1. Board of Commissioners (BOC)

MINUTES TOWN OF PITTSBORO BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2021 5:30PM Members Present (Virtual): Mayor James Nass, Mayor Pro Tern Pamela Baldwin, Commissioner John Bonitz, Commissioner Jay Farrell, Commissioner Michael Fiocco and Commissioner Kyle Shipp. Staff Present (Virtual): Town Manager Chris Kennedy, Town Attorney Paul S. Messick, Public Utilities Director Adam Pickett, Town Clerk Cassandra Bullock, Call to Order-Mayor Nass Mayor Nass called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Town Manager Briefing and Updates on Greensboro's 1,4 Dioxane Contamination of the Haw River Town Manager Chris Kennedy stated that this evening's Special Session of the Board to discuss our water quality is planned to be brief to allow for the Board, staff and the public to participate in the Environmental Management Commission's (EMC) triennial review public comment hearing that is scheduled for today at 6:00pm. This session with the EMC, is to collect public feedback on the contaminants that affect not only Pittsboro, but others across the state. Town Manager Kennedy added that what we may lack in detail this evening due to time constraints, we will try to brief and cover as much as we can in the next thirty minutes, and we will expand upon later in a future session of the Board. Town Manager Kennedy stated that he and Public Utilities Director Adam Pickett have been working with the City of Greensboro's water treatment staff since the June 30 1,4 Dioxane discharge into the Haw River. Town staff have been collected samples and we are running those samples to lab facilities while also receiving samples from the Greensboro. Staff continues to work with state officials and City of Greensboro employees to determine what happened. The Town has not received a full debrief from City of Greensboro or state officials to date, but we are aware that a has been sent by Greensboro asking their customers to assess whether any known contamination has occurred. When the Special Order by Consent (SOC) between the state and tpe City of Greensboro was approved earlier this year, I think we were all confident that the SOC would be effective. Town Manager Kennedy stated that the SOC was signed in February 2021 and effective May 1, 2021, and here we are less than 60-days after its effect with a contamination level twenty-times their authorized limit. Staff expects and we will impress upon the State as best as we can to make sure the SOC becomes functional for the Town. While the SOC includes reporting and sampling requirements, none of that provides protection for us when the river is contaminated. Staff intends to continue working with the state and City of Greensboro officials, as well as our representatives elected at the state and federal levels. Right now, the solutions and identification of the source is undetermined, and we share that frustration with our customers. Next Steps / Plan of Action Town Manager Chris Kennedy stated that the Town will continue to sample our raw water, treated water and the water in our tanks at the expense of the City of Greensboro. The Town has continually sampled each of our water tanks, the raw water from what we pull out of the Haw River, and the finished water that comes out of the plant as well. The Town intends to sample until we achieve levels of non-detect, readings less than 2.0 ug/L. The latest test results will be in a press release for our customers tomorrow and the latest sampling results, as of July 18, are as follows: Raw Composite: 1.26 ug/L, Finished: 2.36 ug/L, Chatham Forest Tank: 2.09 ug/L, Horton Tank: 6.89 ug/L, Million-Gallon Tank: 6.04 ug/L. Town Manager Kennedy added that the Town will hold another Special Session of the Board of Commissioners to discuss water quality and that meeting will likely occur around mid-August with a public comment session at that meeting. Town Manager Kennedy stated that he and the Board really want our customers and citizens to feel heard. Staff will continue to have conversations with state and City of Greensboro officials as well as our consultants (CDM Smith) that will be part of our debrief. One point of contention that will be asked to be addressed, is the level of penalty for future contamination. Town Manager Kennedy stated that the fine to the City of Greensboro for contamination between December 2017 and February 2021, four known 1,4 dioxane contamination threshold exceeding events, was $5,000 dollars. The City of Greensboro's enterprise fund budget for FY 2020-2021 was $139 million, and our budget was $3.9 million, so even if it were applied to only one of those fiscal years between 2017 and 2021, the equivalent or proportional amount of penalty to Pittsboro would have resulted in a fine of $143 dollars. Staff intends to press hard to determine the nexus between the impact, the penalty, and the result. For other related updates, Town Manager Kennedy elaborated on the latest with the Town's current advanced treatment project underway at the water treatment plant. The Town has appropriated $2.6 million dollars to address PFAS and to support those expenditures, the Town is spending 100% of the monies we are receiving from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) towards the fast-track GAC project at the water treatment plant, the first phase of the project. The second will seek more permanent implementation, a version that treats the entire plant capacity of 2.0 million gallons per day. The Town is also seeking funding via a federal bill right now for a direct appropriation to support this second phase. The Town submitted a Community Project Funding