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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-09-14 SJC Minutes 1 SJC MEETING September 14, 2005 Present: Dan Cogan, Chair Larry Fabbroni Supervisor Cathy Valentino Scott Gibson Supervisor Steve Trumbull Bill Gray Bob Romanowski Jeff Soule Mary Tomlan Steve Thayer Dan Walker Absent: Mayor Carolyn Peterson Peter Stein Jennifer Dotson Dan Cogan called the meeting to order at 12:32 PM. Dan Cogan asked the members if they would feel comfortable skipping a monthly meeting if there was nothing that required immediate action or approval. Bob Romanowski suggested that the ongoing items be sent out via e-mail so that the committee could remain informed of current activity. Scott offered to send monthly engineering updates. Cathy said that as long as monthly reports were distributed it was not necessary to meet every month. Dan stated that he would keep the regular meeting time schedule but would notify members of cancellation a couple of days prior to the meeting. Cathy mentioned that she is receiving the checking account and asked Steve to look into providing her all of the accounts. Approval of AUGUST 10, 2005 – The July 13, 2005 minutes will be approved at the October meeting. Bob Romanowski moved to approve the minutes, Seconded by Steve Trumbull. Bob asked that the July minutes be sent out via e-mail so the members could e-mail back approval. All were in favor the motion passed unanimously. Mayor Carolyn Peterson and Peter Stein were not present. Financial Report Summary – Steve Thayer The September report (current activity thru August) shows that there is approximately $600,000 in excess revenues over expenditures. Steve noted that the budgeted amount ($4,000.) for the gas and oil account will be exceeded because gasoline and oil prices have risen greatly. Capital Projects 407, 408, and 409 (phosphorous) were active. 2 Steve distributed the 2006 Proposed Budget. He added fringe benefits, debt service and revenues figures. Steve compared the 2006 budget to the 2005 budget and pointed out the increases. The largest adjustment was in the staff salaries account. A request for a van increased the motor vehicle equipment account. The actual insurance number will not be available until November 1, 2005. He pointed out that employee contributions to health insurance began January 2005. Social security has increased, retirement and workers comp rates are slightly lower. The last year for debt service was 2005. Dan Cogan questioned the lack of interest and earnings Steve replied that interest and earnings are booked at year end. Cathy Valentino questioned why the utilities account was being left the same as last year. Steve explained that the combination of being a little over budget the last couple of years and the city being a participant in a municipal rate that he felt the budgeted amount should be sufficient. Dan Cogan asked if we produced or purchased natural gas. Jeff Soule replied that we purchase natural gas and produce methane gas. Cathy questioned the lack of increase of the gas and oil amount. Steve explained that the usage of gas and oil at the plant is relatively low. The sewer rate is derived using consumption figures thru June 2005 and the corresponding annual expenditures. The 2006 projected rate increase is about 4.9%. Steve pointed out that consumption was down about 3%. Cathy asked Steve about the unreserved fund balance. Steve thought that based on current activity it might increase slightly and offered to send the fund balance figures to Cathy. Cathy Valentino moved to approve the budget as long as the unrestricted fund balance remained at approximately 20%. Seconded by Bob Romanowski. Bob added that the approval was subject to modifications. Cathy asked that the cover sheet of the budget be changed to the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility Recommended Budget with the principals listed. She felt that on the inside page it should be listed the percentage of partnership ownership. Dan Cogan added that the percentage of the budget paid by each of the entities should be included. Steve said that he would see that the suggested changes were made. All were in favor of approving the budget subject to modifications. The motion passed unanimously. Steve sent the summary of debt service phosphorous upgrade expenditures to both Cathy Valentino and Steve Trumbull. The 2006 maturity schedule was included. Steve will forward it to all members. Operations Report Summary – Jeff Soule Jeff finally received the sub-metering report from Malcolm Pirnie. They recommended computer control of the aeration bores and the HVAC systems. They are still waiting on the head works loading from the engineering firm Blasland Bouck and Lee. Fifteen permits have been issued to the haulers. One of the haulers had a complaint regarding carwash waste. Carwash waste has been prohibited from the beginning. Jeff is gathering more information regarding the generator contract. He hopes to review this with Susan Brock by the end of this month or the end of October. 