TOWN OF SOMERS

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY

P. O. Box 308

Somers, Connecticut 06071

 

WPCA Minutes

1/6/04; 7:30 p.m.

Town Hall

 

I.          CALL TO ORDER:

 

            Chairman Jim Botellio called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.  Members present were:

Jim Botellio; Jim Faust; George VanTasel; Elinor Labutis; Charles Colby (8:00).  Also present was:

Steve Jacobs, Sanitarian.

 

II.            Approval of Minutes:                     12/2/03

 

            A correction was made on Page 1, 2nd paragraph; 1st line - enclose the following in quote:

"the motion was seconded by Charles Colby."

 

George VanTasel made a motion to approve the 12/2/03 minutes, as amended.  This motion was seconded by Elinor Labutis and unanimously approved by the Authority.

 

III.       Main Street

            Proposed Age-Restricted Housing - J. Lipton

 

            Steve Jacobs reported that Carl Landolina faxed a draft of the proposed engineering agreement late this afternoon.  Jeff Lipton did not attend this meeting because he know the members of the Authority would have to review this agreement and comment on it.  Copies were passed out to the

members who will review it thoroughly before the next WPCA meeting.  Jeff Lipton will attend the next meeting to review all comments or changes that were suggested.

 

Jim Botellio asked that all members of the Authority do this draft review and get their comments back to Steve Jacobs so he can bring them to the next meeting.

 

IV.       Scitico Pump Station

            Hazardville Water Company Maintenance Bills

 

            Town Attorney Carl Landolina did receive new numbers for the flows at Scitico Booster

Station.  After reviewing the figures, the Authority felt they were unrealistic and asked that Carl

call the HWC attorney to obtain the water meter readings for Blair Manor and about a dozen new homes that are located in Enfield and appear to have been added to the Somers water system.

 

V.         Health Department Regionalization - Proposed Legislation

 

            Steve Jacobs presented a draft of a State regulation that would require that all towns hire a full-time Director of Health or join a health district.  The authors of this draft wanted it to go into effect on 7/1/04.  However a more realistic time frame would be within two or three years.

 

WPCA Minutes

1/6/04

Page 2

 

The regulation is all tied in with terrorist preparedness for this area.  If the Town wants to contact

someone about this draft, Representative Karen Buckley Bates is handling all inquiries.

 

Jim Botellio said that going to the district would slow up service to our customers - plus all the fees will go to the Health District.  The fees would be much higher and small towns, like Somers, would not receive service until the needs of the larger towns are met.  It would not be a favorable move for Somers.  A discussion evolved about other possible options.

 

Somers could form its own health district and attempt to have other rural towns join us.

Hiring a full time Director of Health would cost at least $75,000 to $80,000 per year.

The Sanitarian and Director of Health positions could be combined.

 

Jim Botellio suggested setting up a meeting on 1/12/04 with Dr. Segool, Dave Pinney, Steve Jacobs

and himself to discuss all of these options and any others that might be possible.  He also would

like to set up a meeting with Representative Penny Bacchiochi and Senator Kissel to discuss this

situation.

 

VI.            Correspondence/Audience Participation:

 

            Steve Jacobs notified the Authority that Connie McKenna has resigned to take another position.  The consultant on the billing system software has moved to California and we currently

have no one to help explain the billing system.  Karen LaPlante of Arrow Data Systems said she would help out but admits that she is not that familiar with all the phases of the system.

 

George Rastkowski  of Vernon has about the same system in use in his town and is willing to help us out for a consulting fee of $70.00 per hour and would like to be hired as a temporary town employee.  He could help with the water billing and give instructions on the operation of the system.

 

Members of the Authority would prefer to keep the billing system in the Land Use Office and not

have the billing done by an outside source.  This has been tried before and did not work out well at all. 

 

Ed Sullivan has requested to have the proposed budget for 2004-2005 back to him by 2/6/04.  The

recommended increase is 4%.  Steve Jacobs will have the budget draft ready for approval at the next WPCA meeting on February 3, 2004.  Budget will go to the Board of Finance on 1/23/04.

 

Steve Jacobs gave George VanTasel the budget run he had requested.  He also sent a letter to the

Board of Selectmen requesting that all board members be re-appointed - at their request.

 

Discussed Hall Hill Road with Joseph Scalese of DOT.  Piping in stream appears to be adequate but

rip-rap has caused a channel elevation and created a one foot dam.  The stream needs to be cleaned out and at least part of the responsibility for cleaning up the stream should be borne by the State.

 

Received a notice from the Town Clerk about a FOI seminar on Tuesday, January 27th at 7:30 p.m. for all board members and commissioners.

 

Water usage at the prison is 700,000 gallons per day since the new meters were installed.

 

WPCA Minutes

1/6/04

Page 3

 

Steve Jacobs said he is required to attend a lead inspection training seminar for his certification on January 14,2004.  Charles Colby made a motion to approve Steve Jacobs attending this seminar; seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.

 

Steve Jacobs did some water sampling on Shaker Road.  Six samples were taken for MTBE contamination which has gone down to less than 0.5 parts per billion.

 

No word from the Mill people on payment for the sewer repair that the Town did at the Somersville Mill.  It was suggested that this is turned over to Carl Landolina for review.

 

Jim Botellio said the Authority voted to recommend payment of the water hydrant maintenance bills and the Finance Board would not approve payment.  Town Attorney Carl Landolina said if this goes to court, the Town only has a small chance of winning because the State agencies will back the water companies.  It was suggested that Attorney Landolina explain this to the Board of Finance.

 

VII.      Bills:

 

            Wood Construction - 48 Rye Hill Circle - reimbursed by State            $3,950.00

            Environmental Monitoring (toxicity testing)                                                $530.00

            Ellington Printers (lagoon slips)                                                  $145.71

            Hach (lab supplies)                                                                          $52.50

            McCalister-Bicknell            (lab supplies)                                                         $68.58

            Avery Septic (quarterly cleaning of pump station)                          $65.00

 

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

 

VIII.            Adjournment:

 

            Motion to adjourn made by Charles Colby; seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.  The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

 

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

                                                            Dan Fraro, Secretary

                                                            Connie Carenzo, Recording Secretary

 

 

MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVAL AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING.