 |  |  |
| | |
| WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY MINUTES |
| Click
here for April 9, 2007 Minutes Click here for May 14, 2007 Minutes Click here for June 11, 2007 Minutes Click here for July 9, 2007 Minutes Click here for September 10, 2007 Minutes |
For minutes prior to January 2004, please
contact Judy Archer of Public Works
at 203-854-7791 or jarcher@norwalkct.org
CITY OF NORWALK
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY
October 15, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Jim McInerney, Vice Chairman
Mayor Moccia
Fred Wilms
Doug Hempstead
Bill Krummel
Tony Doumlele
Darren Oustafine
STAFF: Hal Alvord, DPW Public Works Director
Lisa Bardon, DPW Operations Manager
Ralph Kolb, Wastewater Systems Manager
Tom Hamilton, Finance Director
OTHERS: Kevin Dahl, CH2M Hill OMI
Gregg Higgins, CH2M Hill OMI
1. CALL TO ORDER
Vice Chairman McInerney called the meeting to order at 5:35 PM
2. APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM WPCA MEETING HELD ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 (COPY INCLUDED)
Vice Chairman McInerney said the on “Page 3, Item 3 change “agreeent” to “agreement”
** MR. WILMS MOVED TO APPROVE THE ITEM WITH CORRECTIONS
** MOTION CARRIED
** THREE ABSTENTIONS - MAYOR MOCCIA, MR. WILMS, AND MR. OUSTAFINE
3. AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN OR VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY
TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH MALCOLM PIRNIE IN THE AMOUNT OF $245,000 TO PROVIDE
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE WEST SIDE INTERCEPTOR PROJECT IN ACCORDANCE
WITH A SCOPE OF WORK DATED OCTOBER 8, 2007. (COPY INCLUDED)
ACCOUNT NO. 09084062 5777 CO361
Mr. Kolb said that the West Side interceptor was installed in 1929 and is a 48” diameter reinforced concrete sewer pipe. He said that Malcolm Pirnie is recommending that the pipe be slip-lined or lined to improve the infrastructure to last at least another fifty years. He said Malcolm Pirnie’s scope of work includes preliminary field work, design, and construction management services. He said that the estimated cost of construction on this contract is two million dollars. Ms. Bardon said this project was budgeted for in this fiscal years capital budget. Mr. McInerney asked if this project would be approached the same way as the Seaview Avenue project. Ms. Bardon said that it would be. Mr. Doumlele asked if the fee was affected by any change in the schedule. Mr. Kolb said that it would not be. Mr. Hamilton asked when construction would begin. Mr. Kolb said in July 2008. Mr. Hamilton asked how long the project would take to complete. Ms. Bardon said 180 days.
** MAYOR MOCCIA MOVED TO APPROVE THE ITEM
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
4. AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN OR VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY
TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH OMI, INC. FOR SERVICES RELATED TO THE EAST SIDE
GRAVITY THICKENER SUCTION PIPE PROJECT FOR A SUM NOT TO EXCEED $13,000 IN ACCORDANCE
WITH LETTER PROPOSAL DATED SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 AND EXTEND THE TERM OF THE AGREEMENT.
(COPY INCLUDED)
ACCOUNT NO. 09084062 5777 CO256
Mr. Kolb said since the early 1970’s the gravity thickener at the WWTP has had sludge withdrawal problems and OMI has determined that the ductile iron pipe on the suction side of the pump is not glass lined and because of that sludge builds up in the pipe and ultimately causes a blockage. Mayor Moccia asked how often the pipe was getting blocked. Mr. Dahl said there are currently two gravity thickeners. He said there is one on the east side and one on the west side and that the only one that can be used is on the west side because the one on the east side is inoperable and is currently only being used as a holding tank during wet weather events. Mr. Doumlele said he was concerned about using the low bidder on this project because the low bidder came in with 1/3 less thickness than the high bidder. Mr. Dahl said he is not concerned about that because the vendor said it would be the same strength as the thicker pipe and that they also would guarantee it for life. Mr. Wilms asked what the expected life on this is. Mr. Dahl said fifty years because lining is a relatively new technology. Mr. Hamilton asked if a glass lined pipe were installed what the cost of that would be. Mr. Alvord said because of the location of the pipe it would virtually be impossible.
