TOWN OF
WATER
POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY
OLD
The Town of
The meeting was
called to order by Chairman Robert Powitz 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
Page 1 Section IV Paragraph 8
DELETE: Dennis Greci and Bill Hogan of DEP ADD: Section Manager of the DEP Water Management Bureau and the supervisor of Dennis Greci and Bill Hogan
Page 10 Section VI Paragraph 3
ADD: School
A motion was made by
IV.
Open
Forum
No comments from the public.
V.
Chairman’s
Comments and Correspondence
Chairman Powitz said he would be
traveling back and forth to
If the union doesn’t allow Don
Lucas to do both jobs (Building Inspector and WPCA Coordinator) he said he
would tender his resignation as chairman.
He cannot do it alone any longer.
We have been limping along for the last four months, without a
Coordinator.
Don Lucas said that Don Dobson is the president of the local and he says everything is a go. Mr. Lucas said he will push the issue.
Mr. Wehrly asked if there has to be a meeting for the union to give their blessing. Mr. Lucas said he was asked for a job description and he gave it to them. They seemed satisfied; he doesn’t know what else has to be done to formalize it.
Chairman Powitz said he cannot ask Don Lucas anything about the WPCA. It has gotten to be untenable. He apologized for getting the agenda out at the 11th hour. There was a discussion about the chairman position.
Chairman Powitz spoke with Attorney John Wertam. He is meeting with Betsy Wingfield this Friday. The attorney will send the topics of discussion to Chairman Powitz and he will forward them to the WPCA. He told Attorney Wertam his concerns with the DPH not stepping up to the plate and the failure of the DEP to specify the systems to work with. He also spoke to him about the letter that Attorney General Blumenthal sent to Jean Castagno. In the letter he said that it’s up to Michael Pace to make any kind of appeals. Speaking to all the attorneys; we don’t have an appeal. We lost twice in the State Supreme Court. Attorney Wertam will speak with the Attorney General so his people will issue another letter clarifying the point, so this business with “Vacate the Mandate” will go away. It was wrong, but there is going to be a meeting between Shipman & Goodwin and the Attorney General’s office. Hopefully it will be resolved. Sometime after Friday he will tell Chairman Powitz what has transpired and he will pass the information on.
Chairman Powitz spoke to Attorney Wertam about what he felt was important. First the pumpout ordinance must be completed to set down the foundation with the DPH and our Health Department, to let them have access to properties and pass off the technical aspects of the sewer avoidance program to the Health Department. We still do the policy, but we needed the definitions. The DEP is concerned with the status of the WWMD and the ordinance. He told Attorney Wertam that the WPCA needs more direction. There was a long discussion and they went through all the points.
Doris Zumbroski asked how the WPCA is on time if there needs to be a public information session and a referendum.
Chairman Powitz said we have to do two things. We have to do the pumpout ordinance that gives continuity. The WWMD will be discussed this evening with some of Mr. Lucas’s comments.
He sent a document from Elsa Payne titled “Decentralized Wastewater Glossary Compiled by The Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment,” and hoped that the definitions can be put into the pumpout ordinance. It is a matter of getting everything to current definition.
Chairman Powitz spoke to Sarah Becker regarding the referendum and she will help the WPCA meet all the legal requirements. He asked Mr. Gwizd to act as an interface with the Town Clerk’s Office when the time comes.
The DEP has also sent a sanction
letter to Westbrook telling them to get a full-time Sanitarian. Sooner or later we will have to meet with the
WCCC of Westbrook and the WPCA’s from Old Lyme and Clinton. We need a coordinator, then we can hold a
joint meeting. Whatever anyone does
impacts the other towns. If we have to
include
Mrs. Zumbroski has sent an email reminding Chairman Powitz of issues that have been brought up, but most of them have been addressed and will be addressed. Michael Pace will provide the WPCA with an outline of the funding mechanism. It sounded good; no one’s going to hurt. He will send it out as soon as he receives it and it will be part of the public outreach program.
