12.17.2024 Watuppa Water Board

and if Rebecca joins us uh two members make a quarum therefore Mr clerk would you call the role EXC me uh member Collins is not present M Perera here president ter here all right first let me read the open meeting law pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting May transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised

that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or UNP perceived by those presents and are deemed acknowledged and permissible um first item on the agenda is citizen input I do not see any citizen input um therefore do uh do we require a vote on to P okay um second item up for um consideration of the minutes of the previous meeting uh we have a corrected um version of the minutes um

the chair would entertain um a motion to accept the corrected as submitted motion made second all in favor roll call roll call member fera yes president ter yes moving on to item number three proposed leak abatements and denials um I have a question um depending on how this is Tom um specific to uh 265 John Street it appears that um they cycle uh very low and then jump back up high have

we checked into that at all as to U what goes on with their spring reading it's it's quite a quite a severe leap in the fall September we went out and a lot of service inspectors went out and found to toilet Le and they repaired it and now obviously this is November and Bill including that higher bill in a and September

oer yeah my question is more to to the U May readings um which seem to drop down in the spring which is he goes down to 3,300 cubic feet and then jumps back up to 20,000 okay all right then we'll accept the U uh chair would entertain a motion to accept the uh leak abatements as per the abatement policy uh total of in the amount of $1,858 which brings the total today at

8,941 58 and the fiscal year total to date $ 29,029 47 uh could we have a motion approve the Le seconded all in uh roll call in favor member for yes the material yes thank you very much moving along item number four lead service line replacement Woodward and kin Mr clarkk so in front of you you have uh an amendment to uh Woodland curr's uh contract for uh inventory and inspectional services uh so the initial

for future Services uh primarily this is for uh us to have somebody do go out to do inspection yeah you know we've uh we've done uh we've done a lot of Inspections just uh most recently October 15th we had to submit to EPA our full inventory um of uh service material uh that was due to the revised leten copper rule uh that's that's in place uh on November prior to November 15th we

needed to mail out uh letters to everybody uh that was uh either an unknown uh service material or possibly identified as lead which we did meet that requirement of the LCR as well um but we have uh there's about 40 about 5,000 um either uh unknown or possible leads uh that that we still have left to inspect and uh we're using every means possible so uh this is one way that

we're going to do it with the consultant have them uh go uh door knocking mailings uh in different uh different ways to do it uh we have a technical assistance grant from EPA uh so just last week EPA brought in two teams of people uh and we canvased the neighborhood with those staff one of our water department employees was with them uh door knocking we door knocked on uh they door knocked on almost 400 homes um

if nobody answered they left a door hanger with information to contact us to schedule an appointment uh we got into about 130 of those homes and we're able to identify the material 20% yeah 25% yeah exactly which was which was a really good really good turn around you know yeah and this is a service this is so um it's a technical assistance grant through the glow program within EPA get the let out uh

and uh that's provided to us at no charge um in in the state it's us uh hot and and I believe there's one other community that they've uh that they're kind of piloting this with um so we're lucky enough um come Feb end of February March April they're going to bring in a lot more people and we'll be hope my hope is between uh this proposal here that you have in front of you this uh

and the other 200,000 that we have to use towards this as well as glow assistance I'm hoping that by the end of the year we'll be able to get all service materials known or at least 90% of the city Serv I can't um I can say I am really impressed with how much the department has gotten done we knew that was going to be an uphill slug um and we told the EPA that when we

met with them but um the department and Woodward and current have done a an amazing job um that's good response I me really is yeah you know just you know on this we've uh uh we're coming to the end of the calendar year we have a requirement within our acop to have a th Le Services done by the end of this calendar year we will be meeting that goal yeah my concern uh you know we're

supposed to do at least 1,600 by the end of next calendar year so another 600 my concern right now and I've expressed this concern with the p uh and are in discussions with them my concern is finding those 600 lead Services yeah so out of the 130 uh homes that we entered for inspection with the glow team uh there was three lead Services found one brass which is great it's good because

we don't have the lead out there that that but you still have to proof it so it's good for People's Health and stuff like that which is a great thing but we still have those knowns that need to be identified and we need to figure them out and find the leads so that we can get the leads out so if we're getting you know if we're getting a two 2%

return less than a 2% return of actual lead services to find 600 lead surfaces to replace next calendar year going to be tough is a huge concern of mine there's going to be um based on conversations that have been held in public um some of the members of the incoming uh presidential Administration have brought up lead piping and um there that's going to be even more um prevalent as far as discussion on health

