Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 8/ 24 /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 – Present Commissioner Sally Horak – Absent Commissioner Todd Morris – Present Village of McGraw Mayor Allan Stauber – Present Bruce Adams, Supt. of Wastewater – Present Meeting called to order at 5:30 p.m. Minutes from July 27, 2015, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from July 27, 2015, meeting by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for August 24, 2015 (as written by Supt. Adams) Administration– EFC has advised the City the electrical contractor's utilization plan has been accepted. This means that, even if the contractor's appeal of its denial of WBE status fails, they can still be paid through the project funds. No further update on the equipment supplier's updated utilization plan. I am finalizing arrangements for our mandatory Environmental Benefit Project. The EBP will consist of three days' training in facility operations for each of three consecutive years. NY Rural Water Association will be conducting the training and we will use the Port Watson Mini-Conference Center as a venue. Now that staff self-performance in the upgrade project is largely complete, we are going to utilize Deputy Chief Operator John O'Connell's experience and connections to lobby for infrastructure issues on the City's behalf. He will also work on project documentation in concert with the engineering firm. Two Operator I employees will shortly be trying for Grade 3A wastewater certification. If they are successful, I will ask Common Council to let me promote them to the open Operator II positions. Operations– Despite still having no automated control of the disinfection system, it continues to be relatively trouble-free. We had a single high effluent chlorine reading on 7/19, which we reported to DEC. Ed Poole and I attended a DEC training session on DMR preparation specific to Chesapeake Bay watershed plants. Maintenance– The contractor has begun work on the effluent interceptor structure that will handle the flow from the SBRs. Work will soon begin on laying in the interceptor piping. Sanitaire will be back at the facility the first week of September to complete work on the SCADA system. Once that is done they will start proving out the SBR equipment and contol systems preparatory to start-up. Bruce Adams Superintendent of Wastewater WWAB Minutes 24 August 2015 Page 2 of 4 Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Todd Morris. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 7/31/15, and 8/16/15, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Darrin Osborne submitted a sewer grievance on 7/28/15, for property located at 21 Arthur Avenue, City of Cortland. Mr. Osborne reports that due to the long span of freezing temperatures this past winter, his water and sewer lines froze between the main house and rear apartment of the property on February 21, 2015. Due to the high demand of services of local welding services to thaw frozen pipes, the W20 Training Group came out to his property on 3/5/15, to assist him. The water lines were thawed; however, the septic was still frozen. A leak was detected from the frozen supply line to the rear apartment. The ground was too frozen to dig at that time, but the company returned on 3/31/15, and was able to dig into the ground, locating the supply leak which was then repaired. Mr. Osborne is requesting a reduction in the sewer portion of his billing. The board reviewed Mr. Osborne's grievance application. The board felt that there was due diligence according to Mr. Osborne's grievance and a motion was made by Bill Starr to grant a credit of $453.00. Motion to approve a credit of $453.00, by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was received from Frank and Wendy Dalton on 8/17/15, for property located at 6 Yong Street, City of Cortland. Mrs. Dalton reported that due to the mass freezing temperatures from this past winter, the water lines had frozen. She further stated that multiple residences on Yong Street were affected as well. The residents were advised by the Water Department personnel to run a continuous stream of water from their faucets to keep the lines from freezing. The Dalton's are requesting reimbursement above their normal sewer billing. Upon the board's review of the application submitted by Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, a motion was made by Todd Morris to issue a credit of $261.00. Motion to approve a credit of $261.00, by Todd Morris. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Rochelle Berardi submitted a sewer grievance application on 8/17/15, for property located at 25 Owego Street, City of Cortland. Ms. Berardi reported that on 3/29/15, a leak was detected in WWAB Minutes 24 August 2015 Page 3 of 4  the crawlspace of her basement and was repaired on 4/3/15, by Luke Searles Plumbing, Inc. Ms. Berardi is requesting credit on her sewer billing as the water went through the cellar floor. Ms. Berardi was present at the meeting. John Troy explained to Ms. Berardi the procedures on reviewing grievance applications and how the determination of credits are calculated. After further reviewing Ms. Berardi's application by the board, a motion to approve a credit of $24.00, was made by Bill Starr. Motion to approve a credit of $24.00, by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS New Business: No new business Old Business: No old business Motion to Adjourn at 5:52 p.m. by Todd Morris. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 24 August 2015 Page 4 of 4