Chairman Powitz said the problem is; those of us who have gone through the URI courses understand that they mix and match them. They look at the front end and match it with the back end. So there are quite a few things we have to look at. When we went through the mediation process, even with the caveat that as technology improves we can adopt it, we discussed the sand filter as having a footprint. The footprint on the sand filter was unrealistic in terms of size for what it can do. He said he wanted to adapt the URI system as much as possible, because it’s easy, it’s been done, and it’s working. The only thing we have to worry about is the O & M, and they have worked that out. We don’t know how the DPH and DEP are going to approach it; like the reduction in nitrogen. They have to decide on the technology and bring the range of technology to us, but they have not been willing to speak to us.
Attorney Wertam will speak to them again about the WPCA letter stating that if they can’t resolve it, we’ll do it. He said he had all the faith in the world in Fuss & O’Neill with their expertise and URI experience.
Robert Hansen said he has been on the board for 6-8 months and wanted to know if the WPCA is ever going to make the DEP happy. He said they should come down and tell us what it would take. Mr. Hansen said he has only been on the Board for a few months and is frustrated.
Mrs. Zumbroski said the WPCA should write them a letter asking what kind of systems they want. Approve them for us so we can determine the costs and go public with them. Why don’t we get firm? They get very firm with us.
Chairman Powitz said under the State statutes (for the WWMD) the entire block of legislation deals with sewer systems. It’s no great stretch to sewer the area, collect fees etc. So WWMD’s with a sewer are well defined. Sewer avoidance however is not. It is not defined in the regulations. So how do we proceed within the WWMD to make it equitable for the public and to get what we, DEP and DPH need? He said he is afraid to ask them what they want because only one person in DPH has gone through the URI course and has no experience with AT systems under 5000 gallons.
Mr. Hansen asked what percentage of the state has septic systems as opposed to sewers. No one had the answer, but geographically there are more septic systems and they are working efficiently.
Chairman Powitz gave examples of large lots where there is no concern. He is loath to ask for any information as they don’t have any training. That is why he has requested the WPCA continue their training at URI.
Mr. Wehrly just because it hasn’t
been done in
Chairman Powitz said it is amazing how matter-of-fact other states are with AT systems. They are putting them in new construction while we are looking at them to retrofit and solve problems.
Mr. Gwizd said maybe after the meeting on Friday we’ll be solid in the direction we can go in. Chairman Powitz said we’ll know what direction we have to go in. He wasn’t saying that they weren’t going to pursue the pumpout ordinance or the WWMD. Even if we create the WWMD without knowing what we’re going to do with it; it’s either going to be a sewer or sewer avoidance. There’s no other choice.
Chairman Powitz explained to a member of the public that the Town has lost two court decisions and the DEP has said the Town has to do something. If it’s a sewer it will be the best. But, we cannot do nothing.
VI.
Old
Business
a. Status of the new pump out ordinance: Chairman Powitz asked the
WPCA to review the definitions that Elsa Payne sent and the redline version and
send him comments. If there are any
definitions that don’t match, the standard definitions will be used. He asked that the WPCA get it done by the end
of the week.
b. Saybrook Commons: Peter Grose sent his comments to John Wertam. Mr. Grose said a meeting will be set up with them. They received revised cost information regarding; repair and replacement fund, operation and maintenance fund and money set aside to grow. The comments will be coordinated through the attorney. Chairman Powitz said there would probably be some changes.
c. Small Cities Grant: No items.
d. Status of Coordinator: Discussed under Chairman’s comments.
e. Public Information Session: Not determined. The pumpout ordinance must be finalized first.
f. WWMD: Don Lucas had some comments on the
proposed “Authority and Responsibilities for Implementing the Proposed
Wastewater Management District” prepared by John Wertam, April, 2008 inserted
below.
