Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes April 11th, 2018 Fitchburg Easterly Wastewater Treatment Facility 24 Lanides Lane, Fitchburg MA 01420 A meeting for the City of Fitchburg Water/Wastewater Commission was held on Wednesday April 11, 2018 at the Fitchburg Easterly Wastewater Treatment Facility, 24 Lanides Lane, Fitchburg MA, 01420. The meeting commenced at 4:38 pm Members present: Lenny Laakso, Commissioner DPW Rick Healey, Chairman George Siener, Commission Member Others present: John M. Deline., Deputy Commissioner of Water Jeff Murawski., Deputy Commissioner of Wastewater Jennifer Lambert Principal Clerk Water Office Courtney Lamoureaux, Business Manager DPW Joshua Bedarian, Potential Commission Member Members absent: Mike Mclaughlin, Commission Member Item #1 Approval of last meetings minutes: Motion to approve minutes from March 14, 2018 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Water Division:  Update on the Oak Hill Tank was given by John. The tank has been brought back online, and unfortunately is still leaking. We are losing approx. 4-6 gallons a minute. Our next step is to meet with Weston & Sampson to decide on what our next step is.  John also updated the Commission on the Water Main Improvement Project. M.E. Smith, the general contractor has resumed work. They have started laying temp water lines over on Brigham Park and will continue with the streets that they have left. Once they finish, they will back track to the streets that were done last year and clean up, make repairs and do some patching/paving if necessary.  Regarding the FY2019 budget, john mentioned that he is still waiting on the City Auditor and the City Treasurer for some loan figures regarding the water main upgrade project to finalize his budget. Will e-mail to Commission members once finalized and will go over at next Commission Meeting.  Lastly, John mentioned that we have been awarded the GAP funding Grant for Energy Efficiency for the Inline turbine for Narrows Rd in Westminster. DEP has not made an official announcement as of yet but will be holding a press conference either at our facility in Westminster or at our Wastewater plant. Item #4 Wastewater Division:  Updates were given by Jeff regarding the SSU Project. The project is 50% to “substantial completion” and 42% to “final completion”. We have also paid 55% of the contract price through the end of March.  Arcadis Engineering is working on a draft ordinance for “Sewer Use Rules and Regulations” outline. We have provided comments, and will meet again to review and discuss comments.  The Consent Decree’s (WWMP) is a 3 submission process. Weston & Sampson our consultant is working on our first submission that is due on July 1, 2018. We are on pace and schedule for this to be delivered.  Jeff informed the Commission on the Local Limits Study Report that looks at Industrial users of the sewer system. Industrial users can generate high strength waste. This study looks at the loading of pollutants to the treatment plant and what it is capable of treating. It develops standards as to what is allowable to discharge to remain compliant. We have provided feedback on the draft report to Wright Pierce Engineers who are doing this particular work for us. They will then take our feedback, update the report, get it back to us to sign off on. Once we have signed off, we will submit to EPA.  Regarding the Mass Dept. of Labor Standards and the Safety Audit that was performed of the East Plant, we have extended the deadline for our Lockout/Tagout Program Development. Deadline is now April 27, 2018.  The Sewer Rate Model Study was given to Council as a Whole Committee on Tuesday, March 27. Council voted unanimously to approve. City Council then received the recommendation from Council as a Whole, and the rates & ordinance petition had its first reading and vote for approval. First reading was unanimously approved also. The council’s second reading and vote on the petition is scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, 2018.  FY19 Budget was next on topic. Jeff passed out a rough draft of WW’s budget. We are waiting on final feedback on a few things from Calvin Brooks, City Auditor and Anne Cervantes, City  Treasurer. Few minor changes were made from last year. Will have a more thorough and updated budget at next Commission Meeting. Item #5 Other Business:  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 4:30 pm. on Wednesday May 9, 2018 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 5:21 P.M.