East Orange Water Commission

CITY OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY EAST ORANGE WATER COMMISSION 99 South Grove Street East Orange, NJ 07018 TED R. GREEN, Mayor REORGANIZATION MEETING January 18, 2023 MINUTES Minutes of the Reorganization Meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners held in the City Council Chambers located at 44 City Hall Plaza, East Orange, New Jersey on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. I. CALL TO ORDER - 5:30 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Commissioners Alison Rolling Shantel Harrison Lauren Shears – arrived at approx. 5:37 p.m. Sherkera Lucas Staff John Liu, Executive Director Keena-Lyn Simmons, Senior Accounts Clerk Joseph J. Tomashosky –Finance Fatimah Bey, Customer Service Thomas Matich, Operations Manager (Zoom) Counsel Denis Murphy, Esq. (Weiner Law) Council Members Alicia Holman – Executive Session Public Anthony Jackson – Chief of Staff Odell Rolling – 23 Madison Avenue  The meeting was called to order, Commissioner Rolling determined that there was a quorum and convened the Regular Meeting. Commissioner Rolling read the Sunshine Law for the record. Commissioner Rolling read the Rate Statement. II. STATUS OF RESOLUTIONS The Mayor has returned Resolutions #139 through #149. All resolutions are in full force and effect. III. ADOPTION/CORRECTION OF MINUTES 7A: The Minutes of the December 20, 2022, Regular Board Meeting were approved on a motion made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Lucas, and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. IV. PRESENTATION NONE V. STAFF REPORTS Director Liu advised that they have information about low-income assistance from the State up to $5,000 on the website. He advised that they notified 154 customers that they may have a leak in their home. Hopefully by the end of the year they will be able to detect leaks for all of the customers. They are still waiting for the transformer for the Emergency Generator to be delivered on site. Mains are actively involved with leak detection and repairs. They just finished the hydrant replacements. They have replaced almost 100 hydrants throughout the system. Phase 2 of the lead service line replacement is ongoing. They continue to replace meters to meet the new meter installation. There was a major sewer line break last month. They are looking to actively do camera sewer line inspections. They continue to rehab wells since production is basically at the limit. The Woodland Avenue project is complete but a couple of houses still get little puddles when it rains. They are looking into putting in small drains in the backyard of those homes to reduce the puddles. These properties are in low lying areas. They just finished the specifications for the Wyoming Reservoir project. They are looking for the best materials and will probably start the project in the fall during low consumption season. They will rehab 4 wells and will redrill D3 to increase water production. FINANCE – Joe advised the Board that there was an inclusion of the water collections with the electric and gas utilities from November 15, 2022, through March 15, 2023, where you are not allowed to shut customers off. Due to that, there has been a significant decrease in the cash that they are collecting. For example, the collection rate for the last 2 months is among the 3 lowest months of the year. This is about a $600,000 decrease on average for the amount that is being collected. They can change their forecasting based upon these new rules. There was also a major expense in the month of December. There  were old brick sewar lines that were 30 ft. deep. Generally, you anticipate those to be 8 ft deep. To repair these sewer lines there had to bring in special equipment and a number of safety precautions taken. They now need to assess more sewer lines and asses any repairs that need to be done before they become emergencies. The Commission is still in a good position and anticipate a growth in the fund balance at the end of this year. A discussion was then held with regards to the budget projection and whether the Commission would have to adjust their predictions. VI. COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Murphy advised the Board that he received a telephone call regarding the status of watershed properties on Hobart Gap Road. A discussion was then held with regards to the demolition of the houses to avoid any potential fines and complaints from neighbors. (Sound cuts out during discussion) VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Legal Matters to be discussed in Executive Session. VIII. NEW BUSINESS Sound Cuts Out IX. REORGANIZATION AND APPROVAL OF RESOLUTIONS The following resolutions 13A through 13S were presented to the Board for approval. 