** MAYOR MOCCIA MOVED TO APPROVE THE ITEM
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
5. AUTHORIZE ISSUANCE OF PURCHASE ORDER IN THE AMOUNT OF $ 11,550 TO DIGITAL
BACKOFFICE (ADVANCED CORPORATE NETWORKING, INC.) FOR WIRELESS SURVEY OF 22 PUMP
STATIONS FOR THE SCADA/I&C MASTER PLAN.
ACCOUNT NO. 224062 5298
Ms. Bardon said that Digital Back Office is the company that operates the City of Norwalk’s municipal area network. She said she has been coordinating with the City’s IT department to have their contractor perform a wireless survey with the remote pump stations through the municipal area network. She said there is only one quote because this will be a sole source procurement to use the same vendor as the City to provide the same service. She said they would perform three bandwidths, which will allow the capability to monitor the pump stations from the WWTP. Mr. McInerney asked if the idea of this is to have the capability to operate wirelessly. Ms. Bardon said it was and that the other technology that was thought about being used was through radio frequency but the advantage of going wireless through the municipal area network is that there are opportunities for other City departments to use this wireless network. Mr. Alvord said that the cost of 22 dedicated phone lines to the pump stations would be eliminated.
** MAYOR MOCCIA MOVED TO APPROVE THE ITEM
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
6. APPROVE THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORK’S RECOMMENDATION FOR A NITROGEN CREDIT
SHARING OF 25 PERCENT FOR 5 MONTHS TO OMI, INC. IN THE AMOUNT OF $37,371. (COPY
OF MEMO INCLUDED)
ACCOUNT NO. 224062 5258
Mr. Kolb said for calendar year 2006 the City of Norwalk had received $358,649 from the DEP for nitrogen credits. He said as per Amendment No. 2, in the months that OMI, Inc. exceeds performance they are entitled to 25% of the nitrogen credits for that month. He said in 2006 that OMI, Inc. fell into that performance band for five months. He said the total amount that they are requesting is $ 37,371. Mayor Moccia asked if that was their share of the State’s reimbursement and that it is not coming from City funds. Mr. Kolb said that it was coming from the State’s reimbursement.
** MAYOR MOCCIA MOVED TO APPROVE THE ITEM
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Mayor Moccia left at 5:50 PM
7. REPORTS
a. FY 07-08 Revenues/Expenditures Report (report included)
Mr. Hamilton said that the sewer use fee billing is now in for the Norwalk customers. Ms. Bardon said she did adjust that number downward by $85,500 on her report based on the adjustments that Mr. Kolb had made. She said at this point the revenues and expenditures are on track. Mr. McInerney asked about the finance and billing services cost number for support services. Ms. Bardon said that number is entered into MUNIS as a lumped number and is hard to break that number out. Mr. McInerney said as that number grows its being broken out becomes more attractive. Ms. Bardon said that is how that number was shown on the MUNIS budget that was prepared by the Finance Department. Mr. Hamilton said at the Board’s request that can be looked at and reported differently. Mr. Doumlele asked where the preponderance of the sewer connection fees were coming from. Mr. Kolb said from single family homes. Mr. Hempstead asked if the sewer connection fees were based on square footage. Ms. Bardon said they are not and that the sewer connection fees are based on the size of the water meter.
b. Sewer Connection Fees & Sewer Use Bill Appeals/Adjustments
1. Status Update
Mr. Kolb said to date there have been 39 sewer appeals and have given back $85,550 in adjustments. He said he is expecting between $100,000 to $110,000 in adjustments for this fiscal year. Mr. Wilms asked what the expectations of appeals were. Ms. Bardon said that $150,000 was budgeted for appeals in this year’s budget. Ms. Bardon said there are a number of revenues that are not being collected because the commercial water data is not being received for the First District Water Department and staff are trying to address that matter.
c. Information Copies:
1. WPCA Contact List Update (copy included)
Mr. McInerney said to change Ms. Bikakis-Hajian expiration of term to 2010.
Mr. Wilms said to change his address information.
Mr. Wilms said that Mayor Moccia has a change of address.
