Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 3/ 23 /15 Ti me : 5 :30 p m Chairman John Troy – Absent 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 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 5:30 p.m. Minutes from February 23, 2015, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from February 23, 2015, meeting by Sally Horak. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for March 23, 2015 (as written by Chief Adams) Administration– We met with representatives of Byrne Dairy to discuss potential solutions to the issue of pH neutralization of their acid whey in order to facilitate continued MBR treatment prior to construction of an anaerobic digester. They will explore the possibility of using caustic wash waste as a neutralizing agent. We will meet on Wednesday a representative of MRB Group to discuss how we approach the non-standard CPE stipulated in the DEC consent order. We continue to do our annual safety training. This is now almost complete. I am going to try to arrange an all-departments training opportunity through the Department of labor on hazardous materials/Right-to-Know. Operations– On March 12 we had what turned out to be a toxic shock load into the plant. We are slowly building back up from a loss of viable biomass. I do not anticipate it will lead to any actual permit violations. Whey treatment in the MBR continues to go smoothly. Staff has been assisting Cedarwood in maintaining and monitoring the Ames water reuse pilot. We have completed quarterly industrial sampling for Q1. We participated in the winter season NYISO electrical curtailment event. Our degree of achievement of our target reduction will determine our payment. Maintenance– The general contractor has come back on site and is installing walkways. Once the weather improves, they will start doing the concrete work for the decanter mounts. Now that we can get back into the tanks, we have restarted installing equipment for the SBR into the aeration basins. With a slight break in the weather, we have been able to inspect and repair the aeration systems in basins 5 through 8, though some repair work remains. These basins had been drained in anticipation of concrete work before a sudden cold snap stopped work. Snowfall followed by a freak downpour followed by another cold snap left us unable to drain or fill the basins for risk of seriously damaging the aeration systems. Basin 7 has WWAB Minutes 23 March 2015 Page 2 of 4  been put on line as part of the effort to rebuild biomass. Bruce Adams Chief Operator Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Todd Morris. Seconded by Sally Horak. 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 Peter Bennedy on 2/24/15, for property located at 105 1/2 Pendleton Street, City of Cortland. Mr. Bennedy reported that a continuously running toilet was detected on 1/2/15, and repaired at that time by replacing the toilet. Mr. Bennedy is seeking a credit on his sewer billing. Mr. Bennedy was present at the meeting and upon review of his application by the board, Todd Morris asked him if he had received a card from the Water Department notifying him of the excessive use. Mr. Bennedy stated that he, nor his brother, received a card; however, his brother received a phone call late February advising him of the high meter reading and by that time he was already aware. Mr. Bennedy checked the property on 1/2/15, and discovered that the toilet was running excessively as well as a broken toilet seat. He decided to replace the whole toilet. Mr. Bennedy further reported that the tenant did not inform him of the problem. Bill Starr stated that the maximum allowable credit would be $232.56, based on Mr. Bennedy's quarterly average of water usage on his billing. Sally Horak had asked Mr. Bennedy if it were possible that the card could have been sent to his tenant, which he denied this. Sally Horak made a motion to issue a credit of $232.56, to Mr. Bennedy. Motion to approve a credit of $232.56, by Sally Horak. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Todd Miller was to have been present at the meeting to provide a brief presentation to the board regarding the county's ash for trash proposal and it's potential negative impact on the leachate at the landfill. Bill Starr made a request to Margie Becker that John Troy be contacted to see if he would reach out to Mr. Miller and extend another invitation to attend the next board meeting, on April 27, 2015. Margie Becker will contact John Troy. WWAB Minutes 23 March 2015 Page 3 of 4  Bruce Adams stated that Mr. Miller had given a presentation to Mayor Tobin, Mack Cook and himself previously. Mr. Miller was concerned about the negative affects on leachate in the Ash for Trash deal and Barton & Loguidice's study anticipating potential affects of leachate. Bruce had written a letter regarding the data from the study and stated it appeared that there wouldn't be a problem; however, Bruce stipulated that regardless of the study, they were still subject to the terms of the permit regarding leachate. Bruce reported that he prepared a complete comprehensive spreadsheet on ash chemistry after his first initial review of the study and provided a copy to Mr. Miller at his request. A copy was also sent to the NYSDEC Inspector, May El Prince, for her review. Bill Starr made a request for a copy of the spreadsheet to be included in next month's materials for the board. New Business: No new business Old Business: No old business Motion to Adjourn at 6:05 p.m. by Todd Morris. Seconded by Sally Horak. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 23 March 2015 Page 4 of 4