Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes May 13th, 2020 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 13th, 2020 via Zoom and FATV. The meeting commenced at 5:16 pm Members present: Rick Healey, Chairman Nicolas Bosonetto, Commissioner of Public Works George Seiner, Commission Member Michael McLaughlin, Commission Member Others present: John M. Deline., Deputy Commissioner of Water Jeff Murawski., Deputy Commissioner of Wastewater Jennifer Lambert, Head Clerk Water Division Absentees: Steven Bodurtha, Commission Member Joshua Bedarian, Commission Member Item #1 Approval of meeting minutes: George Seiner, Commission Member made a motion to revise the meeting minutes from April 8th, 2020. In the 2nd bullet, under Item #4 Wastewater: change the acronym and the written out name of the “mutual aid” organization to read as follows: “Massachusetts Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (“MAWARN”)…” Motion was accepted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Water Division:  Jewell Hill Farm & Porter Property – Received letter on April 30th that the city was awarded the Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant. This covers the conservation restriction for the Ashby portion of the Jewell Hill 300 acre property and also about 20 acres for the Porter Property. We should be closing on this project by the end of June. Regarding the Jewell Hill Project, everything has gone through city council and they have accepted the grant for all three portions in Fitchburg, Ashburnham, and Ashby. The Trustees of Reservations will purchase Jewell Hill Farm from the Crocker’s and then the City of Fitchburg will hold CR’s on the Fitchburg portion and also the Ashby portion. The City of Fitchburg will share the CR with the Town of Ashburnham.  Covid-19 Update- The water department has been very fortunate having minimal impact regarding operations and personnel. We have been keeping employees separated as much as possible, with the office staff alternating days of being in the office and working from home. Budget impacts will most likely be seen in the next couple of months when commitments are finished. Item #4 Wastewater Division:  CSS Project- Weston & Sampson Engineers are preparing the bidding documents. Finalized bidding documents should be ready by late May or early June. Bidding process is usual a 3 week phase. Hoping to have a contractor on board by July.  MVP Grant – Motion was raised to have the Commission accept and approve an MVP Grant Application from the Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs for $102,000.00. This grant if awarded will help the city to increase the capacity with the city’s storm water system. Motion to accept the grant application was granted by unanimous roll call vote.  Sludge/Grit Hauling Contract Update – The contract for this has to be sent out for rebid. We had only one bidder on this contract, which is the same service provider/hauler that we are using now. Unfortunately the contract bid pricing had a dramatic increase from what we pay them now. We are not sure if the impacts of covid-19 play a role in having only one contactor bid this, or the high increase, but hope by sending this out to bid again with service to begin August 1st we will have more bidders with competitive pricing. Item #5 Other Business:  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 5:00 pm. on June 10, 2020 at the J.A. Provencial Building, 1200 Rindge Rd. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 6:04 pm