Mohawk Valley Water Authority Minutes
April 19, 2021
Chairman DeLia called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM.
Chairman DeLia presided and Patrick Becher took the minutes.
Roll Call
Present by WebEx: Rocco Arcuri, Dennis Bova, Elis DeLia, Bruce Brodsky, Mark Ford, Mark Ford, Richard Karam, Joe Samson and Bette Szesny. Also present by WebEx: Ken Bobrow, Esq. Absent: Mr. Coyne, Luke Lewis and Frank Mutolo. Present in Board Room: Patrick Becher, Jim Korfonta, Eric Schuler, Jim Mack, Anne Milograno, Phil Tangorra and Dave Corr.
Approval of the March 15, 2021 Minutes
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve the minutes. Seconded by: Mr. Brodsky
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Resolution: Award of Construction Contract For Southern Reservoir Access Road Bridge Replacement Project
The Board’s current Capital Improvement Plan calls for replacement of an existing, deficient bridge structure located on the Southern Reservoir Access Road.
Bids were received from twelve general contractors and the bid of Jablonski Excavating Inc., St. Johnsville, NY in the amount of $199,969.00 which was the lowest and is within the project budget. A construction contract in the amount of $199,969.00 be awarded to Jablonski Excavating Inc.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve. Seconded by: Brodsky
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Resolution: Award of Professional Engineering Services Contract to C&S Engineers, Inc. for Construction Phase Services at Southern Reservoir Access Road Bridge Replacement Project
The Construction Phase Services will include Construction Engineering Support, Construction Inspection, Development of Record Plans and Material Testing. C&S Engineers has submitted a detailed Task Based Scope or Services, based on time and expense costs, to be completed at a fee not to exceed $28,196.00.
The Engineering Department is recommending utilizing C&S on a sole-source basis for this work based, inter alia on the following items:
- C&S’s previous design responsibility for this project.
- Familiarity of construction methods required for the project and site.
- Familiarity with project site and MVWA operations related to project site.
- The cost of engaging a new consultant for this work would involve the extra expense and time of familiarization with the project.
The Engineering Department has recommended C&S Engineers, Inc., to perform the engineering services at a cost not to exceed $28,196.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve. Seconded by: Ford
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Approval: 1st Quarter Investment Statement Ending 3/31/21
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. Brodsky to approve the minutes. Seconded by: Mr. Arcuri
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Committee Reports
Finance:
Mr. Korfonta stated that the February and March Monthly Financial Reports are in your packet. The end of March the MVWA water sales were down and under budget about $120,000. We are hoping to recover. Consumption you recall we had a terrible month of January, we were down 13% compared to last year and are now down 6% so we are moving in the right direction. Cash flow we recovered that from a million down in January and now only about $600,000.
Mr. Arcuri stated there was a Finance Committee meeting and talked about some of these delinquent accounts. Mr. Becher stated that we were concerned about revenues, delinquencies, the ability to collect revenues, some restrictions that may be imposed by the State, as far as our ability to turn off our accounts. What came out of that meeting were a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. These have been forwarded to our attorney, Ken Bobrow who is working on them now. The plan is that once Mr. Bobrow has some information we will meet first at the staff level to make sure that our current procedures are proper based on his findings. Secondly, see what options we may be able to offer to the Board and at which point we will then have a follow up Finance Committee Meeting to hear what the legal options are on various approaches and come up with an overall game plan to make sure we are protecting our revenue stream properly.
Mr. Korfonta stated that the Board members have received the Annual Financial Report. There will be an Audit Committee meeting, where the auditors come in and present the financial statements.
Executive Director’s Report
- Mr. Becher stated that John Corcoran is joining us virtually for the meeting. Mr. Corcoran is the MVWA Labor Attorney from Hancock & Estabrook. The last meeting when the Board voted to extend the contract for a year for one of the MVWA’s Bargaining Units the Management Employee Association. During the course of discussion there was some indication that the Board that might want to hear directly from Mr. Corcoran as we move ahead and open up more complete negotiations with both of our bargaining units. That will happen in Executive Session.
- Covid Update: Approximately 65 – 70 % of MVWA employees are now vaccinated. We are going to review the Covid restrictions here in our offices and start to loosen things up a bit. The work crews will be a little more difficult.
- PERMA is branching out into new services. They called me and would like to offer public sector clients and have active shooter training and a variety of other things. They would like us to be a Pilot program, free of charge, which we agreed to. They will be coming in shortly to be reviewing training issues.
- The Underwriters from our last bond issue, Raymond James they did a great job moving our bonds to market. They will be doing a full symposium for Raymond James clients and Pat was asked to do a presentation on green bond issues.
- Brock is also doing a user group webinar symposium and has asked the MVWA to participate in that as well.
- The Audit is complete and will be doing a presentation on that.
- New York State mandated that we produce what they are calling a Pandemic Emergency Response Plan, which is how we would function with employees at half-staff, rotate and prioritize functions. This will be submitted by the end of this week.
Chairman DeLia asked for a motion to go into Executive Session at 5:23 PM to discuss a personnel matter regarding contract negotiation.
Motion made by Mr. Brodsky to go into Executive Session. Seconded by: Ms. Szesny.
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Went into Executive Session at 5:26 PM.
Motion made to come out of Executive Session at 5:40 PM by Mr. Samson. Seconded by: Mr. Corr.
Vote: (9) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Respectfully submitted,
__________________________
Suzanne M. Harmon, Secretary
Mohawk Valley Water Authority