TOWN OF SOMERS

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY

P. O. Box 308

Somers, Connecticut 06071

 

WPCA MINUTES

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

7:30 p.m.

Town Hall Conference Room

 

I.          CALL TO ORDER:

            Chairman Jim Botellio called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.  Members present were:  Jim Botellio, Jim Faust, Steve Getman, Charles Colby and Dan Fraro.  Also present were:  Steve Jacobs, Registered Sanitarian and Mike Mocko, Ward Engineering.

 

II.            Approval of Minutes:            April 4, 2006

            A minor punctuation change was made on Page 1.

Charles Colby made a motion to approve the April 4, 2006 minutes, as amended.  This motion was seconded by Steve Getman and unanimously approved by the Authority.

 

III.            Goodwin Drive - Sewer Main Extension

            Several Goodwin Drive residents attended the meeting.  Steve Jacobs has received one more response to his letter asking residents if they were in favor of a public sewer system in their area and would be willing to pay for it.  The count now is:  6 in favor of public sewers and 4 against public sewers. 

 

Steve Jacobs also received a formal response from 23 Goodwin Drive declining our offer of payment for an easement on the corner of her lot.  This response has been turned over to our Town Attorney Carl Landolina who will proceed with the steps to grant this easement under the law of eminent domain.  Therefore, the sewer main extension plan is on hold until the issue of an easement is resolved.  It was the consensus of the Authority to wait another week to give the homeowner of 23 Goodwin Drive to respond before alerting the Town Attorney to proceed with the steps of eminent domain.

 

Jim Botellio asked about the homeowner cost of the sewer main.  Steve Jacobs looked into possible grants but there is no money available from the State to help with the cost of the sewer system.  Steve will talk to local contractors to see what they would charge for the sewer line extension.  He estimates it will cost about $80,000 total, which would come to $5,700 to $6,800 per household.  We might need some short-term borrowing - we have about $50,000 in the sewer account.  Without the easement, it would be very difficult to get a sewer line in there without a pump station that would skyrocket the cost.

 

Danielle, a resident of Goodwin Drive, asked if we are definitely going ahead with eminent domain action and was told yes.

 

 

WPCA Minutes

5/2/06

Page 2

 

Steve Jacobs remarked that the WPCA also has about $80,000 in the Maple Ridge O&R account.

 

Jim Botellio predicted that the sewer system could be in the ground by the end of November.  The residents in attendance were all hopeful that the project will proceed at a faster pace.

 

IV.            Somersville WPCF - Expansion Update

            Mike Mocko said that the complete plans for the sewer plant expansion should be ready to submit to the DEP by the end of this week, including the pump station plans.  Mike is meeting with the pump station coordinator later this week.  The sewer plant will be completely on line while new equipment is being installed.  He has tried to use pre-manufactured equipment that would be brought to the site assembled and just have to be dropped in place.  After the plans are sent to the state, we should have a preliminary review with contractors so that they can price items that are going into the sewer plant and be prepared to make a bid for the job. 

 

Steve Jacobs talked with DEP today about the permit application.  A permit draft will be sent out tomorrow.  Everything is the same in the O&M manual except the UV disinfection.  Steve Jacobs is meeting Thursday with Frank Smith and the ARH developer, who wants the expansion complete when he needs it.  Application has been made for six houses and they want to do twenty by the end of the year.  Charles Colby asked how long it would take after the permit application is approved and Mike Mocko estimated two months.  It will take about six months to complete six houses.  The present sewer plant can handle at least twenty houses without a problem.

 

V.            Sewer/Water Billing:
            a.            Collection Update:  Not much activity - only a few payments came in.

            b.            Delinquent Accounts:  There is only one account left that is long-term

delinquent.  Nothing else is delinquent more than two years.

            c.            Somers Village:

                        The developers are concerned about the time frame for the sewer plant expansion.  The WPCA will meet with the contractors and First Selectman David Pinney to update the status.  A payment of $170,000 is due from the developers on Friday.

 

VI.            Correspondence/Audience Participation:

            Steve Jacobs received an e-mail from Dave Batten of DOC.  All the bid documents for the sewer line up to the prison should be available this week.  He will send us a copy.

 

 

 

WPCA Minutes

5/2/06

Page 3

 

Ed Sullivan sent the WPCA a budget verification and some of the numbers have been changed.  Steve Jacobs made the corrections.

 

Ed Sullivan also sent a memo to the Board of Finance about the sewer line expansion cost noting that the cost will probably come in much higher than the original estimate.

 

Steve Jacobs requested approval to attend a one-day red soils workshop.  The cost is $50.00.  Charles Colby made a motion to approve Steve Jacobs' attendance at this workshop, pending approval from the selectmen.  This motion was seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved.

 

The semi-annual Malcolm-Pirnie test results for Rye Hill Circle showed no changes.

 

The quarterly mitigation report from DOC also indicated no appreciable change - the contamination levels continue to drop slightly.

 

Cost of the project has reached over 6.8 million dollars total.

 

The lagoon cleaning was completed last week.  Herb Holden Trucking did a good job and finished within two weeks.  The Authority will pay Jeff Lipton for half the cost, and the second half will be due after July 1, 2006.

 

VII.     Bills:

            Soils Workshop                                            $50.00

            Electric Technology                                           $275.00

            W. B. Mason (office supplies)                       $308.92

            Pleasant View Farms - lst payment                   $10,000

            Pleasant View Farms - 2nd payment                 $25,000

            Data Bank (paper for map copier)             $101.01

            HAC (nitric testing)                                        $372.00

 

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

 

VIII.            Adjournment:

            Charles Colby made a motion to adjourn; seconded by Steve Getman and unanimously approved.  The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

 

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

Dan Fraro, Secretary

                                                            Connie Carenzo, Recording Secretary

 

MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVAL AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING.