Wastewater Treatment Board

CITY OF CORTLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY Meeting Minutes Members: Da te : 6/ 25 /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 – Absent Commissioner Todd Morris – Present Commissioner Diann Potter – Present Commissioner Gary Thomas- Present Village of McGraw Mayor Allan Stauber – Present Bruce Adams, Supt. of Wastewater – Present Edward Poole, Chief Operator - Present Meeting called to order at 5:29 p.m. Minutes from April 23, 2018, meeting for approval. Motion to approve the minutes from April 23, 2018, meeting by Diann Potter. Seconded by Gary Thomas. UNANIMOUS Superintendent's Report: Superintendent's Report For May 21, 2018 (As written by Supt. Adams) Administration– On 5/10, Ed Poole and I attended a DEC workshop on the new NY-Alert system. In the event of a spill of raw or partially treated sewage, we are legally required to notify the DEC and the DOH within two hours of discovery and, if the spill reaches surface waters, the public within 4 hours. NY-Alert is the system used for this and the state has changed vendors for the service. The new service looks like it will be easier to use. On 5/15, the Common Council declared Cortland the Lead Agency for SEQR purposes for the vermicomposting pilot project. 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 Superintendent's Report For June 25, 2018 (As written by Supt. Adams) WWAB Minutes 25 June 2018 Page 2 of 5  Administration– On June 12, John Rathbun of National Grid stopped in to view progress on our Combined Heat and Power project. When I explained the difficulties we were having in getting NG to approve our interconnect plan and that it was holding up disbursement of our NYSERDA grant monies, he pledged to try to get the approval process completed by the end of the month. He also advised us that, because our electricity will be generated from a renewable resource, we might be paid market value or higher for our exported energy. I won’t hold my breath on that last one, but it will be great if it happens. Larsen Engineers is responding to comments from DEC and local Planning Committees on the operating permit and site design. We are still making good progress. I have enrolled our facility in the first cohort of a NYSERDA program called Strategic Energy Management. It is an effort to help facilities find ways both small and large to reduce their energy usage. The goal is to put in place a mechanism whereby staff looks for and identifies opportunities for energy reductions and then assesses the feasibility of exploiting those opportunities and implementing the ones they can. This will hopefully improve our revenues from exporting electricity. Bruce Adams Superintendent of Wastewater Motion to approve the Superintendent's Reports for May 21, 2018, and June 25, 2018, by Gary Thomas. Seconded by Diann Potter. UNANIMOUS Plant Manager’s Report: Plant Managers Report For June 25, 2018 (As written by Edward Poole, Chief Operator) Operations The process is running very well and the effluent is high quality. The removal rates are 96% and higher. There was a violation for the month of April. We were still over our yearly average phosphorous limit by 275lbs.; however, for the month of May we were in compliance, with a 588lb. credit. There were no violations for the month of May. WWAB Minutes 25 June 2018 Page 3 of 5 We were in SBR mode of treatment on June 4 through June 12. During that time, we made repairs to the weir wall in the end of final tanks. Everything went well; the guys did a great job! I continue to send May El Prince an update on process, operations and digester combined heat and power project. Maintenance Phil Opera has successfully completed his probationary period for SCADA Instrumentation Technician. We continue to work on tank maintenance. I have evaluated the west final tank and have organized the work that needs to be done. Part of which were the I-beams on the walkways across the tank which needs to be replaced. We received a quote from Horning Welding and Fabrication for the work that was very reasonable. We have our maintenance mechanics working on a piping project to blend digested sludge with whey tank to raise PH and alkalinity. This will help alleviate the cost of chemical addition. Edward Poole Chief Operator Motion to approve the Plant Manager’s Report by Diann Potter. Seconded by Gary Thomas. UNANIMOUS Finance: Financial statements and abstracts dated 5/16/18, 5/31/18, and 6/15/18, were submitted for approval. Motion to approve financial statements and abstracts by Gary Thomas. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: Manish Sant submitted a sewer grievance on 4/23/18, for property located at 55 Morningside Drive, City of Cortland. Mr. Sant reported a broken outdoor water valve, which caused a leak. He is requesting relief towards his sewer billing. Mr. Sant was present at the meeting and provided the board with an explanation of discovering the cause of the leak, which was due to a hose that was connected to the outside faucet that froze over the winter. Diann Potter made a motion to grant a credit of $163.00, which was the maximum allowable credit as determined by John Troy. Motion to approve a credit of $163.00, by Diann Potter. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS WWAB Minutes 25 June 2018 Page 4 of 5 Sewer Grievance: Joseph Ludwig submitted a sewer grievance on 4/30/18, for property located at 23 Lansing Avenue, City of Cortland. Mr. Ludwig reported that the Water Department contacted him regarding a high meter reading at the property. Upon checking the property, he discovered that the chain on the float was hung up, causing a continuous water flow. He is requesting relief towards his sewer billing. The board reviewed Mr. Ludwig’s grievance and after a lengthy discussion, a motion was made by Gary Thomas to TABLE the grievance until the next board meeting on July 23, 2018. Diann Potter felt that further explanation was required as to how the leak continued for a lengthy period, (3 months), before a resolution was made. A letter will be sent to Mr. Ludwig requesting this information by Margie Becker. Motion to TABLE the grievance by Gary Thomas. Seconded by Diann Potter. UNANIMOUS Sewer Grievance: A sewer grievance was received from Timothy P. Phillips on 5/02/18, for property located at 11 ½ East Avenue, City of Cortland. Mr. Phillips also submitted a copy of his plumber’s bill (JMS Plumbing and Heating), which shows a toilet rebuild due to a leak. He is requesting relief towards the sewer portion of his billing. The board reviewed Mr. Phillip’s grievance. A motion was made by Gary Thomas to grant a credit of $112.00, which is the maximum allowable credit as determined by John Troy. Motion to approve a credit of $112.00, by Gary Thomas. Seconded by Diann Potter. UNANIMOUS New Business: No new business Old Business: No old business Motion to Adjourn at 6:01 p.m. by Gary Thomas. Seconded by Todd Morris. UNANIMOUS Respectfully submitted by: City of Cortland WWTF WWAB Minutes 25 June 2018 Page 5 of 5