issues coming out of that um Mr Kennedy is uh that's one of the things he has been quoted on I saying yeah so currently we have the LCR lead coer revised rule that went into effect October of this year October 15 um right before that went into effect I think it was October 12th the LCR letting COA rule revised improved was probated that has a two-year probation so in October of 27

there is already uh there is already um you know there is already guidelines in place for the new regulation that'll go into then so um it's not going to get easy I can tell you that much so for us to get all the let out get all of our service materials identified is going to be the best thing for us I we're fortunate that Massachusetts is a very proactive state with its uh drinking water regulations and

um I I think it fair to say that Fall River is setting a pace in the state we are pushing forward we've been working with the state we're working with EPA uh a for the resources that they can provide us plus then also you know a lot of the stuff that we developed early on within our program if you look at what the EPA in d are recommending looks very much like the stuff that we

developed so it it it did yeah um copying success uh you know which which is good we're making the way and it's good for our residents for the benefit of all of our all of our water users oh absolutely like to um to be you know the guide in light and again with that we were lucky enough through this whole process that um some funding for this project did come as well yeah yeah this is an

example of it this is $200,000 that our rate payers will not have to pay back and I think that's one of the most important parts because the impact to the homeowner could be catastrophic in some cases I noticed uh going through um some of the items that we um with the replacement um one of them uh cost $177,000 because of the complexities of of you know replacing that service it's

just amazing yeah you know and that's what I would tell all the residents out there you know this Leed service replacement program is no joke there is no cost to them we're paying the contractor it's going to be one day that you that somebody over 18 will have to be out of work to provide us access to the house and you're getting uh 5 10 $20,000 benefit absolutely you know you

can include that in the resale that brings the value of your home safety yeah endless benefit to the homeowner for them to take part of in this program for them to be proactive to look at our website see if we know the service material in the house if not contact us for an inspection if we go out there and it's if we're not able to determine or if it is lad we go in there with our

contractor replace that lead service and um charge they get the benefit yeah having paid for a brass service line replacement it's it's a good deal folks if you get notified please give us a call and we'll send somebody out to check it um chair would entertain a motion to approve the uh extension with Woodward and cin and the amount of $200,000 um motion to approve the revised replacement plan seconded uh roll call

member yes yes thank you okay item number five uh Leed service replacement change order number four bisco Inspection Services Mr clerk yeah so in front of you you have change order number three and four uh as you know visco uh Construction Services they're doing are uh bled service replacement line contract uh for calendar year uh 2024 uh this these change orders are in direct relation to

what we just discussed which is uh inspection of services and finding those Services um so again we had the Dilemma this year of finding the services to replace uh so that was something that we uh worked with our contractor they put inspection teams together to go out door knocking notification uh and things like that so these two change orders number three and number four are in relation to

those uh to those two number three is in the amount of $340,900 uh number four change order number four is in the amount of 260 $3,779 again this work is being paid for uh we have two funding sources um arpa uh and the wind and the wind Grant uh so again this is all grant funding no cost to our rate pays again cannot emphasize strongly enough this is not costing the

city um or our rate payers and that's that's just fantastic um chair would entertain a motion to approve change order number three in the amount of $340,900 and change order number four in the amount of $263,700 roll call yesi yes moving along um next item is revised replacement plan plan Amendment one to Woodward and Curran nope joh number item oh I'm sorry I'm sorry I've got got too much paper on this item number

six no got you here okay Westport water bill I um first would kind of I got a um request from the finance committee and I had responded to them that uh we would be available at their convenience to discuss it but upon further um information um I was instructed and educated a little bit on this in that it may involve legal activity and therefore um a open meeting um would not be in the

best interests of all parties involved and so we um withdrew our request to appear before the finance committee um so I'm assuming that this update is to bring us up to speed with um how we proceed from here yeah yeah so again um the uh Council um um requested that I go down in front of them in relation to the vote that the water board took on um the uh settlement

the Westport water bill uh the council then uh sent a letter to the water board which I believe the members received copies of um urging them to reconsider um the approval of the settlement uh that was uh that was with westpaw um there was a request from from the finance committee uh to uh have a joint meeting with the water board um based on the whole entire matter again where this matter uh depending

where it goes um you know there is the potential for uh um you know litigation between Po River and Westport on this matter so to air that out in a public meeting um may not be the uh may not be the best option uh and the council uh has not acted on the resolution to uh have the water board come down in front of the finance committee as as of as as

