4.4.2024 Watuppa Water Board

the hour 5:00 having arrived uh I'm going to call this meeting of the wupa water board to order uh pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and

permissible Mr clerk would you call the role member Collins present here Presidio present um item number one citizen input do we have any citizens hearing and seeing none uh item number two is the minutes of the previous meeting um everyone received their packets and if there are no Corrections adjustments the chair would entertain a motion to accept the minutes of the February 23rd meeting as submitted by

the clerk so move second all in favor I moving to item I moving to item number three proposed leak abatements um the total of the uh leak abatements that have been um checked and reviewed by um by both um Mr to I and Mr furland and we have abatements totaling 13, 3064 and the chair would entertain a motion to proceed with those abatements so moved second all in favor I I so moved okay item number four

Woodward and current 2004 ledge service line replacement Mr clerk sir thank you very much uh So within your packet you have uh contract that was proposed by woodw curent for the24 Leed service payment program um I would like to uh make a recommendation there are some things that I would like to uh uh look at a little bit further before awarding the uh entire contract value but I do not want to hold this

project up as as it is a uh time sensitive project with the number of services that we need to remove this fiscal year uh my recommendation at this time would be the board approved not to exceed 175 uh with the balance of contract to come back before the board at El time it sounds like a very good plan because we're under the the clock on this program so uh the chair would

entertain a motion to uh approve this contract not to exceed

$175,000 if we could have a motion to accept that me second all in favor I hi all right Galloping along facilities assessment and schematic design sir so uh as you know ader Onex um is one of the uh the project one of the properties that we acquired with majority grant funding and opa funding uh CPC funding uh and we're planning on the redesigning that facility and being able to use it as the bio Reserve

Discovery Center uh this is uh this proposal in front of you is with T2 Architects uh design firm uh it's for 113,000 $3,040 uh this gets us through all the schematic design uh initial um design of the whole entire property uh of the new building well not the new building but the redesign and reuse of the building uh as well as some some other ancillary items on the property uh so um you know

this gets us to a good point overall our our plan is with this project is to be able to uh be able to use diamond as uh as a partner during the uh constructions and Renovations there are some things we'll have to go out to sub for but uh that's uh that's to be determined but get in front of you it's T2 Architects for the uh for the design Mr ferland is

uh has Diamond been contacted are they on board with that yeah so Diamond has Diamond's been out there almost uh uh most of the school season and in between other projects that they've been doing uh they've been cleaning up the property they put up a fence for us uh on one of our boundary lines Mike I don't know if you want to speak to anything else Diamond been doing out there well all I

would add was um Diamond actually wrote a letter of support when we put for one of the grants for this property with the understanding that we would be partners with them and they've been partner for more than seven years just at the reservation let all the other things they've done for the Department excellent yeah I know they're busy that's why I wanted to just make sure you had them lined up okay yeah and T2

Architects is aw that we are planning on working with that me is kind of um uh enthusiastic about being able to work with the students at the vocational school they're getting a real kick out of working out at that farm you know the times I've gone by and seen them working out there the fence line they put in I mean you're doing a nice job well yeah and hats off to the

instructors because it's it's a pleasure to just be out there with the interaction between the students and instructors and um damus from The farway Herald news did an article recently and fact there was the last couple of days it was it was um featuring the work and the help that Diamond's been giving to to the department out there um one of the my favorite Parts was when he turned

to a group of students that were having lunch in one of our buildings and he said you know couple of questions did you even know that the reservation was out here no and then you know how do you enjoy coming out here and they were like they were like popcorn they were just like on top of each other just you know chirping away as they really they do the students enjoy being out there the

instructors enjoy having them out there uh it's a safe place to be and there's plenty of work excellent there there was a a group of young ladies um mucking out the old uh stalls in the barn and and they really uh did a heck of a good job clearing that out um it's a beautiful property um I can't wait for it to you know kick off and be filled up and going forward

so we have before us this U facilities assessment schematic design contract um let me just and just if I can remind the board this is uh fully funded by ARA funds so this is not this is ARA funded correct yes yes so those dollars have to be spent by a certain amount of time uh by 26 okay at uh the end of calendar year 26 and the calendar year 26 okay so the contract for the

schematic design um is $3,040 um are there any other questions regarding this if there aren't a chair to entertain a motion to accept this contract bidden uh um in the amount of 11304 some moved second all in favor I I excellent next item up for bids free toown inter Municipal agreement yeah so within the packet that uh you were issued today is a letter from the uh uh Freetown water and SE commission um they

are looking to make a uh minor uh non I would say it's the worst yeah no change at all but it's just kind of a wording change so they have um currently two lines that feed into free Town one from uh North Main Street uh and then when Innovation was uh connected in there was another line fed in through Innovation Way um that ties in essentially to the main that comes

