Mohawk Valley Water Authority – June 16, 2008
Chairman Gaston called the meeting to order at 5:02 PM and opened with the
Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call:
Present: Bruce Brodsky, Vincent Coyne,
Chairman Gaston presided and Suzanne Harmon took the minutes.
Chairman Gaston welcomed Michael Wicks who was appointed by the Mayor of Utica.
Approval of the April 21, 2008 Minutes:
Motion
made by: Mr. Trevisani
Seconded by: Mr. DeLia
Vote:
(9) Ayes (0)
Nays (0) Abstain
(3) Absent
Motion carried.
Approval of the May 19, 2008
Minutes:
Motion
made by: Mr. Trevisani
Seconded by: Mr. DeLia
Mr.
Snyder would like to amend the minutes on page 2 last sentence under Bonding
Request to Water Finance Authority to read “Mr. Snyder would like the record to
state that he feels uncertainty in the market which makes it very uncertain what
the bonds will finance.”
Motion
made to amend the minutes by: Mr. Trevisani.
Seconded by: Mr. DeLia
Vote:
(8) Ayes (0)
Nays (1) Abstain
- Mr. Coyne (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Approval: The Investment
Policy
Mr.
Becher stated that the purpose of these Investment Guidelines is to establish
guidelines that will be used by the Upper Mohawk Valley Regional Water Board,
dba Mohawk Valley Water Authority in the purchase of investments.
Motion
made by Mr. Brodsky to approve without the hand written notes in the policy.
Seconded by: Mr. DeLia.
Vote:
(9) Ayes (0)
Nays (0) Abstain
(3) Absent
Motion carried.
Review and Approval of
Governance Committee Charter
Mr.
Becher stated that the responsibility of the committee is to accomplish the
objectives of good governance and accountability, the governance committee has
responsibilities related to: (a) the Authority’s Board; (b) evaluation of the
Authority’s policies; and (c) other miscellaneous issues.
Attorney Edward Earl recommended changing by-laws to “draft of by-laws” in the
charter.
Motion
made by: Mr. Brodsky
Seconded by: Mr. Coyne
Vote:
(9) Ayes (0)
Nays (0) Abstain
(3) Absent
Motion carried.
Committee Reports:
Capital Projects:
Mr. DeLia stated that the committee did
not meet this month due to a lack of agenda items.
Budget and Finance:
Mr. Brodsky stated that cash flow is
positive this month and water sales are higher than estimated for the year.
The total number of meters replaced is down from April due to the
Collection Shut-off program. There
were 780 properties in the system eligible for shut-off due to non payment; 172
need to be revisited for various reasons, 376 have paid and 232 have been shut
off. These accounts consist of
properties throughout the service area.
Mr.
Brodsky thanked the crews for the good job they have done on shut-off’s.
Personnel
Committee:
Mr. Coyne stated that he spoke to Mr. Ryan, who will be chairing this
committee, and they will have a meeting to transfer information in the near
future.
Operations:
Mr. Price stated that the committee did not meet this month.
Executive Director’s Report:
-
The By-Laws Committee did meet on May 30.
A draft of the by-laws was prepared by Edward Earl and will be
distributed to the full Board for review, discussion and adoption at the
July Board meeting.
-
The Finance Authority met on June 5.
Rick McCarthy, President of Environmental Capital LLC will oversee all
bonding for the MVWA. The Finance
Authority held bond counsel interviews with the help of Rich McCarthy and
retained Randy Mayer of Fulbright & Jaworski as lead counsel.
Mr. Mayer was Tom Rothman’s associate for the 2006 bonds.
It was decided that they would solicit a proposal from Mr. Mayer for
discussion at the next Finance Authority meeting.
The
closing date for bonding will be the second or third week of September 2008.
-
Mr. Becher received a check in the amount of $90,000 from the City of
-
Legal update:
1.
Pre-trial conference did
take place, the Judge’s primary agenda was to briefly discuss the positions of
the various parties, confirm that there was no settlement or political solution
likely at this point, determine whether summary judgment motions would be made
and select a trial date.
2.
The parties all agreed that
motions for summary judgment were anticipated and would be helpful to narrow the
issues in the case. Normally, the
parties have 120 days from the filing of the trial note of issue (here May 13,
2008) to file motions for summary judgment.
The MVWA objected to any extension as we believe an expedited motion and
trial date were warranted given the public issues surrounding the case.
Extension was denied.
3.
Trial date – Our attorney’s
recommended bifurcating the trial between the issues to be tried to the Judge
(which would be all liability issues) and those to be tried to a jury (any
claims for damages which have been made by the defendants).
The trial is bifurcated with liability issues being tried to Judge Hester
first, and damages to be tried by the jury thereafter, if necessary.
The earliest date the judge could give was February 9, 2009.
The damages portion of the trial has not yet been scheduled.
Old Business:
Mr.
Snyder stated that June’s board meeting ran for twelve minutes on Time Warner
this past month. He would like to
have the meetings put on the MVWA website and cancel Time Warner Cable.
Mr.
DeLia wanted to make it clear to the public that the Chairman of the Board
called the meeting to order did roll call, approved the minutes and then went
into executive session to discuss the MVWA’s litigation.
A motion was made to come out of executive session and the rest of the
meeting was public. He also stated
that the Board follows the open meetings law.
A
motion was made by Mr. DeLia to pull the MVWA’s tapings of the monthly board
meetings from running on Time Warner Cable.
Seconded by Mr. Wallace.
Vote:
(5) Ayes (4) Nays (Mr.
Brodsky, Mr. Gaston, Mr. Price & Mr. Trevisani)
(3) Absent
Motion denied.
Mr.
Snyder made a motion to withdraw his tabled motion from January 2008, which was
to cancel Anthony’s TV from recording the monthly board meetings.
Seconded by Mr. Price.
No vote
was taken.
Mr.
Coyne stated the survey results came back and he will set-up tours of the MVWA
system.
New Business:
Mr.
Snyder asked Mr. Brodsky if the Controller had investigated why customers are
able to conserve considerable amounts of water.
Consumption of large users should be reviewed for future water needs.
The Water Authority’s total consumption has gone down.
Mr. Brodsky stated that there is a trend
in the reduction of larger customers and an increase in smaller customers.
Until the Authority is given the opportunity to serve more customers and
share water with a larger area the existing customer base will keep paying for
the federal mandates imposed by the federal government.
The State of
The
next Board Meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 21, 2008 at 5:00 PM.
Mr.
Brodsky moved to adjourn the meeting.
Seconded by: Mr. Wallace.
The
meeting was adjourned at 6:18 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
__________________________
Suzanne
M. Harmon, Secretary
