Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 4/ 23 /18 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 Todd Morris – Present Commissioner Diann Potter – Absent Commissioner Gary Thomas- Absent Village of McGraw Mayor Allan Stauber – Absent Bruce Adams, Supt. of Wastewater – Present Edward Poole, Chief Operator - Present Meeting called to order at 5:30 p.m. Minutes from March 26, 2018, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from March 26, 2018, meeting by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Superintendent's Report: Superintendent's Report For April 23, 2018 (As written by Supt. Adams) Administration– On April 7, we hosted a field trip to inspect a vermicomposting operation in Seneca Castle. The trip was attended by three members of Cortland Common Council, a Homer Village Trustee, and a member of the Cortland Environmental Advisory Board. The trip was informative and the attendees gained a new appreciation for the potential benefits of the vermicomposting process for Cortland. Larsen Engineers is going through the final phases of obtaining the necessary permits for the vermicomposting pilot project. We have slightly adjusted the location of the trenches within the old Buckbee Mears property in order to assure it is within the Cortland city limits. The receipt of whey from Chobani has been and continues to be successful. Our digesters are accommodating the loadings well, according to Chief Operator Poole. In addition to providing the capacity to produce enough biogas to fire the generator once it is on line, Chobani whey will be an ongoing revenue stream. The first month’s receipts are worth $4,500. Once the new digester is operational, we will be able to accept even more. Cedarwood Engineering and Delaware Engineering will resubmit the interconnect plan to National Grid this week. National Grid had informed the engineers, after having had the original submission for a considerable amount of time, that the submission was unacceptable and needed to be redone. Meanwhile, the project continues forward without the benefit of surety on the interconnect equipment needed or the reimbursement of expenses from our NYSERDA grant. Bruce Adams Superintendent of Wastewater WWAB Minutes 23 April 2018 Page 2 of 4 Motion to approve the Superintendent's Report by Todd Morris. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Addendum: Bruce Adams reported to the board that bids were opened last week for the SBR pump project. The lowest bid came in through Hubbard Construction at $159,500. This project will allow us to operate the SBR and also put effluent through the secondary clarifier. Ed Poole had mentioned before the issues we had prior in running the SBR. Payment for this project will be funded through our O&M budget; however, this year’s payment will be covered through the sale of the MBR equipment as well as revenue received from Chobani. Acceptance of this bid will be placed on the agenda at the next Common Council meeting. Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report For April 23, 2018 (As written by Edward Poole, Chief Operator) Operations The process is running very well and the effluent is high quality. We are still over our yearly average phosphorous limit for the month of March. It may take April to get into compliance. The operators are working on spring work even though spring forgot to show up! This week’s weather looks much better. I continue to send May El Prince an update on process, operations and digester combined heat and power project. Maintenance The maintenance continue getting equipment ready for disinfection season. The north Wemco pump has been rebuilt in house and was completed for around $2000. Daman Industries performed the last rebuild, and I believe the cost was around $11,000. We had a savings of $9000. Work continues on preventative maintenance on the process tanks. Edward Poole Chief Operator WWAB Minutes 23 April 2018 Page 3 of 4 Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 3/31/18, and 4/15/18, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Carl Loveless submitted a sewer grievance on 4/06/18, for property located at 25 Hickory Park Road, City of Cortland. Mr. Loveless reported that he had a leak from an outside pipe due to a broken spigot. He is requesting relief towards the sewer portion of his billing. The board reviewed Mr. Loveless’ grievance. John Troy determined a maximum allowable credit of $114.00. Bill Starr made a motion to grant the credit. Motion to approve a credit of $114.00, by Bill Starr. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS New Business: No new business Old Business: No old business Motion to Adjourn at 5:54 p.m. by Todd Morris. Seconded by Bill Starr. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 23 April 2018 Page 4 of 4