February 20, 2008
A regular meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners was called to order at 6:30 PM by Chairperson Richard Fournier Commissioners present were Paul Poulin and Robert Delisle. Commissioner Lucien Langlois and ex-officio member Mayor Bertrand were not present. Also present for this meeting was Superintendent Roland L. Viens and Debbie Baillargeon.
There were no Public or Board comments at this time.
It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Commissioner Delisle, with all in favor, to accept and place on file, the Minutes for January 16, 2008.
Under the Berlin Water Works Monthly Status Report dated February 15, 2008, Superintendent Viens reviewed the following with the Board:
1. Superintendent Viens stated that the Cat 420E backhoe was picked up today at Milton Cat and we also purchased a stainless steel insulated tank on a trailer at the Federal Surplus in Concord. Arnold Drouin went down to pick up the backhoe with Craig Bartoli.
2. Flows were at 1.1 million this month, there have been no freeze-ups outside, the only freeze ups have been in basements or on the first and second floors of buildings. At present there are only five authorized customers running the water and the 2 blow offs are open.
3. Christmas Party luncheon was held on January 18, 2008, and was enjoyed by all.
4. The temporary employees (4) were laid off on Friday, February 15, 2008.
5. Superintendent Viens informed the board that he had included a chart about Health insurance cost in the meeting packet. The premiums continue to rise and the employee’s contribution has increased.
6. The hydrants have been plowed out for the second time this year.
7. A $300,000 Credit Line with Northway Bank is completed; the one time processing fee and the annual fee were paid this past week.
8. Superintendent Viens notified the Board that Mike Perreault has been selected to replace Ernie Allain as Public Works Director on March 3, 2008.
9. We received a change order from Great Lakes which increased the project cost to $45,097.11 the amount of Berlin Water Works invoice. Great Lakes paid $35,000. Chairperson suggested that the Superintendent call Fred Fournier to find out why the whole amount was not paid.
It was moved by Commissioner Delisle, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor, to accept the Berlin Water Works Monthly Status Report dated February 20, 2008.
After a brief discussion, it was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Commissioner Delisle, with all in favor, to accept and place on file, the Cashier’s Report for period ending January, 2008. The staff is preparing to work on the FY 2009 budget. Superintendent Viens distributed a seven month roll up to compare the actual figures with the FY 2008 Budget figures. Chairperson Fournier asked if the proposed FY 2009 budget will show the water rate increase. Superintendent Viens stated that he planned to complete the budget draft first then determine the water rate increase.
Under Old Business:
a. Federal Bureau of Prisons – Water Service Status: Superintendent Viens explained the work that Berlin Water Works has completed to date. He also attended a meeting at City Hall today regarding the Federal Prison Project NH DOT representatives and Federal Prison representatives were in attendance. He stated that there are three issues: 1) State of NH is going to post the road. 2) It has not been determined as to who is going to be responsible to upgrade the East Milan Road. 3) Traffic is going to be very heavy starting in June, as the delivery of prefab cells will begin. Also stated at the meeting was that once the concrete deck of the bridge over Horne Brook is poured there is a twenty eight day cure time in which no heavy loads are allowed on the deck. Berlin Water Works has
expended all but approximately 12,000 of the first payment of $417,600 from the Federal Prison on materials, equipment and construction labor. At this time the Superintendent showed pictures of the fusing equipment that was rented for the prison water line. Nine sections of pipe have been fused for the project; two and a half sections have already been installed. The major issue now is who is responsible for the East Milan Road, when the Engineering Studies were completed by H.E. Bergeron there were no studies of the road.
Superintendent Viens stated that he had contacted Bore Tech a directional drilling company that bores to install underground utilities. Boring under ground would eliminate the need for the wet land permits as the surface area would not be impacted. Commissioner Poulin asked what depth would be bored for the water line installation, Superintendent Viens informed the board that the depth would be six feet and in some areas such as the brook crossing it would be deeper. The goal of the Water Works project is to stay at least two feet off pavement. Chairperson Fournier asked how this water line would be traced in the future; Superintendent Viens stated that he has been studying this same question. They plan to GPS the location as well as document measurements on the “as builts”. The boring bid is for $88.00 per foot and there will be no mobilization or demobilization costs if the project is continuous. If there is a break in the boring work the mobilization costs will be
$3,500. The bid price is based on the assumption that the land will be gravel; if it is other material the bid may be higher. The City of Berlin plans to run the sewer line from the prison to the proposed sewer pump station and then all the way down East Milan Road to the Page Hill intersection. From the Page Hill intersection they will cross the Twelfth Street Bridge through one of two sleeves that were installed when the bridge was constructed may be an option for Berlin Water Works to run a water line. The City of Berlin asked if Berlin Water Works would allow use of the SCADA repeaters and the Superintendent told them yes. Berlin Water Works did install a set of sleeves under the Horne Brook bridge but may not use them because only temporary use is permitted by NHDOT. At this time it was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Commissioner Delisle, with all in favor, to authorize the hiring of Bore Tech to complete the first two sections the first
at approximately 320 feet and the section at approximately 900 feet for the quoted price of $88.00 per foot.
b. Jericho Lake/State RV Park Gravel Issue & Transmission Line/Culvert & vents Status: All of the issues are complete except for the gravel issue; this item will be removed from the agenda until the weather gets better.