was said uh president terel did did send a letter to uh the city council um you know again the uh the matter is still uh is still out there um you know the um I guess there are a couple different options here um you know the way that uh I potentially could see this could be um mediation between the city and West Park I believe as it stands if we were have additional

uh negotiations talks I don't uh I think they're stalled at this point I think we reach what we could do by talking this out um so you know I I feel that the next step um could be mediation between the city of for River uh and uh in Westport in relation to their to their outstanding bills there um has been some confusion in um in the minds of some people that um we were the

original agreement uh as amended by the disc ions with the town um that the city was quote unquote not getting um its U due but that's not entirely correct because Westport continued to pay their bill uh During the period in question uh the five years one of the difficulties that I know you have and the board has is is none of us um are a party to what happened in the

5year period of time so um we're kind of um it's a little bit of a sticky issue here is we're looking back from 2016 to 20120 um it's kind of hard to and guess what was you know how it it developed and how it was handled at that time that being said um the people who were doing the administration at that time are two of the finest people that have ever walked

through the halls of City Hall so I felt very confident in their um handling of the of the situation um that being said it's um kind of a it it's a difficult thing for some people to understand because the size of our distribution system Westport has to flush their hydrants and and to comply with with you know get the trialo methanes out um and that's an issue and they I guess

basic Bally overspeed their meter um and burned it out um flushing um now I believe they've learned um and this is being followed up you know by the department and uh the meter readings taken each month and from what I understand they're current with their bills on a monthly basis and so you know we're dealing with an issue that occurred as I say in the past but I want everyone to

be assured that we are committed to getting not only the correct deal but a fair deal with what went on because basically what the $500,000 figure is estimated flow and you know I hate estimated bills because of that well it's it's not necessarily estimated it's what went through the meter at the Town Line but it's in question of what what the whether their flushing meters were I stand corrected it's the flushing of

they burned out their meter and therefore that's thly it's it's on their end that we're guessing what they flushed it's all right all right um I guess that sums it up it's it it's a don't really know U what to say anymore on that um I think mediation might be the smartest move um you I feel that that may be the next step um in trying to resolve this have a third

party well we saw no problem with the agreement as amended uh with your negotiations with a third party and the town and we agreed the board voted to approve that amount um I I what I'm I'm stumbling for for a something to say because it actually I don't want to see us lose what we've agreed to accept and that's always a danger when you go into further discussions is we could end up

getting less than what we currently have committed from Westport so that's a risk is which a risk

well uh the board is approve the figure that is currently being questioned by the finance committee um I don't know should we um should we wait in further discussions with the finance committee um they were very concerned and there were some alarming statements made about the the first number the half a million dollar number that I certainly don't want any of the members of the finance committee to think that we

are you know not not keeping our eye on what is correct and and proper but um there is a risk involved in going into mediation I think we need to just um see where we go from here um yeah you know look at it could be a couple things done um what was approved by the board could uh could stand and stay on the table um the board could leave that

um stand on the table and go to mediation they could make a motion to reconsider uh what they've done uh you the approval they made uh and go to mediation you know what concerns me is I I is is the loss of what we've already accepted and and I would really love to see that in this FAL year if at all possible and certainly by July 15th which was what had been previously proposed so

um perhaps uh perhaps for right now let's table the issue or I I would propose that we table the Westport water bill for the present and so so just with you know again with with a discussion you know the Westport is willing to move forward with the medi with mediation to um see what independent third party has to say again it's not it's not you know the mediation wouldn't it would be a

non-binding it' be non-binding correct so it wouldn't well then that assures us of having a fair shake at this right it wouldn't it wouldn't say that the determination is the determination would be a non-binding so essential it be body sitting down we present our side they'd present their side and then Town Administrator agrees yes I think we ought to well perceive but I think that's a clearer path

because you know I'm stumbling around here uh because it is muddled to to a great extent like I said this um I wish I understood more about how the how we got here I wish I really understood that and I certainly am not trying to push anybody under the a bus here but I I we're dealing with something that got left on the doorstep so to speak I think um chair would entertain a

motion to proceed with mediation uh nonbinding and um go forward from there because we we've got to move this along we really would like to get this money in yes a second I would second that roll call so this is a vote to uh going to non-binding mediation with non-binding mediation with westpa on the outstanding bills that they have from 2016 to 20 yes 20 so roll call vote the uh member for yes president ter

