Water Board Meeting

Water Board Meeting May 9, 2023 Jim Slawinski, Tom Cleland, Devon DeMarco, Matt Moore, Dave Snyder, Julia Klingen- smith DD moved to approve minutes from April meeting, TC seconded; approved, circulated for signature. Operating fund and capital expense fund both look healthy. The board will consider moving some money from operating to capital next month. Late billing notices did not include a shut-off date. It was included in the original bill but not the late notice, JS will talk to Andrew Gurschick re: adding shut off date to late notices. The number of late payments is consistent with the number of late payments we previously had prior to auto billing. Discussion on whether we should raise the late fee. Approximately 60 late payments each billing cycle. Boyce charges $500 per year to issue late notices. Any change to the late fee would require a new ordinance. The board had a discussion on an appropriate late charge increase and how that should be di- vided between sanitation and water. JS moved to increase the penalty to $50, passed. DD to draft proposed amendment to ordinances. IURC has proposed a water rate increase. It is going to be reviewed, which will take about 10 months. DD has been working on USIC billing issue. Waiting for a response from USIC regarding what determines the boundaries of the locate. Discussion on street department salaries and whether the current split between water, sanitation, and street needs to be adjusted. The General consensus is that it does need to be adjusted. The board will discuss it further at another date. Underground work will begin next week for digging and conduit. TC has been back and forth with NIPSCO waiting on their proposal. Payment on the NIPSCO invoice was ap- proved at the last meeting on a “not to exceed” basis, just waiting on them to send it so we can pay. The Zenner system has been down for about three weeks. This also delays the residen- tial software release. Booster station building upgrade: TC is writing up the scope of work. Booster station indoor painting: entire floor is painted. MM would like to go back and touch up pipe work and electric. TC suggested saving that work for Dec/Jan/Feb. Good “rainy day” project that can take a back seat during the busy summer months. JS sug- gested that next spring we should have an “open house” tour of the pump station for residents who are interested in how it works. Also noted that we may want to consider a commercial AC unit for the pump station to reduce moisture in the air during the summer months. TC suggested a remote or portable unit so that we can avoid cutting into the building for a stationary unit. Hydrant by the water company needs to be fixed. MM will get quotes. Backflow requirement was put on the billing notice last month. Julia asked Boyce to put the email address on the next notice; the testing companies should be sending them to Julia’s water address. MM gave update on hydrant inspection timeline and fire pump test timeline. Next meeting is June 12 at 4:30pm. X Tom Cleland Water Board Director X Devon DeMarco Water Board Director X Jim Slawinski Water Board Direstor