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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2024-06-12SJC MEETING June 12, 2024 SJC Board members A Robert Cantelmo, City of Ithaca P Dave Warden, City of Ithaca A Clyde Lederman, City of Ithaca P Rob Rosen, Town of Ithaca P Scott Reynolds, City of Ithaca P Jason Leifer, Town of Dryden P Rich DePaolo, Town of Ithaca E Ray Burger, Town of Dryden P = Present, PZ = Present via zoom, A = Absent, E = Excused Staff P Steve Thayer, City of Ithaca P Peter Wernsdorfer, Camden Group P Scott Gibson, City of Ithaca P Joe Slater, Town of Ithaca P Rod Howe, Town of Ithaca P Dan Thaete, Town of Ithaca PZ Chanelle Corder, City of Ithaca P Wendy Cole, City of Ithaca PZ Ken Scherrieble, Camden Group P Mike Thorne-City of Ithaca P = Present, PZ = Present via zoom, PP = Present via phone Guests Jimmy Jordan-Ithaca Voice Andy Ace-WWTF PZ Roxanne Roberts-WWTF PZ Adam Bennett-WWTF PZ Cynthia Brock-member of public PZ Mike Soule-WWTF PZ Meeting called to order at 1:02pm. Agenda review, items adjusted as needed. Approval of May 8, 2024 minutes, Rod Howe moved. Dave Warden seconds. No edits to the minutes. All in favor 5:0. Operations and Engineering Report – Peter Wernsdorfer 1. Operations • Regulatory Compliance – There are no regulatory issues to report. • Personnel –City and Camden team members are becoming a self-directed work unit. The team members are about equal when all city staff are present. 2. Maintenance • Blowers –A Howden engineer is expected to complete remote tuning before the end of the month. • Micro Turbines – The turbines continue to run well, making electricity and providing the heat needed for digestion. • Asset Management – Staff are trained. We are using the reporting features for regulatory work. We expect the AM/CMMS functions to be functional in early July. • Clarifiers – Awaiting materials to complete the work. • Boiler Replacement – The project is nearing completion. Training will be scheduled after commissioning. The dual fuel Aldrich will be tested and commissioned within the next few weeks. • Facility Improvements – The VRF heat pump installation occurred last week. The systems are working. The lab still needs to be addressed. • ActiFlo – We have scheduled a repair on the bypass gate to ActiFlo. 3. Staff Management • Morning and midday huddles continue. Team building is developing organically. • Regular check-ins continue with function leads. 4. Reporting • Regulatory reports were sent as scheduled. 5. Business, Long-Term Development • Capital Planning –We await kick off. Operations staff is developing a list of features and improvements we’d like to see implemented. • Energy Management – SEM workshop 2 occurred in mid-May. The energy treasure hunt is scheduled for June 13. Question for Peter: Are we producing a lot more gas than we can use? Are there other ways to use it other than wasting it? A: Yes, we are producing more than we can use right now. It won’t be the case in the winter. That is one of the things that will come out of the SEM program. We will have actual numbers on what the efficacy is in terms of electrical production. Will answer if we need to bring in another turbine in. 6. Operations data attached Mike Thorne presented the discussion regarding personnel • There have been a few contract amendments with Camden. • We are at a critical point with staffing • To pay for Camden staff, we need to defund all remaining vacant positions at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. • Possibilities addressing the future of the plant in the draft going to Common Council June 20th. • If we go to a fully contracted staff model, the question of what to do with the current city staff arises. • Some SJC members would rather explore other options than going to fully contracted staffing model. • Further in-depth discussion about the future of the plant. • Letter read by plant staff. Financial Report provided by Steve Thayer Revenue: • Budgeted was $6,466,289.00 and actual so far collected is $2,277,327.00 • All owners have made their payments for the first two quarters. • Have received about $193,294.00 in septage service. Will continue to catch up to budget. Expenses: • Expenditures total $2,733,001 with a deficit of $455,674.00. • In the contracts line, about $163,000.00 of the $253,760.00 relates to the Camden contract. • We are seeing increases in the costs of treatment supplies and disposal treatment. We will likely need to increase the 2025 budget for those to keep flexibility in costs for operations as needed. • No capital activity posted for May. Q: What is the status of the phosphorous removal bonds? A: Steve will double check. Believes they are close to being matured. Barton Loguidice updates: All municipalities are on board with moving forward with capital improvements. It’s a matter of contract logistics and signatures at this point. Q: What is the status of the water meter replacement project? A. The city is about a quarter of the way through the total process and moving along steadily. The contract for 2024 is winding down. The remaining funds will get us through September/October then additional funds will be requested for the next quarter of the process. It is about a 3.5-year process. Q: What is the status of flow meter process? A. They are all functioning. Q: How long have they been fully functioning? A. Six months at least. Short conversation regarding the concern about the accuracy and amount of data. Summary of the meeting at the plant with Rich, Scott Andrews, and Rod. • There are contracts that are coming up that need to be planned for such as the intermunicipal agreement, Cayuga Heights plant to plant, pretreatment agreement, etc. • The renegotiation of the Joint Sewer agreement and gang of six is going to be a lot of work so that will take some time • The plant needs to think about INI and what the range is from a strategic point of view, etc. • Need to set some targets of what the SJC would like to see on energy and climate change goals which ties into the upcoming capital study and how far we would like to go on that. • Plant management and how it’s managed. The management of the plant is baked into the Joint Sewer agreement which expires. • Changes are coming up in the pretreatment and influent operations. What is our role going to be in the food waste program. • How do we prioritize and tackle these big plans? Agenda fulfilled, No other business to discuss. Rich Depaolo adjourned the meeting at 2:30pm. The next SJC meeting is July 10, 1:00 pm.