c. Water Rates – Status: The Superintendent has been doing the ground work; he has contacted Northern Data Systems (NDS) the office billing system providers and talked about changing the rate structure from steps to linear and was told that the office staff could make the changes with help from NDS. NDS had also previously suggested that we update the present system and they will provide us a new quote for the new system that would include a new computer and would allow us to run both systems to forecast changes for each of the customers with the new rate increase. The Superintendent also stated that he is also estimating that there may be an excess of $1,000,000 left over from the Federal Prison Water Line project. Berlin Water Works could purchase Certificate of Deposits and/or use it to pay
off debt. He is also studying the option of paying off one or two of the State Revolving Loans (SRL). He has spoken to Richard Skarinka at NHDES and he said although no communities have done so in the past that it is allowed. Paying off SRL #1 which has the highest interest rate of 3.8% the pay off amount would be $693,000 with 30% forgiveness would leave a payoff amount of $485,000. Paying off SRL #3 with interest rate of 3.7% would cost approximately $268,000. This option of paying off a SRL would reduce the debt load avoid all interest payments ($283,411 for #1 and $138,388 for #3) and have the potential to keep the rate increase lower. Superintendent Viens stated that on the same line of thought we could pay off the lease purchase agreements on the equipment purchases.
While discussing the lease equipment, Superintendent Viens informed the Board that the Caterpillar 420 E Backhoe purchased recently and delivered three months late has had several problems. 1) It threw a rod, repair was covered under warranty 2) Turbo problem, repair was covered under warranty 3) Gasket problem, repair was covered under warranty 4) Turbo problem, half the repair cost is to be paid by Berlin Water Works under protest and half the repair cost to be billed to Caterpillar. Staff has talked to Mike Ouellette of Hazelton he has proposed taking the problem backhoe in trade for a new Komatsu backhoe. Staff called the Finance Company for the Caterpillar to find out the cost to buy out the lease so that we can trade for a competitor backhoe, they will call us back. Chairperson Fournier asked
the Superintendent to also get a quote from John Deere for a similar proposal.
d. SCADA system computers and RACO system – Status- Superintendent Viens stated that the SCADA work is complete and we are just waiting for a card to expand the use of the RACO system at the Ammonoosuc Treatment Facility.
e. Brown Farm Well head protection and the Wood Pellet Project – Status: We have not received official word but Geo Insight called Berlin Water Works for information on the Brown Farm Well, Geo Insight has a purchase order from Project Developer to study the well.
f. Metropolitan Telecommunications and Verizon-Status: Met Tel bill was $650.00 monthly, January was $475.00 and for February $375.00 the next month or two will show a better picture of the savings.
g. Letters to Senator Gregg, Senator Sununu and Representative Hodes – RE: Funding Grants- Status: The Board had a copy of the letters as submitted the first week of February.
h. Roland to report on John Arsenault’s work-Board to approve another 80 hrs.: It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Commissioner Delisle, with all in favor to approve another 80 hours for John Arsenault.
i. Meter readings and billing fee for sewer deduct meters: Superintendent Viens stated that Ernie Allain, Public Works Director had called the office for information on the Board’s decision. We had all the information except that it had not been documented on the charge for reading the meter and providing the information to the Sewer Department. It was moved by Commissioner Poulin, seconded by Commissioner Delisle, with all in favor to charge the City of Berlin Sewer Department the amount of $10.00 per reading for each sewer deduct meter.
j. Under other old business: Superintendent stated that he had met with the union regarding the temporary employees. The Board took under advisement a list of items to consider provided by the union. Superintendent Viens stated that he is still waiting for an updated prioritized list from the union. Chairperson Fournier stated that it should be addressed to the Board and signed by union officials.
There was no other old business at this time.
Under New Business:
a. Inventory Write-Off: Superintendent Viens had included a spread sheet of hydrants and hydrant parts that are no longer used. The staff has contacted some suppliers to find out if they would purchase the parts but have not had any calls back yet. Superintendent Viens stated that we do not need to keep parts on hand as they can usually be ordered one day and delivered the next if they are needed. It was moved by Commissioner Delisle, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor to write off approximately $22,000 in hydrant parts inventory as proposed by the Superintendent. Town of Milan called Berlin Water Works for prices on hydrants; the staff supplied some used and new prices.
b. LT2ESWTR and Stage 2 DBP-Status: Superintendent Viens reviewed with the Board that the items are two new Federal Regulations that will go into effect April 1, 2008. BWW has obtained the lap top from Tracy Wood, P.E. with the updated Water Cad Model. BWW needs to add four additional sites for Disinfection by Product testing. Superintendent Viens has selected a few sites but will revise based on the Water Cad Model. The LT2ESWTR test is regarding raw water testing which may require a few more trips to Concord for testing; staff is going to try to coordinate all testing schedules to have the least number of trips to Concord by courier.
c. Other New Business and Communications:
1. The Superintendent informed the Board that the New England Water Works Conference is coming up soon, the last few years have given us good ideas, ie. HDPE Pipe and also the Boring method for pipe installation. It was moved by Commissioner Delisle, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor, to approve the Superintendent to attend the New England Water Works Conference in Worcester, MA April 2 and 3, 2008
2. Superintendent Viens stated that he had submitted the revised Godfrey Dam operations and maintenance plan to the State of New Hampshire.
3. Superintendent Viens informed the Board that he had received a call from a Federal Probation officer looking for work for a parolee in the Berlin Area. After a brief discussion the Board decided that there were two many liability issues to pursue the issue.
It was agreed by the Board to hold their next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday March 19, 2008 @ 6:30 PM at their 55 Willow Street Conference Room.
There were no Public or Board comments at this time.
There being no further business to come before this meeting at this time, it was moved by Commissioner Delisle, seconded by Commissioner Poulin, with all in favor to adjourn this meeting.
The meeting did so adjourn at 7:50 pm.
A True Record, Attest
Robert Delisle, Clerk of the Board
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