TUESDAY, November 25, 2008

Members Present: Chairman Perugini-Erickson Perugini-Erickson, Dave Wartko, Christopher Wester, and Derek Brown
Others Present: Diane Lauber (Town of Prospect Tax Collector)

Chairman Perugini-Erickson called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m.

Approval of Meeting Minutes: Motion by C. Wester to approve the meeting minutes from October 28, 2008, seconded by D. Brown, Unanimous.

Sewer Billing Procedures /Sewer User Fees: Chairman Perugini-Erickson begins by informing the board that we will not be setting a sewer connection charge assessment at the Public Hearing. She continues by saying she has received an e-mail from Attorney Casagrande, which included the proposed legal notice for the Public Hearing. She states that the way the notice reads the sewer user fee to be set at the Public Hearing is for single-family dwellings up to four bedrooms and is applicable only to the Toll Brothers development. Nothing is set up at this point for industrial or commercial properties. She states that she also had a conversation with Attorney John Knott where he advised putting a figure for commercial sewer use charge in the public notice. Diane Lauber was present to discuss the billing process. She questioned what time period they are billing because she needs to know what the assessment year will be for the bills. She states that billing sometime between October and December would be ideal. Discussion followed on setting a billing cycle. The first billing period from March 30, 2008 -November 30, 2008 will have to be prorated based on the annual sewer user charge from the date the Certificate of Occupancy was issued. The annual billing cycle will be from October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2009 and the charge will be $275.00 annually. Discussion followed on whether or not we can bill in the rears rather than in advance. It is thought that it would be much better to bill in the rears, which would be based on actual sewer use figures from the City of Waterbury rather than estimating the amount used. C. Wester feels we may be forced to bill in advance if in the intermunicipal agreement it states payment will need to be made to the City of Waterbury within 30 days of receiving the bill. The main concern is that we have monies available when we are billed from the City of Waterbury. Chairman Perugini-Erickson feels this needs to be specifically addressed with Attorney John Knott. D. Brown suggests holding a special meeting based on Attorney Knott's and Diane Lauber's availability before a decision is made on when to hold the Public Hearing. Chairman Perugini-Erickson informs D. Lauber that she would like all of the costs we are looking to assess to Toll Brothers in regards to billing put in a letter to be given to Attorney Knott. With regard to industrial and commercial properties, specifically Pond Place a bill has been sent when a bill is received from the City of Waterbury. By setting a sewer user charge for commercial properties the way Pond Place has been billed will have to change to be billed in advance. A separate sewer user fee will need to be calculated specifically for Pond Place which will be figured similarly to the one developed for residential properties. It will need to be based on the sewer bill from the City of Waterbury, the Burt Processing annual meter calibration fee, the City of Waterbury meter upgrades, a sinking fund, administrative costs, and a reserve for some maintenance. It is determined that the Public Hearing will be pushed off until sometime in January where both a residential and commercial sewer user fee will be set. Chairman Perugini-Erickson, John Knott and Diane Lauber will meet together to discuss and finalize some of the details sometime in December. C. Wester questions what type of account the collected money will be put into. Discussion followed. Chairman Perugini-Erickson tables the vote to set a date for a Public Hearing until it can be addressed in January and cancels the December regular meeting which was scheduled for December 23, 2008. The next regular meeting of the WPCA will be held on January 27, 2009 at which time a date for the Public Hearing will be scheduled for sometime in February. Motion by C. Wester to cancel our regular scheduled meeting on December 23, 2008, seconded by D. Brown, Unanimous.

Waste Waters Facilities Plan Schedule: C. Wester begins by stating he has sent all members a copy of the comments received from Attorney Casagrande regarding changes to be made to the Wright-Pierce proposed agreement. He continues to review each revision and discussion followed amongst the board members. He feels that all are very easily resolved issues and recommends that we vote to have Wright-Pierce make the modifications and present to us a final agreement that we will then present to the Mayor and whoever else we need to get permission to sign the agreement. D. Brown asks with regard to record retention could we request an electronic file that can be put on DVD to be stored in the town records. C. Wester feels we could but it will cost us more money. Chairman Perugini-Erickson agrees with C. Wester that we should just let them keep the records she then asks if a clause could be put into the contract that states after 6 years the records will be turned over to the Town of Prospect. Discussion continued regarding putting a cap on reimbursable expenses. C. Wester offers we ask them to cap the expenses by making it a lump sum fee. C. Wester states that he will be following up with Wright-Pierce regarding the proposed changes. At this point the WPCA is unable to vote to enter into the agreement because as Chairman Perugini-Erickson explains we still need to go before the Town Council to request additional funds. Town Council also needs to be asked to approve the contract and authorize the Mayor to sign off on the agreement. Once that is done the WPCA will need to authorize Chairman Perugini-Erickson to enter into the agreement. Chairman Perugini-Erickson will draft a letter to Tom Galvin to be read into the Town Council minutes, stating what additional funds are needed in order for the WPCA to enter into the agreement and requesting that he address this issue with the Town Council. She will also request he let the WPCA know when this issue will be addressed so that a member of the WPCA can be present to answer any questions.

Toll Brothers Sewer Construction: Scott Poryanda was not present to review his reports. At this point there are no updates with regard to this issue.

Boulder Brook Sewer Permit Agreement Status: No new updates at this time.

Set Meeting Dates for 2009:
It is determined that all regular meetings of the WPCA will be held on the fourth Tuesday of every month in the Upper Level Conference Room of the Prospect Town Hall at 7:00 P.M. A formal letter of these dates will be sent to the Prospect Town Clerk.

Correspondence;
The October summary of failures and repairs from Chesprocott Health District dated October 31, 2008.

A letter from the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse from Bill Hogan.

A Letter from Central Equipment LLC of Westport, NY Regarding Snyder Vertical Tanks.

Approve WPCA Clerk for reimbursement: Motion by D. Brown to approve reimbursement for WPCA clerk, seconded by D. Wartko Unanimous.

Open: D. Brown brings to the boards attention a legal issue currently going on with the Town of Prospect regarding easements that were never consummated for a waterline running from Route 69 up Lombard Drive and through the property of Louis Nicole coming out on Putting Green Lane to service a house that had well failures. Discussion followed regarding where the WPCA stands with such an issue and what things the board should be looking to do in the future to help manage the growth of the town with the development of the Waste Waters Facilities Plan.

Discussion continued on requirements to set up and access an enterprise fund for the sewer billing monies to be held. It is thought that there should be something in writing from the chair or vice chair of the WPCA given to Diane allowing her to access those monies.

Adjournment; Motion by D. Wartko to adjourn the meeting at 9:34 p.m., seconded by C. Wester, Unanimous.

Respectfully Submitted,
Carla M. Perugini-Erickson Chairman