TOWN OF SOMERS
WATER POLLUTION
CONTROL AUTHORITY
P. O. Box 308
Somers,
Connecticut 06071
WPCA Meeting
Minutes
Tuesday, June
7, 2005
7:30 p.m.
Town Hall
Conference Room
I. Call
to Order:
Chairman Jim Botellio called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. Members present were: Jim Botellio; Steve Getman; Elinor Labutis; Dan Fraro and Jim Faust. Also present was Steve Jacobs, Sanitarian.
II. Approval of Minutes: May 3, 2005
Dan Fraro made a motion to approve the May 3, 2005 minutes, as written. This motion was seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.
III. Somersville
WPCF
a. Expansion Update
Steve Jacobs met with Mike Mocko who is doing the engineering work for the sewer plant expansion. The DEP wants a conception report to justify the expansion. They want to be sure that the growth does not get out of control. Mike has to submit this
report first before approval is granted. The report has to justify that we are not going to grow beyond our boundaries.
Jerry Gingras and Tom Carenzo, Gingras Development, LLC., current developers of Somers Village, an age restricted housing (ARH) complex in Somersville joined the meeting along with Jeff Lipton, previous owner of this property.
Jerry Gingras showed pictures of the various types of homes they intend to build in this ARH development. They are planning on (80) units with some homes using a gravity feed into the sewer system and others supported by a pump station to the sewer line.
They plan to build (55) three bedroom units and (25)two bedroom units, using several different house styles. They are hoping to build a diversified community of homes where each house is different from its neighbor.
Jeff Lipton said that Gingras Development is ready to start building as soon as they receive approval from the Planning Commission and they would like a vote of approval from the WPCA indicating that the additions to the sewer plant will give them the flow needed for their development.
WPCA Minutes
6/7/05
Page 2
Jim Faust was concerned about the majority of the houses having three bedrooms. He can envision a divorced parent moving in with children that would enter our school system. He was assured that children can not occupy these units, they can only visit for short periods of time. The ARH complex would have their own Board of Directors that will make sure the ARH development rules are followed.
Mr. Gingras said the DEP does not seem to be very encouraging to reduce the 110 galons per bedroom flow. After a discussion, the consensus was that the sewer plant has the capacity with the expansion to support this flow and allow this development to proceed.
Steve Jacobs suggested meeting with the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Commission. The Board needs to decide what the town wants as far as the flow allotted to the Somersville Mill is concerned. The Mill may have to settle for less units than originally planned. Members of the Authority feel they should support the Gingras development as it is ready to proceed.
A motion was made by Steve Getman that the WPCA recommends priority flow will be given to Gingras Development LLC Group for the ARH complex known as Somers Village as soon as they present a plan for (80) housing units, a maximum of 215 bedrooms, with the ability to start construction as soon as their discussions with the Planning Commission are completed and approved. This motion was seconded by Dan Fraro and unanimously approved by the Authority.
First Selectman David Pinney said the town made a similar commitment (15) years ago for the development of the Somersville Mill, and the town is still trying to find a way to allow a developer to build residential units on the first floor of the Mill. Jim Botellio said (102) residential units at the Mill can not be built because the first floor can not be used for residential and has to be used for commercial units.
Jim Botellio said that once the new sewer plant is up and running and we can measure the flow, it may be that the actual flow is a lot less than the DEP has projected.
b. Maintenance:
Steve Jacobs reported that we have finally gotten the electrical problems at the pump station off Quality Avenue resolved. Frank Smith Company did the work. They said that some of our equipment does not meet today's code requirements. This might be a good time to replace the electrical components on the top of the chamber. There will be a pump station in the new ARH project and it would be advantageous if the same components were used. It was the consensus of the Authority to have Frank Smith Company come up with a proposal to update our equipment and bid it separately. The original equipment is (35) years old, and it would be a good move to bring the system up to code and make everything compatible.
WPCA Minutes
6/7/05
Page 3
IV. Sewer/Water
Billing
It was the consensus of the Authority to consider item (c) first because the First Selectman has a comment.
c. Billing Operator
David Pinney said that the clerk that works part-time in the Tax Collector's office, Margret Rondeau, has indicated she may be interested in being the Billing System Operator. She will get back to the First Selectman with a definite answer tomorrow. David Pinney said her salary would be paid by the account in the WPCA budget set aside for this job. Members of the Authority were agreeable to having Margret take over the billing system operator position.
a. Collection Update:
Steve Jacobs said there has not been too much activity this past month - mostly pay-offs for property transfers.
b. Delinquent Accounts:
Nothing has come in from the two accounts we have turned over to the Collection Agency. The Meyer account still owes over $4,000 with the last payment of $1,000 having been made over two months ago. The Authority asked Steve Jacobs to write him a letter threatening to turn the account over to our collection agency. They also asked him to check how much longer Lee Pinney can hide behind his bankruptcy declaration.
V. Health
Department Regionalization:
Steve Jacobs said the town accepted the $5,000 to conduct a study of a health district as opposed to a private town sanitarian. The town should have a set of numbers showing the difference in cost for each service performed by a district and the cost for this service when performed by a sanitarian. The legislation has not yet passed requiring towns to join a health district. If it passes this year, a town would have until 2008 to form or join a health district.
VI. Correspondence/Audience
Participation:
The DEP is doing follow-up testing of the EDB areas of Somersville. One house on Sunset Drive had TCP readings above the drinking water standard.
The WPCA did receive $5,800 from the town into our water account this year for fire protection.
WPCA Minutes
6/7/05
Page 4
The EPA sent two reports on the 58 Springfield Road metal contamination. They still hope to remediate and remove the heavy metal contaminated soils.
Received notice from Ed Sullivan that July 8, 2005 is the deadline for submission of invoices to be paid from this fiscal year.
VII. Bills:
Mike Mocko (insp. when S. Jacobs was on vacation) $90.00
Electrical Technicians (repair to pump station) $970.25
Blake Equipment $413.03
Ace Hardware $53.96
Sonitrol $258.17
USA Blue Book (new chlorine pump) $332.02
ImageMax (paper for map copier) $99.21
Amco (charts) $28.00
Lloyd's Power Equipment $20.00
Transfer from Somers General Fund $752.50
Transfer $1,000 from equipment grant to food inspector $1,000.00
Transfer $55 from engineering consultant to dues & seminars $55.00
Jim Faust made a motion to pay the bills and approve the transfers; seconded by Steve Getman and unanimously approved by the Authority.
VIII. ADJOURNMENT:
Jim Faust made a motion to adjourn; seconded by Steve Getman 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.