Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Members Present: Carla Perugini-Erickson, Dave Wartko, Christopher Wester, Derek Brown
Others Present: John Braccio, Mariusz Jedrychowski both of Wright-Pierce
Chairman Perugini-Erickson called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.
Approval of Meeting Minutes: Motion by D. Brown to approve the meeting minutes from July 8, 2008 with minor corrections, seconded by D. Wartko, Unanimous.
Waste Waters Faciiities Plan Schedule: John Braccio the Vice President of Wright-Pierce as well as Mariusz Jedrychowski the Project Manager of Wright-Pierce was present to review the Draft Agreement and Fee Proposal as well as the Scope of Services developed for the Waste Waters Facilities Plan. C. Wester begins the discussion by letting Wright-Pierce know that they presented a fantastic proposal and we are excited to begin the project. He states that at this point the fee needs to be discussed as our current budget leaves the WPCA a little shy of meeting their proposal. Mr. Braccio begins by stating their overall goal is to develop a plan where sewers should and should not be provided. A key factor in that determination is the State Plan of Conservation and Development where a map for each community has been developed indicating where the state feels sewers should and should not go. He informs the board that if using state money for funding a requirement to receive that funding is that the developed plan needs to confirm with the map currently developed. As far as the fees are concerned Mr. Braccio states that they are developed from the Scope of Services that is put together. They basically look at how many hours it will take to complete each task within the scope. He states that there is latitude in there to adjust the scope in order to make it more comfortable. Mr. Braccio continued to detail and review the Scope of Services. Discussion followed on the type of information that needs to be gathered and how gathering that information is usually a joint process between them, the WPCA and other town boards such as Planning and Zoning. Discussion followed regarding using both the Regional Plan map and the OPM map as a basis since the Regional Plan needs to be followed in order to receive state funding. Chairman Perugini-Erickson says that she is interested in how Wright-Pierce will get the information needed to tweak the two maps. Ultimately the sewer service area will be defined by the WPCA and once that area is defined we will need to project how much sewer growth could occur in that area. Mr. Braccio states that everything would then be summarized into the Facilities Plan. Discussion followed regarding the Clean Water Act funding and how Wright-Pierce works with that type of funding. C. Wester states that the WPCA will be back in touch with Wright-Pierce within the week after the board discusses what is currently available for funding. The WPCA would like to enter into an agreement by next months meeting. Chairman Perugini-Erickson says she is very happy with the plan and is excited to see the process come together.
C. Wester informs the board that he has gone through the agreement arid feels that it looks fine. He suggests the WPCA look to the Towns Attorney for any commentary. His main question to the board is that currently there is only $35,000 available and the estimated fee is $44,000, so the scope either needs to be modified or we need to seek an adjustment with the fee. Another option would be to ask the Town Council for more money. Chairman Perugini-Erickson notes that the completion date falls inline with another budget request. She suggests we talk with Wright-Pierce to structure the payments or approach the Town Council to see if they can do a special allocation of monies giving them the reassurance that this plan conforms with the DEP requirements and is eligible for the 55% reimbursement from the state. She does not see this as being a loss to the town at all and defers to what the board feels is appropriate to do. C. Wester feels we should ask the Town Council for more funding. Discussion continued on whether or not the WPCA can legally sign the agreement without having the full funding. It is determined that an answer from Attorney Casagrande is needed as to whether or not we can enter into an agreement without the funding needed. If we can sign the agreement we will and inform Wright-Pierce that the rest of our funding will come from next years budget. D. Brown feels that the Town Council should be notified as to where we are at this point in time. Chairman Perugini-Erickson will prepare correspondence to Tom Galvin enclosing a copy of the proposal detailing the estimated cost, how much is currently in the WPCA budget, what the shortfall is and asking if the Town Council would consider a special allocation of funds to cover that shortfall. C. Wester offers that perhaps the contract could be structured in phases in order to define the limits of funding. Chairman Perugini-Erickson states that she will within the next week send a letter to the Town Council and get in touch with Attorney Casagrande.
Boulder Brook: Chairman Perugini-Erickson states that Mayor Chatfield left a message that he is ready to sign the agreement. She states that Attorney Casagrande wanted to see her before signing off on the agreement. She has not been able to follow up with Attorney Casagrande yet as he is away. She also informs the board that she has not heard anything back from Mr. Berberat with his request for additional hook ups to the line.
Toll Brothers Sewer Construction: Chairman Perugini-Erickson informs the board that she has received e-mails from both Dan Rossi and Scott Poryanda. She reads both e-mails to the board. Dan Rossi's letter was dated August 25, 2008 and is an update on the construction status of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 sewers at Regency at Prospect. Currently 37 of 71 units are discharging and/or are connected to the Phase 1 system. As for Phase 2 plans have been designed from BL Companies and distributed to Gene McCarthy and Scott Poryanda for review and approval. He details that construction of Phase 2 commenced in July of 2008 and the sanitary sewer pump station shop drawings haven been submitted to Gene McCarthy and Scott Poryanda. Currently no units have been built in Phase 2. Finally the as-built plans are scheduled to be completed and distributed for review and approval by the week of September 8, 2008.
Scott Poryanda' s e-mail begins by saying he has been working with Burt Process Equipment and a representative from Pond Place, trying to set up a meeting to come up with a plan to get a metering cabinet in place. Also he reminds the board that we need to begin thinking about sewer specs. Discussion followed regarding the current budget and possibly building sewer specs into the Scope of Services plan. C. Wester offers he has a template that we can start with and review as a group before going to a third party. Scott also says he spoke with Dan Rossi with regard to the forced main manhole issue and informed him that the pump design from water and waste is satisfactory; with regard to the bottomless blow off manhole, if it fills some sewage may leak out but he does not feel this is a problem. C. Wester states he feels it should be closed off and doesn't feel that it is the right way to do it; however he agrees with Scott's reasoning behind it. Bottom line is the issue needs to be resolved. C. Wester says he will be in contact with Scott to take care of it and will let the board know the resolution. Chairman Perugini-Erickson asks to make sure Scott gets the as-built information back to the WPCA, as we need to make sure everything will be okay.
Sewer Billing Procedures /sewer user fees: Motion by D. Brown to table this issue until the next meeting, seconded by C. Wester, Unanimous.
Correspondence: None
Approve WPCA Clerk for reimbursement: Motion by C. Wester to approve reimbursement for WPCA clerk, seconded by D. Brown. Unanimous.
Open: None
Adjournment: Motion by D. Wartko to adjourn the meeting at 8:46 p.m., seconded by C. Wester. Unanimous.
Respectfully Submitted,
Carla M. Perugini-Erickson