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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2017-10-112017.10.11 APPROVED SJC minutes.doc 1 SJC MEETING October 11, 2017 SJC Members Staff Cynthia Brock, Chair Steve Thayer Supervisor Bill Goodman CJ Kilgore Brian Davis Erik Whitney Tee-Ann Hunter Jose Lozano David Warden Scott Gibson MaryAnn Sumner (Dryden Alternative) Roxy Johnston Guest Absent Chris Bordlemay: Cornell Rich DePaolo Jim Belcastro; Lystek Supervisor Jason Leifer George Bevington; Gerhardt LLC Donna Fleming Sam Halloran; Lystek Ajay Singh; Lystek Cynthia called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. Tee-Ann MOVED to accept the September 13th minutes. Seconded by MaryAnn. Approved 6 - 0. Financial Report – Steve Thayer 2017 Activity through September – Revenues – Final Quarterly Payments have been received by all owners. Debt service will be invoiced in November. Septage service is coming in nicely - we are at budget at this time. Expenses – most line items are running at or slightly below budget. Contracts, Equipment Parts and Treatment Supplies are running a bit high. Overall things look good. We refinanced some debt and were able to realize a savings of $7,000.00. We currently have a surplus of $71,000.00 – we did budget a deficit and will probably see that deficit at year end. Keep in mind that all expenses do not follow the calendar. Cynthia asked if the 2017 Budget could provide Jose his request (for funds to pay USGS for testing samples of the bench-scale study – to study the effect of electroactive-attached-growth). Steve hopes to squeeze Jose’s modified request of $50,000.00 into the 2017 budget year. Capital Projects – There were no expenses. 2017.10.11 APPROVED SJC minutes.doc 2 2018 Budget – Steve tightened things up from last month’s preliminary budget figures to bring the rate increase down to approximately 4.3%. Revenues - He bumped septage revenue up a bit to account for anticipated increased fees in 2018. Expenses – He trimmed the vehicle purchase down to $25,000.00. He deducted the $40,000.00 funds for strainers and will use an open purchase order to offset their purchase. He decreased the fees to $115,000.00, reduced overhead by $3,500.00, reduced Insurance $3,000.00 and reduced Workers Compensation $2,300.00. Health Insurance is looking at a 4% premium increase for a $4,000.00 reduction. He transferred $250,000.00 from Fund Balance. Our fund balance on 12/31/18 should be close to 21% which will be in line with our agreement. Jose modified his funding request from $80,000.00 to $50,000.00. He hopes that Bolton Point is interested in participating and hopes they will be able to contribute monetarily. Jose will be using the traditional approach testing methods through USGS - testing for 150 compounds (emerging contaminants and endocrine disruptors) and with help from Damien at Cornell will be testing our influent and effluent water for thousands of compounds. Our plant removes an amazing amount of compounds but we see UV filters (from lotions) and sucralose passing through. Jose is hopeful that the adoption of new processes will allow the removal of additional contaminants from our biosolids. Tee-Ann asked if there was an educational or public outreach component to the grant. Jose replied that the Park Foundation Grant has both components - he is hopeful that we may be eligible for a water resource foundation grant. Cynthia asked CJ about his findings with regard to septage rates. Presently we charge $48.91 per one thousand gallons for both septage and grease. Auburn and Syracuse both charge $60.00 for septage and $155.00 for grease. CJ would like to charge flat fees rather than involving lab results for percent solids and COD’s - he is looking at $55.00 for septage and $75.00 for grease. CJ will assemble things for the next meeting – he hopes to have the new rates in place for 2018. David MOVED to approve the $50,000.00 funding request to continue the study in conjunction with the Ithaca College, Cornell and the Park Foundation grant. Seconded by Tee-Ann. Approved 6-0. David MOVED to accept the 2018 Recommended Budget. Seconded by Brian. Approved 6-0. Operations and Engineering Report – CJ Kilgore 1. Plant Maintenance & Operations a. GHD finalized proposal for grit removal, influent and septage improvements, tank and concrete rehabilitation has been received. The total estimate is $4,900,000.00 with a 20% contingency. Engineering fees for design are $415,000.00. Brian questioned the 20% contingency. Erik replied that 10% to 15% is more normal and added that he thought that the more refined design - as they get further into the project - will lead to a lower contingency. MaryAnn asked about the timeline. 2017.10.11 APPROVED SJC minutes.doc 3 Erik estimates the design phase to be approximately 5 months with bidding in April or May - he hopes that construction will begin summer 2018 and will be completed within two years. CJ will forward an electronic copy of GHD’s proposal to Cynthia for distribution. b. GHD Emergency Generator evaluation – they are recommending one 2,000 kW generator or two 1,000 kW generators operating in parallel. This upgrade is included as part of GHD’s finalized proposal. Estimated repair to our existing diesel Caterpillar generator was $46,000.00. The new generator(s) will meet clean air standards. CJ would like to change our underground diesel storage tank to an above ground storage tank as part of this project. In response to keeping our old – Erik replied that phase matching would be difficult. c. DEC Hazardous Bulk Storage - $9,800.00 fine – CJ, Scott and the City Attorney met in Syracuse. CJ said that he learned a lot and stated that future inspections will not have the same findings. Tanks exceeding 10,000 gallons must be inspected by a Professional Engineer – we have 90 days to inspect our tanks. The temporary toes associated with our odor control system must be upgraded. Scott offered that the DEC suggested that both 10,000 gallon tanks should be replaced – he added that they were both re-lined less than ten years ago. He said that if the wall thickness and integrity are fine he believes the tanks should remain. CJ added that future tanks should be less than 10,000 gallons. 