Mohawk Valley Water Authority Minutes
January 27, 2020
Chairman DeLia called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman DeLia presided and Suzanne Harmon took the minutes.
Roll Call
Present: Bruce Brodsky, Dave Corr, Vincent Coyne, Elis DeLia, Mark Ford, Luke Lewis, Richard Karam, Frank Mutolo, Joseph Samson and Bette Szesny. Absent: Mr. Bova. Mr. Arcuri arrived at 5:06 PM after the approval of the minutes. Also, Present: Richard Goodney, Anne Milograno, Phil Tangorra, Jim Korfonta, and Ken Bobrow, Esq.
Approval of the December 9, 2019 Minutes
Motion made by Mr. Corr to approve the minutes. Seconded by: Mr. Mutolo
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (1) Abstain (2) Absent Motion Carried.
Election of Officers
Mr. Coyne moved to make a slate of nominations as presented:
Elis DeLia for re-election to the Chairman position.
Bruce Brodsky to the Vice-Chairman position, Rocco Arcuri to the Treasurer position
and Suzanne Harmon to the Secretary position. Seconded by: Ms. Szesny
Vote: (11) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Resolution: Award of Professional Services Contract to Thew Associates for Raw Water Survey & Mapping
The MVWA has been awarded a WIIA Grant for $3 million toward construction of the Phase 2 Raw Water Main Project in Hinckley. Survey of the potential route is needed to finalize the location and obtain the Brookfield and FERC approval prior to starting final design. Soil borings and limited archeological investigations will follow. The MVWA has received a proposal from Thew Associates to complete the 2.5 miles of topographic and bathymetric survey and mapping. The Engineering Department has recommended Thew Associates, Utica, NY to perform the Survey and Mapping services at a cost not to exceed $38,500.00.
Motion made by Mr. Brodsky to approve. Seconded by: Mr. Ford
Vote: (11) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Resolution: Award of Construction Contract for New Water Main in Snowden Hill Road for the Snowden Hill Road Tank
The Board’s current Capital Improvement Plan calls for construction of a new 1.2 million gallons Concrete Water Storage Tank and Water Mains on Snowden Hill Road in the Town of New Hartford. The new water storage tank is under construction and a new 12” connecting main 2100’ in length is required to supply the tank from a connection in Oxford Road. Bids were received from seven general contractors and the bid of CNY Excavating & Concrete LLC, Holland Patent, NY in the amount of $305,424.00 was the lowest bidder. The funds to pay for this construction shall be paid out of the Capital Improvement Fund.
Motion made by Mr. Corr to approve. Seconded by: Mr. Karam
Vote: (11) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Approval: Village of Oriskany Sewer Billing Services
This Agreement effective March 1, 2020 between The Village of Oriskany, with its principal office located at 708 Utica Street, Oriskany, NY and the Mohawk Valley Water Authority. The Village of Oriskany is responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of a sewer system, treatment plant and appurtenances and has the obligation to pay the cost. A substantial number of sewer users within the Village are also consumers of water furnished by the Authority, and the Authority already has the facilities, meters, equipment, administrative organization and offices for the administration, billing and collection of charges for water services.
The Village, jointly with the Authority, will designate on or before the 1st day of March 2020, the metered service accounts of the Authority which thereafter, under the rules and regulations of the Authority shall be billed for sewer service charges.
The village shall pay to the Authority for the services its renders under this Agreement at a rate of $1.20 per bill quarterly. The annual charge to the Village shall be reviewed annually for the purpose of revision based upon the preceding years’ experience.
This Agreement shall cover a period of one year from the effective date of the Agreement and shall be self-renewing for periods of one year each thereafter unless and until cancelled by not less than 180 days written notice by either party to the other of its intention to cancel the same.
Motion made by by Mr. Coyne to approve. Seconded by Mr. Brodsky
Vote: (11) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Committee Reports
Mr. Korfonta stated that there were two months of financial statements in your binder. Consumption was down 3.7 %, which we discussed all through the year. At the end of November 2019, cash is positive by $963,000 year-to-date. A large cash recovery occurred in October resulting in a more comfortable position heading into the end of the operating year. In December, we have outlays for retirement and prepayments for 2020 insurances.
Executive Director’s Report
- Mr. Becher stated that back in October we were talking about Cyber-Security updates. There are three fronts that we are working on: 1) upgrades to our SCADA system, 2) the IBM recommendations, which we now have narrowed down and 3) our fire wall and disaster recover with Tri-Delta, who will be bringing a range of proposals. The next step is to sit down with Frank Mutolo and the Operations Committee to review all of this. The goal is to bring this back to our March Board meeting.
- Mr. Becher stated that we received a Wheel Grant of $3 million dollars for the next phase of the raw water project. That is in addition to the $2.3 million that we received, which we received two years ago towards the first phase. We are now almost at $5.5 million dollars of State grants.
- Mr. Becher stated that we have inserts that are ready to go out to our customers explaining the sewer rates and who sets those. There are two inserts, one for monthly bills and one for quarterly bills.
- Mr. Becher stated there was a job posting that showed up on Indeed.com stating that the MVWA had a receptionist position open at a high rate of pay. The MVWA contacted Indeed to remove it.
New Business:
Resolution: Approval of MVWA Participation in Five Town Water Extension
The Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency has applied and received funds for a grant to develop the Eastern Mohawk Valley Regional Water Transmission Main to provide water service to residents in the Towns of Schuyler, Frankfort and Herkimer and the Villages of Frankfort, Herkimer and Ilion. The HCIDA is in the process of applying for additional grants and obtaining funding and seeks a commitment from the MVWA that it is capable of providing a capacity of three million gallons of water per day for transmission to the Eastern Mohawk Valley Regional Water Transmission Main. The MVWA will assume ownership of the water line once it is constructed, at no cost to the Authority.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve. Seconded by: Mr. Karam
Vote: (11) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Chairman DeLia asked for a motion to go into Executive Session at 5:40 to discuss a personnel matter.
Motion made by Mr. Brodksy. Seconded by Mr. Corr.
Vote: (11) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (1) Absent Motion Carried.
Went into Executive Session at 5:43 PM.
Came out of Executive Session at 5:50 PM
In Executive Session the Board voted to increase the salary for the Executive Secretary for the coming year to take effect upon her anniversary date.
Respectfully submitted,
__________________________
Suzanne M. Harmon, Secretary
Mohawk Valley Water Authority