Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 3/ 27 /17 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 Todd Morris – Present Commissioner Diann Potter – Present Commissioner Gary Thomas- Absent Village of McGraw Mayor Allan Stauber – Present Bruce Adams, Supt. of Wastewater – Present Edward Poole, Chief Operator - Present Meeting called to order at 5:35 p.m. Minutes from February 27, 2017, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from February 27, 2017, meeting by Diann Potter. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Superintendent's Report: Superintendent's Report for March 27, 2017 (as written by Supt. Adams) Administration– The Common Council has approved an amendment to Cedarwood Engineering’s contract covering additional work on the new digester and CHP project. The value of the amendment is $215,000 and it will come from unallocated Sewer Fund reserves. This additional expense was necessitated by unexpected extra engineering work when the scope of the existing digester rehab changed. The City is conducting internal meetings under the Mayor’s leadership regarding intermunicipal sewage treatment contracts. We are formulating an approach that will be equitable for all stakeholders. The Common Council has approved a 4-year labor contract. The union will review the contract upon receipt and vote on acceptance. I am working on getting a SUNY Cortland student-project GIS mapping effort going for the Village of Homer. Cortland was the beneficiary of just such a project two years ago. It is a major asset to have the collection and distribution systems GIS mapped. If this project goes forward, Homer may be able to leverage the data in an I&I abatement project, which would benefit the POTW by reducing hydraulic loading. I have been working with Mack Cook on devising a strategy for financing the completion of the new digester. Beyond that, we are identifying potential grant sources for financing additional work I have identified as important to the future of the facility and its utility as an economic development asset for the City. The City is updating its email server. The new version will not be compatible with the version of Microsoft Office we have been using. Therefore, we have upgraded from Office 2003 to Office 2016. The upgrade cost us $2,400, but was well overdue. The new version has so far not been a problem with our legacy data files. Bruce Adams Superintendent of Wastewater WWAB Minutes 27 March 2017 Page 2 of 4 Motion to approve the Superintendent's Report by Todd Morris. Seconded by Diann Potter. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report for March 27, 2017 (as written by Edward Poole, Chief Operator) Operations- The process is running well. Removal percentages are in the high 90s. We have turbidity reading consistently under one. May El Prince, our DEC regulator, performed the 2016 annual inspection on Thursday of last week. The plant looked good and the inspection went smoothly. We started the north digester and increased the amount of whey being pumped to all three digesters. We also accepted our first load of DAF (Dissolved Air Floatation) waste, which is a byproduct from Byrne Dairy's pretreatment facility. The digesters are performing well and we continue to monitor them by testing for acid /alkalinity ratio, PH and volatile solids reduction. The tests so far have indicated a very healthy process. Maintenance- The maintenance staff and I continue to work on creating entries in our computerized maintenance management system for the new equipment. The return activated sludge pump rebuild quote came in from Daman Industries. The quote was $11,000.00, which is substantial but much less than a new pump. This piece of equipment is vital to our process and the quote was accepted. The maintenance staff will be working on disinfection equipment startup over the next month to prepare for a smooth transition to disinfection season in May. Edward Poole Chief Operator WWAB Minutes 27 March 2017 Page 3 of 4 Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Diann Potter. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 2/28/17, and 3/16/17, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Todd Morris. Seconded by Diann Potter. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance application was received from Wen Juan Zhang on 1/18/17, for property located at 12 Park Street, City of Cortland. Wen Juan Zhang reported a high meter reading on the 4th quarter sewer billing and is requesting relief on his sewer billing that averages with the first three quarters of 2016. Mr. Demunn is disputing the readings and accuracy results from the meters that were tested by the Water Department. Mr. Demunn was present at the board meeting. The board had tabled Mr. Demunn’s grievance on January 23, 2017, and again on February 27, 2017, pending the decision of the Water Board. However, due to lack of quorum for the Water Board, their meetings were canceled. John Troy calculated the maximum allowable credit that could be granted, which was $831.00, based on the quarterly totals. A motion was made by Todd Morris to grant the credit to resolve the grievance, to which the board agreed. Motion to approve a credit of $831.00, by Todd Morris. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS New Business: No new business Old Business: No old business Motion to Adjourn at 5:56 p.m. by Todd Morris. Seconded by Diann Potter. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 27 March 2017 Page 4 of 4