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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2021-02-102021.02.10 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 1 SJC MEETING February 10, 2021 SJC Members Staff Cynthia Brock, Chair CJ Kilgore Ray Burger; Town of Dryden Scott Gibson Rich DePaolo Steve Thayer Scott Reynolds Donna Fleming Guest Tee-Ann Hunter Dan Thaete: Town of Ithaca Bill Goodman Dondi Harner: TG Miller Absent Supervisor, Jason Leifer David Warden Cynthia called the Zoom meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. She added a quick update on a contaminant study to the agenda. Scott Reynolds MOVED to accept the December 16th minutes. Seconded by Ray. Approved 5 - 0. Financial Report – Steve Thayer. Activity through December 31, 2020 – not final Revenue – We have collected $556,000.00 in septage service. We have collected all owners quarterly and debt service payments for 2020. Interest will be posted in February – our actual 2020 interest revenue will be lower than anticipated as interest rates went down dramatically due to COVID 19. We have currently exceeded our revenue budget estimate by $58,000.00. Expenses – We have spent $4,570,000.00 to date but we still have payables to book. Utilities - is over budget due to the meter error. Equipment Parts is over budget due to many equipment issues. Health Insurance reflects 11 months of activity – The consortium provided a one-month premium holiday for the month of December for the City as well as the employees. Retirement contribution - $117,300.00 came in just under budget – we were able to receive a 1% discount for processing the payment early. Steve offered that we might do a bit better than our projected $250,000.00 deficit – he is looking at closer to a $100,000.00 deficit at this time. We currently have a $140,000.00 surplus. Our Fund Balance is solid and should be at 20% of expenses. The salary accounts are final and are under budget – due to open positions. Activity through January 31, 2021 2021.02.10 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 2 Revenue – We have collected $792,000.00 to date – quarterly payments from the City and the Town. The Town of Dryden payment should come in shortly. Expenses – We have spent $407,000.00 to date. We did increase the Equipment Parts budget for 2021. Insurance came in at approximately $161,000.00 – it is paid in January for the full year. Keep in mind that all expenses do not follow the calendar. Capital Projects – $2,400,000.00 in expenses – The Boiler Room Project and the Actiflow Project had small expenses - most expenses were attributed to the Grit Removal Project for engineering services and construction activity. Interest Rates - we recently sold bonds and bans – Borrowing rates are very low - 1.73% on bonds, 0.18% on our one year ban. We are enjoying low interest borrowing rates at this time. Operations and Engineering Report – CJ Kilgore 1. Plant Maintenance & Operations – a. Behind the Meter NYSEG Battery Project – on line. 2. Facilities Maintenance & Operations a. Grit Removal and Misc. Improvements – continuing – substantial completion July. b. Flow Monitoring – continuing. 3. Staff Management – Operator trainees: Kevin Kwiatkowski began January 4, 2021. Adam Bennett is to begin March 22, 2021. Trent Gardner resigned February 1, 2021 – CJ will post for a replacement. We will be fully staffed – with the exception of the Assistant Chief – to be filled in 2022. 4. Reporting – 5. Business, Long Term development – 6. Energy Production Statistics – provided by CJ. Voting Items – Rich MOVED to Approve the Resolution to Endorse a Letter of Support for the Town of Dryden Grant Application. Seconded by Bill. Approved 7 – 0. Passed Unanimously. RESOLVED, the Special Joint Committee of the IAWWTF approves providing a letter of support to Elizabeth Ricci, EFC for sewer system improvements in the Town of Dryden Consolidated Sewer District, as presented at its meeting on February 10, 2021. 2021.02.10 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 3 ITHACA AREA WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY TOWN OF ITHACA CITY OF ITHACA TOWN OF DRYDEN, OWNERS 525 THIRD STREET ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 (607)273-8381 FAX (607)273-8433 February 10, 2021 To: Ms. Elizabeth Ricci, EFC Re: Letter of Support for Sewer System Improvements in the Town of Dryden Consolidated Sewer District Dear Ms. Ricci, The Town of Dryden is a joint owner of the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) and is preparing to replace and/or refurbish an aging sewer system in the Hamlet of Varna that was built in the early 1960s. The results of a preliminary engineering analysis completed in 2019 suggest the inflow and infiltration (I&I) reaching the Varna Pump Station to be up to 6.5 times the metered water consumption within the Consolidated Sewer District. This flow travels through a jointly owned Town of Dryden and Cornell University interceptor system and eventually through Cornell University and jointly owned City of Ithaca and Town of Ithaca sewer interceptors to IAWWTF. Segments of these interceptors are nearing capacity and during major storm events, the IAWWTF experiences high flows due to I&I. During high flow events with I&I, the treatment process is diminished, resulting in inadequate or partially treated wastewater to flow to the south end of Cayuga Lake. The south end of Cayuga Lake is listed as a NYS Section 303(d) impaired waterbody due to excessive nutrients (phosphorus) and silt/sediment loading. The plant’s SPDES permit specifically addresses phosphorus and suspended solids with effluent limitations. The amount of phosphorus and suspended solids that flows into the lake from the plant during large storm events is increased due to excessive I&I in the system and inadequate treatment time. In addition, excessive I&I in the system interrupts the treatment process, causing hydraulic loading challenges as well as increased possibility for the plant to engage the controlled diversion which bypass directly to downstream receiving waters. 