SABPA Meeting

South Amherst Board of Public Affairs Storm & Water Meeting Minutes for August 7, 2023 Call to order 7:00PM o Roll Call was conducted, and present were as follows: ▪ SABPA Board- Zoltan Zoltai, Mark Leshinski, Tom Pellitteri ▪ Council Liaison: Jeri Leigh Siss (present) ▪ Visitors: Mayor Leshinski (present) ▪ Water/Storm Operator: Dennis Hevener (present) ▪ Interim Water Clerk: Jeanne Maschari (present) o Agenda Amendments: none made, motion to approve made by 1st: Mark Leshinski, 2nd, Tom Pellitteri, All in favor. o Motion to approve agenda made by 1st: Mark Leshinski, 2nd, Tom Pellitteri, All in favor. o Motion to approve previous minutes from 7/17/23 meeting without change: 1st: Mark Leshinski, 2nd, Tom Pellitteri, All in favor. Storm: Water Operator: Dennis Hevener began his report with review of the status of the new home construction site at 5906 Russia Road (NW corner of Annis and Russia). He and Tom Pellitteri shared that the property owner’s plans to clean the ditch on the Russia Rd side and proposed work was reviewed with the property owner including but not limited to pipe, materials, and any tap-in codes needing compliance and permits. Catch basin cleaning was not performed the past 2 weeks because the Water Operator was busy completing tasks with EPA compliance and additional work load. The MS4 audit work is underway. Upon completion the Water Operator is to submit to the mayor for signature. Afterwards to be forwarded by the Water Clerk to Lorain County Stormwater Management District for filing before the required deadline. The condition and functionality of home-made older catch basins located at 685 South Lake were discussed followed by comment from SABPA Board member Tom Pellitteri who feels these 2 basins should be replaced by 24” x 24” pre-cast basin/boxes. Water Operator Heavenor was tasked with follow-up and moving forward with steps to get them replaced. The Clerks report identified that the $500 permit fee was paid by 5906 Russia Road construction to install a new sewage treatment system. Further discussion about this address included the Board identifying a topography report (aka ‘Topo’) with ‘grades’ is required from the homeowner. The Clerk and Water Operator are to follow up with the property owner to make sure one is filed with the SABPA Clerk. No completed tap-ins reported. Pending tap-ins conversation discussed: 319 W Main St. (Haynes) Application status was reviewed along with application / use of a spray-type system here. Storm Financial Reports (Exhibit A) were looked over, accepted without change. Motion to approve was made by 1st: Tom Pellitteri, 2nd Mark Leshinski. All in favor- Motion carried. Old Business- Storm: The SABPA shared its emergency status of being without a vehicle for the Operator to work from because SABPA funding restraints presently don’t allow for purchase of new one. It is the 4th month without one. It was talked about that the new rate-increases will take many months to build enough revenue to make a purchase. SABPA Board member Mark Leshinski asked the Council Liaison Siss and Mayor Dave Leshinski (who were both present) to elaborate on village assistance/options. The police car option was again discussed that the new Police car has not yet arrived to provide the option of using the older back up cruiser for Operator’s use. And that the Police Chief has yet to agree to this plan as he wishes at this time to keep the older cruiser as a back-up. There was no storm report from the Water Operator. The GPS Mapping System was talked about by all. Storm Operator Dennis Hevener needs to get re-trained by David (in the Fire department) as he has fallen behind mapping storm catch basin locations, creating a report for the same. This data is vital to compliance for the Village’s use of the Lorain County Stormwater Management District license, and reporting to Laura Lubee (EPA) Storm water grant writing update revealed no action or work at this time. Water The Operator’s report for water business started with conversation about the water meter at 503 west main street (Hodge), the meter is bad and needs to be replaced. The Operator stated that the lead and copper reporting task is finished. He also said that 30% of the water valve GPS mapping is completed. Segueing off this discussion was the status of the water vale testing throughout the Village. The SABA asked the Operator to increase the intensity of his effort and while performing the testing, be sure to also do GPS mapping of each valve towards that SABPA initiative. (Muli-task) The mapping effort data points for each valve should include 1) Locate and find each valve 2) picture of each, 3) logging GPS coordinates. The Operator said he has about 100 remaining vales to map, on average 15 minutes each to perform the required tasks of testing & mapping. The water service to property owned by John Matuska is to be shut off 8/8/23 Completed and pending water tap-ins are none at this time. Mark Leshinski of the board brought forth for additional discussion the 3 fire hydrants in the Village requiring replacement. Water/Storm Operator: Dennis Hevener who, is also the former Village Fire Captain, spoke and said without these 3 hydrants the Village is ‘ok’ to fight fires, without