TOWN OF SOMERS

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY

P. O. Box 308

Somers, Connecticut 06071

 

WPCA SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES

3/18/03; 6:30 p.m.

Town Hall

 

I.          CALL TO ORDER:

 

            Secretary Dan Fraro called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m.  Members present were:  Dan Fraro; George VanTasel; Steve Getman; Elinor Labutis.  Jim Botellio arrived

at 6:40 and took over as Chairman of the meeting.  Charles Colby arrived at 6:50 p.m.

Sanitarian Steve Jacobs was also present.

 

II.            EXECUTIVE SESSION:

                        Pending Litigation - Hazardville Water Company

 

                        Steve Getman made a motion to enter into Executive Session at 6:40 p.m.

This motion was seconded by George VanTasel and unanimously approved by the Authority.  Executive Session ended at 7:00 p.m.

 

III.            SEWER/WATER BILLING:

            a.            Collection Update:

 

                        Billing System Operator, Connie Carenzo, reviewed her February report with the Authority.  Very few payments have been received since the report was written on March 3, 2003.  About 78% of the people who were sent water assessment bills have paid their bill.  There have been at least a dozen water assessment pay-offs since the bills were

issued in the beginning of February.  Training will be continuing once a week on the new billing system.

 

Several more accounts paid their delinquent sewer user bills and the liens will be removed from their property.

 

54 and 60 Quality Avenue were sold and this department was not notified of the new owners.  Therefore, the sewer user bill was sent to the previous owner.  After about a month and one-half ago, the previous owner called Connie Carenzo and told her the name of the new owners.  Connie contacted the Assessor's Office and they will send her a monthly list of all properties that change hands.  Connie then sent out a new bill to the current owners with a letter explaining what had happened.  The new owners paid the bills promptly - minus the interest that had accrued since October.  The WPCA should approve a deletion of interest on any bill issued.

 

Charles Colby made a motion to waive the interest accrued on the sewer user bills for 54 and 60 Quality Avenue as the bills were mailed to the previous owner.  This motion was seconded by George VanTasel and unanimously approved by the Authority.

 

 

WPCA Minutes

3/18/03

Page 2

 

 

Connie Carenzo will send a letter to the current owners of 54 and 60 Quality Avenue - notifying them of the Authority's decision.  The records have been changed in the billing system so that this does not happen again.  Also, receiving a Property Transfer List from the Assessor each month should preclude this happening again with other accounts.

 

Also, people are misinterpreting the "Water Assessment Principal Balance" shown at the top of the invoice form as the pay-off amount for the water assessment.  At least six customers have sent in checks - using this amount as the pay-off figure.  A pay-off also includes the current payment, interest and lien fee.  After a brief discussion, it was the consensus of the Authority to delete this line from the invoice form.  Blair Lawson of CMS will be asked to do this.

 

            b.            Software Update:

 

                        Steve Jacobs received a quote from Connecticut Management Services in the amount of $1000.00 per year for maintenance of the new billing system.

 

Charles Colby made a motion to accept the quote from CMS in the amount of $1000.00 for maintenance of the new billing system.  This motion was seconded by George VanTasel and unanimously approved by the Authority.

 

IV.            CONNECTICUT DOC

                        PCE Mitigation Update:

 

                        Steve Jacobs gave a recap of the PCE/DVE monitoring report on the prison property.  50# of PCE has been removed by water and 13# by air.  The PCE in the wells has gone from 1,250 parts per billion in 1999 down to 34 parts per billion in September of 2002.  The systems are working well.

 

PCE levels have continued to decrease and the leading edge of the plume has retreated.  There were charts showing the PCE decrease in each of the monitoring wells.  If the systems are shut down, the PCE levels will go up - but nowhere close to what the levels were at the beginning of the remediation.  Overall, the trend is lower PCE levels.  Some of the wells in the Rye Hill Circle area that were heavily contaminated now have water that is potable.

 

The complete DEP report is available in Steve Jacob's office and in the Library.

 

V.         2002-03 WPCA BUDGET:

            a.            BOS Request

 

                        First Selectman Dick Jackson said the WPCA budget has been approved for the next fiscal year.  For this fiscal year, the Board of Selectmen has asked that we take

$1,750.00 out of the budget that the WPCA will not spend this fiscal year.  There is a line

item, 40-19-530.6, for Equipment - Grant Reimbursed in the amount of $1,550.00 that will not be spent this fiscal year because the State has cut the grant funding.  This money was to

 

WPCA Minutes

3/18/03

Page 3

 

 

have been used for the GIS system software.  Also, $200.00 can be taken out of 40-19-534.1, Dues and Seminars.

 

b.            Fee Schedule Review:

 

                        Steve Jacobs said the last time the fee schedule was reviewed was in 1996.  He has noticed that the fees charged by the North Central District are considerably higher than those charged by Somers.  In fact, they charge for many things that we do not charge for at all.

 

After a discussion, it was the consensus of the Authority that Steve Jacobs should prepare a chart of Somers charges versus what other towns charge.  A copy of the chart should be sent to members of the Authority so the issue can be discussed in more detail at the next WPCA meeting.

 

VI.            Executive Session:

                        WPCF Superintendent:

 

                        Charles Colby made a motion to enter into Executive Session at 7:55 p.m.  This motion was seconded by George VanTasel and unanimously approved by the Authority.  Executive Session ended at 8:15 p.m.

 

VII.            BILLS:

 

            CMS (second half of billing system program)                                 $2,500.00

            CMS (second half of lagoon billing program)                                 $300.00

            CMS (customizing of the billing invoice)                                   $360.00

            Sonitrol                                                                                   $229.79

 

            George VanTasel made a motion to authorize payment of the bills; seconded by Charles Colby and unanimously approved by the Authority.

 

VIII.            ADJOURNMENT:

 

            Motion to adjourn was made by Charles Colby; seconded by George VanTasel and unanimously approved by the Authority.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

 

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

                                                            Dan Fraro, Secretary

                                                            Connie Carenzo, Recording Secretary

 

MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVAL AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING.