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Gary Bacille/Bacille Enterprises, LLC, submitted seven sewer grievances on 10/05/14, for the following properties located in the City of Cortland: 9 Water Street 5 Argyle Place 13 Water Street 97 Tompkins Street 85-87 Lincoln Avenue 20 Reynolds Avenue 90 Lincoln Avenue Mr. Baccille reports that due to an incorrect billing address, he did not receive his water and sewer bills until after the due date and, therefore, was assessed a penalty on each property. Mr. Baccille stated that he had notified the assessors office of his address correction prior to the billing. He is requesting that all of the penalties on the properties be removed. Upon the board's review of the grievances, a recommendation was made by Paul Lorenzo to issue a credit of $48.69, for the penalties on the properties. Motion to approve a credit of $48.69, by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS WWAB Minutes 27 October 2014 Page 4 of 5 Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was submitted by Thomas E. Backus on 10/10/14, for property located at 20 Union Street, City of Cortland. Mr. Backus reported that a continuously running toilet at the residence was detected on or about July 14th through July 22nd, and he made the repairs at that time. He is requesting relief towards the sewer portion of his bill. Mr. Backus' grievance application was reviewed by the board. A recommendation was made by Sally Horak to issue a credit of $75.00, towards his sewer billing. Motion to approve a credit of $75.00, by Sally Horak. Seconded by Paul Lorenzo. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Daryl Andersen submitted a grievance application on 10/23/14, for property located at 89 Lincoln Avenue, City of Cortland. Mr. Andersen reported that the tenant had vacated the apartment in May and when his contractors entered the residence in June, they discovered that the tenant was in the apartment. Mr. Andersen was then contacted by the contractors to come over and the tenant was escorted from the premises. Upon the contractors return at a later time, they discovered that the kitchen faucet was left on, running continuously resulting in a high water and sewer bill. Mr. Andersen shut the water off and changed the locks. The grievance was reviewed by the board and a recommendation for denial was made by Paul Lorenzo as water has already been processed through the system. Motion to deny the grievance by Paul Lorenzo. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS New Business: No new business. Old Business: No old business. Motion to Adjourn at 5:56 p.m by Todd Morris. Seconded by Paul Lorenzo. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 27 October 2014 Page 5 of 5