TOWN OF
WATER
POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY
OLD
The Town of
The meeting was
called to order by Vice Chairman Pavel Wilson acting as Chairman at
WPCA Secretary,
Also in attendance were; Peter Grose of Fuss & O’Neill, Don Lucas, WPCA Coordinator, Robbie Marshall, WPCA Recording Clerk, and members of the public.
III.
Approval
of Minutes
The WPCA
reviewed the Regular Meeting minutes from the
The following changes were made.
Page 3 Section V Paragraph 2
Delete: they don’t what Add: they don’t want
Page 4 Section V Paragraph 5
Delete: The yes if Add: The yes is
A motion was made by
IV.
Open
Forum
Jean Castagno said she sent a
letter to the Attorney General because at the last meeting Chairman Powitz said
there were 2 errors in the letter that the Attorney Blumenthal had sent her on
Doris Zumbroski said one was about a town meeting. She asked Mrs. Castagno what his letter said. Mrs. Castagno read the original letter from Attorney Blumenthal.
There was a discussion about what the errors might be.
Acting Chairman Pavel Wilson said he would have the specifics at the next meeting.
Mrs. Castagno agreed, but said that what was disturbing, was that Ms. Wingfield and Mr. Pace found 2 errors and no one knows what they are, including the Attorney General.
Chairman Wilson said it really doesn’t have a tremendous impact on what we’re trying to do. The other attorneys agreed that these 2 items should not have been presented the way they were.
Chairman Wilson agreed that he would email them to her as she cannot attend the next meeting.
V.
Chairman’s
Comments and Correspondence
Chairman Wilson asked if anyone wanted to comment on the classes at URI.
Robert Hansen said it was excellent. We had a lot of bits and pieces but not the whole thing together.
Chairman Wilson remarked on the opening comment which said this is like kicking the tires, because you can see it.
John Claffey said he was impressed because he was not aware that there were that many systems. He would have liked them all to be above ground so he could look into them and see how it all works.
Chairman Wilson said he took a course in which the first day is in the classroom and the next day is in the field. Another course is a more intense 2-day session in which there is no field work. It is a tremendous challenge and should actually be 3 days.
VI.
Old
Business
a. Saybrook Commons: Peter Grose said there were some missing costs in the agreement; like electricity which was pretty significant. They worked up an estimate and it’s going out to Attorney Wertam who will try to meet with the applicant. They made comment on the capital costs and operating costs; the two funds that will protect the Town if things don’t go smoothly.
Chairman Wilson asked if it would
be submitted to Michael Pace when it is completed. Mr. Grose said the statutes delegate it to
the WPCA, who will have time to review it.
A copy is sent along to the Selectmen for their information. The attorney could explain it; it’s a little
different than the
A member of the public asked how many units were in Saybrook Commons. He was told approximately 186.
Mr. Grose was asked if Amendment 5 had been submitted to the DEP. He said it was sent to Dennis Greci. He explained the 55% reimbursement for planning phase from planning grants. Mr. Greci has asked about what has been submitted and are there costs waiting to be submitted? Mr. Grose said he doesn’t have that information and doesn’t know who would. Mr. Lucas will look into it. Mr. Grose said the hours seem okay, they need a plan to provide further funding.
The biggest news is that they are very close to completing the facilities plan and would like to distribute it. An announcement can be emailed when the copies are ready. Included in the plan are many familiar documents like the draft ordinance, focus areas etc. It explains the history, the nature of the alternatives, and decentralized wastewater plan with updated costs. He will get the document out as soon as he can.
Ms. Payne asked what happens if the
WPCA redrafts the district’s lines. Mr.
