Water Board Meeting

Ogden Dunes Water Board Meeting Minutes 4:00 PM March 20th, 2023 @ OD Town Hall Present: Jim Slawinski (JS) Tom Cleland (TC) Devon DeMarco (DD) Dave Snyder Via Zoom (DS) Matt Moore (MM) Julia Klingensmith (JK) Andrew Gurschick (AG) JS agreed to take minutes but mentioned that we would rotate this responsibility moving forward. The minutes from the February 2023 Water Board Meeting were unanimously approved by the WB Directors. JK Reviewed the February 2023 Water Department Financial Update. JS commented that at the April Water Board Meeting we may consider moving additional money from the operating fund to the capital fund. JK Reviewed the multiple proposals to upgrade the Water Department Office with painting, new furniture and new flooring. A motion was made and unanimously approved to move forward with the proposals with the stipulation not to exceed $5K. AG reviewed the new automatic water billing procedure that will take place in early April which will involve the 1st quarter billing. There was also some discussion with the group as to what it would take to get more residents to go to online payments. It was decided to first focus on the new water billing procedure but afterwards look at what could be done to increase residents’ participation with online billing payments. Following a report by DD the group elected to only issue the new Water/Sanitation Contract to new residents but sometime soon use the new billing application to help update current resident’s phone numbers and e-mail. DD discussed the ongoing 811/USIC billing issues which continue with new people in different positions at both 811 and USIC. She will continue to correspond with both groups to try to resolve the long-time billing issue. Until the issue is fully resolved JK will continue to process the monthly payment to both groups but only for work performed within our town limits. JS Shared some photos of old water department files in boxes and the group had a discussion as to how long similar files need to be kept. There are available classes on this subject, and it was the group’s recommendation to have someone from the town attend one of these classes when they become available. JK reported on the 4th quarter water shutoffs. There was a total of two with one more possibly taking place on Wednesday. The group discussed 23 Sunset Trail where the water has been shut off for some time and there is a large water bill as well as property tax bill currently in arrears. The group decided to place a lien on the property and DS will contact the town attorney to make the necessary arrangements. MM Reported that the new panel and the Backup Generator are performing well and functioning properly every Tuesday when they automatically go into test mode. The group decided that the Booster Station Main Breaker and panel replacement will take place the same time the NIPSCO Underground cable installation takes place, most likely late spring, or early summer. At that time, we may consider having incoming power come in from a different side of the building. JS reported that he did not have any official updates on the Resident/Zenner software development. He will reach out to the Zenner Software Development Personal to try to have more information by the next Water Board Meeting. The Booster Station outside building upgrade will take place sometime this summer with the focus taking place once DS and family return from Florida. We will also consider what updating, if any, we may want to do to the Water Department Garage adjacent to the booster station. Work will commence on painting and light replacement inside the booster station. MM reported that work will continue repairing main street shutoff valves using either street/water employees or contractors when required. A backflow testing requirement reminder is to be added and sent out with the first quarter water bill. TC is to provide the language that is to be included with the bill. MM Reported that the Annual Fire Hydrant flushing/lubricating/inspection and Booster Station Fire Pump Testing is tentatively scheduled for June. The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 PM The next Water Board Meeting will be held on Monday, April 10th @ 4:30 PM at the Town Hall X Tom Cleland Water Board Director X Devon DeMarco Water Board Director X Jim Slawinski Water Board Director