Mohawk Valley Water Authority Minutes
December 12, 2022
Chairman DeLia called the meeting to order at 5:01 PM.
Chairman DeLia presided and Amy Passacantando took the minutes.
Roll Call
Present: Carl Annese, Rocco Arcuri, Vincent Coyne, Elis DeLia, Mark Ford, Richard Karam, Joseph Samson and Bette Szesny
Absent: Dennis Bova, Bruce Brodsky, Frank Mutolo.
Also Present in Boardroom: Patrick Becher, Phil Tangorra, Anne Milograno, Jim Mack, Jim Korfonta.
Mr. DeLia mentioned that tonight’s meeting will be Mr. Samson’s last meeting, he thanked him for his participation and service.
Approval of the October 24, 2022 Minutes
Motion made by Mr. Karam to approve the Minutes. Seconded by: Mr. Arcuri
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Review and Approval of the Rules and Regulations:
Mr. Becher stated that the Rules and Regulations was to be presented by the engineering department.
Eric Schuler has resigned from the company, but he had headed up a team that helped make the changes.
Some were operational and some clarifications.
Mr. DeLia has asked to see a copy of what the changes were.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve the Rules and Regulations. Seconded by: Mr. Annese
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Approval of the Extension of Contract with Veolia for the Water Treatment Plant:
Mr. Becher spoke about the five-year contract extension with Veolia, which is being presented to the Board today for approval. We outsourced our Water Treatment Plant to Suez who has since been bought out by Veolia. Ken Bobrow, our Board Attorney has reviewed the contract and is satisfied with it.
Mr. Tangorra added that the chemical purchasing and the monthly truing up with the Authority, and also that they will provide their own vehicles instead of MVWA supplying them. We have also built in some penalties for non-compliance into the contract.
Motion made by Ms. Szesny to approve the Extension of Contract. Seconded by: Mr. Ford
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried
Re-Authorization of HR Policies:
Mr. Becher stated that Public Authorities Law says that we need to review and approve company policies annually. The first 2 policies are HR Policies, sexual harassment and workplace violence and they have no changes to them.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve the Re-authorization of HR Policies. Seconded by: Mr. Annese
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried
Re-Authorization of IT Policies:
Mr. Becher reiterated that Public Authorities Law says that we need to review and approve company policies annually. The 4 IT Policies are, Remote Access Policy, Mobile Device Policy, Network Infrastructure Security Policy and Information Security Policy. The only change to these policies is in the Remote Access Policy, which is we now require a double layer of authentication.
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to approve the Re-authorization of IT Policies. Seconded by: Mr. Karam
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried
Committee Reports:
Finance: October Finance Report
Mr. Korfonta stated that water sales are up about $200K higher than the budget. Consumption is up close to 8%. Cash flow is up about $1.5 million at the end of October. The excess cash will help to pay year end bills like renewals of insurance.
Mr. Coyne asked how we are doing with the postings and shut offs. Mr. Becher stated that Mr. Mack has been keeping track of this and to date we have collected about 2.4 million dollars in past due payments.
Executive Director’s Report:
- Mr. Becher stated that Eric Schuler, our Principal Engineer, has resigned voluntarily. Mr. Becher has a couple of candidates that are Licensed Professional Engineers and would be suitable for this position. We are looking to have the position filled in the next 5 or 6 weeks.
- The letter in your binders from Tri-Delta is regarding our successful disaster recovery certification. We perform a disaster recovery drill annually and receive a certification for this. In the event of a disaster our records will be safe in another location.
- The Finance Authority met Friday afternoon to formally kick off the bonding process. This Wednesday Mr. Korfonta and Mr. Becher will have a kickoff call with the consultants. There is a list of about 9 consultants that work together as a team to help produce the official statement and get the bonds on the market and sold. This should close by the end of February.
- Mr. Becher showed the Board Members a couple of photos taken at our Kemble St location. The photos are of harvested lead pipes that had been in use for many years. Mr. Tangorra will be working with the State Health Department and Corona Labs to see if we can tweak the process we do at the treatment plant that helps coat and protect the inside of the lead and also buffer the water, so it is less reactive with lead. So when the water sits in the lines overnight the lead levels do not continue to rise. All of the instrumentation you see in the photos was set up by Steve Donovan, an employee here at MVWA. He did a great job setting this up. Mr. Donovan originally built our first Scada system.
Chairman DeLia asked for a motion to go into Executive Session at 5:30 to discuss Labor negotiations.
Motion made by Ms. Szesny. Seconded by Mr. Karam.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
Went into Executive Session at 5:32 PM.
Came out of Executive Session at 5:43 PM
Motion made by Mr. Arcuri to come out of Executive Session. Seconded by Mr. Ford.
Vote: (8) Ayes (0) Nays (0) Abstain (3) Absent Motion Carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Passacantando, Secretary
Mohawk Valley Water Authority