Water & Wastewater Commission

Water/Wastewater Commission Meeting Minutes June 15th, 2022 Legislative Building, City Hall Campus 700 Main St, Fitchburg MA 01420 ______________________________________________________________________________ A meeting for the City of Fitchburg Water/Wastewater Commission was held on Wednesday June 15th, 2022 at the Legislative Building, City Hall Campus, 700 Main St. Fitchburg, MA 01420 The meeting commenced at 5:01 PM Members present: Nicholas Erickson, Commissioner of Public Works & City Engineer George Seiner, Commission Member Stephen Bodurtha, Commission Member Colby O’Brien, Commission Member Michael Mclaughlin, Commission Member Rick Healey, Chairman Others present: Mark McNamara, Interim Deputy Commissioner Wastewater Division Jennifer Lambert, Head Clerk Water Division Absent: Mark Piermarini, Commission Member John Deline Jr, Deputy Commissioner Water Division Item #1 Approval of meeting minutes: Motion to approve minutes from May 18, 2022 meeting was granted by unanimous vote. Item #2 Public Forum: None Item #3 Wastewater Division  CSO 007, 011, 039 & 048 Separation project – Sewer and drain construction completed on Walnut St and Payson St. Biggest item is the CSO 048 that was closed. This is the Water St, Market Basket area. Pipelining work going on at Delisle St, Water St, Legros St, and Main St.  South St. to Nashua St. new sewer line is going in. Work started on June 6th and will be going until the end of July.  FY23 Merrimack Valley Chemical Consortium price increases – Significant increases in chemical costs this year due to inflation and other factors as well. We are seeing increases anywhere from 16% up to 112%. Bids are higher overall.  5th Rain Barrel Program – Program will allow residents to purchase 60-gallon rain barrels at a significantly discounted price. Orders for barrels must be placed by June 30th 2022. We have sold 77 rain barrels so far. Pickup event will be held on Saturday July 9th from 9:00am to 11:00am at the City’s Easterly Wastewater Treatment Facility, 24 Lanides Lane, Fitchburg MA.  Sewer System Manager Position – This position has recently been filled by Ken Dupont who was formerly our GIS Engineer.  Fitchburg CWRF – 6936, CSO 010, 032, 045, 083 Separation/Rehabilitation, Construction, 2022 IUP – This is the area on the North side of town. This is the first of the remaining sewer separation projects that will fully separate the city’s combined sewers into separate sanitary and storm drain systems. This will include Prospect St, Mechanic St, Burbank Hospital area, west of Blossom St, and as far east as Mt Vernon St. This project will permanently close 4 of our CSO’s. When this project closes we will see a substantial savings in our chemicals. Motion made by George Seiner to recommend the loan order of 30 mil to City Council for approval. Motion passes unanimously. Item #5 Other Business:  Rate Study – June 2022 will be our last increase for the sewer rate since our last study was done in 2017. This was a 5yr increase that began in June of 2018. Water and Sewer along with Weston and Sampson are currently in the process of conducting another rate study. The cost of this study will be split between both the Water Division and Wastewater Division as well.  Commissioner Erickson informed the Commission that he is working with HR to make Mark McNamara the Deputy Commission of Wastewater instead of just Interim Deputy Commissioner. This will allow us to advertise his former position as Plant Superintendent. He made a motion to approve and recommend to City Council the appointment of Mark McNamara as Deputy Commissioner of the Wastewater Division and not just the Interim. Motion carries unanimously.  The Water/Wastewater Commission will next meet at 5:00 pm. on July 20, 2022 at the Legislative Building, City Hall Campus 700 Main St. Fitchburg MA, 01420. Meeting adjourned at 5:21 pm