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Home My WebLink AboutMN-SJC-2026-02-11ITHACA 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 February 11, 2026 A Robert Cantelmo, City of Ithaca P Rod Howe, Town of Ithaca A Clyde Lederman, City of Ithaca A Rob Rosen, Town of Ithaca P Scott Reynolds, City of Ithaca A Ray Burger, Town of Dryden A Dave Warden, City of Ithaca P Jason Leifer, Town of Dryden P Rich DePaolo, Town of Ithaca P = Present, PZ = Present Via Zoom, E = Excused and A = Absent STAFF PZ Wendy Cole, City of Ithaca A Kelly Anderson, Town of Ithaca PZ Scott Gibson, City of Ithaca PZ Joe Slater, Town of Ithaca P Kelly VanRiper, City of Ithaca P Ken Scherrieble, Camden Group P Ed Gottlieb, City of Ithaca P Peter Wernsdorfer, Camden Group PZ Jesse Semanchik, B & L PZ Brigid Mulroe, B & L GUEST P Fernando Figueroa, Ithaca Voice P = Present, PZ = Present Via Zoom, E = Excused and A = Absent Called to Order 1:02 pm 1) Agenda Review 2) Consider approval of minutes: 11/12/25 – Unable to approve no quorum 3) Financials – Wendy a. Review of monthly financials Year to date financials were presented by Wendy C. Since the year has just begun there isn’t much to note. Contingency fund reallocation will start showing up next month as they're spent. January is slow because we're finishing paying off, December expenses, and not a lot of vouchers come through in January. While 2025 expenses were presented there was little discussion as the expenses are continuing to be booked. Scott R noted that the million-dollar balance is unusually high for this time of year. Wendy noted that the salary line is fairly firm so there should be some unspent funds. Wendy C expects the numbers for 2025 to be pretty much done by the April meeting. b. Audits: Status update The City has hired Bonadillo as a third party to help speed up their audit. Wendy C said there is not a timeline yet for when the next audit(s) will be completed. Wendy C will update the SJC monthly on the progress. The SJC 2021 audit was completed with the City’s audit in August. No one on the SJC has seen it so Wendy C will send it over directly. 4) Operations & Engineering Report – Peter and Scott G a. Review monthly Report Peter W reviewed the report. Items not mentioned in the written report were: Sending digester output to Auburn is being done at no charge but the plant avoid waste hauling The plant will be converting an area for polymer storage to keep more on hand. There was some discussion of how to allocate possible 2025 extra funds to projects such as the clarifier rebuild. Scott G and Camden will get together to discuss what might be possible, but a decision will have to wait until the finances stabilize for 2025. Camden is doing an analysis of the best way to use the high-quality gas that is being produced and will have a report on this in a few months. b. Influent Pumps Updates The 2 wet weather pumps are still offline and rebuilds to get them online will be happening within a few weeks. Scott G feels the plant has sufficient capacity now, but the situation is being closely monitored, and the DEC is kept informed. The Zoom feed was discovered to be down at this point, and it took several minutes to get back online. 5) NYSDEC Permit Modification – Jesse a. Update on NYS communications i. Jan 14th NYSDEC sent Draft Compliance Schedule for review ii. Jan 21st B&L sent comments to DEC 1. Requested further definition of the chronic mixing zone dimensions, assumptions not consistent with TOGS. 2. Utilization of CSI pH data (CSI 8.0 vs DEC 8.5). Will impact ammonia limits. 3. Phosphorous concentration limit – proposed EDPM + 18 months; this will require reactive spending on Aciflo to ensure compliance. B&L requested this be pushed back with ammonia and nitrite to allow informed decision making with overall CIP. iii. Feb 9th NYSDEC acknowledged reviewing comments, requested emerging contaminant short term monitoring sample results. B&L coordinating with Camden for data. iv. Expecting NYSDEC to move to draft permit and public comment in coming months. b. Nitrite & Ammonia sampling results to -date. i. Ammonia and nitrite graph updates c. Data acquisition, lake monitoring i. Camden planning supplemental inter-process plant sampling ii. Lake sampling discussed in long term CIP below. 