Water Commissioners – July 16 2015 – meeting minutes

The monthly meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners was held at Freedom Hall at 6:00 p.m. All commissioners were present as well as Superintendent Chris Wiseman.

Patrick O’Neale from the engineering firm of Tata & Howard and Stan Goldstein, representing the Prudential Committee were also present.

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.

The 06/18/15 minutes were approved.

All warrants were signed.

Mr. Goldstein and Commissioner Mastro reviewed the proposed changes to the district’s umbrella policy. The commissioners discussed and have approved the recommended changes.

Mr. Paul Logan presented the commissioners a petition signed by 23 registered voters from Cotuit requesting that the Olde English C be painted on the new water tank. The commissioners are in favor of this request and will consider it as well as the cost implications as the project continues.

Mr. Wiseman reviewed the water quality testing results.

The following information was also included in the Superintendent’s report:

PUMPAGE 2014 2015
June Pumpage 33,172,000 33,108,000

There were 2 new services and 1 sideline leak repair completed in June.

Patrick Roche’s employment was terminated effective 7/3/15 and Matt Dwyer began employment effective 7/6/15.

The annual flushing program finished ahead of schedule on June 26, 2015.

Patrick O’Neale reviewed the Total Coliform Violation draft report with the commissioners. After a thorough investigation of the water source, storage tanks and distribution system they were not able to identify a single significant source that would cause total coliform detections. The firm did make some minor maintenance recommendations that could help eliminate some items as possible causes, including a project to remove lime scale from the lime batching and distribution system and implementing standard operating procedures for handling and storing hoses during the distribution process. Other maintenance items were noted for the Main Street tank which will be decommissioned and demolished as part of the new tank project. There were no recommended edits to the draft and the final report will be issued by Tata & Howard as soon as possible.

The Water Department has received a 120 day extension to renew the permit under the Water Management Act. We are also working with Tata & Howard on the permit renewal process.

The bid process is under way for the new tank construction. It has been advertised in the central register as well as the local newspaper and plans are available electronically. Hard copies can be requested for a fee. There is an pre-bid meeting scheduled for 10am on Thursday, July 23rd at the Water Department and the bid opening is scheduled for August 6, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.

Greg Wirsen of Green Seal Environmental has kicked off the Solar RFQ process internally with his firm and Andrew Casey, who has presented at prior meetings, has been assigned to the project.

Commissioner Mastro reviewed the Forestry Management Stewardship Program and will be contacting Mike Downey to present to the board at a future meeting, likely this fall, in preparation for possible participation in the program next year.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. at Freedom Hall.

The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Theodore Barnicle, Chairman

Download a copy of the minutes