Sanitary Authority

Greenville Sanitary Authority 12-12-13 GREENVILLE SANITARY AUTHORITY GREENVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Thursday, December 12, 2013 ~ 6:00p.m. CALL TO ORDER Mr. Shaw called the meeting to order at 6:00p.m. ROLL CALL: Henry M. Mueller, Chairperson – excused Donald Shaw, Vice Chairperson Roberta Leonard, Secretary Pamela Auchter Todd Heathcote OTHERS PRESENT: Jasson W. Urey, Borough Manager Dan Wallace, Solicitor Chad Hanley, KLH Engineers Also present: Media: Megan Heathcote, Borough Administrative Assistant Caleb Stright, Record-Argus Lyle Huffman, Director of Public Services 1. INFORMATIONAL A. Mr. Shaw asked what the board is going to do about a solicitor since Mr. Wallace will be sworn in as a judge next month. Mr. Urey said that Mr. Dibble was to contact him and hasn’t done so. Mr. Urey talked to the Borough solicitor and he said that his firm would be happy to do it at no additional charge because everything goes to Council anyways. Ms. Leonard asked who the Water Authority solicitor is. Mr. Shaw said it is Mr. Keck. Ms. Auchter suggested putting it out to bid. Mr. Wallace said that Mr. Dibble is interested in the position and that he has the same institutional knowledge that he does. Mr. Shaw said to proceed with quotes in the form of an RFP and to bring them to the January meeting. B. Mr. Huffman said that the smoke test results compliance is at 50% success and that people are still calling in to say that they have completed the work. Mr. Shaw said that he saw smoke in West Salem Township, by the pump station, coming out of the ground. Mr. Urey said that someone will go out and check. C. Mr. Urey said that the contract for sewer lateral inspections will expire at the end of January. The Borough made some changes to the Ordinance but they were just administrative in nature. Instead of having the contractor issue the certificates of compliance, the Borough will be doing so. He added that the bid opening for the contract will take place on January 8th. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS None. 3. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Page 1 of 5 Greenville Sanitary Authority 12-12-13 Motion by Ms. Leonard, seconded by Mr. Heathcote, to accept the minutes of the November 14, 2013 regular meeting. Motion carried. 4. FINANCIAL REPORTS Motion by Ms. Auchter, seconded by Ms. Leonard, to accept the operating and cash balance reports for September. • Mr. Urey said that we are at a deficit of $44,000 but that we still have money coming in. He added that he is keeping an eye on it. • Ms. Leonard asked if Hempfield and West Salem Townships were behind. Mr. Urey said that we are still waiting on payments and that we might not see in December’s report. • Mr. Shaw asked what constitutes a PA One Call. Mr. Urey said anytime someone digs they should do a PA One Call, the Water Authority had a lot this year. We have to pay for all the calls. • Mr. Shaw asked why the computer support was different. Mr. Urey said that we added another computer at the lab for PA One Calls to go directly there instead of coming from the administration office. • Mr. Hanley said that the balance of the garage project will be paid next year which is between $60,000 – $70,000. Mr. Heathcote asked if the electric was done. Mr. Hanley said that they can’t proceed with shutting down electric until after the beginning of the year. • Ms. Leonard asked how many projects were completed for this year in our 5 year capital plan. Mr. Handley said that everything was completed except the manhole rehabilitation project. • Mr. Heathcote asked about when the mapping process will start. Mr. Hanley said that it is to start in February 2014. • Mr. Heathcote asked what the capacity of the plant is. Mr. Hanley said that he submitted the re-rating. Right now the plant is 2.8mgd and asked to have it re-rated to 4.0mgd. Motion carried. 5. ENGINEER’S REPORT Motion by Ms. Auchter, seconded by Mr. Heathcote, to accept the December’s Engineer’s report. • Mr. Hanley said that KLH updated the Capital Improvement Plan to assist with 2014 budgeting. • Mr. Hanley said that KLH will begin completing the 2013 Chapter 94 Report once all information is received in January. He added that it is due at the end of March. • Mr. Hanley said that the sanitary sewer spot repair project is complete. • Ms. Leonard asked in regards to the 2014 Capital Plan, what went off the plan. Mr. Hanley said that the only things that came off were things that were completed this year. He said we added pump and lawn maintenance equipment. Mr. Leonard asked what the time frame for the new plant upgrades were. Mr. Hanley said that is depends on the permit. We should hear back from ACT 537 by May, design will start at the end of 2014, and bidding contract will begin in 2016. • Ms. Leonard asked if there is anything that will cause us any grief until 2016. Mr. Urey said that the commutators have to be replace now. Mr. Shaw asked about the stairs case that leads up to the operating building roof. Mr. Hanley said that the ladder is for access to the digester lids and the ladder is in good shape. The problem with it is that it is without a cage and is it not safe due to that. Mr. Shaw said that we shouldn’t wait and that we should get it fixed soon. Mr. Hanley said that it should be upgraded. Mr. Shaw asked if it should be stairs or a cage. Page 2 of 5 Greenville Sanitary Authority 12-12-13 Mr. Huffman said that it would be easier with staris when carrying tools. Mr. Shaw said to pull it from 2015 and place it on the 2014 list of improvements; Ms. Leonard and Ms. Auchter agreed. Mr. Urey said that we will use capital money. Mr. Hanley said that there are local fabricators and that we can get quotes. Motion carried. Motion by Ms. Leonard, seconded by Ms. Auchter, to accept the 5 year plan and to move the $20,000 allocated for 2015 to fix the stairs to 2014. Motion carried. 6. WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT REPORT Motion by Mr. Heathcote, seconded by Ms. Auchter, to accept the December waste water treatment plant report. • Ms. Leonard asked if the salt spreader is used just at the plant. Mr. Huffman confirmed it is. Ms. Leonard asked what truck they share. Mr. Huffman said that there aren’t any. • Mr. Huffman said that there was a power failure at the plant and 3 guys were called in to help, the plant basement started to filled up and they spend the night cleaning. He added that the flocculator was down and that they fixed it and it is up and running. Motion carried. