TOWN OF SOMERS

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY

P. O. Box 308

Somers, Connecticut 06071

 

WPCA Special Meeting Minutes

1/11/05; 7:15 p.m.

Town Hall Conference Room

 

I.          Public Hearing:

                        146 Main Street - Sewer Assessment

                        Temple Property Management, LLC

                        Sulman Alam Quraishi, M.D.

 

            The public hearing was called to order by Chairman, Jim Botellio, at 7:15.  Chairman Botellio read the legal notice and asked if there were any comments or questions from members of the Authority.  There was no audience.  This building is the old donut shop.  There will be a medical office on the first floor and an apartment unit on the second floor.  The EDU assessment was two units and will now be increased to 2.33 units.

 

Charles Colby made a motion to close the public hearing; seconded by Steve Getman and unanimously approved.  The public hearing closed at 7:20 p.m.

 

II.        Call to Order:

 

            Chairman Jim Botellio called the special meeting to order at 7:20 p.m.  Members present were:  Jim Botellio; Jim Faust; Steve Getman; George VanTasel; Charles Colby and Dan Fraro.  Steve Jacobs, Sanitarian, was also present.

 

III.       146 Main Street - Change of Use:

 

            George VanTasel made a motion to approve the change in assessment for 146 Main Street from 2.00 units to 2.33 units for a total assessment of $825.00.  This motion was seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.  This change of assessment will be published in the local newspaper on January 14, 2005.

 

IV.            Sewer/Water Billing:

            a.            Collection Update and (b) Delinquent Accounts

                        Intent to lien notices were sent out and the properties that did not pay were liened at the beginning of January.  Outstanding balance is $2,950 for Somersville and $1,026 for Maple Ridge.  Most of this balance is attributable to (4) delinquent accounts.

A discussion was held about turning these four delinquent accounts over to a collection agency.  The tax collector has used a collection agency with favorable results.  They collect the bill that is owed plus up to an additional 15% for their fee.  The WPCA would also pay a 3% charge.  It would be cheaper than using the Town Attorney who has been

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very busy with other issues.  The WPCA could create a Collection Account and transfer money into this new account from the legal account.  A collection agency does not guarantee collection but they do not get paid if they don't collect the delinquent amount.

 

Steve Getman made a motion that if we do not receive payment or have set up a payment plan on these delinquent accounts by our February meeting, we will send these accounts to a collection agency to pursue payment.  George VanTasel seconded this motion that was unanimously approved.

 

            c.            Billing Operator

                        Steve Jacobs has been handling the job of Billing Operator in addition to his other responsibilities.  He feels that time spent on the billing system averages 2 to 3 hours a week or about 100 hours a year.  He suggested taking the $2,000 allocated to the billing system and transferring it into the Sewer Plant Superintendent account. 

 

It was the consensus of the Authority that if a billing system operator is not hired by the February WPCA meeting, the Authority will vote to transfer this money.  The job of billing system operator should be a line item for the 2005-06 WPCA budget proposal.

 

V.            Somersville Water System

            a.            Scitico Pump Station

                       

                        It was the consensus of the Authority that a breakdown of the charges for the Scitico Pump Station that were levied to Somers is needed before future payments are made.  The Selectmen authorized payment of the outstanding bill, but future payments need a breakdown of where the money is going.  Jim Botellio has asked the Town Attorney to get this breakdown but he has not heard back from him.

 

            b.            Cash Flow

                        Until the ARH development takes place in Somersville, there is no cash flow in the water account.  There is money is the sewer maintenance account that we could use if we are allowed to borrow from that account.  Jim Botellio will contact Ed Sullivan, Town Treasurer, to see if this may be possible.  Hazardville Water is billing us for a lot of maintenance fees.  We anticipated about two or three thousand dollars for maintenance - not twenty thousand dollars.  Perhaps we can charge HWC a use tax.  Dan Fraro asked how much Connecticut Water Company pays for the water lines.  Steve Jacobs was asked to write a letter to our revaluation company to request a valuation of the lines and an estimate of a use tax for HWC.

 

            c.            Hazardville Water Company Rate Case

                        The WPCA was not sent a copy of the hearing notice for the rate increase.

The Town Clerk has had a copy since last fall.  John Kissel is taking a stand that the

 

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requested rate hike is too high.

 

VI.            Correspondence/Audience Participation

 

            Received a technical report from Weston Solutions about 53 Springfield Road.  They did find high levels of cadmium and chromium on the site.  EPA will be doing the conclusions and recommendations for remediation of the property.

 

DOC quarterly report shows that the Rye Hill Circle pump and treat figures are remaining at the same level.  There was no report on the SWIA area.  It might be still shut down because the two systems conflicted.

 

Cost of the remediation is currently 6.45 million dollars.

 

Steve has not received plans for the remediation of the sewer line although he has asked Bill Hogan for the plan.  He will check on it again.

 

Received a report from Malcolm-Pirnie on the perimeter wells.  Everything is staying at the same level but the plume is not increasing in size.

 

Notice from Ed Sullivan asking for budget requests for the next fiscal year.  Steve Jacobs will present drafts at the next meeting and will include the cost of the billing system operator.

 

A reimbursement request was sent to the State for $3,950 from Wood Construction for water service and well abandonment.

 

The DEP did an inspection at the Sewer Plant which was favorable in all aspects.

 

R. H. White was called in to fix a pump problem - which they did in an expeditious manner.

 

VII.     Bills:  

 

            Environmental Monitoring (toxicity testing)                                    $530.00

            Skip's Septic (cleaning of pump station)                         $110.00

            McCalister-Bicknell (lab chemicals)                                      $236.00

            Ferguson Waterworks                                                                        $82.00

            Ace Hardware                                                                                 $42.75

            Ellington Printers (lagoon discharge slips)                         $139.11

 

 

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

 

VIII.            Adjournment:

 

            Motion to adjourn was made by Charles Colby; seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved.  The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

 

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

                                                            Dan Fraro, Secretary

                                                            Connie Carenzo, Recording Secretary

 

 

 

MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVAL AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING.