Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes May 8th, 2019 J.A. Provencial Building 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA 01420 A meeting for the City of Fitchburg Water/Wastewater Commission was held on Wednesday May 8th, 2019 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd, Fitchburg MA, 01420. The meeting commenced at 5:52 pm Members present: Lenny Laakso, Commissioner DPW Rick Healey, Chairman George Siener, Commission Member Joshua Bedarian Commission Member Steven Bodurtha, Commission Member Michael McLaughlin, Commission Member Others present: John M. Deline., Deputy Commissioner of Water Courtney Lamoureux, DPW Business Manager Tony Marressa, Sewer Systems Manager Janet Morrison, Land Consultant Jennifer Lambert, Head Clerk Water Office Absentees: Jeff Murawski, Deputy Commissioner of Wastewater Item #1 Approval of last meetings minutes: Motion to approve minutes from April 10, 2019 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Water Division:  Tour of the Falulah Water Filtration Plant was held for all Commission Members and other attendees as well.  Janet Morrison spoke to the Commission about the Crocker Farm Conservation Project. The Farm is located in Ashby, Ashburnham and Fitchburg as well. The Farm is divided between two brothers, half of which is known as Jewell Brook Farm. This is approx. 165 acres of land in which 140 acres have already been conserved. The other half of the property known as Jewell Hill Farm is approx. 348 acres and is the subject of the current conservation project. Conservation of the Farm will protect the City of Fitchburg’s drinking water. Motion was raised to approve the expenditure of funds to purchase a conservation restriction on 234 acres of land known as Jewell Hill Farm. Motion carries.  FY20 Water Division Budget was discussed next. No major changes from last year’s budget except for indirect charges to the City which increased $100,000. Motion to approve the FY20 Water Divisions Budget was granted unanimously and motion carries.  The City-wide water meter replacement project is starting. Kickoff meeting with the installation company Baystate Supply is scheduled for the week of May 20th. We have already installed approx. 30 meters manually for a test on the upcoming bill run. This has been done when real estate closings are taking place, backflow tests, or when we’ve identified problem meters that are starting to fail and have had no usage for months while being occupied. Next couple of weeks we will be installing the antennas/gateways so we can read the meters. These readings will eventually come right into our software system and will not need to be read while driving by the property as we do now.  Scada System upgrade Project- Notice to proceed was given to Arcadis Engineering Firm. We had two bids on the project, Arcadis and Tighe & Bond. After reviewing the bids with our DPW Engineer Nick Erickson, we both agreed that Arcadis provided a better value, and much more thorough submittal at understanding the project. Kick off meeting to be held within the next couple of weeks. The goal is to have something more upgradeable down the road. A lot of the current software is proprietary, and it’s been very difficult getting replacement parts.  Water system upgrades- John informed the Commission about (small diameter) 2” water main replacements. We have approx. 15,000 feet of 2” water mains on short streets/passways. After talking with Steve Neal our Distribution Manager, we both feel that we are at a point now with our crews/personnel that we have hired and trained that they are capable of doing this work. We are going to start tackling a few of these streets to get them out of the way. Item #4 Wastewater Division:  Tony Maressa, Sewer System Manager went over the FY20 Wastewater Division’s budget in Jeff’s absence. Not a whole lot of changes from last year’s budget. Most notable is the total surplus for Wastewater for FY20 is a deficit of almost 2 million dollars. This was planned with the rate study to spend down our retained earnings. Chemical costs have increased dramatically with the new contract for FY20. Sodium Hydroxide for instance has a 47% increase from last  year’s contract. Line item –Architectural Engineering was broken down to individual costs instead of a lump sum, to include the Waste Water Management Plan, Anaerobic Digestion at the West Plant as well as the Industrial Pre-treatment Program. The Wastewater’s indirect charges also increased $100,000 per Calvin Brooks, City Auditor. We are requesting approx... $775,000 for capital expenditure items that include vehicle replacement, a new backhoe and a vactor/jetter replacement. Motion to approve the FY20 Wastewater Divisions Budget was granted unanimously and motion carries.  City Code Chapter 147 & “Rules and Regulations” – Update from Tony that the petition was submitted to Council then was referred to Council’s Legislative Affairs Committee. The petitions hearing was held on April 2, 2019 and then a report was sent to the Council as a Whole. The petition requires 2 votes by Council in order for the ordinance revision passed. The petition will have had its final reading at the Tues. – May 7th City Council Meeting.  CWMP-Phase 1 of the plan incorporated comments from the regulators, and now needs to be reviewed by Jeff and myself for final comments to submit to regulators.  WWMP-Wastewater Management Plan is our plan to come into compliance with the consent decree. This is pretty much done and needs to be submitted when Jeff comes back on Monday.  SSU Project- the SSU project is 84% to substantial completion, 79% to final completion and 85% of the contract price through the end of April 2019. For work completed over the last month or planned work for the month ahead please see attachment.  Combined Sewer Separation Project (“CSO 039, 048 and Clarendon Street Project’) – This project is moving along. Contractors are doing borings now, surveys should be done in the next couple of weeks which will send us into the design phase.  SSES, Phase 4 – Interceptor Sewer Evaluation- Ongoing CCTV inspections with National Water Main, along with sonar inspections with Red Zone Robotics. We will also continue to do manhole inspections in the next coming month. Item #5 Other Business:  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 5:00 pm. on June 12, 2019 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 7:03 P.M.