2. Facilities Maintenance & Operations a. Monitoring Stations – four proposals were submitted. Scott discussed the results. LeBella’s proposal was rejected as the included narrative was for a completely different project. MRB Group was number one - their project manager Tim Carpenter is very familiar with the plant. Hunt was a close second. TG Miller proposed to sub-contract - they are not a process control firm. The Quoted prices were approximately $50,000.00. $25,000.00 in data gathering, preliminary engineering report and $25,000.00 to design the bid package. Cynthia MOVED to move forward with the MRB proposal. Seconded by MaryAnn. Approved 6–0. Scott will inform MRB that their proposal has been selected and he will obtain a hard copy to present to the board at a future meeting. Steve said that we will have to discuss and establish funding. Erik added that next month there will be two resolutions for the Towns to take to their respective boards. One for the flow monitoring project and one for the GHD engineering services. 3. Staff Management a. CJ is setting up operator/trainee interviews – he is waiting for the candidates to respond. 4. Business, Long Term Development – a. Lystek is ongoing. 2017.10.11 APPROVED SJC minutes.doc 4 5. Energy Production Statistics – provided by CJ. Discussion Items a. Joint Sewer Agreement – Plant to Plant, Inter-municipal Agreement – they have a meeting set for October 19th to establish a foundational understanding of the Kline Road bypass and its historic use - to address both billing and how to move forward. Lystek Presentation – Jim Belcastro gave a power point presentation of the Lystek Process. It is a patented low temperature thermal alkaline hydrolysis process which enhances biogas production and generates a Class A beneficial reuse fertilizer product. Enhanced digestion occurs when a portion of the product is recirculated back to the head of digestion – this improves the efficiency and the operation of the digester – which increases biogas production. Jim offered that they would install a Lystek batch system post dewatering. Processing a batch takes approximately one hour. The process requires less dewatering (to 14% rather than our current 4%) a savings results from the use of less polymer. The process is a very basic procedure – the digested biosolids are fed into a hopper and blended at a high speed and made into a homogeneous high solids pathogen free liquid. It is pasteurized and injected with alkaline - the pH is adjusted and then the product is stored. The high solids liquid flows easily – the land application of the nutrient rich fertilizer is for animal crop consumption and follows best management practices. The Class A EQ fertilizer product is applied in the spring and the fall at a rate of 14 to 18 wet tons per acre by sub-surface injection application. Flow meters monitor and GPS tracks the application in real time. The system is simple to operate and maintain – it can be tied in to SCADA. Retro fitting can be accomplished with a small footprint – approximately 600 sq ft. (not including storage). There are many unique options - Public-Private Partnerships, Design Build Transfers, and Design Build Operate. Lystek is a very active fully involved community partner – including outreach and initiatives. The final product will never be considered organic due to the source. Questions – David asked about micro beads and endocrine disrupters – although they go through the plant they may not pose as much of a risk when land applied as compared to landfilling (due to leachate). Sam offered that there is more degradation in soil - more hydrolysis and breaking down of the cells and large molecules occurs. The variety of microbial life and binding sites in soil contribute to the breaking down of water soluble contaminants. George – overall sludge quality has improved over the years because of digesters. David asked about the high pH and its effect on equipment. Tee-Ann requested an opportunity to review the information and to compile questions. Cynthia added that staff felt that this opportunity was worth looking into. She would like the board to think about the various options - she feels that there are opportunities here. Tee-Ann asked about the land application and if we would have input into site selection. Jim replied that they are willing to accommodate our requests. Cynthia added that she is interested in maximizing our biogas production, the cost, the ROI and offsetting our energy usage. 2017.10.11 APPROVED SJC minutes.doc 5 Jim distributed a brochure of the process. George added that their process can accept municipal sludge directly – a receiving tank could be established to hold municipal sludge (from a couple percent up through 20% solids). Announcements/Other Business David moved to adjourn. Seconded by MaryAnn. All were in favor. Meeting was adjourned @ 2:27 p.m. The Next Meeting is November 8th, 2017, 12:30 pm.