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 17, 2024 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 17, 2024. I. CALL TO ORDER - 5:13 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Commissioners Alison Rolling Shantel Harrison Lauren Shears Sherkera Lucas Staff John Liu, Executive Director Joseph J. Tomashosky –Finance Thomas Matich, Operations Manager Bianca Smith, Business Manager Odel Rolling, Water Repair Supervisor Counsel Denis Murphy, Esq. (Weiner Law) Council Members NONE Public Anthony Jackson – Chief of Staff 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 #130 through #143. All resolutions are in full force and effect. III. ADOPTION/CORRECTION OF MINUTES 7A: The Minutes of the December 19, 2023, Regular Board Meeting were approved on a motion made by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Shears and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. IV. PRESENTATION NONE V. STAFF REPORTS FINANCE – Joe advised the Board that in the month of December they exceeded their forecast so they will be about 1.8 million over collected against the budget. He then advised that they collected $1,431,934 through the lien process. In review, they had a collection rate of 97.7% for December but had a YTD collection rate of 101.7%. They have performed better on the financials in terms of expenditures for the year. They will be working with the auditors next week. The City has rolled over the Edmunds system which is the earliest that he can recall since he began participating in year-end closes. With the receivables exceeding and the expenses exceeding they are anticipating about $4.6 million of underspent of expenses. The majority relates to 2 wells that they were unable to drill this year. It has been a positive year for the Commission. CUSTOMER SERVICE – Bianca advised the Board that the threshold for high bill alerts is 30%. They onboarded two new employees, one of them will assist in making outbound calls and sending out letters. They had 6,002 transactions processed for the month of December with 67 active payment arrangements. A discussion was then held with regards to Credit Card fees and who absorbs the costs. WORPS/MAINS & METERS/SEWER - Tom advised the Board that Mains and Sewers maintained their vigilance out in the City areas with the cold weather. The collection towers are awaiting the base plate delivery. This last month they had a catastrophic break at Dickenson wellfield. Because of the time of the year, the weather conditions and the water levels at the Passaic River, the area that was impacted was under 4 ft of water. They were able to find the isolation valve after 2 full days and then they were able to shut the water off. With that in mind, when the water recedes, they are going to install a pressure relief valve. In December, they sold just under 20 million  gallons to their customers. They are running more continuous PFA’s samples in order to gage their wells and source wells or to find which one is their most concerned well. DIRECTOR’S REPORT - Director Liu advised that the Lead Service Line is under review at the Controller’s office. As far as the PFA’s, the engineer is looking to put the PFA’s into a room. They mapped out the old diesel room to put the new treatment system. The design is about 3% complete. They have a meeting with the consultants next Friday to see the progress report for the Water Rate Study. Once the AMR Tower collectors are in, they will see a benefit in the billing. They have started to use the GIS which identifies every piece of underground assets. The WQAA, they are working on everyday to meet the standards. D3 they finished the design but they have minor changes. They will soon be ready to go out to bid. They are looking to minimize the capital for the Surge Tower. Mr. Liu stated that an engineer is coming to do a review of the current WORPS pump station and vacuum system. Hopefully, they can save some money on the pump. They are going to make connections on the Emergency Generator. The Sodium Hypochlorite System is finished. VI. COMMUNICATIONS Grove Street email regarding High Water Bill VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Legal Matters to be discussed in Executive Session. VIII. NEW BUSINESS 213 No. Walnut Street – High Water Bill - Their meter box is outside in the sidewalk. A discussion was then held with regards to same. IX. REORGANIZATION AND APPROVAL OF RESOLUTIONS The following resolutions 13A through 13O were presented to the Board for approval. A Motion to omnibus Resolutions 13I, 13K through 13O was approved by Commissioner Harrison, seconded by Commissioner Shears, and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 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 2024 13K: Resolution authorizing the approval and payment of Operating Bills in the amount of $1,594,725.10 13L: Resolution ratifying the December 2023 Payrolls in the amount of $414,009.32  13M: Resolution authorizing the payment of Capital Invoices for the Month of December 2023 to be paid in January 2024 in the amount of $3,358.00 13N: Resolution authorizing and approving an award of a contract to the Weiner Law Group for legal services for the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for an amount not to exceed $150,000.00 13O: Resolution authorizing and ratifying the temporary budget for the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the January, February and March 2024 in the amount of $6,371,225.00 X. PUBLIC COMMENT NONE XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION 15A: Resolution for Closed Session Resolution 15A 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 6:19 pm: 1. Personnel Committee 2. Contracts and Litigation Matters The Board came out of Executive Session at 8:15 p.m. ------------------- XII. REINTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS 13A: Resolution appointing the President of the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners for the Year 2024 – 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 2024 – 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 2024 – 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 2024 (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 2024 (Rolling, Awe, Shears) 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 2024 (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 2024 (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. 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 Resolution 13H was approved as amended on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Shears and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. 13J: Resolution to Establish the Annual 2024 Meeting Dates Resolution 13J was approved as amended on a motion made by Commissioner Rolling, seconded by Commissioner Lucas and carried unanimously on the call for the Board to vote. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 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