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Home My WebLink AboutMN-SJC-04-08-26ITHACA AREA WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY TOWN OF ITHACA CITY OF ITHACA TOWN OF DRYDEN, OWNERS 525 THIRD STREET ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 (607) 273-8381 SJC MEETING APRIL 8, 2026 P = Present, PZ = Present Via Zoom, E = Excused and A = Absent STAFF PZ Wendy Cole, City of Ithaca P Kelly Anderson, Town of Ithaca A Scott Gibson, City of Ithaca P Joe Slater, Town of Ithaca PZ Kelly VanRiper, City of Ithaca GUEST PZ Ken Scherrieble, Camden Group PZ Brigid Mulroe, B & L PZ Peter Wernsdorfer, Camden Group PZ Jesse Semanchik, B & L P = Present, PZ = Present Via Zoom, E = Excused and A = Absent Called to Order 1:00 pm 1) Agenda Review – no changes 2) Consider approval of minutes: 12/23/25, 01/14/26, & 02/13/26 a. Motioned by Rich, Seconded by Dave, Unanimously Approved 3) Financials – Wendy a. Review of 2026 monthly Financials i. Nothing concerning, septage income is up over YTD projections b. Discuss 2025 “mostly Complete” ﬁnancials and cash planning i. Currently showing a surplus of $279,598 but $150,000 was already encumbered forward to 2026, voted on in December 2025 ii. Looks like it will leave around $130,000 net which would go into the fund balance iii. Wendy said she would ﬁnd the last fund balance breakdown and update it, send to SJC c. Post 2020 Audits progress i. City is still working with Bonadillo to clean up ﬁnances ii. City has put out an RFP for a new audit ﬁrm. Wendy will provide updates when a ﬁrm has been selected. d. Project Finances – Close out old Ones i. Wendy has more analysis to do but it appears, f0r projects: 1. Project 422J, various improvements has a cash balance of ~$88,800 2. Project 423J, boiler replacements, has a cash balance of $366,814 ii. Scott G, Wendy, and Dominic have a scheduled meeting to discuss Capital Projects. Wendy will report back at next month’s meeting. 4) Operations & Engineering Report – Peter and Scott G a. The plant is suffering from a ﬁlamentous bloom. Camden is applying appropriate remedies, and they are keeping a close eye on it. It is affecting the effluent quality but not to the point of any violations. b. Review monthly Report i. Operations 1. nothing major to note outside of the report 2. Camden is looking into energy cost improvements with behind the meter battery wall and best use of gas produced. They will report in June or July to the SJC. ii. Reporting - no violations, regulatory reports were sent as scheduled c. Inﬂuent Pumps Updates i. Pumps. 1, 4, & 5 are working. No 3 is just back in service today, no 2 is being rebuilt at W2O ii. Pumps 2 and 3 are 7500 gpm wet weather pumps, Pumps 1, 4, and 5 are regular 5000 gpm duty pumps 5) NYSDEC Permit Modiﬁcation – Jesse a. Update on NYS Communications i. Permit revision is working its way through the DEC system. b. Data Acquisition, Lake Monitoring – no report 6) Capital Improvement Project Update- Jesse and Scott G a. WQIP Funding Meeting With DEC i. Very productive meeting with the DEC regarding Water Quality Improvement Program grant. ii. Based on the meeting, the SJC should expect DEC to send more materials soon. The understanding is that the funds can be used throughout the plant on items related to phosphorus removal. iii. We will have to work out the details on DEC. They indicated that there is ﬂexibility with those funds. b. Discuss Modiﬁed Short-Term Plan (2026/2027) Thinking, Finances and Schedule i. B&L reviewed the 5 scenarios they prepared, the scenarios include various combinations of primaries rehab, thickening improvements, dewatering improvement, and adding drying. The baseline project described in the memo that went out last fall includes raw inﬂuent pumps, digester piping and valves, septage receiving building improvements, Actiﬂo improvements, concrete repairs, windows and doors, SCADA, and facility security. ii. Smart play is to maximize the use of 10 million from WQIP for the short term improvements and the apply for additional funds for the long term improvements. iii. B&L believes that NYS would not support replacing the failing ActiFLo system with a totally new system even if that makes sense ﬁnancially in the mid term as NYS would not support spending the grant on improvements that might be abandoned in the long term improvement work. iv. Under these thoughts, Scenarios 2 and 3 are the most cost effective with Scenario 3 (base CIP plus primaries, thickening, dewatering) the most attractive. v. The biggest strategic question is how much in the short term do the owners want to spend for engineering costs. There is a meeting next week re City’s thoughts on bonding to do that. c. B & L Amendment 2 status i. Discuss next month 7) Legal Services Procurement – Rod and Scott R a. Currently interviewing 2 ﬁrms b. SJC is looking to follow the Town’s lead c. Scott Reynolds will contact the Town’s pick to see if they would be interested in representing the SJC. 8) Misc. updates a. Foundational Agreements Approval Progress – Rich i. Intermunicipal wastewater agreement was circulated to the signatories and discussed at the meeting. The agreement is still out for review ii. We are waiting on the City for the Plant-to-Plant agreement, currently operating according to the old agreement. Robin will bring it up at Common Council meeting tonight as a nudge. b. Town of Ithaca Interceptor Study Update – Joe i. Joint inceptors are only between town of Ithaca and City of Ithaca but information from the study could inform plant planning for I&I. ii. The Larson Group has been doing some ﬁeldwork. Second phase will be metering ﬂows which would not be until next year. c. 2027 Budget Prep RFPs and RFQs – Scott G i. We will revisit next month when Scott G is present. Adjournment – 2:30 pm Upcoming Meeting Date - May 13, 2026