2. John also cites this case law in the first sentence
of the next to the last paragraph on Page 2 wherein it states: “Any portions of this Order requiring approval
by the plaintiff shall be deemed as requiring
approval which shall not be unreasonably withheld”. Again,
the same argument as above – the Town has repeatedly requested approval of A/T
systems (or delegation of approval of these systems to the Town) and has not
received same. Another point for our side.
Chairman Powitz said it is going to be tough to get the WWMD in without some sort of guidance. Mr. Lucas said when you have a public discussion on these documents you might have to piggyback them onto something else in order to obtain a representative sample of the Town. We run the risk of the northern area of Town not attending any meetings thinking there will be no impact on them. So we really need to generate interest throughout the Town and not just the beach areas.
3. The first paragraph on Page 3 states: “It is a continuing order of the Court
requiring the Town to develop treatment alternatives for DEP to consider and approve”.
It would appear, under this sentence,
that the Town is (or was) to submit specific A/T systems to the DEP for
approval – if the Town did not present any systems for approval, then my points
in 1 and 2 above may have no value.
Don Lucas said, do we adopt a strategy of recommending 6-8 systems to use in the beach areas and ask for authorization to start installing them?
Chairman Powitz said he is not asking them for vendor specific examples but their guidelines for advanced treatment systems. But they haven’t given us that authority. Mrs. Zumbroski asked if they have to. Chairman Powitz replied, yes they do because if we were to approve these things they have every right to say we don’t. There was a discussion about past correspondence on asking for permission to choose systems, what Michael Pace is doing with the finances, and the sewer fund.
Robert Hansen asked if the same people are still in DEP, is there one individual that we speak to all the time. He asked if we have a representative that is supporting us. He was told there is one person at the DEP and our representatives have initiated and put the legislation in place. There was a discussion about Westbrook and Clinton and there not being any available land to put anything on.
4. Under Section B “Specific Responsibilities”, the
first paragraph summarizes the situation by stating that the delegation to
either the WPCA or Director of Health of approval authority “…has not yet occurred.” This falls into line with my point in 1
above – failure to act on their part has prevented us from completing our
responsibilities.
Chairman Powitz said it was part of mediation and we have to pass the ordinance to get that authority. We get the authority to issue the permit. The oversight is done by DPH. That has yet to be worked out.
Mr. Lucas asked how far along the WWMD ordinance is. Mr. Grose said it is a reasonable draft and it is in the notebook; there are the ordinance and technical standards. Chairman Powitz said he would send everyone a copy.
g. Part-time Clerk: The clerk is onboard and working. There is a big pile of files to be
input. Chairman Powitz said he would
meet with Mary Jane Engel this week. He asked
VII.
New
Business
Mr. Grose said that Amendment 5 has
been updated. For quite a few years now,
Old Saybrook continued to pay Fuss &
O’Neill on a time and materials basis for well beyond
that last amendment. It was before the
mediation which was never anticipated. DEP said they wouldn’t give the Town any
money unless it was reviewed and
approved. Chairman Powitz said he will
send a copy to the WPCA and it will
be approved and sent to the DEP.
a. Review and Pay Bills
There was one contractual bill from Fuss & O’Neill presented for payment.
The Fuss & O’Neill bill was for the review of Saybrook Commons in the amount of $405.00.
A motion was made by
Mr. Lucas said that Saybrook Commons had made an application to the DOT as a major traffic generator. They are proceeding with getting approvals from the State. The emergency egress may not be suitable for a fire apparatus. They don’t provide any details for the turn radius and there are no dimensions for the road. Mr. Lucas sent a memo to Planning, Zoning, the Fire Marshal, Fire Chief, and Police Chief expressing his concerns about egress and access. He also spoke to Michael Pace who is very concerned about it as a roadblock to the project. Affordable Housing will supersede Planning and Zoning regulations, but not health and safety.
Mrs. Zumbroski said the budget stands at $30,000 remaining. 67.86% of the budget has been expended.
Chairman Powitz asked Mr. Lucas to sign up for the URI courses as soon as he is considered official by the union. The advanced courses are on June 4th and 5th.
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