Mohawk Valley Water Authority Minutes
August 15, 2016
Chairman DeLia called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call
Present: Rocco Arcuri, Denny Bova, Bruce Brodsky, Vincent Coyne, Elis DeLia, Mark Ford, Eric Kane, Richard Karam and Frank Mutolo. Absent: Bette Szesny. Also Present: Richard Goodney, Anne Milograno, Jim Korfonta, Scott Gorgas and Ken Bobrow, Esq.
The Board is down two members.
Chairman DeLia presided and Suzanne Harmon took the minutes.
Approval of the July 18, 2016 Minutes
Motion made by Mr. Ford to approve the minutes. Seconded by: Mr. Arcuri
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Resolution: Award of Construction Contract for Washington Street Utica, Water Main Repairs
The general construction scope for this contract involves removal and replacement of the old hydrants, valves, replacement of a commercial meter and meter chamber improvements in an area of suspected contaminated soils. The MVWA will provide most water main materials for the project. Bids were received from three general contractors; of which Stevener’s Backhoe Service of Marcy, NY was low bidder in the amount of $32,775.Stevener’s will complete the work under this contract by October 31, 2016.
Motion made by Mr. Coyne to approve. Seconded by: Mr. Bova
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (2) Absent Motion Carried.
Approval: Quarterly Investment Statement – 2nd Quarter Ending 6/30/16
Mr. Korfonta stated that this is an investment statement of the MVWA trust funds. The Board has been presented with these statements every quarter for approval.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve. Seconded by: Mr. Brodsky
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Committee Reports
Finance: Mr. Korfonta stated that the MVWA is down in consumption, above budget regarding water sales and cash flow is favorable. Two payments are due soon, retirement and GAC and the annual financial report has been completed.
Mr. Brodsky stated that he noticed that unrestricted cash has changed and asked Mr. Korfonta to do a chart showing that. The chart is over a five year period plus year to date. We are close to $7.8 million dollars in unrestricted cash in July 2016, which is cash that we built up over the years. The MVWA just had a rating review and this helped. The MVWA has over $17 million dollars when you add in the reserve accounts.
This part year there was a new pronouncement from GASBI. The MVWA had to start recording out pension liability this past year. The MVWA pays a premium every December through the State Employee Retirement System. The MVWA paid a premium of $878,000, which is actually down from a $1 million dollars the previous year. In 2009 another GASBI pronouncement came out on the Retiree Health Insurance so we started recording that. Every two years we have a full evaluation done by an actuary. This past year they calculated it at $4.4 million actuarial accrued liability, of that we have a retired contribution that is calculated each year which was $278,000.
Executive Director’s Report
- Mr. Becher stated that the MVWA is currently drafting the budget proposal and budget packets are due back from departments by today. They will be reviewed and then presented to the Board.
- Pricing of the MVWA 2016 bonds, which totals over $9 million dollars including closing costs has been completed. Rates are low right now and the pricing went very well. Moody’s Investors Service is breaking into the market of issuing green bonds. It means that if the bonds are being used for a project being deemed to have an environmental benefit then they would be rated as a green bond. Green Bond one is the highest rating and 5 being the lowest rating. Moody’s was willing to waive their fee because the MVWA would be the first ones in the country. The MVWA did qualify for the Green Bond and gave it the highest rating of 1. They based that on the first phase of the raw water line replacement.
- The REDC (Regional Economic Development Council) is set up in clusters of six counties around the State. Every year they award money to those in this region of 55 to 60 million dollars or so. The MVWA put in an application for this year on time. The next leg of the raw water main project going from the Plant to the Reservoir is being done to increase the capacity and size of those lines in order to supply the Nano Center site. The MVWA feels that a project like this does underwrite thousands of jobs if the plant decides to relocate to this site. The MVWA feels it is a completely eligible project and one that the State should have a strong interest in seeing move forward.
Mr. Mutolo stated that the Operations Committee met and discussed hiring a consultant to look at the IT Department structure. Mr. Mutolo asked Mr. Becher if the RFP had been completed and he stated it has not.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:42 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
__________________________
Suzanne M. Harmon, Secretary
Mohawk Valley Water Authority