Grose replied that it makes sense to get the report out and get it into DEP
with the understanding that there may be changes. The cover letter can say here is the draft
that was requested by July 15th, we are working on changes to
particular sections. That’s fine; at
least it meets the deadline. Mr. Grose
said you’ll see that not every detail is worked out. We have the basic financing plan which we got
from listening to Michael Pace. That
needs some more
A member of the public asked how they can put a price on an AT system. Mr. Grose said there is a ballpark figure since we don’t have the exact systems, it is less precise than if we used a sewer.
b. Small Cities Grant: Mr. Wilson said there was a meeting last
Tuesday at which they reviewed the application and revised it. It should be approved so we can use it to get
our program started. Some things are
still outstanding such as approval from DEP for working in a 100 and 500 year
Mrs. Castagno asked how people qualify for the grant. Chairman Wilson reminded her that the WPCA had gone over that. She indicated that there were new attendees present. Chairman Wilson went over the requirements for their benefit. It is based on the ratio of what’s owed and the value of the property but the initial process is based on earnings. A family of four qualifies at $60,000 or less, a couple at $30,000. The guidelines will be at Youth and Family Services.
c. Status of Coordinator: Mr. Lucas is officially the WPCA Coordinator; however the WPCA does not yet have an office.
d. Public Information Session: Mr. Claffey said he spoke to
Chairman Powitz and they will get together.
The July meeting was taken off the table. Chairman Wilson said there is still a bunch
of questions, but we don’t know what they are.
Chairman Wilson asked who Mr. Claffey needs to meet with. Mr. Claffey said he needed to meet with Chairman Powitz first and then Ms. Payne and Mrs. Zumbroski.
VII.
New
Business
a. Discussion on URI Field Course; One class was discussed under
Chairman’s Comments. Mr. Lucas discussed
the course he and Chairman Powitz attended.
It was a 2-day course presented by George Loomis and Dave Taylor as well
as instructors from
Chairman Wilson asked if monitoring was included in the manual along with O and M. Mr. Lucas said yes and when the program starts and we have these systems in the ground now we have a yardstick we can use for the vendors who provide service for them. We can say to the vendor in order for you to bid for this maintenance you need to have the certification from this program. And the certification must be maintained. They only offer the course once a year. He advocates that members attend next year. It is pretty intense but well worth it. He recommended that Fuss & O’Neill attend. Mr. Grose agreed and said it is mentioned in the facilities plan. The consortium’s course is the gold standard for O and M, and highly regarded in the industry. He said that the state regulators must concur that this is the approach we need rather than a class 3 wastewater treatment operator which is not well suited to onsite systems.
Mr. Hansen said he thought that the WPCA is trying to make all the members of the Board masters of everything. He said he saw 7 or 8 units and that is the maximum he would like to understand. Mr. Hansen said the WPCA should use Mr. Lucas’s knowledge and whoever else is an engineer to select 4 or 5 systems. It is our job as a board to implement, get it established and manage it, not just select it. Because we don’t have the skills. Don does. We don’t. We have different responsibilities we have to do, but the Board can’t do them all.
Mr. Grose said you will see in a number of places, like the facilities report, that the WPCA will do this and the WPCA will do that, but it doesn’t mean you have to have that engineering expertise. You have the authority to do it. This local body is responsible for wastewater management rather than DEP dictating it. You have some choices in the matter and have staff, consultants, and your attorneys to help you.
b. Review of WWMD Ordinance with Coordinator’s Comments: Don Lucas
said in the WPCA manual there is a draft dated
Elsa Payne asked if item 2 is correct, “Only those treatment systems approved by the WPCA.” She wanted to know if the WPCA will be approving systems. Mr. Lucas replied that if we are going to administer the program then it is critical that we decide what systems we are going to allow.
Ms. Payne said she thought the State was going to establish that. Peter Grose said that in the mediation process the goal was stated that the WPCA should select a small number of systems based on cost and reliability. They may be from a list the State produces or list from NSF 246 that Chairman Powitz discussed at the last meeting.
Doris Zumbroski added that the list could be updated from year-to-year so it would have to be something that is approved by the WPCA.
Mr. Lucas said that he and Chairman Powitz attended a 2-day course at URI and one thing that struck him from an administrative perspective is the number of nuances between the systems. So for the WPCA and staff to have detailed knowledge of so many systems would be an onerous task. We would want to keep things simple from a lot of perspectives; to be able to explain them to the public.