request, and we were added to Congressman Price's Top 10 list for inclusion into a federal appropriations bill, for $2.208 million dollars. We are thankful for Representative Price's help in this effort. CDM Smith is our engineer and contractor on the fast-track GAC project, so I have also asked CDM Smith to provide the Town with the cost estimates to add the UVAOP needed to address 1,4 Dioxane as granular activated carbon (GAC) is not effective against 1,4 Dioxane. The Town is also involved with several projects that work with interconnectivity to other non-Haw River bodies of water, so in the future if the Haw River is contaminated, we can pivot and go to another source until it is safe to draw again from the Haw River. The Town continues to work with the Western Intake Partnership for a water feed out of Jordan Lake, that will bring up to six million gallons a day into Pittsboro, however this effort will not likely produce any water until 2030 or after. The Town is also working with Chatham County and the City of Sanford on a Preliminary 2 Engineering Report (PER) and an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a water line that would bring treated water from the City of Sanford through the Moncure Mega Site and up into Pittsboro. Town staff are also working hard to improve our communications with the public. The Town is currently utilizing Press Releases, the new Town website that allows us to have banner alerts, and other alert systems to communicate the latest with this contamination incident from Greensboro. Board of Commissioner Comments Commissioner Farrell thanked the Town Manager for the update. Commissioner Shipp also thanked Town staff for the time they put into this over the last couple of weeks. Commissioner Shipp also reminded the public that Board of Commissioner meetings as also streamed live and available after the meetings via Y ouTube. Commissioner Fiocco commented that a statement in the Special Order by Consent (SOC) with the City of Greensboro and the state mentions a "downstream water supply raw water intake" and that he believes that Pittsboro is the only water utility with an intake on the Haw River south of Greensboro. Town Manager Chris Kennedy responded to Commissioner Fiocco's comment stating that was his understanding as well. Commissioner Fiocco stated that the SOC, when discussing a Health Advisory Level for a downstream drinking water supply raw water intake, should specifically mention Pittsboro in language and force the state to acknowledge that the Town is the primary affected party. Commissioner Fiocco added that, when looking at the penalty structure and the $5,000 that the Town Manager mentioned earlier, each exceedance of those levels is miniscule in relation to the costs to Greensboro, there is simply no motivation. All I hear is us wasting large amounts of finished water, water that we paid money to finish, and now we must spill it into the stream or sewer, which costing us more money. If the contributors of contamination or the City of Greensboro cannot stop the pollution, they should have to pay. Town Manager Chris Kennedy stated that the Town has incurred probably near as much draining our water tanks to remove contaminated water from our infrastructure. Commissioner Fiocco asked if a Notice of Violation (NOV) had been issued? Town Manager Chris Kennedy advised that he has not seen or heard of an issued NOV to date to Greensboro. The City of Greensboro will likely tell us that they are adhering to the SOC so there is no violation, and they are probably right, but that to me suggests failure in the SOC. If Environmental , Management Commission (EMC) decides to use a SOC that does not work in practice or if it is deemed ineffective with helping downstream neighbors, then a conversation should be had to revise those terms and the penalties associated with continued contamination. Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin thanked staff and the Town Manager for explaining the process and what we can look forward to in the coming weeks, months and beyond as we seek to get this cleared up. 3 Commissioner Bonitz thanked staff and the Town Manager for their response and decision-making to this situation. Commissioner Bonitz added that he would like to know what are we going to do to recover the extra expense passed to our rate payers, our water drinkers, and taxpayers and when we might have that conversation. Town Manager Chris Kennedy advised that the Town will continue to debrief the most recent contamination event, and the results of that debrief should give us an idea if litigation would be successful. Litigating against the City of Greensboro would be fruitless because of governmental immunity and the SOC documenting the ability to contaminate. The Town would likely need to litigate to invalidate the SOC or against the contaminators themselves. Tonight's meeting is the beginning of that dialogue, the Town is collecting public comments, and if it moves toward going into litigation, we will probably have a third session. Town Manager Kennedy added that if the Board wishes, staff can provide the Board a list of the pros and cons of litigation. Mayor Nass joined in with other Commissioners to thank the Town Manager for his updates and urged the public to provide written comments to staff for the next meeting. Adjournment Commissioner Bonitz made a motion to Adjourn at 5:59pm, seconded by Commissioner Farrell. Vote: Aye-5 Nay-0 Mayor Nass: N/A Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin: Aye Commissioner Bonitz: Aye Commissioner Farrell: Aye Commissioner Fiocco: Aye Commissioner Shipp: Aye Motion Passed. ~ Attest: 4