Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 2/ 23 /15 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 Village of McGraw Mayor Allan Stauber – Present Village of Homer Trustee – Absent Bruce Adams, Chief Operator – Present Tom McCall, CPWOA President – Absent Meeting called to order at 5:31 p.m. Minutes from January 26, 2015, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from January 26, 2015, meeting by Sally Horak. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for February 23, 2015 (as written by Chief Adams) Administration– The Common Council has approved the reorganization of the Department. At the February 3rd meeting, they unanimously voted to approve the Charter changes and my title change to Superintendent of Wastewater. They had previously approved Ed Poole’s promotion to Operator of Record. The City has reached an agreement with DEC regarding the alleged violations in 2012 and 2013. Without admitting to wrong-doing, the City agrees to pay a fine and engage in an Environmental Benefit Project. The City also agrees to conduct a Comprehensive Performance Evaluation. Conducted safety training. We aim to get all the annually required safety training completed by the end of March in order to free up more time for project work in the summer. Conducted annual pulmonary function tests. This is required for any employee who is asked to wear respiratory protection equipment. The Ames demonstration project is continuing. This has mostly been being done by Cedarwood, but we have been assisting as needed. Operations– After a shaky start, we are getting a handle on how best to operate the whey pretreatment process. Ed Poole has been doing a great job with this. The keys have turned out to be pH neutralization and flow equalization. We had to co-opt the leachate equalization basin for whey acceptance. Leachate is being accepted into the GBT holding tank currently, but we plan to eventually discharge it into the facility headworks. Maintenance– We installed a process pH meter in the whey MBR tank to better monitor acidity. This is a spare pH instrument we had on the shelf. Boiler #2 failed and we ended up calling in a service technician. An automated valve had failed. Valve was replaced and boiler is back in service. The contract electricians have been working in the Primary Complex. We have been working with them as needed Bruce Adams Chief Operator WWAB Minutes 23 February 2015 Page 2 of 3 Bruce Adams made note that the annual pollutant testing, which as part of the pretreatment reporting requirements, was missed. This is normally scheduled in May. A priority annual testing will be completed next week. May ElPrince, NYSDEC Region 7 inspector, as well as Virginia Wong, USEPA, have been notified. Safeguards have been put in place and implemented by Edward Poole, Operator of Record, with Margie Becker, to ensure that all testing as required will be followed up on and completed. Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Sally Horak. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 1/31/15, and 2/15/15, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Sally Horak. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was received from Dylan and Kim Spencer on 2/17/15, for property located at 11 Pearne Avenue, City of Cortland. Dylan Spencer reported that on 12/14/14, he discovered that the outside water faucet had cracked due to the cold weather which leaked water into the basement. The faucet was repaired at that time by cutting the outside line and capping it off. Mr. Spencer is seeking a reduction in his sewer billing. Upon review and consideration of the board, it was felt that the property owner was diligent in repairing and resolving the leak. A recommendation was made by John Troy that a credit of $311.00, would be the maximum allowable amount to be issued. A motion was made by Sally Horak to approve the credit. Motion to approve a credit of $311.00, by Sally Horak. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS New Business: No new business Old Business: No old business Motion to Adjourn at 5:45 p.m by Todd Morris. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 23 February 2015 Page 3 of 3