yes thank you uh all right item number seven um LED service replacement change order number five ad Peril only I have a question what is a loop replacement uh Globe Street required a loop replacement and I read with interest the uh notations made um but I had no idea what a loop replacement was yeah no that's fine okay so they put it on the invoice it's more of a industry known thing but Loop

replacement so this is in relation to a traffic Loop okay so a lot of traffic lights have a loop underneath the pavement of wire so that when you approach them it detects a car oh oh that's what it is change yeah so when the contractor dug the Water Service they had to dig through that so they broke the loop they broke the loop so they had to get somebody into that

now I understand what a loop replacement is that's thank you very much um of note is Belmont Street and I I can't emphasize strongly enough that $177,400 was expended to get that led service out and that cost that homeowner absolutely nothing corre that is incredible Albert Street that service replacement ran $11,100 again at no cost to the homeowner so if you receive a letter in the

mail asking about your service please it's in your best interest to get back to us I was surprised at weedo too 4750 but I thought you'd hit ledge at weight amount but um that U so so yeah these these these services that they were looking for additional funding were non-standard services so within our contract we have kind of a standard service and then outside of that uh something that takes

uh I think the Belmont Street they could have been out there three or four days working because it was multiple levels to the uh to the property ledge that they was a very difficult difficult service even I think required some special yeah and the other one that was interesting was the 6x6x6 hole um on Meridian um at 1990 Meridian and um $1,000 in flow both fil those are the kinds of things you do not expect y

yeah you know again flow flowable fill is one of the things that all contractors need to use so private contractors that uh excavate in the roadway or under the sidewalk there's an ordinance in place uh they use flowable fill uh even our own staff water department staff when we excavate repl when we have water main break or service leak or excavate anywhere in it we uh we use it with our own stuff um The

flowable Fill is definitely costly uh you know look at a operational budget and uh we probably spend about $60,000 a year and flowable fill for the water department it it improves The Trenches which in the past were notorious for subsidence um the council over the years was adamant in protecting the uh citizen investment into Paving um so flowable fill is the way to go but it is

expensive yeah with without a doubt you know it it definitely does improve the trench patches so uh just on this change order this is AD Pini uh change order number five in the amount of $131,100 yeah this does close out their project this is the final balance in change order uh and it closes out the uh calendar year 23 lead service replacement program they've done an excellent job overall yeah Pini was a

was a good contractor to work with it would definitely uh uh you know again we had the same issue with locating the lead services and stuff like that you know mailings I think they did an additional yeah additional 6,000 mailings are I for what the number was but the the amount of additional mailings that they did above and beyond um in in the contract was uh was was good but uh you know they they they were

good they uh you know they got the number of services done that we needed to get done to meet our ACO so well that's excellent that's excellent okay the chair will entertain a motion to accept the change order increase of $131,100 second roll call vote please yes yes right that moves us to the Discovery Center information I have one question yes do we know if any of that barn siding is

chestnut that I'm not sure about okay I do not know because that would be um you know the chestnut boards I know Mike saved some from The Blossom Street barn but yeah so so I kind of wanted to talk about bond is one thing that we'll discuss in this uh in this discussion because uh right now we have out to bid a uh contract for uh some stabilization and

some work out out of the uh out of the center uh so we've been working with T2 the architect that was approved uh uh we started off with kind of looking at a master plan for the uh for the facility and stuff like that that's been developed it's it's come out uh it's come out very good um you know the overall scoping plan uh as you know we've developed the parking

area on the site which is uh to the north side as you come in that North Side driveway entrance that side next to that stone wall will be the parking area uh over next to the house itself um the house eventually will be uh changed into the main uh the main uh Discovery Center uh multi-season uh facility uh with an addition off of the souths side um which would be additional exhi space meeting

space and things like that um but the project that we currently have out to bid uh is really uh in relation to the barn uh in in the back area so doing some site work the parking area uh in between the two buildings electrical service coming into the facility into the uh into the house over to the bonds uh taking the bond redoing the barn yeah um y uh so stabilization yeah exactly

new exterior Uh Wood shingle sidings new roof shingles yeah yes we're going right through new windows on the bond yeah the idea for the bond is to leave it as a multi-season uh as a like a thre season uh open air space so it's not going to be heated or conditioned or anything like that um but it'll be able to be open and allow people to to move through

um we'll have a deck that goes off the back side of the barn uh so that would be a large deck that will be able to uh you'll be able to take like a whole classroom of kids out on the deck to view over the fields and out to the pond and stuff like that what a great idea Bond will be walk through have doors on on the back side as well so you'll be

