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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2009-02-11 SJC MEETING February 11, 2009 Present: Wade Wykstra, Chair Steve Thayer Mayor Carolyn Peterson Erik Whitney Supervisor Herb Engman Dan Walker Supervisor MaryAnn Sumner Pat Leary Jeff Soule Mary Tomlan Bill Gray Rich DePaolo Scott Gibson Absent Dan Cogan Guest Tim Logue, City Transportation Engineer Krisy Gashler, Ithaca Journal Wade Wykstra called the meeting to order at 12:35 PM. Wade introduced Rich Depaulo to the member s and everyone introduced themselves around the table. He also introduced Krisy Gashie r from the Ithaca Journal as a guest. Wade noted that Tim Louge was inadvertently left off of the agenda, but was here to make a presentation. Approval of December 2008 and January 2009 minutes – Carolyn moved to approve the January 2009 minutes. Seconded by Mary Ann, the motion passed without dissent. Herb moved the December 2008 minutes. Second ed by MaryAnn, the motion passed without dissent. Wade noted that the election of officers was mentioned at the end of the January meeting. Cayuga Waterfront Trail – Tim Louge Tim made a presentation on the third phase of th e Cayuga Waterfront Trai l which will affect the fenced area of land behind the Wastewater Facil ity. The preliminary design is completed which will connect the Farmers Market to Stewart Park and the Chamber of Commerce. They are also working on improving pedestrian access from the Th ird Street intersection to the Farmers Market by installing sidewalks and a path. The trail will go from the water side of the Farmers Market al ong the back of the Wastewater Plant to the existing foot bridge over Cascadil la Creek, up Willow Avenue and over to Stewart Park. The existing trail behind th e plant would be widened and pa ved (10- preferably12 feet) to allow for a buffer between the trail and the existing fence. This means that the fence would have to be moved 20-25 feet in towards the prope rty with some landscaping to make it more attractive. 1 W ade noted that Tim e-mailed drawings and information to him and he will pass those on to the board. Tim said he is hoping to get some direction on what the board wants to do so that they may proceed with the project. Financial Report – Steve Thayer Steve distributed the preliminary final activity for 2008 and the current financial activity for 2009. We are expecting fuel and equipment reports and final payables and interest accruals in March and we are still positive $400,000 revenues above expenses. We have received the first two quarter payments from the Town and City of Ithaca. We will send the Town of Dryden an invoice. Expenses for 2009 are within budget to date. We had an insurance claim due to an employee being out on unemployment. The only active Capital project in the last month is the final close-out i nvoice from Crane-Hogan for the phosphorous project. We need to get the final reimbursement from the State wrapped up. Scott responded that he needs copies of the pa id vouchers for specific dates to submit with the pay request and he would e-mail a re quest to the Controllers office. Operators Report Summary – Jeff Soule New belts and a tracking valve have been installed on the belt press. Johnson Controls have toured the facility and we are awaiting energy bills from the Controllers office to supply to them. We met with MRB in regards to the headworks loading study. We met with Susan Brock and Bob Sarachan re garding Emerson Power Transmission. We are compiling the data. We would like to discuss the stimulus pack age in regards to the miscellaneous plant improvements and the Johnson Controls energy performance contract. Jose Lozano, who has been looking at using our methane for transportation fuel, has acquired a Request for Proposals from the US De partment of Energy for biofuel projects. For this, he needs a letter of intent that will be due March 6, 2009. Stearns & Wheler have merged wi th another company who do work with desalination projects. They will be looking at pretreating fracture water using this technology. Personnel Issues  We have hired two operator trainees.  We will be going to the Vacancy Review Comm ittee to try to make Ed Gottlieb’s out-of- title position (Pretreatment Coordinator/Safety Officer/Operator) permanent. This would leave us with an open Operator position. 2  David McGeever (Instrum entation Technician /Operator) will be retiring this upcoming December. We would like to fill Ed’s open position with someone with an instrumentation background who will be able to fill Dave’s position when he retires (training would be provided while Dave is still here).  The Chief Operator position has been advertis ed and the deadline for applications is February 18 th . We are asking if anyone on this bo ard is interested in sitting in on the interviews for this position. Cornell Hydrolysate - Scott noted that this has been a dded to the headworks loading study as well as the fracture water and we should expect some increase in the MRB cost proposal. The draft resolution prepared by Pat Leary was di stributed. Wade suggest ed putting this off for another month to be better able to understand it. Pat stated that Susan Brock said that prior to voting on the resolution, the board must vote on the findings statement first. On the front of the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), the SJC is named as an involved agency. The disposal at this plant was included in the proposed action in the EIS. Pat states that legally, everyone needs to be familiar e nough with the EIS to vote on the resolution. Pat noted that in reply to Dan Cogan’s e-mail, the choice is not between incineration and alkaline hydrolysis. The choice is whether or not we want to take it. We know that Cornell has an alternative dispos al site (Endicott) that discharges into the Susquehanna River, whereas, we di scharge into our outfall pipe wh ich is 2-3 mile south of the intake pipe at Bolton Point from where thousands get drinking water. Th erefore, we are relying on Cornell technology to neutralize a ny potential infectious waste (p rions). Pat also noted the 6 hour pretreatment time. Bill Gray stated that he had spoken to Paul Jennette and they are building in a time limit of 6 – 12 hours. Jeff noted that in issuing a permit to a facility, we can state what we want from them as far as testing and we have accessibility to their facility at anytime to take samples for our own testing. Also, we have the right to re scind permits for any reason. Pat noted that as Cornell takes animals from a ll over the country, we s hould not be under any moral obligation to take their wast e because they are local to us. Wade stated that since we, as a community, asked Cornell to come up with an a lternative to incineration as a cleaner and safer way to dispose of this waste, do we then have an obligation to at least try to take it? The discussion was tabled until the March meeting. Engineering Report – Erik Whitney Erik reported on possibly folding the Johnson Contro ls energy study into the stimulus package. They will have their preliminary report to us by the March meeting. Stearns & Wheler are looking at the 5 year Capital Improvement Plan and which Miscellaneous Plant Improvement projects may be eligible as well. Erik also mentioned the new siding on th e digesters and how attractive it looks. 3 4 Erik said that he will be vi siting the two Towns with the go -ahead package for Amendment #5, for Stearns & Wheler to enter the design pha se for the septage receiving facility. Carolyn noted that we are in process of putting t ogether a list to submit for stimulus money to fund some of these projects and wanted to know if the Towns might have anything to add from this body. It was said that joint projects mi ght be well received for acquiring some of this money. Carolyn read aloud the DOE request for biofuel proposals and moved that we write a letter of intent. Seconded by Herb, the motion carried unanimously. Election of Officers Wade noted that if no one else wants the job, he will be willing to continue as chair for another year. Carolyn nominated Wade and Pat seconde d the motion. With a third from MaryAnn, the motion passed unanimously. On a motion, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for March 11, 2009 at 12:30PM.