Mohawk Valley Water Authority – June 19, 2006
Chairman Gaston called the meeting
to order at 5:07 PM and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call: Present: Bruce Brodsky, Rolf Buchner, Elis
DeLia, George Gaston, Joseph Hobika, Jr., Nathaniel Price, Millicent
Rader-Harris and Frank Trevisani.
Absent: Vincent Coyne, Bernard Martin, Sr. and Bette Szesny. Also present: Patrick Becher, Edward Earl,
Dick Goodney, James Korfonta, Connie Schreppel, Phil Tangorra and Donald
Weimer.
Approval of the May 15,
2006 Minutes: Mr. DeLia
moved to approve the Minutes. Seconded
by Ms. Rader-Harris.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Resolution: Award of Professional
Services Survey Contract to Cornerstone Land Surveyors
The Board’s current plans call for a new Deerfield Reservoir Storage Tank to replace open storage and comply with new EPA regulations. A site survey is required to prepare design plans for the proposed tank. The Board requested proposals from five qualified firms for a topographic and property survey and base-mapping for design and construction of the tank. Three proposals were received and reviewed by the Board’s staff and on the basis of price it was determined that Cornerstone Land Surveyors, Hinckley, NY is the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of $3,500. This is to be paid as a capital improvement out of the Board’s Capital Improvement Fund.
Motion made by Mr. DeLia. Seconded by Ms. Rader-Harris.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Resolution: Award of Professional Services Survey Contract to Thew Associates, PLLC
A
site survey is required to prepare design plans for the new main in Commercial
Drive, Whitestown, NY. A request for
proposal was sent to five qualified firms for a topographic and property survey
and base-mapping for design and construction of new main. Four proposals were received and reviewed by
the Board’s staff and based on price Thew Associates, PLL, Utica, NY is the
lowest responsive and responsible bidder for the sum of $1,950.00. This will be paid as a capital improvement
out of the Board’s Capital Improvement Fund.
Motion made by Mr. DeLia. Seconded by Ms. Rader-Harris.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Resolution: Award of Professional Services Survey Contract to Cornerstone Land Surveyors
A site survey is required to prepare design plans for the new main in York Street, Utica. A request for proposal was sent to five qualified firms for a topographic and property survey and base-mapping for design and construction of new main. The Board’s staff evaluated the 2 proposals received and based on price and determined that Cornerstone Land Surveyors, Hinckley, NY is the lowest responsive and responsible bidder for the sum of $3,100. This is to be paid as a capital improvement out of the Board’s Capital Improvement Fund.
Motion made by Mr. Trevisani. Seconded by Ms. Rader-Harris.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Resolution: Distribution System Corrosion Control Study
The distribution system must be managed to maintain the high
quality water produced by the MVWA treatment plant to protect customers and
meet the new DBP and LT2 regulations on time.
The final link will be to study the effect chloramines as our secondary
disinfectant will have on lead and copper in the distribution system and
possibly identify more effective alternatives to the use of lime/soda ash for
corrosion control. The staff recommends
the contract be sole sourced to Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. since MPI has been an
integral part of all of the precious studies and has vast knowledge of the MVWA
treatment and distribution systems. The
cost is $152,000. The expected
completion date is 12 to 14 months from the date of contract award. These services shall be paid out of the
Capital Improvement Fund.
Connie Schreppel gave an overview of the Lead and Copper
Rule regarding the history and studies, past and present.
Motion made by Mr. Hobika,
Jr. Seconded by Mr. DeLia.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Proposed Goals for FY 06-07 for Executive Director and Comptroller
Mr. Hobika, Jr. made a motion to table the Executive Director and Comptroller’s proposed goals.
Seconded by Mr. Brodsky.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (3) Absent
Motion carried.
Committee Reports:
Capital Projects: Mr. DeLia stated that the committee met
regarding the above Resolutions and a few other issues, which are all in the
Capital Projects Committee Report from Dick Goodney.
Joe Hobika, Jr. commended Mr.
Goodney for the report he put together.
Budget and Finance: Mr. Brodsky stated that the volume of water
that is being sold is not growing and the cash change is the result of the rate
increase. As we move into the next few
months and cash flow becomes apparent, I want to assure the Board that the
dollars will be put aside for capital projects. If there are any concerns regarding this, please bring it to the
Board. Windsong Mountain Park was in
the newspaper recently and I would like the Board be kept up-to-date on this
issue from the MVWA staff.