able to walk right out to the deck uh in between there and the parking area uh there's a uh there's a restroom facility um that we want to construct which will uh help self- composting toilets and stuff in W's restroom so it'll be an outdoor uh so the project that we currently have out to bid uh has multiple alternates uh so we have Opa funding that we're using for this work

uh if this uh as long as this comes in within our budget will be awarding and awarding alterate alternates based on uh where the where the where the bids come in um so kind of just wanted to update you on this I so did they're going to be open actually this Friday really yep that's great and uh we're kind of under a because of the some of the requirements of arpa and the funding

related to Opa we're under some time crunches to uh to get that into uh uh to get that money incumbered uh so we'll be looking probably early uh in January to meet the board get get an approval on that project to move yeah I like the I actually love the idea of the composting uh toilets um sidelight um I when I was younger I did a lot of uh kaying up in the

north in uh the Inside passage in British Columbia and all the facilities up there used composting toilets with uh sawdust and they were the they were unbelievable there was no odor there were it they were clean and and they they and they work they really really work there's been a lot of uh you know especially this facility or this location being as close to the pond as it is um people R assured that this is a

safe way to do it yeah really is you know there's a lot of things that are going to be needed in the future once we develop the full property you know new septic system and things like that and we didn't want to get into that at this St no we want to be able to make a space a safe space where people be able to use that and to start the ball rolling yeah

this is going to be this is going to be uh generational project you know years um but I think it's going to start to uh set the groundwork for what this facility will be um work working with our partners DCR the trustees of the reservation bringing them in to the fold with this school department and other school districts as well what a legacy this is a legacy project you know we've We've

joked around about you know planting trees and all of the and Gathering nuts and you know doing all of those things but this is a legacy um you know our We inherited a legacy from the boards in the past and you know the Geniuses that laid out the system but what a great IDE idea this is and you know um gentlemen um fed off of Mike's bioreserve TR uh excuse me the

Interlocken um track that you um you and the department put together which was incredible and um a private citizen got a whole group of people and uh they did a Four Mile Loop through the woods and it it it I mean it was just done great so what's happening the reason I bring that up is we're getting um Partners stewards um the the same gentleman um he's quite an interesting U Source um

he actually went out to dr's mil Pond after the Windstorm and cut um section of trees down that were leaning on the Old Stone and partially knocked over a wall and stuff so the interest um out you know the bioreserve and and the bioreserve center um Sunday's now you you go out in the the reservation area the number of bicyclists and hikers um it's great it it is just wonderful and you know from

the years in which nobody was allowed to recreate out there now to have passive Recreation and hunting and fishing over at Copa cut um it's great the bioreserve has really been a a gift to the to the population to the citizens yeah without a doubt you know we're in there for Buttered protection and you know to add this other element that allows people to enjoy the other half of the city yeah that's not you

know paved or or concreted um you know is is an awesome awesome thing it it I cannot tell you because I do spend a great deal of time out there the number of people I run into uh seniors younger people and they're you know just going right along mountain biking um when we've had snow well we've had cross country skiers we've had snow Shores it's it's wonderful terrific yeah and I think there's all different levels

for different people out there you know you have the 20m loop trail serious hike is could do a 20 mile those are serious people you know and all the way down to the uh to the trail that was just completed by the trustees of the reservations this uh this summer uh which is a uh which is an accessible interactive handicap yep up at copicut Woods um that's a nice little about

that's a beautiful tra 2 of a mile has some uh some you know interactive uh stops along the way yeah and interpretive um signage there's there's a lot of interest and uh you know as more and more people you know yeah more enthusiasm generates right off of Wilson Road one of the first Trails ever made out there that t beautifully repaired Wilson Road down to the uh Causeway yep beautiful job

beautiful job so again just wanted to kind of update the board what was going on with that and uh and what you'll be seeing you know the next item has to do with the with the uh bidding and uh construction oversight and design for that stabilization and then I'll be back here early January with with the contract for construction okay now we have um a vote to take on the dis

what we got here uh Barn stabilization and toilet facility change order number one at a rondak farm in the amount of 168 987 um that just I don't think we need to belabor that anymore motion to approve seconded all in um roll call Mr cler please yes president very Very Yes positive okay that brings us to the end of the uh meeting agenda I see no other in no new news no uh with that

the chair would entertain a motion to adjourn seconded all in favor yes we need a roll call on that because yes yes thank thank you all very much