loss of ability to do so. Conversation between the Board and Dennis followed and produced that labor and materials combined it is ‘estimated’ to cost at or about $10,000 each to replace a single hydrant. It was further identified that the hydrant on the corner of E. Main and Kenwood at the worst of the 3 bad hydrants as due to make-model-age parts are no longer available require it to be replaced. The Board requested that the Operator and Clerk identify all 3 and especially this one as ‘non-functioning’ on the fixed assets report to the EPA. For the Water Interim Clerk’s Report, it was identified that ‘1356’ warnings since months-back stemming from uploads is now updated, and not an issue. They were not kept current by the previous Clerk. The Clerk spoke about previous consumption reports being inaccurate and that she will correct the data, but it will take considerable time. This was followed by a question and answer between the Board and her as to the details. During the Clerk’s report a July 3rd letter of violations received from the EPA was reviewed. Tom Pellitteri of the Board commented that Cory Timko (the SABPA contracted licensed Operator) was to have taken care of this ah that he (Tom) would verify with him the same. The SABPA gave a short overview to the audience that the Licensed Operator of Record (Timko) handles and processes all EPA notices and Letters. The water Clerk report shared that the contractor, Diggers, had drawn water from our system without (1) a meter (2) without deposit. In this case per code a $600 ‘bulk’ water deposit is required. Our Operator and Interim Clerk are to reach out to the contractor does not fix this simple oversight. As an FYI the Board reminded all the residential and commercial deposit fee is $200. The Interim Clerk this past week refunded $1500 in security deposits (deposits refunded after 1 year) The curb box at 503 W. Main (Michael Hodge) was talked about. Service remains on, and the box needs excavated. A July 27th request to Diggers for an estimate regarding the work was made- still awaiting the quote reply. The Clerks report also shared property owned by Harold Taylor at 256 W. Main owes $29.26 in leftover fees after the sale of the property. A motion to waive/dismiss the fees based upon economies of scale was made my Board member Zoltai, 2nd Mark Leshinski, all in favor. Motion carried to waive the fees owed. July billing was covered that not all customers/residents received their bills in a timely manner. The main problem identified is poor US postal service. The Clerk said she delivered all billing to the post office on 8/1 for mailing to customers. However, many did not get their billing in the mail until after the payment due date. The late fee for payment of a water bill is $8 each. There were 6 customers brought to the conversation. The SABPA further discussed the many additional means and methods residents can use to pay their bills, know their balances, know their due date, these are the Village web site, social media, calling the Water Department office. The SABPA shared that with so many ways to manage a water account, that late mail arrival is not basis to pay late or not on time as a solid reason. Despite this, the Board agreed to waive those fees for July only, for any customer who asked for the fee to be credited. A motion to waive the fees as described above was made my Board member Zoltai, 2nd Tom Pellitteri, all in favor. Motion carried to waive the $8.00 late fee for only July 2023 due to late mail arrival of bills when requested by anyone charged. Furthermore, on the topic of late bills, a motion to change/push back the due date from the 17th to the 20th of each month to offer future relief to residents for the untimely delivery of mail, a motion was made by Board member Zoltai, 2nd Mark Leshinski, all in favor. Motion carried out to waive change the due date of water bills to the 20th of each month. Board member Zoltai said he would draft a letter to the postmaster expressing concerns about mail taking 10-20 days to deliver mail sent locally to our Village. Water Financial Reports (Exhibit B) were reviewed by the Board and Audience. No changes were requested. Motion to approve was made by 1st: Zoltan Zoltai, 2nd Tom Pellitteri, All in favor- Motion carried. Under old business the Board reviewed the Water Clerk hiring status. The previous Water Clerk resigned in July. Brief discussion was had as to the reasons the first 3 candidates selected eventually passed on taking the job. The search to fill the vacancy remains underway and during this time. In the interim Council person and former Clerk Jeanne Maschari has volunteered to fill the role until a replacement is hired which at that time, she has agreed to train that person too. Michelle Henke in an HR role will resume the search for viable candidates this week. Board Chair Mr. Zoltai on behalf of the SABA thanked Jeanne for her help. Old business last item discussed, Mark Leshinski advised he missed the deadline to file grant application for funding towards the purchase of a back up generator. Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Board member Zoltai, 2nd Mark Leshinski, all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:15PM 8/7/23