Utility Commission

MINUTES OF THE WATER COMMISSION MEETING – MAY 17, 2011 Call to Order Water Commission meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M. by Kevin Coffey, Chair Roll Call PRESENT: Kevin Coffey, Chair Mike Bevers Larry Van Lankvelt Tim Wegand Village President Michael Vanden Berg EXCUSED: Tim Bevers ALSO PRESENT: MCO Rep Jerry Verstegen, Director of Finance Dale Haug, Director of Public Works Roy Van Gheem, Village Administrator Charles Kell, Village Clerk Vicki Schneider Public Appearance for Items Not on the Agenda None Approval of Minutes Water Commission Minutes of April 19, 2011 Chair Coffey noted a correction needed to the minutes in reference to the water main break on Greenfield Dr. and Hwy N, not Hwy. 00. The clerk will make the correction to the minutes. Moved by Commissioner Van Lankvelt, seconded by Commissioner Wegand to approve the minutes of April 19, 2011 with the correction as noted. All Ayes – Motion Carried Update on Open Range Communications Lease C. Kell informed the Commission that he had received a check from Open Range a week or so ago for $1,375 which is the rent for one month and then today he received a check for $15,125 and they are now paid up and the next check the Village should receive will be for June’s rent. C. Kell stated that he had gotten to the point of letting them know that he was going to ask the Commission at tonight’s meeting to cancel the lease if the money due to the Village was not received prior to this meeting. Staff also commented that contractors had again shown up this past Sunday without letting the Village know ahead of time and the person the Administrator made contact with stated he was going to have a talk with the contractors informing them they are to give advanced notice to the Village on when they will be arriving to do their work. 2011 Debt Financing Plan D. Haug reviewed the debt financing plan proposal that had been presented by Ehlers to the Village Board at their meeting on May 11. It was noted that the last debt issued by the Village had been in 2008, which is a long time but the Village hasn’t really done much work in the last few years due to various issues. The proposal is to combine financing for 2011/2012 water and sewer projects with the new General Obligation Debt Issue. The amount of borrowing for water utility projects is estimated at $585,000. No water refunding issues are being planned because the current issues have excellent interest rates. Staff reviewed the projects being proposed for 2011 and 2012. It was noted that the debt financing proposal call for another debt issue in late 2012 or early 2013 for the Main St. reconstruction project. Haug stated the proposals for projects will be taken up by the Board so a decision can be made on which projects are a priority and will be included as part of the debt issue. D. Haug also reviewed the current outstanding debt for the water utility. D. Haug noted that the Village will likely be moving  Water Commission Meeting Minutes – May 17, 2011 – Page 2 forward with the debt issue this summer. D. Haug stated he will also verify the percentage of the Hartzheim Drive project that will be offset by TID #3. Progress Reports MCO Operations Update J. Verstegen reported that the large reservoir at Well #4 was recently taken down for cleaning and a problem was detected with the protective rubber backing at the corners in the bottom of the reservoir and he is waiting for the inspection report and the hope is that the DNR won’t require fixing the problem immediately as it doesn’t appear that there is any damage to the tank or detected leaking on the outside of the reservoir. The brine tank cleaning at Well #2 went well and next week the brine tank at the Doyle Park plant will be cleaned and that will wrap up the cleaning of all of the brine tanks. J. Verstegen stated that as he reported last month, there were eight main breaks in a 24-hour period on Franklin Street and they replaced 40 feet of pipe and there haven’t been any other problems. They have also been changing out meters and completing work orders that have been sent over by Kaukauna Utilities. J. Verstegen reported that a hydrant on Rainbow Lane had been hit by a vehicle and damaged beyond repair so that will be on the schedule for replacement. J. Verstegen that the hydrant flushing was completed without problems and they will be flushing Nestle on Memorial Day and Bel Kaukauna on the 4th of July. It was also reported that a resident on West Main Street had concerns because his sump pump was running continuously and the situation was investigated and it was determined that it wasn’t being caused by a leak in the Village’s system and it had to do with the wet spring weather. J. Verstegen reported that they are moving forward with the Well #3 project and the Well will be down for possibly two weeks in June. Commissioners asked J. Verstegen to include a hardness report with the monthly reports. It was also noted that the Fire Department had been given a list of hydrants that should not be used for training purposes. Director of Public Works R. Van Gheem reported that the bid for the private sanitary lateral replacements had been awarded to M & E Construction of Kaukauna and they will be offering to replace the homeowners lead services at an estimated cost of $450-$500 and it appears that a few property owners will be taking advantage of this opportunity to replace their lead water laterals. The private lateral work will be started in June. R. Van Gheem also reported that the contract for utility work for Kelbe, Moasis & Holland Roads had been awarded to DeGroot Construction of DePere and those projects will also be starting in June. Finance Director D. Haug asked commissioners if they had any concerns with staff proposing moving forward with discussing the water utility debt projects with the Village Board and commissioners indicated they did not have any concerns. D. Haug stated he will be notifying the PSC to have them include the new debt payments in the rate case study. D. Haug informed the Commission of a significant billing error for Windmill Manor that was caused due to a clerical error on not including the multiplier effect on the bill and the customer’s bill dropped almost 90%. The billing error has been going on since the meter was converted to an electronic meter and that was almost four years ago. The property will be back billed without interest for two years of water usage charges as that is all that is currently allowed by the PSC. The back billing amount is approximately $6,000. D. Haug also noted that there is currently legislation being proposed that would not allow utilities to back bill customers for billing errors such as this.  Water Commission Meeting Minutes – May 17, 2011 – Page 3 Approval of Vouchers Moved by Commissioner M. Bevers, seconded by Commissioner Van Lankvelt to approve and authorize payment of the vouchers from their respective funds as presented. All Ayes – Motion Carried Unfinished Business None Items for Future Agenda None Adjournment Moved by Commissioner Coffey, seconded by Commissioner Bevers to adjourn the meeting at 6:47 p.m. All Ayes - Motion Carried VILLAGE OF LITTLE CHUTE By: Kevin Coffey, Chair Attest: Vicki Schneider, Village Clerk