Water & Wastewater Commission

FITCHBURG WATER & WASTEWATER COMMISSION MINUTES January 11, 2017 J.A. Provencial Building 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg, MA 01420 A meeting for the City of Fitchburg Water/Wastewater Commission was held on Wednesday January 11, 2017 at the J.A. Provencial Water Treatment Facility Building 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA, 01420. The meeting commenced at 4:53 pm Members present: Lenny Laakso, Commissioner DPW Rick Healy George Siener Mike Mclaughlin Others present: John Deline Jr., Deputy Commissioner of Water Jeff Murawski, Deputy Commissioner of Wastewater Jennifer Lambert Principal Clerk Water Office Members absent: Joshua Champagne Item #1 Approval of last meetings minutes: Motion to approve minutes from December 14th, 2016 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: No public forum comments were received. Item #3 Water Division:  John started the meeting off by updating the cities drought situation. We are still not out of the woods yet. Even with the recent snow and rain, we would like to see more so in spring our reservoirs are at full capacity.   Mr. Deline passed out 3 sheets of information regarding the Capital Improvement Plan. A list of projects to be done, which FY in which they will be done, the need for the project, and the estimated cost, was given out. Also given was a list of 18 streets in the city with a total footage of 11,275 or approx... 2 miles of water mains that will need to be replaced due to poor water quality and limited fire protection due to tuberculated mains. A list of the Water Divisions loans, principal and interest payments from FY17 through FY33 was also given out. The city will have to borrow approx. 3 million to start this plan.  Motion to recommend to the City Council that we borrow $3 Million to cover the capital improvements was granted and approved. Will need to work with Dick Sarasin, after July 1st.  John also spoke about the MA DEP Sanitary Survey that will be conducted. This is a periodic routine inspection of a water systems facilities, operations and record keeping. The inspections identify conditions that may present a sanitary or public health risk. Item #4 Wastewater Division:  Mr. Murawski updated the commission on the 3 construction projects that are currently in the works. The SSU projects MassDEP SRF’s authorization to award was granted on the 9th of this month. The Beech St/Hazel St project and the CMH’s Separation project have both been shut down for the winter months.  The sewer rate study is still in progress, & we are working together with Tighe & Bond the Engineering Co. Mike Schrader from Tighe & Bond will join us at our next scheduled commission meeting to present what we have gathered.  Jeff updated the commission on the progress to amend The City Code Chapter 147 “Rules and Regulations”. Still working with the City Solicitor.  Regarding the “Infiltration & Inflow”, we are also still working with the City Solicitor to develop provisions for City Code Rules/Regs in order to comply with NPDES, State Regulation and Consent Decree.  The Westminster/Fitchburg IMA (Intermunicipal Agreement) draft is in progress. Wastewater has received an engineering services proposal from Wright-Pierce to perform a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP); and will seek competing proposals from the City’s other under contract On-Call Engineers.”  Lastly, Jeff informed the commission that the Consent Decree Hydraulic Model Report was sent to USEPA and Mass DEP last month. A meeting has been scheduled for Thursday January 12th to present the model. Item #5 Other Business:  Next Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting scheduled for Wednesday February 15, 2017 at 4:30pm. Meeting adjourned at 5:58 P.M.