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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2022-09-142022-09-14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 1 SJC MEETING September 14, 2022 SJC Members Staff Cynthia Brock, Chair Steve Thayer Bill Goodman Scott Gibson Rich DePaolo Ethan Bodnaruk Ray Burger; Town of Dryden (alternate) Matt Sledjeski Rob Rosen Ken Scherrieble Jeffrey Barken Scott Reynolds Guest David Warden Dan Thaete; Town of Ithaca Joe Slater: Town of Ithaca Absent Jimmy Jordan: Ithaca Voice Supervisor: Jason Leifer Cynthia called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Ken introduced Peter to the members. There were no additions or deletions to the agenda. Scott MOVED to Approve the August 10th minutes. Seconded by Rich. Approved 7:0. Financial Report – Steve Thayer July 2022 Financial Activity Revenues – We have collected $3,135,000 OF $5,233,000 budget. $342,000 septage service to date of budget $620,000.00. Expected to meet that septage budget by the end of the year. We have all three owners third quarter and the Town of Ithaca’s fourth quarter. 435 Contracts $123,600, reflects the Camden group payments, $42,000.00 has been paid Finding a lot of issues with higher costs all around and supply chain issues. Expenses – to date almost $3,500,000.00 Deficit do date is just under $335,000.00. Keep in mind that all expenses do not follow the calendar Capital Projects: Flow Meters stations $10,800.00 of expenses 422J $9,600 of expenses 425J Bulk Storage $12,751.00 of expenses 2022-09-14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 2 2023 Budget – Steve Steve reviewed the changes to the budget. Mayor asked for guidelines for 2% and 4% increase not including fringe benefits or debt service Revenues: septage bumped to $650,000 based on current and history numbers. Debt service- expense side, interest and earnings bumped up. Total revenues expected $5,852,000.00 Three positions will be unfunded for 2023 to help offset Camden group expenses Lines 410 Utilities increased to $350,000. 430 Fees for Professional Services can decrease by $20,000 based on history. 435 Contracts Overhead line decreased to 5% 455 Insurance $195,000 currently, seeing increases to insurance. Best estimate until December. 477 Equipment Parts and Supplies were increased for 2023 roughly $72,000.00 over. Bumped up. Treatment Supplies and Sludge Disposal were kept at their 2022 levels. State Retirement – we are still waiting to hear – NYS retirement rate is going up 12% based on market activity – reduced Debt Service- added debt for chemical bulk storage and facility improvement project. $263,000 increase Revenue side will balance out. There is no transfer to Capital Reserve for 2023. Water Consumption is going up over 8.5% (attributed to Cornell) Steve will review the numbers over the next month as there may be adjustments. Scott Gibson – DEC dictates that we need to have a proper maintenance software system. $30,000. Replacement of a lot of equipment is a preventative maintenance measure. Ken- taking an inventory of assets and equipment in the plant and replacing what needs to be replaced. Projection prep by the end of 2024, will have “a real good map moving forward.” Scott- additional contracts. New planned svc agreements for the new equipment. Microturbine service agreement, aeration system service agreement. New agreements that come hand in hand with the equipment just put in. Rehabilitated blowers come with a 3 year service deal, $62,000. Preventative maintenance agreements. Question about the yearly service cost being 1/3 of the cost of the capital cost. Is this a cost we are carrying indefinitely? Scott explained why we didn’t go brand new. Wanted a guarantee they could remanufacture the veins in the turbines and that they could make the systems work with our system. The problem with the old ones is that they operated in a window of efficiency say 30% and at night when flows went down and didn’t need air pushed into the tanks, the system, would ask the blowers to operate below their window and they would start to surge causing damage to the veins and the motors because of the stopping and starting and operating at a lower voltage. 2022-09-14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 3 Steve- page 2 of budget had change- vehicle budget changed to 0. Thirty-thousand goes to other equipment and 5k goes to utilities, making utilities to 355,000. Question about LECTRE being involved in any of the contracts Scott explained that Chris is involved in the flow meter project but he keeps getting pulled aside to do things that he is not contracted for. Is there a substantial amount of money projected to be spent next year on parts next year? Should the budget be raised? Budget question concern- Ken thinks we will be closer to the 250k next year. Dan T: Additional consumption from Cornell question. Are we selling them more water or are we getting numbers from them and adding it to the figures? Scott G-water usage remained, and they are on trend with previous years before covid. Cynthia budget questions. Staff salary has gone down but the insurance has gone up. It is 50% of staff salary. Three positions that are being unfunded are the operator trainee, assistant chief operator and lab technician? Yes Is that just a 2022 hold or not sure what’s happening yet? Ken: with what we’re trying to obtain, were ok with that staffing level, there will be no change in service. If you were to hire a chief and Camden were to leave, you will need to staff those positions that