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 REGULAR MEETING December 19, 2023 MINUTES Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners held in the Conference Room of the East Orange Water Commission, 99 South Grove Street, East Orange, New Jersey on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. I. CALL TO ORDER – 5:09 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Commissioners Alison Rolling Shantel Harrison Emmanuel O. Awe Lauren Shears – approx. 5:20 pm Sherkera Lucas Staff Joseph J. Tomashosky, Finance Consultant John Liu, Executive Director Thomas J. Matich, Operations Manager Bianca Smith, Business Manager Counsel Denis Murphy, Esq. (Weiner Law) Public Brian Burdalski, Rio Supply Matthew Phillips, Rio Supply The meeting was called to order, Commissioner Rolling determined that there was a quorum and convened the Regular Meeting. Commissioner Rolling read the Rate Statement. II. STATUS OF RESOLUTIONS The Mayor has returned Resolutions #121 through #129. All resolutions are in full force and effect. III. ADOPTION/CORRECTION OF MINUTES 7A: The Minutes of the November 21, 2023, Regular Meeting was approved as amended on a motion made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Lucas and carried on the call for the Board to vote. IV. EOBWC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT AND COMMITTEE REPORTS CUSTOMER SERVICE - Bianca advised the Board that they are in the winter termination program until March of 2024. They continue to push the federal and state programs to assist the customers with paying their bills. They are working to integrate the call monitoring system for customer service. They are waiting on personnel to review and send over the tardiness policy. A discussion was then held with regards to obtaining their own phone system and having their legal counsel review the tardiness policy. FINANCE – Joe advised the Board that they ended the month with a larger billing and collection cycle due to a $585 Thousand dollar settlement that was received. Because they had really high rates when they did the collection of the COVID receivables, they got to the point where they are now able to take it back down to the same range which is around 2 months of billing. At the end of October, they were below what they were in the beginning of COVID. They are going to see a growth in the receivables over the next few months due to the fact that they are not allowed to do shut offs. This will begin to come down around April when they are able to resume shut offs. They are currently $1.6 million over what was budgeted and that will be something that will go directly to the fund balance as a positive increase. A discussion was then held with regards to the water receipts. OPERATIONS - Tom advised the Board that they are addressing leaks that are coming up in the Mains division. They are also working on the WQAA. They identified and located over 400 valves and exercised nearly 100 to meet with the numbers for the annual submission. Additional sewer failures have taken place so as soon as they have the opportunity to address infrastructure for the sewer issues they are going to need to. WORPS is the one area that is undergoing multiple projects right now. He then began to speak about those. The PFA’s numbers finally came out with some new regulations for the drop in the MCL to 4 parts which puts them in the necessity role of addressing future treatments. They met with Livingston to discuss a pipeline running down Parsonage Hill and the conversation went well. This option would garner them a better understanding of their treatment options for maintenance and backwash. A discussion was then held with regards to same. DIRECTOR’S REPORT – Mr. Liu stated that the Lead Service Line is under the review of the comptroller's office. They just talked about the PFA’s. The sewer and water rate study, they met with NW financial and they have all the additional information that they need. The Water Meter replacement, they are going to actively have an 18 month meter replacement starting next year. The collection tower, by next month all of the 3 towers will be up. The WQAA, he prepared the certification, and they met all the requirements. He will submit the certification by the end of the year. D3 and D4 is under state review. Surge Tower is in the design phase. The emergency generator the got the switch gear installed and are waiting for state funding. V. PRESENTATION Rio Supply – Brian Burdalski and Matthew Phillips, North Jersey Sales Presentation on Neptune My360 Consumer Portal Came in to give a presentation on how the automatic meter reading would work. VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Lawsuits – update in Executive Session Proud Living VII. NEW BUSINESS/COMMUNICATIONS Email from business on North Grove Street complaining about a high-water bill. (Paul Lisca) VIII. APPROVAL OF RESOLUTIONS The following resolutions 13A through 13L were presented to the Board for approval. A motion to omnibus and approve Resolutions 13A through 13L was made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Lucas and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13A: Resolution ratifying the November 2023 recurring monthly bills paid in the amount of $52,493.59 13B: Resolution authorizing the approval and payments of Operating Bills in the amount of $1,825,304.93 13C: Resolution ratifying the payment of November 2023 Payrolls in the total amount of $423,612.18 13D: Resolution authorizing the payment of Capital invoices for the month of November 2023 in the amount of $265,147.29 13E: Resolution authorizing revenue reimbursements in the amount of $269.20  13F: Resolution authorizing the award of a contract through the use of a Cooperative Purchasing Program to RIO Supply, Inc., for the purchase of Water Meters in an amount not to exceed $1,169,813.00 13G: Resolution authorizing the Emergency Contract and Repair of Pump #1 with Longo Electrical-Mechanical, Inc., in the total amount of $158,780.00 13H: Resolution authorizing the Emergency Purchase of Water from New Jersey American Water in the total amount of $19,218.76 13I: Resolution authorizing the award of a contract for On-Call & Emergency Water and Sewer repairs to Shauger Property Services, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $3,190,443.00 13J: Resolution establishing the Date and Time for the 2024 Annual Organization Meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners of the City of East Orange 13K: Resolution authorizing the 2024 Temporary Budget in the amount of $6,794,658.32 13L: Resolution authorizing the appointment of personnel IX. PUBLIC COMMENT None X. EXECUTIVE SESSION 14A: Resolution for Closed Session Resolution 14A was approved on a motion made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Shears, and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. ------------------ The Board went into Executive Session to discuss the following at approximately 6:47 pm: 1. Personnel Committee 2. Contracts and Litigation Matters The Board came out of Executive Session at approximately 7:44 p.m. ------------------- There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:45 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