8. CONTRACT OPERATIONS REPORT
a. Public Works Director Report
1. Contract Operations Performance Guarantee Status (Summary sheet included)
Mr. Kolb said that at the conclusion of the contract year he tabulated the OMI’s contract exceedances related to WWTP performance. Mr. McInerney asked what the prognosis is on the monthly performance exceedances for 2006. Mr. Kolb said that it is estimated that $200,000 will need to be paid for buying nitrogen credits. Mr. McInerny asked what can be done to improve nitrogen performance. Ms. Bardon said she has received some suggestions for interim improvements at the WWTP from CDM which includes increasing the flow rate of recycle pumps in the aeration basins by changing the size of the impeller. She also said that the permit levels for nitrogen decrease every year and that the WWTP was not designed for those permit levels. She said this is the reason they are proceeding into the low level nitrogen planning study. Mr. McInerney said in 2006 the actual number was 756 pounds for nitrogen and asked what the limit was for that year. Mr. Kolb said it was 1044 and this year is 895. Ms. Bardon said that every year the credit price increases and will have a significant impact on revenues next fiscal year. Mr. Wilms asked if the State had set the limits for Norwalk appropriately relative to other towns. Ms. Bardon said they had and explained that the closer to Manhattan the lower the dilution factor becomes. She also said that Norwalk’s low level nitrogen removal project will have some of the highest priority points in the States Clean Water Fund. Mr. McInerney asked if CDM had found the cause of the higher influent nitrogen loading to the WWTP. Ms. Bardon said that a second round of testing was needed because the samplers in some locations failed on certain days so consistent data was not received. She also said that was included in their scope of work. She said at this point it appears that the east side of the city and the Wilton town line are the two areas of concern. She also said that that the interlocal agreement with Wilton expires on December 31, 2008 and will need to be re-negotiated and at this time there are no limits on Fats, Oils, and Grease, BOD, TSS, and nitrogen limits which will be included in the next agreement along with implementing an industrial pre-treatment program.
Mr. Wilms left at 6:10 PM.
2. Contract Operations Status- Annual Inspection Report (copy included)
Ms. Bardon said a representative from Malcolm Pirnie was scheduled to attend this meeting but she has rescheduled for the November meeting since this meeting was going to be short.
b. OMI Report
1. Monthly Operating Report- August 2007 (copy included)
Mr. Dahl reported that the fuel control valve for the generator had been replaced. He said that there were no permit violations to report but had performance guarantee violation on August 6, 2007.
Mr. Dahl aid that at the Five Mile Pump Station the generator circuit board was replaced. He said there was one spill to report which occurred at the WWTP. He said there has been no change in personnel and had no safety incidents to report. He said to date there have been no OSHA reportable incidents. He said that the total nitrogen performance was in the expected operating range and have performed 142 pounds per day below the lookup value. He said that there had been no storm flow events but there was a DEP annual inspection today. Mr. McInerney asked if that is a one day inspection. Mr. Dahl said it is and consists of a walk through of the plant and to go over the systems that are operational as well as the systems that are down and to point out any upgrades that had been made to the WWTP. Mr. McInerney asked if a report would be generated from that information. Mr. Dahl said that it would be and that he thinks that overall the inspection went favorably.
Mr. Alvord said that while the generators were down for maintenance that ISO-NE had called a load response event. He said that the pager communication once again did not work and that he had demanded an audit. He said that the audit report showed that the performance was fine and there was no loss of revenue as a result of not responding during a load response event. Mr. Hamilton asked if the WWTP experienced any problems during the rain event that occurred last week. Mr. Dahl said there were no problems.
Ms. Bardon said that the resident on Gwendolyn Road, which has been flooded from the sanitary sewer overflow in the past, did not get flooded during this past storm. She said the Department of Public Works had done some drainage improvements on Catalpa Road. She said that the City of Norwalk has done everything within its means to address any kind of water issue for that area.
2. Collection System and Pump Station MRR Accounts (copy included)
Mr. Dahl said that currently the balance on the MRR account for collection systems is $434,000 and that over $300,000 is earmarked for two projects which are the siphon rehabilitation project and the construction inspection services for the Westport Avenue project that would begin within the next couple of months. He also said there would be several projects on the pump stations. Mr. McInerney said there must be some relationship between the Malcolm Pirnie recommendation and the money that is being spent or is available to be spent. Mr. Dahl said that based on the Malcolm Pirnie report there were not too many maintenance items to be completed as per the MRR accounts.
9. ACTION ON ANY ITEM DISCUSSED HEREIN
No discussion.
10. ADJOURNMENT
** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED TO ADJOURN
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
The meeting adjourned at 6:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Dilene Byrd
 |
 |