13A: Resolution appointing the President of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 – Alison Rolling Resolution 13A was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Lucas and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13B: Resolution appointing the Vice President of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 – Shantel Harrison Resolution 13B was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Shears and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13C: Resolution appointing the Secretary of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 – Lauren Shears Resolution 13C was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Harrison and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13D: Resolution appointing the Regular and Alternate Members of the Finance and IT Committees of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 (Awe, Lucas, Shears) Resolution 13D was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Harrison and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13E: Resolution appointing the Regular and Alternate Members of the Capital Committee of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 (Rolling, Awe, Lucas) Resolution 13E was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Lucas, seconded by Commissioner Harrison and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13F: Resolution appointing the Regular and Alternate Members of the Personnel Committee of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 (Shears, Harrison, Awe) Resolution 13F was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Shears and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13G: Resolution for the appointment of the regular and alternate members of the Employee Training and Development Committee of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2023 (Lucas, Shears, Harrison) Resolution 13G was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Harrison and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. A Motion to omnibus Resolutions 13H through 13J was approved by Commissioner Shears, seconded by Commissioner Harrison, and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13H: Resolution to Designate the Official Depository of East Orange Water Commission Funds and the procedure of Signing Checks and Authorizing Transfers of Water Commission Funds 13I: Resolution designating the Newark Star Ledger and the Record Transcript as the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners Official Newspaper for the Publication of Public Notices for 2023 13J: Resolution to Establish the Annual 2023 Meeting Dates  13K: Resolution authorizing the amendment to the Bylaws TABLED A Motion to omnibus Resolutions 13K through 13S was approved by Commissioner Shears, seconded by Commissioner Harrison, and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13L: Resolution authorizing and approving an award of contract for Legal Services for an amount not to exceed $150,000.00 13M: Resolution awarding a contract for Engineering Services and authorizing the execution of a professional service agreement with Boswell Engineering for the preparation and design bid documents for the Citywide Lead Line Replacement Plan/Project at a cost not to exceed $120,000.00 13N: Resolution authorizing the Use of Competitive Contracting Procedures and the preparation of a Request for Proposals, the advertising solicitation and receipt of sealed proposals for the provision of accountant and Financial Consultant Services for the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners 13O: Resolution ratifying the December 2022 recurring Monthly Bills paid in the amount of $10,745.84 13P: Resolution authorizing the approval and payment of Operating Bills in the amount of $1,458,175.20 13Q Resolution ratifying the December 2022 Payrolls in the amount of $416,863.19 13R: Resolution authorizing the payment of Capital Invoices for the Month of December 2022 to be paid in January 2023 in the amount of $11,582.00 13S: Resolution authorizing the Temporary Budget for January, February and March 2023 in the amount of $6,371,225.00 X. PUBLIC COMMENT Odell Rolling – Asked who would be responsible for the new copper line from the curb to the meter once the line has been replaced. He was advised that it would still be the homeowner’s responsibility to repair the line if needed. Tony Jackson – Asked if when the shut-offs begin, that they could collectively handle them because when a homeowners water gets shut off the Mayor’s office usually gets a call or complaint. He stated that if they did it in sync, they could answer the questions that they get in the Mayor’s office. He then spoke about multi-dwelling turn offs. He then spoke about the road repairs on Arlington and Freeway Drive and Arlington and  Central Avenue. He indicated that there are bad humps where these road repairs are located. He asked if they could look at the procedures and process as well. Commissioner Harrison advised that they do not cut off water without providing the customer with prior notification, etc. She asked that if they get complaints in the Mayor’s Office about water being turned off that they redirect them to the Water Department. John Liu advised that they will check the street repairs on Arlington Avenue. A discussion was then held with regards to same. Commissioner Rolling then advised Mr. Jackson that the Commission is enrolled in the Water and Sewer Relief Program through the Department of Community Affairs. (Sound cuts out) XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION 15A: Resolution for Closed Session Resolution 12A was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Lucas and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. ------------------ The Board went into Executive Session to discuss the following at 6:47 pm: 1. Personnel Committee 2. Contracts and Litigation Matters The Board came out of Executive Session at 8:50 p.m. ------------------- There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm. THESE MINUTES ARE OF NECESSITY CONDENSED AND ABRIGED AND DO NOT PURPORT TO CONTAIN THE FULL CONTENTS OF THE MATTERS DISCUSSED. SONYA BUTLER TRANSCRIBER