down North Main Street uh doesn't allow any additional capacity or anything like that it was put in as a redundant emergency connection um through the intubation transfer act um if a main is uh if water supply to a subsequent Community uh if the supply is increased uh it would be required to go through the inas transfer uh approval process um so free Town talked a lot with the uh with the uh Water Resources office uh

part of uh DCR uh and um they just we need to add into the intermunicipal agreement essentially that the connection on Innovation Way is a emergency alternative uh connection and it is not and it's to be used for emergencies it's a redundant line um so it's kind of just a a small change pretty much saying that that's an emergency connection redundant line uh it's not for additional capacity that's

just in case of an emergency yep exactly so you know with the board's approval uh I could draft that Amendment have it uh have it changed again I this isn't a substantial change to the intermunicipal agreement so I don't see any reason that it would go in front of city council but I did want to bring it into all right excellent I want to clear us that up um are there any um other

questions hearing none um chair to entertain a motion to accept um the inter Municipal that's a mouthful intermunicipal agreement revision motion M second seconded all in favor I all right next thing that we have go ahead sorry ch now we're we're going to the promised land here so I know that's they told you interesting anecdotal but you know it's Mr lassier just grabbing every little piece of

property I know that's an interesting way to word this but that's kind of uh historically what this uh these couple Apostles that have been referred to within the water department the apostles were listed on the agenda uh and are in the packet for uh anybody's reference um but these are these are three pels uh essentially that uh became uh uh tax possession of the city um we've worked with the city uh to

have them uh they're essential landlock pels uh they're being uh they've been declared a low value land uh and we're working to purchase these from the city um we did receive a CPC grant for this purchase uh and all the uh Associated cost uh and we feel will be underneath uh what the grant amount that was issued so we will be transferring 30,000 uh of the CPC Grant back to the

city yep and Mike if you want to talk a little bit about the parcels where they are yeah yeah so the three Parcels are um east of Blossom Road they're adjacent to other land the city own they're adjacent to the Indian reservation at 275 Indian Town Road and um they're adjacent to the proprietor way and of themselves they're kind of like these old these historic wood lots that were 19th century were common in

the 19th century and uh they uh they're in the the bread and- cheese Brook Watershed they uh which protects a a cold water fishery there truck fishery and um there's also endangered species there they're continuous to the bioreserve and uh just makes sense to protect them so they will remain natural habitat forever you don't ever um do you anticipate including those with the uh the trail Network I do not no you're

just going to leave them as as Watershed protected excellent can't beat that $30,000 that's and then I think uh so um Buzzard's Bay Coalition will be holding the Restriction once transfer To Us approv by Buzz Bay coal appr some time ago um buzzers Bay also holds two other conservation restrictions on properties that the water board uh that the water department has purchased um uh CDC funds now is there anything that

would would we desire holding those conservation restrictions ourselves at any point um the the law doesn't allow that it doesn't okay all right so they got their first basically well so you want you want sort of an arms length you don't want necessarily a conservation restriction under the same owner of the property owner because it's meant to be an added protection almost a redundant protection um just a point of

clarification isn't that the case with thater on De though uh yes uh the trustees of reservations will be holding a restriction on that on the back the back on the back I'm sorry on the seven acres on the Seven Acres that's the conservation portion of that property correct thank you yeah for the same exact reason and the total amount of land involved in this is 29.5 acres for a price of 30,000 total price of $

48,8 um if that includes the conservation restriction cost attorney fees title exam I hate to belabor this point but are we um then paying out the 15 to Buzzards Bay Coalition out of the CPC funds yes the 15,000 for the conservation all right that's fair so our to so the motion would be to um approve the purchase in the amount of $ 48,8 N9 correct uh so well no because those

those are just uh other uh Associated costs we're looking for the approval of the purchase of the land for 30,000 I stand corrected those are associated cost um necessarily wouldn't come in front of the board at their U at their fee amount um but the purchase of the land land would will now have to go to City Council purchase of the land will now have to go to City Council most likely for

approval okay so we're just going to approve the 30,000 yes where are we getting the other 188 99 so the CPC Grant is for 54,9 y um so the all of it will be coming from the CPC Grant um but the only thing at this meeting what we're looking for is just the acquisition of the of the three posil okay thank you understood thank you for clearing that up um okay okay with that clarification

the uh chair had entertain a motion to um accept purchase a price of $30,000 so move second all in favor I I ain't making anymore okay a $1,000 a naked moving go find some more all right here Michael come back back with more Maring ERS okay item number eight on our agenda is the uh year 24 lead service line repace replacement program contract number one Mr Clark no uh as you know we uh under a

requirement from D to remove a certain number of lead Services of per year or cumula by the end of calendar years uh so we needed to remove 400 by the end of uh of 2023 uh we need to remove a total of 1,000 cumulative added up by the end of this calendar year 2024 um this contract uh is for 400 lead services to be removed uh we went out to