they bring to the table already. You get a whole group of staff that comes with Camden. Cynthia resolution for agenda-hold off on voting on the recommendation of budget. Majority agreed. Operations and Engineering Report – Ken Scherrieble Blowers were installed 8/15. Howden still involved on some things needing completion. Gas turbines are installed and working effectively as of 8/4. Meeting with Danforth last week, will have 75% of plans by Oct. 31. Developing program with operators for process control Developing resource-based library for operators as they work for certifications Skills and needs assessments Staff development activities 1. Plant Maintenance & Operations – a. Aeration System – Aeration Blowers were installed on 8/15 b. Gas Turbines - are operating effective 8/4 Skid Chiller c. Boiler – boiler purchase and demo – completed and issued. Scott G.- The last meeting, approved 350,000 to order boilers and demolish some of the infrastructure that’s there. The reasoning for that was bc the city had it’s resolution approved for $370/380,000 so the city could take the burden while waiting for the town of Dryden and Town of Ithaca’s approvals for their money. Scott has the rest of the resolutions so all set there. Next month will be a resolution for the rest of the contract for the installation. Total contract is around $660,000.00. There will be some customization and electrical work that goes hand in hand when they arrive. 2022-09-14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 4 - Boilers should be here by beginning of December and demolition will start 2. Facilities Maintenance & Operations - a. Developing mechanism to track internal and external processes b. Developing resource library/knowledge base, operator information (skills and needs assessments) c. Unit process assessments underway with vendor technical staff – Acti-flo is first priority. 3. Staff Management – Ken Scherrieble – a. Weekly staff meetings continue. b. New Acting Chief – Peter Wernsdorfer) is attending rounds 4. Reporting – 5. Business, Long Term development – a. Exploration of sludge during technologies for future upgrade b. CMMS Program c. Capital Plant (5 to 10 year horizons) commencing 6. Energy Production Statistics – provided by Ken. Discussion Items A. Sludge Drying Pilot Discussion –Scott explained process and expressed concerns. i. 80% of what goes to the landfill is water. When the sludge reaches class A, it can be land applied and class B can’t. Went to see a sludge drying process. We can have our own process to reduce the carbon footprint and save money over time. The size would 50’ long by 12/13’ wide. Can fit in the hopper facility. Will need to build an addition. It will be $3million. The drying cost will be 78k a year compared to sludge hauling cost is over 400k a year. Savings of about 300k a year. A lot of other factors go into a true benefit cost. It will be 9-11 years to pay it back. Fully anticipate increase in landfill costs to $125/ton so with that number it would be about 600k savings 5-6 year payback. We will have to market it. Cynthia: The product that would come from that could go to a local farm and create electricity. There are a lot of different benefits to pyrolysis. What is the net energy being used to create product versus what is being derived from the product after it’s created? Scott G: BCR can come in and do a presentation for the numbers. Are we on the hook for any liabilities that may come up down the road? 2022-09-14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 5 Scott G: one advantage is Ithaca is not a huge industrial area but are laboratory area, less of a heavy metal component. As far as volatiles, we hope they are reduced by the cooking process. Have to do a chemical profile. b. Cynthia asked if there is an analysis we can do to see. i. Scott: can have pilot here to see firsthand. About $8k for the week. We will have to schedule it. c. Asked if we would own it or would we contract out? i. Scott: we would own and operate the process eventually. Low operation time. Low tech in/out process. Only moving parts are the screw augers. d. Rob asked if it goes into tank trucks or dumpster? i. Scott explained process and it will be less trucks leaving the facility a week. ii. Any cogen potential? Yes Scott suggests having them come in when there is a low agenda so they can answer any questions. B. Cayuta Transfer Station – Cynthia explained the call to action and the interaction. Seneca lake guardians are trying to stop the development of the transfer station by filing an article 78 against DEC. The leachate or water runoff from the transfer station underneath the permit application was to be directed to IAWWTF. That statement that the runoff will be filled with PFOAs and our facility doesn’t have the capacity to remove the PFOAs and that will threaten the recreational and drinking water of Cayuga lake. This caused a mass panic. Cynthia sent out information mitigating the problem. C. Ken explained PFOA’s and how invalid that concern would be. a. Furher discussion ensued amongst members D. Plant to Plant Agreement Update – Still negotiating with Cayuga heights. What fees to charge. Data collection of meters. City harbor is going through approval process. Tom parsons had directed the emergency route through the plant but Lisa told Cynthia that is no longer a requirement for phase 1 and 2. Further discussion ensued. Rich Moved to Adjourn. Seconded by Rob. Approved 7:0 The meeting was adjourned at 2:47 p.m. The Next Meeting will be October 12th, 2022, 1:00 pm.