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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2022-02-092022-02-09 APPRPOVED SJC Minutes.doc 1 SJC MEETING February 9, 2022 SJC Members Staff Cynthia Brock, Chair Steve Thayer Bill Goodman Scott Gibson Rich DePaolo CJ Kilgore Supervisor; Jason Leifer Matt Sledjeski Ray Burger; Town of Dryden (alternate) Rob Rosen Guest Jeffrey Barken Dan Thaete; Town of Ithaca David O’Shea; Town of Ithaca Absent Tim Carpenter; MRB Group Scott Reynolds Ken Scherrieble; Camden Group David Warden Cynthia called the Zoom meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. Introductions were made. There were no additions or deletions to the agenda. Rich MOVED to Approve the December 13th minutes. Seconded by Bill. Approved 6:0. Rich nominated Cynthia Brock to serve as Chairperson for 2022; Seconded by Bill. Cynthia said that she loves the SJC and appreciates working with staff and is happy to carry this forward for 2022. Rich MOVED the Resolution - Resolved that the Special Joint Committee Appoint Cynthia Brock to serve as Chairperson with the Special Joint Committee at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility with a term to expire December 31, 2022. Seconded by Bill. Approved 6:0. Financial Report – Steve Thayer January 2022 Financial Activity Revenues – Septage service has no 2022 revenue. In general - all revenue that comes in during the first part of the year is related to the previous year. The 2022 septage service budget was increased based on 2021 trucked waste activity. The first quarter payment of each of the three owners is due in January. The $440,000.00 received represents the City’s portion. Steve reached out to the Towns as a reminder of the payment being due. We have collected $440,000.00 to date. Expenses – to date just over $506,000.00 The insurance account (5455) liability and property was paid in January $180,448.00. The payment is estimated during the previous September - we came in a little under budget. Health 2022-02-09 APPRPOVED SJC Minutes.doc 2 Insurance (9060) $70,543.00 reflects two months of payments – it is generally paid one month ahead. Debt is paid when it comes due throughout the year. We have a deficit of $66,000.00 to date. December 2021 Financial Activity: Not Final Revenues: We have received just over $654,000.00 in septage payments and have exceeded the budget. We are significantly over budget. Debt service for all three owners was collected in December. Revenues collected are $5,066,000.00 to date. Expenses: We have spent approximately $4,776,000.00. There are no big surprises. Hourly Part Time (5120), Clothing (5415), Utilities (5410), Contracts (5435), and Insurance (5455), are over budget. Equipment Parts and Supplies (5477) is over budget mostly related to the blower repairs. Health Insurance (9060) and Dental Insurance (9070) are over but should be more in line after the employee contributions are posted. Most overages should be able to be covered by the accounts that were under. Our current activity reflects a surplus of $291,000.00. Steve expects a surplus at year end after all activity is posted. Keep in mind that not all expenses follow the calendar. Capital Projects: CAP422J – Plant Improvements - had $18,832.00 in expenses related to work on the digester. $17,000.00 was General Construction Services and the remainder was Engineering Services. Ray asked about the transfer of funds. Steve replied that when the capital project 422J was amended it was decided that the City would not borrow for it. The City and Town of Ithaca have paid their share. The City used ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. Operations and Engineering Report – CJ Kilgore 1. Plant Maintenance & Operations – a. Digester Repairs – The cleaning, piping, valve replacement and refurbishment are complete. b. Aeration System – Turblex Blower Replacement Authorization – The blowers estimated return was January 2022 - CJ has not yet received an update. c. Gas Skid Chiller – CJ is working on procuring a micro turbine gas skid chiller. There is a fourteen week lead time. 2. Facilities Maintenance & Operations a. Flow Monitoring I/I – Tim Carpenter and Chris Kianka 2022-02-09 APPRPOVED SJC Minutes.doc 3 b. Camden Group – Ken Scherrieble c. Boiler Replacement - CJ is working on including boiler replacement in the next capital project. One of our boilers has recently developed an internal leak - we should move forward sooner than later. Cynthia asked about the micro turbines and gas skid chiller. CJ explained that without the gas skid chiller we can’t use the gas skid or any of our four micro turbines. CJ had been using the large boiler (until it sprung the leak) and is now using the small boiler which doesn’t use very much gas. The excess gas is being flared. 