6) Discuss cost recovery fees for IPP efforts – Peter Ed Gottlieb made a short presentation on costs that could be recovered by charging fees for the industrial pretreatment program (IPP). While there are only 3 industrial users being monitored regularly, the program requires much more than that (monitoring for new users, trucked waste permitting, etc.) and is estimated to cost $62,000 or so per year. Local sewer laws, made and modified as part of the IPP program, do allow charging of fees. Rod H wanted to be sure the plant was not going to suddenly raise fees which could be a burden on producers. Peter W and Ed G said there is no intention of that; they were just looking for the SJC’s ok to continue developing the cost to create a fee schedule and to deploy an IPP fee program. This would take at least a few months to develop. SJC members were in favor of further work on the fee program. Camden and Ed Gwil report back to the SJC when more is known. 7) Discuss what SJC Committee wants to see in the minutes – Scott R The committee discussed the preferred form for the minutes. The committee is looking for a one- or two-page summary, depending on what's discussion and capturing the big points. The attachments sent out for the meeting plus anything else presented will be attached. 8) Discuss new legal services process, replacement of Susan Brock – Scott R Susan Brock, the SJC attorney, is retiring July 1st. She is also the Town of Ithaca’s attorney. Members discussed how to proceed. Rod H said he had some names from Susan B as the town will be sending out a request for proposals next week, seeking new legal counsel. Sharing an attorney with the Town has not seemed in anyone’s memory to present any substantial issues. Rod H talked to Susan B about this, and she thought it worked well. Members did not feel that the SJC’s attorney choice needed to vetted and ruled on by the owners. Rod H will send an email to the other owner’s attorneys to verify all this. Rod H will share information that the Town receives with the SJC. 9) Capital Improvement Projects – Jesse a. Short Term Plan (2026/2027) i. Re-affirm scope ii. SEQR to commence this month 1. Designate one municipality as the lead agency for the coordinated review. 2. B&L to complete Part 1 of the Environmental Assessment Form (EAF). 3. Board Meeting: Lead agency to review Part 1 EAF and pass intent to be lead agency resolution. 4. B&L to distribute Part 1 EAF to Interested and Involved Agencies for 30-day comment period. 5. B&L to complete Part 2 and 3 of the EAF during comment period. 6. Board Meeting: Review Parts 2/3 EAF and pass resolution declaring lead agency and negative declaration. iii. Town of Ithaca – Map, Plan, Report iv. Bond Resolution and BAN. v. B&L Near Term CIP Design and Bidding Services Amendment. (funded via BAN) b. Long Term Plan (8 – 10 Years) i. Field Dilution Study Workplan to be submitted to NYSDEC. ii. Outfall Inspection – ASI iii. CORMIX modeling – Geosyntec iv. Field Dilution Study – Geosyntec v. Study submitted to DEC for SPDES permit modification. vi. Updated engineering report with updated scope and costs. 10) Teams Document Repository Scott R said he is building a Teams document repository for the chair/committee. This will take some months to finish and will include agendas, minutes, and old projects info from former chairs going back to 2010 or so. 11) Misc. updates Cynthia Brock, former SJC chair, is the chairperson of the Tompkins County Water Resources Council. She sent and email to Scott R and wondered if people from either the plant or the SJC wanted to join. Former staff and SJC members have been members I thepast. Scott R will forward the email to the committee. Adjournment – 2:20 pm Upcoming Meeting Date March 11, 2026 Please See Attached Appendixes: 1 – January 14, 2026, Unapproved Minutes (Minus Appendixes) 2 – Financials 3 – Operator’s & Engineer’s Report 4 – DMR Report 5 – Gas usage Report 6 – Ed Gottlieb’s Cost Recovery Slides