3 The variable frequency drive on the #4 influent pump is not working. Auburn Armature reported that they had found a bad power board, a bad control board and two open IGDT gates responsible for controlling the speed of the pumps. The replacement cost is $10,000.00; the repair cost is $7,500.00. Jeff is going to replace it. Jose Lozano spoke with NYSERDA - the project is still on. Jeff would like to clean the digester prior to starting the project. Jeff would prefer to delay the start up until late spring 2006. The tie-ins have been coordinated with the contractor. The switch over to the new sodium hypo chlorite storage tank is complete. Jeff and Scott will make the final determination concerning the chlorine residual meters. Over Labor Day weekend readings were taken on the ferrous chloride system (used to remove phosphorous). No one did the simple math to show daily consumption. The belt was slipping on the pump. No ferrous chloride was fed for five or six days. Jeff notified the DEC - the plant may be subject to a fine. The parameters are on a 12-month rolling average. The numbers were three times higher than the allowable discharge. Allowable is around 40 pounds of phosphorous the numbers were close to 120 pounds. The plants 12 month rolling average went from 22 pounds to 30 pounds. This process is necessary with the new system too. Jeff spoke to some of the operators and will discuss this at the next staff meeting. Crane Hogan moved the I-Beam. The babbit bearing was replaced with ultra high molecular weight plastic. Jose has applied for a small grant related to monitoring phosphorous. Cathy would like to see the sampling information that has been gathered shared with the lake source cooling project. Personnel Issues Summary – Jeff Soule The new lab tech Lynn Smith started. Dave McGeever is scheduled to meet with his doctor to determine when he will be able to return to work. Terry Henry is still receiving treatments. Engineering Report Summary – Scott Gibson Scott will contact Blasland Bouck and Lee to find out where they are at this point. Tertiary phosphorous – The electrical contractor is approximately 30% complete. The HVAC plumbing contractor is approximately 65% complete. The building is complete - they are installing the physical processes that are in place. The electrician is a little bit behind but is working to get back on schedule. The general contractor is trying to coordinate something with the plant to do the actual flow tie-in to the new facility. This will involve bypassing a portion of the outfall that runs from the existing plant to the first manhole structure downstream. The contractor needs to physically cut the pipe out and tie the two processes. As long as the treatment process does not change the DEC will not require two months advance notice. This will most likely involve a plant shut down. There should be a pre-meeting next week to go over the plan. The DEC does need to approve the plan. There is a potential change order in the works. A structural member was in the way of the drive mechanism of the overhead door. The interior mechanism will have to be swapped for an exterior one and the mount will have to be re-fabricated. Scott feels it should be less than $10,000. Crane Hogan will be getting the exact figure soon. Dan Cogan asked if anyone was liable. Scott said that these things happen. Bill Gray said that the change orders for this project 4 are not excessive and offered to chase down the answer to Cathy Valentino’s question as to the company that will receive the $10,000. Bill Gray asked Jeff Soule if there was a modest shut down, could the settling tanks be filled. Jeff would like to shut down in the middle to the night. They will fill the empty tanks (2,000,000 gallons). The problem will be if the tanks are full and the job is not complete. The tanks must be drained and cleaned before going back on-line. Dan Walker suggested putting a plug in the effluent channel Scott replied that was the original plan but the cost became extreme. Plant to plant and pretreatment agreements - Scott will check with Susan Brock on Cayuga Heights limit system matching the plants limit system. Scott and Jeff met with suppliers of chlorine residual analyzers – they all have alarm capability. Koester has an in line gear driven unit that works in concert with the variable drive system. It could monitor both the disinfection flow and the de-chlorination system at the same time. There is a building block system as it is expensive ($40,000.). Sub Metering Report - Scott mentioned that upgrading the aeration system blowers to an automatic control system and the HVAC computer controlled energy management system at the same time would cost around $80,000. Total annual plant savings would be close to $27,000. They stated that the co-generation facility equipment should be replaced with high efficiency units at the end of their useful life (useful life 30 years). Stearns and Wheler was contacted to make modifications to the study proposal. Larry Fabbroni has the contracts and will be providing them to Cathy Valentino for her signature after the meeting today. Jeff said that lighting improvements began in the spring. Scott added that the new bulbs use more wattage but provide twice the lamp power. Bill commented that the three year payback is a pretty quick return. Cathy Valentino stated that Peter Stein has to resign. Cathy is looking for a replacement. Dan Cogan reported that Jennifer Dotson has also resigned. Next Meeting: October 12, 2005, 12:30 p.m. Cathy Valentino motioned to adjourn the meeting at 1:37. Seconded by Steve Trumbull. All were in favor, the motion passed unanimously.