Sewer and Water Utilities

1 SPECIAL SEWER AND WATER UTILITIES COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2024 3 VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE 4 (APPROVED VERSION) 5 6 The November 12, 2024 meeting of the Sewer and Water Utilities Committee was called to order by 7 Committee Chairperson Denise Bhirdo at 3:46 P.M. 8 9 Present: Chairperson Denise Bhirdo and members Kurt Harff and Alison Werner 10 11 Staff Members: Utilities Director Megan Barnes, Finance Director/Treasurer Volodymyr Gannik, and 12 Utilities Clerk Kara Kroll 13 14 Others: Amber Drewieske, Elizabeth McMasters, and Laurel Harff 15 16 Approval of the Agenda: 17 A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Werner that the Agenda for the November 12, 2024 meeting of 18 the Sewer and Water Utilities Committee be approved as presented. Motion carried – all ayes. 19 20 Approval of the minutes: 21 A motion was made by Werner, seconded by Harff to approve the minutes of the October 29, 2024 meeting 22 of the Sewer and Water Utilities Committee as presented. Motion carried – all ayes. 23 24 Public Comments and Correspondence 25 26 No correspondence was received for this meeting. 27 28 Discussion Items: 29 a) Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations Report 30 A copy of the Sewer and Water Utility operations report prepared by Barnes was included in the meeting 31 packet for the members to review. Barnes told the committee that she heard back from the state on PFAs 32 testing. The testing cost will be $730.00, and the committee gave Barnes the ok to complete the test. If 33 the test shows that the sludge does not contain PFAs, then the utilities will be able to land apply sludge 34 and help reduce the amount of sludge that will need to be hauled to Green Bay. Barnes also gave an 35 update on the hauler spill that took place at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The hauler will be billed for 36 all the costs associated with the spill. 37 38 c) Rate Study 39 A rate study was prepared by Robert E Lee and CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA). It was determined at the Special 40 Sewer and Water Utilities Committee meeting on October 29, 2024, that the Utilities would conduct a 41 simplified rate case going forward. The new rate case looks at cash flows, revenue, and expenses and is to 42 be reviewed each year during the budget process. Barnes and Drewieske from CLA explained that when you 43 do capital improvement projects, you should increase rates incrementally, so the users don’t feel a large 44 impact all at once. Barnes has estimated an increase of 117% for sludge hauling in 2025. Barnes is currently 45 looking into a sludge processing facility; Barnes noted the sludge problem has been discussed since 2014. 46 Drewieske from CLA also recommends rate increases each year that cover the cost of inflation. It was 47 discussed and decided by all present to implement a 15% increase on fixed and volume charges and a 25%  Minutes for the November 12, 2024 meeting of the Utilities – SWUC Committee – Approved Version 1 increase on unsewered volume charges in 2025. Barnes included hauled sewer rates from area utilities and 2 Sister Bay is currently the least expensive. 3 4 A motion was made by Bhirdo, seconded by Werner to recommend a 15% increase on fixed and volume 5 charges and a 25% increase on unsewered volume charges and recommend a public hearing at the Village 6 Board Meeting on December 17, 2024 as presented. Motion carried-all ayes. 7 8 Discussion regarding matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a Committee, Official, or 9 Employee. 10 11 None at this time. 12 13 The next meeting of the Sewer and Water Utilities Committee will be conducted at 3:45 P.M. on Tuesday, 14 December 10, 2024 via Video Conference. 15 16 Adjournment 17 At 4:41 P.M. a motion was made by Werner, seconded by Harff to adjourn the November 12, 2024 meeting 18 of the Sewer and Water Utilities Committee. Motion carried – all ayes. 19 20 Respectfully submitted, 21 22 Kara Kroll 23 Utilities Clerk