Mr. Grose said the upgrade standards, which were part of mediation, also has definitions. There was an attempt made to get those to align.
Robert Hansen asked if the WPCA is going to choose 3 to 5 systems based on the terrain and so forth.
Mr. Lucas said yes, that is the
goal. Some systems are not suitable for
seasonal usage; others are adaptable for that kind of use.
Mr. Hansen said basically we
have to come up with a
selection of systems and then on to the next step along with a timeframe.
Chairman Wilson asked Mr. Grose if he was working with Dennis Greci on an approval list. Mr. Grose said not really. He had written something in the past about how it could be done building off what would be acceptable at the State level. He sent it to Chairman Powitz a couple of weeks ago to explain how the WPCA could go through a bidding process. The WPCA may want to get information from the vendors. We’re a little bit in limbo because the question is, is it going to be the DEP or the DPH that is going to give you the delegation to do that. You could go ahead and do it on your own, but there is the risk of whether they are going to accept it or not.
Chairman Wilson said there was discussion at Betsey Wingfield’s meeting that was encouragement for Mr. Grose and Mr. Greci to get something started. Mr. Grose said he would be happy to if that is the direction requested. The most important thing is if the WPCA is okay with the facilities plan and getting it into DEP. That forms the background for more details.
Chairman Wilson said that Amendment 5 is complete and he asked if it was submitted to DEP. Mr. Grose said it was sent to Mr. Greci. He asked if there were a couple of other items that were to be completed by July 15th. Mr. Grose said yes, he would report on them.
Mr. Hansen asked if it would make sense to select 4 or 5 systems and then get DEP’s approval of them.
There was a discussion about what had been done in the past and the results. Chairman Wilson said working with Mr. Grose and Mr. Greci would cut through some of the information.
Mr. Lucas said a critical step is the redefining of the District because that will give us a better sense of the limitations the systems will have to work under. Chairman Wilson said he understood that there is some agreement of definitions of other regulations that needs to be done.
Mr. Grose said the upgrade is a
draft document, dated
Mr. Lucas said he would look at the other documents and try to achieve uniformity which would give the WPCA credibility.
Chairman Wilson said there was an email from Chairman Powitz saying that he would like to arrange a separate public meeting to discuss changing the boundaries of the WWMD which would make more sense considering the changing demographics. Chairman Wilson thought the WPCA would approve the changes to the definitions to speed the process along, but felt it was premature because there is other work that needs to be done to make sure everything is consistent.
Mr. Lucas named the documents that
must agree as; Ordinance 75, the WWMD, Upgrade Standards. Mr. Grose said the WWMD ordinance references
the Upgrade Standards and there is a reason for that. An ordinance has to be passed at a Town
meeting. It is not easy to make changes
after it has been approved. The Upgrade
Standards is actually called the Upgrade Program and you have more
c. Review and Pay Bills
Doris Zumbroski submitted 2 contractual bills and 1 bill from the Coordinator for payment.
The first was from Fuss & O’Neill in the amount of $1620.00 for the Saybrook Commons maintenance agreement review. The second was from Fuss & O’Neill for engineering services rendered in the amount of $2966.00. The third was from the WPCA Coordinator for the URI class in the amount of $465.00.
Saybrook Commons is eligible for reimbursement from the applicant.
A motion was made by
Mrs. Zumbroski asked Mr. Grose to send in any outstanding bills to be paid before the fiscal year ends. Shipman & Goodwin will be notified by Pavel Wilson as well. Mr. Grose said Fuss & O’Neill typically closes the billing period on June 30 and sends the invoice to Town Hall. Anything to be included in this year’s budget must be submitted by July 9th. Mr. Grose suggested approving and authorizing the Chairman to sign any bills that come in after the last June meeting.
Mrs. Zumbroski said there is
$29,439.85 remaining in the budget.
68.48% has been expended.
VIII.
Adjournment
A motion to
adjourn was made at
Respectfully Submitted,
Old Saybrook Water Pollution Control Authority
Robbie A. Marshall
Robbie A. Marshall
WPCA Recording Clerk