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Motion by Mr. Heathcote, seconded by Ms. Auchter, to authorize the Borough Manager to sell the F-350 at a minimum of $40,000. Mr. Huffman said that Shenango Township has expressed interest. Ms. Leonard asked what the original cost was along with the trade in value. Mr. Huffman said the original cost was $52,000 and that the trade in value is $28,000. Mr. Huffman said a new truck would be about $40,000 and with the spreader and plow it would be around $60,000. He proposed that the Sanitary Authority us the money from the sale of the truck to purchase a new truck that is shared with the Borough Street Department. There is not enough need at the sewer plant for their own truck but there is a need to have access to one. He added that whatever the board sells the truck for, it won’t cost them anything for the shared dump truck. Ms. Leonard said that she doesn’t want to have this conversation again two years from now. Mr. Huffman said that the best way to maximize efficiency is to share. Mr. Shaw asked if sanitary authority will be able to plow first. Mr. Huffman said that Mr. Urey and himself will come up with a plan. Ms. Leonard said that we don’t need a $50,000 snow plow. Motion carried 3-1 with Ms. Leonard abstaining. B. Motion by Ms. Leonard, seconded by Mr. Heathcote, to purchase a zero turn mower. Ms. Leonard asked why there is a need for a zero turn. Mr. Huffman said that it is useful and that the intent is to have the equipment there so that someone from the street department can come mow. Ms. Leonard asked if someone from the Borough is going to come mow instead of using the operators. Mr. Shaw said that it would be the new street department person. Ms. Leonard asked what the acres are at the plant. Mr. Huffman said that it was close to 50 acres but they are only mowing 5-6 acres. Ms. Leonard asked if there is room to store the zero turn. Mr. Huffman said that there is in the garage. Motion carried. Page 3 of 5 Greenville Sanitary Authority 12-12-13 8. NEW BUSINESS A. Motion by Ms. Leonard, seconded by Ms. Auchter, to accept the schedule for monthly meetings as written. Ms. Leonard asked if we need to meet monthly. Mr. Shaw said that with all the projects in the next year or two we need to meet monthly. He suggested that we cancel the meeting when not needed. Ms. Leonard suggested bi-monthly meetings. Ms. Auchter agreed, saying that we need to advertise for monthly and cancel on the off months. Mr. Wallace asked what the * meant. Ms. Heathcote said that we had to move the meeting that month because there is a council meeting on the same day as what the sanitary meeting would be. Ms. Auchter said that if we are going to cancel a meeting to do it the day before and that she doesn’t want projects to get behind. Motion carried. B. Motion by Ms. Leonard, seconded by Ms. Auchter, to accept the five year capital plan, with the exception of moving the stairs to 2014 from 2015. Mr. Shaw said that it is just a plan and that we can make changes to it throughout the year. Mr. Hanley said that he will update the plan and bring the final draft to next month’s meeting. Motion carried. 9. AUTHORITY MEMBER’S COMMENTS Ms. Leonard thanked the solicitor for his time and wished him well on his new journey. She said that she is not going to apologize for purchase of the truck and that we need to ask questions and provide input or dissolve the committee/board. Mr. Shaw thanked Mr. Wallace for his years of service. 10. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICES COMMENTS Mr. Huffman asked about contracting the lab work out, he said right now we pay about $15,000 along with paying someone to collect and test all the samples; he added that we do 4 hours of testing a day. Mr. Huffman said if we contract it out, it will be between $15,000 – $21,000. He said that we have to have the sludge tested every 5 years. Mr. Hanley added that we have to have an outside lab do that testing anyway. Mr. Huffman said that we will save about $6,000 – $7,000 a year excluding employee costs. Mr. Hanley said that the hardest part will be finding a lab we can trust and with good service. Ms. Leonard suggested having the guys do a time study after it switches over. Mr. Hanley said that responsiveness is what we need to look at. Ms. Leonard asked how long it takes to gather the samples. Mr. Huffman said that it takes 30 minutes max to gather all the samples. Mr. Hanley said that Mr. Jamison does have time to work on the collection rate and that he can focus on that again. The Authority agreed to contract the lab work out. Mr. Shaw said that he thought St. Paul’s were supposed to be cleaning out the collection basket at the pump station. Mr. Huffman replied saying that St. Paul’s is supposed to clean it out daily but it does not look like that is happening. Ms. Leonard wants St. Paul’s here to talk about it. Mr. Huffman said our issue is enforcement. Mr. Leonard said there was a written agreement. Ms. Auchter said to take pictures. Mr. Huffman said that has already been done and to table this until next meeting. He added that everything on our end is done. Ms. Auchter suggested having our guys train their guys. Mr. Huffman said that they did that. Ms. Leonard said to send out all documentation. 11. BOROUGH MANAGER COMMENTS Page 4 of 5 Greenville Sanitary Authority 12-12-13 Mr. Urey had no comments 12. SOLICITOR’S COMMENTS Mr. Wallace thanked the authority, the engineer, and Caleb for years of service. He appreciated the experience. Mr. Wallace said that there were some bad times and that he now has keen knowledge of sewage. He said he learned a lot from the corrective action plan. 13. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of Greenville Sanitary Authority is Thursday, January 16, 2014 at 6:00p in Council Chambers. 14. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Ms. Leonard, seconded by Ms. Auchter, to adjourn meeting at 7:44pm. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Roberta Leonard Roberta Leonard Secretary Page 5 of 5