3. Staff Management – 4. Reporting – 5. Business, Long Term development – 6. Energy Production Statistics – provided by CJ. Voting Items – Discussion Items – Camden Group – Ken Scherrieble Cynthia briefed the new members of the fact that CJ will be retiring in a few months and that the Camden Group has been retained. They will provide a contracted service and will act as our 4A operator of record. The City is continuing to search for a new chief in the meantime. Ken plans to act as a bridge while we are transitioning between operators. He will help with areas that need improvement/change and will provide a written report. Jeff asked the duration of the commitment and asked about the plan to hire a replacement chief. CJ replied that the current contract is for six months. The three month advertisement of the position did not provide any qualified candidates. There is a severe shortage of 4A Operators. CJ believes that after the six month contract is up – there will be an evaluation. Ken has been recruiting/finding and training/developing operators for thirty years. He finds some operators that retire from the municipal system and trains others that are just beginning or changing their careers. Cynthia asked how this is going to play out and how the hiring of a consultant will impact the plant budget. Scott said that we are presently able to use budgeted funds for the unfilled authorized positions. CJ replied that it is too early to know how things will evolve. Ken will propose management/maintenance plans. Each contract is tailored to each plant specifically. Rich asked to what extent the recruiting process could be enhanced and the applicant pool expanded. Rather that spend money on a consultant – increase the compensation/salary. Scott Gibson reminded the members that it comes down to the unit contract and the framework of the contract. A discussion of salaries followed. Jeff asked how the recruiting process works – if there are signing bonuses or relocation capabilities – if we can be more aggressive? CJ replied that advertisements were run in two national industry publications (NYRWA and NYWEA). He intends to put the word out at his next tour and his next conference. Jeff asked if a 4A operator list could be obtained and specific individuals targeted? 2022-02-09 APPRPOVED SJC Minutes.doc 4 Scott Gibson agreed that more could be done. Rob asked how much the contract with Camden is presently. Ken replied that their first six month contract is not to exceed $60,000.00 with their role being to put a transition plan together. Rob asked if there is an opportunity to promote from within. CJ replied that the present 4A operators are not interested in the position. Our newer operators do not yet meet the requirements. Cynthia would like an update at the next meeting – will the position be reclassified and what opportunities may be available to bring the salary to a more competitive range. MRB Group - Tim Carpenter and Lectre Solutions – Chris Kianka - Spring to Fall 2021 I/I Flow Monitoring – Preliminary Results Analysis Tim asked what the members were most interested in. Rich asked Cynthia for an overview as to the status/accuracy of the flow monitoring stations I/I study. Tim said that the $36,000.00 grant was specifically to look at thirteen monitoring stations and to measure the flow around the perimeter of the City. The larger infiltration and inflow evaluation is not part of the grant or part of this project. The data gathered as part of the study will allow us to determine how serious the I/I problem is at those boundary locations where flow enters the City. There is separate flow data at the plant. Of the thirteen original stations – seven are working accurately. Six are reporting but the data may or may not be useful. Chris has been installing and calibrating. Chris sent an updated chat. 01:22:15 LDI: IAWWTF 2/9/22 Being replaced in process w/o 2/14 FIT-008 EState St. LOE, Flow Mon Instruments Failed, New Instruments were on backorder, New units arrived at IAWWTF 2/9/22 Being replaced in process w/o 2/14 FIT-010 Floral 3" New Instruments were on backorder, New units arrived at IAWWTF 2/9/22 Being replaced in process