2021.02.10 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 4 Reducing I&I from the Dryden sewer system will help to reduce impacts to the plant’s operation and will also free up capacity in jointly owned sewer interceptors; thereby reducing future costs of maintenance and capital expense for all partners. Therefore, the Special Joint Committee of the IAWWTF believes that this upgrade will contribute to the overall management and operation of the IAWWTF and help to meet our obligations under our SPDES permit and effluent limitations. As a partner in this inter-municipal arrangement, the Town of Dryden is part owner of the facility and contributes financially for operation and maintenance and with this upgrade along with ongoing monitoring of I&I through the recent City of Ithaca Engineering and Planning Grant through EFC, it is anticipated that the reduction of I&I through the Town of Dryden Consolidated Sewer District will produce economic benefits to Town of Dryden, City and Town of Ithaca and plant’s overall operation. Therefore, we ask that you take into consideration this statement of support be considered in your evaluation of Dryden’s application for funding assistance. Sincerely, Cynthia Brock, Chair Dondi Harner asked for a letter of support from the SJC as part of his request for funding assistance in working on a sewer line upgrade in the Town of Dryden through the hamlet of Varna. Scott Reynolds asked about the estimated I/I of 6.5 times. Dondi thinks that regionally I/I is closer to 4 times. Rich asked if mitigation of I/I could solve Dryden’s growth issues. Dondi said that the present goal is to tighten up existing pipe in the area of the DOT project. Ray added that a couple of pipes will be upsized but that this upgrade is very localized. Scott Reynolds asked if the sewer is limiting development. Ray said that there is not much undeveloped land but addressing I/I will help increase capacity. Dan asked if the project scope included an upgrade of the pump station. Dondi said only some controls and a generator are to be replaced. Cynthia spoke of the permitted capacities. There should come a time when capacity can be bought and sold among the partners. She offered to share an updated capacity sheet. Discussion Items – Cayuga Heights I&I surge request – Bill Goodman Back in November the Village of Cayuga Heights stated that they wished to shut valves at the Kline Road bypass because they will be losing Borg Warner as a customer. (The Borg Warner Plant will be treating their own sewage). Cayuga Height requested approval for their overflow (during high flows, rain events, etc.) to continue to come through the bypass. 2021.02.10 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 5 Bill is coordinating with a small group to work up a fee. They are presently looking at a flat annual fee and a surge charge fee (or a per gallon fee) based on the actual flow. I/I surcharges are being researched and the flow metering project will help to identify the problem areas where the charge could be implemented. One of the reasons for the fee is to give the municipalities an incentive to tighten up I/I. Bill hopes to set up a meeting to begin negotiations with Cayuga Heights in the near future. Scott Reynolds asked if a fund would be set up for the collected surcharge fees and what might be done with the fees. Bill replied that there have not been any discussions regarding how to use the fee. Cynthia brought up that the partners may experience a cost increase due to the loss of the customer base attributed to the Kline Road bypass, since the O&M rates are based on potable water sold to municipal customers. It is important to consider how to prevent partner costs from increasing. She sees this as Cayuga Heights transferring their I/I surges and liability to the City. She suggested that something will have to be built into the calculation so that the partners O&M costs do not increase. Steve offered to become more involved and to help come up with some sort of fee system that makes sense. Scott Gibson added to keep in mind that we are presently treating the flow from the bypass. He suggested that there might be a marginal operational cost decrease. Limiting them to I/I only – will be during wet weather only. Rich offered that although our rates are correlated to water consumption, we are treating I/I and the costs contributed to I/I are not equitably distributed. Dan said that the gallons of stormwater treated at the plant are equal to that of water sold. Cynthia noted that our wet weather events are becoming more intense and are having a greater impact than just a few years ago. Tee-Ann asked about the monitoring stations and their progress. She asked if the data will be able to pin-point which municipality is contributing to I/I. CJ said that all but three of the monitoring stations are collecting data. The data collection period should be complete in 5 – 6 months. Scott Gibson said that the longer the data collection – the more accurate the study. We will be able to get a good feel for what I/I each partner is contributing when the data is reviewed. We will be comparing dry weather hydraulic flow to wet weather hydraulic flow. The information and I/I study will be shared with all partners. The Town-wide study of I/I is complete - they are working on micro studies now (up into the system). Rain gauges will be key and will be installed to monitor precipitation. The rain gauges have been installed at Danby Road and Mitchell Street. NYSEG Access Agreement Update – Cynthia Brock NYSEG will be installing underground sheet piling along our Cascadilla Creek boundary. It is planned for the fall of 2022. Susan Brock is working on the access agreement. Once this project is complete there will be an environmental easement on the property – limiting types of use. The six well monitoring stations will require ongoing monitoring and maintenance – of which NYSEG will be responsible. The trail will be closed during this period. 2021.02.10 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 6 We are still waiting for the results of the Water Quality Testing Study (in and around the plant, Cornell and Bolton Point) headed by Jose. The samples were sent to USGS, but the analysis has yet to be completed. The SJC and Bolton Point funded this work. Announcements / Other Business – Donna MOVED to Adjourn. Seconded by Rich. Approved 7 – 0. The meeting was adjourned at 2:23 p.m. The Next Meeting will be March 10th, 2021, 1:00 pm.