Personnel Committee: Mr. Coyne asked Mr. Buchner to give the
report. The committee met and developed
a contract to be offered to the Executive Director and the Comptroller. The committee will be prepared to present it
to the Board at the next meeting and requests that the Chairman schedule an
Executive Session.
Operations: Mr. Price stated that the committee did meet
this month and continued discussion on the vehicle maintenance issue. Don Weimer did a survey on MVWA Repairs for
Pavement Cuts. At this point, this
committee needs direction from the Board on what path the committee should
follow. Mr. Brodsky stated that the
Executive Director and the Comptroller have as their primary projects for this
year the vehicle program. The committee
should sit down with the Executive Director and the Comptroller and the
committee’s actions should be defined.
Mr. Weimer, Principal Engineer
stated that at the last Board Meeting a Board member asked that the appropriate
municipal officials be surveyed to ask their opinion concerning MVWA’s program
to appropriately support the safety of the public in its mission to repair
pavements that are cut by the MVWA crews.
The MVWA program to ensure the safety of the traveling public in each
municipality can be divided into Immediate Response and Temporary Pavement
Repairs and in its actions to provide permanent repairs to each road cut. Twenty survey questionnaires were sent to the
municipal officials on May 26, 2006.
Some comments regarding needed improvements: length of permanent repairs
takes too long, use the same base course material as was removed to make the
water main repair and need personnel to direct traffic on busy streets. Corrections have been/are being
implemented.
Executive Director’s Report: Mr. Becher reported on the following:
- Mr. Becher spoke with John Murad from Hancock
& Estabrook and he informed Mr. Becher that the timeframe had passed
for some of the discovery demands to be turned in by the NYS Canal
Corporation. Mr. Murad went to the
Judge and got a consent order.
The Judge recommended a court structured mediation process with all
parties while everything else is proceeding.
- Since the last meeting the MVWA has had an
aggressive public information campaign going on. There have been two separate public service announcements
that ran for two weeks on the radio.
A print ad in the newspaper will run in the Observer Dispatch on
Sunday and Wednesday for the next few weeks. The Observer Dispatch called Mr. Becher and stated that
since they thought it was an opinion, the MVWA had to put Paid
Advertisement in bold on the top of the advertisement.
- Mr. Goodney drafted a letter for Mr. Becher’s
review, which will be going out to our elected officials. The letter presents an overview of the
MVWA’s capital improvement programs specifically the 24 million needed for
the Regulatory Compliance Program.
Also, so they know that any dollars they may have access to is
helpful to the MVWA. This letter
will be distributed to the Board members once it has gone out.
- This fall marks 100 years that we started using
the West Canada Creek and also marks 15 years since water started flowing
from the new filtration plant.
This is a time to celebrate and highlight a great resource that we
have in this area.
Mr.
Brodsky would like to take the Gray Dam ad, make copies and put them into the
next billing cycle.
Mr. DeLia
would like Mr. Becher to ask the OD for copies of other ad’s from other
companies/agencies where they have had to put “Paid Advertisement” on the top
of their advertisements. The Chamber of
Commerce remains rock solid in its support of the MVWA’s expansion plans regarding
the lawsuit.
Old Business: Mr. Trevisani had a few articles for the board members to read on other water authorities throughout New York State. There were rate comparisons and other interesting information.
New Business: Discussion of Lead Pipes
Ms. Rader-Harris requested that the MVWA put a notice on the quarterly water bills stating “Run your water for 20 seconds in the morning before you drink it.” Ms. Schreppel stated that the MVWA has been educating its customers for a long time by putting it on the bills and in the newsletter. Mr. Becher stated that we could certainly do that again.
Ms. Rader-Harris spoke about the lead pipe replacement program. Ms. Rader-Harris stated that the MVWA crews replaced lead pipes from the curb stop to the meter, which is not normally the MVWA’s practice. Mr. Becher is going to look into this.
The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 17, 2006 at 5:00 PM.
Mr. Price moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Brodsky. The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
__________________________
Suzanne M. Harmon, Secretary
Mohawk Valley Water Authority