w/o 2/14 FIT-011 Varna8M Pump Station, Offline pending new install & Notice to proceed from TODryden for monitoring Pump RunTimes as Flows New DRYDEN Cornell Flow Agreement will be providing an Additional/Alternative Flow Metering (Cornell U Sourced) Location via Cornell Instruments. Installation & Data Access just scheduled & coordinate VIA TGM FIT-013 Crescent Online Damaged, in process of replacement 2/9/22 with new Sensor FIT-014 Online, Bypass in place, only detects Surcharge Overflows now FIT-012 Forest PS – No longer Included Offline Possibly future Via PS Monitoring LDI: Summary 1 Thurston Offline until New 2 Mitchell Online 3 Hudson Online 4 Cliff Trumansburg Inline damaged being replaced 5 Elm Online 6 Danby Online 7 University Online 2022-02-09 APPRPOVED SJC Minutes.doc 5 8 E State Online LOE Damaged being replaced 9 Hector Online 10 Floral Offline Being replaced 11 Crescent Online, Damaged during, in process of replacement 12 Kline Online, no-Low Flow due to Bypass now 13 Taughannock Cliff, Online, damaged, being replaced In process of replacing Crescent today, paused for SJC Meeting Tim reiterated that they have great data and more data is coming. There is extra data from Cayuga Heights and Lansing - their signals have been added to the website. The range gauge data from the field may be problematic - but published data from the Tompkins County Airport and from Cornell can be used to satisfy the requirements of the grant. Cynthia responded that although there are challenges - she had hoped to be able to integrate our own rain data into the online portal. Dan asked of the time frame of the grant. Tim replied that the grant has a two year requirement but that he recommends requesting a one year extension due to the delays in installation and problems getting a good data set. They are getting great data from seven stations - Tim hopes to have data for all thirteen over the summer to use for the report. Dan wants to focus on the calibration of the units and questioned some of the data. He added that the Town of Ithaca will provide the data that they have gathered and verified. Chris will provide the Town data to the portal. Cynthia brought up that the impacts of lake level was not included. She is concerned with infiltration within the city itself -– especially as it relates to the flats. Tim agreed that the lake level was and is not part of the study. Scott Gibson said that any increase seen at the plant headworks above that being collected at the boundary meters would include lake level influence – the City will have to figure that out. Rich reminded the members that the purpose of the study was to determine municipal responsibility. Rob suggested using the water consumption data as part of the equation. Cynthia asked when a more comprehensive analysis could be provided. Tim replied that once all thirteen are up and running for five or six months - the report can be completed - in the fall of 2022. Chris said that additional stations will be up within the next week and a half. Rob asked the motivation for the study. Cynthia replied that the motivation was owner capacity and the desire to address the weaknesses in our catchment system. (Each owner is allocated a certain amount of capacity and as they approach their limit – they are obligated to purchase additional capacity). In addition - we are obligated by the EPA to address I/I issues. The grant started the process. We now have a relationship with the Village of Cayuga Heights (former client of the Town of Ithaca). Cayuga Heights lost a major client (Borg Warner) and in an effort to reduce their expenditures they reclaimed “Old Village”. We have agreed to accept the Village of Cayuga Heights surge wastewater during a rain event. There is now a desire to look more closely as to where the water is coming from using monitoring stations. Scott Gibson added that there are shared interceptors within the collection system. It is good to know how each partner is addressing I/I and where the flow is coming from. Announcements / Other Business – 2022-02-09 APPRPOVED SJC Minutes.doc 6 Group of Six – Bill Goodman – the next meeting will be Thursday, February 17th at 11:30. They plan to discuss I/I and the Plant to Plant Agreement. Cynthia will get together with CJ to put out an invitation to tour the plant February 16th and 18th at 10:00 AM. Rich Moved to Adjourn. Seconded by Rob. Approved 5:0 The meeting was adjourned at 2:51 p.m. The Next Meeting will be March 9th, 2022, 1:00 pm.