bid there was a number of biders it was actually a pretty good spread uh we got uh one bit was even as far which came in second was from Jacksonville Florida uh so it was uh it it had some interest out there um the low bid was uh bisco uh Contracting Corp in the amount of 3,794 $2 24630 so woodwi Cur uh has gone through evaluated the uh contractor uh and uh

recommendation award and uh we concur with that and we're very familiar with the quality of work we've got from bisco Contracting are there any questions um by any members of the board hearing none no uh the chair entertain a motion um to accept uh the lead service line replacement program contract number one in the amount of 3,794 24630 so move second all in favor I I thank you very much we are streaking

along interesting web page service material and self identification yeah so uh this was something that we've been working on through our our identification uh program um is a uh you know one of the things to identify LED Services is is being one of our biggest issues uh to find the LED Services uh so we have a number of unknowns throughout the city we have a number of uh still leads you know in our

records identified as leads uh and uh not able you know not able to be identified um so you know we've done multiple different types of Outreach one of the requirements um of the uh of the 25 is to uh is to have a fully interactive web page that customers could go to to see their service material so that's what we're able to develop here you want I'll turn it over to Zack arenson he's been

instrumental yeah I I very much like to hear about this yeah he's been very instrumental with the whole entire lead project uh him and some of the other folks at w current have really uh really driven this project been Innovative with a lot of their ideas uh to move this project forward to be able to get the identifications done be able to get the construction done um so they've been a

great partner on this project and I think uh Zach's probably going to take a couple minutes here to uh uh run through a slide deck he did and uh and do show us the web yeah so I've got a quick presentation just really want to go over uh what what this website tells I'll commonly refer to it as the light service inventory tool so if you give me one second here get going so just one

more thing you know Zach uh he did a uh excellent presentation so this past couple of days today and uh yesterday was the uh New England Waterworks spring conference up in wora uh that's right you we in attendance yeah yeah and uh Zach uh along with myself did an uh excellent presentation on uh the lead service program that we're doing uh and the uh and all the how we uh structured

all the funding for that for the whole entire project uh right along um in his presentation was was excellent um I think the whole entire room was packed and it was standing room only there was a lot of people standing I'll bet that was a a well attended presentation because that's the sort of damoc hanging over so many communities yeah you know right now we are um we are where we need

to be uh with in this program a lot a lot of other communities are not in the same place that we are we we've gone from last to

First all right just click do you have a clicker PA yeah um c c what did you do nice should be good plugs again thank you for uh having me this afternoon um so uh again commonly refer to this this website as the lead service line inventory tool for the city of all rer um I'm Zach arenson project manager at w and k

um no battery in the clicker public no it's probably it probably needs to go uh so what uh what's on the agenda for this this discussion uh is the Hub is a hub site so this is the where the ledge service line inventory tool lands there a specific uh URL link code that you can go directly to uh the The Hub site which contains the tool that shows both the public and private side of

every water service in the city uh but it also has some information on the program tools for the replacement program like the consent form and the picture filter uh instructions and those types of things um we it's linked to the asset management database uh the city's Asset Management database so the tool that those public and private sides that are being replaced continuously verified

continuously are in the uh it's directly linked so that people are getting up-to-date information at all times and then lastly we'll do a little tutorial we'll go through look at a a couple services and then um do some customer self identification that's also a part of this this this tool so oops um so just going quickly over some of the elements that are involved with the The Hub site um publicly available

at that link.com or link lead Safe Community rgis.com it's a the tool was built off the uh ezri rgis uh uh lead service line solution um so that's how we started it but we customized it directly for the city um there's a mission statement what is a water service line CU so many people just don't know exactly how their home is connected so understanding is key to being able to delineate what's public side what's

Street side um those types of things uh what is the city doing to help how are we performing the inventory program next steps for unknown and Lead Services okay now that I know what my service is what do I do um search your address um which is the map you get a map you just type in where your address is you can find your service a legend so you know what each side is right you

have this color there's a color coded index you get a legend that shows that um additional resour sources for exposure to lead so links to EPA epa's website on exposure to lead and drinking water Mass EPS um link and then finally um like I mentioned Le surface line replacement program documents and any press releases regarding Le So eventually this will this link will be on the city's web page uh but it will it

right now exists as a standalone thing the other thing we're doing as part of this is is advertising we're going to be advertising in um the website through a postcard that has a QR code that you can pull up on your phone and it will take you right to the tool so what languages is it translating into uh so it has a full a full capability to translate um any

language so I'll I'll show you that are you kidding so again uh I've been practicing this is the Like Water Service L inventory program sort of the mission statement what is a water service line you know showing exactly what is owned um by the homeowner right like it's a different in different communi some people own just from um the uh main to the curb stop Fall River per ordinance that's not that's

not how it is though customer owns the entire portion good old um what are we doing to help and then just how we're performing some of the Els of the inventory next steps for unknown services and Le Services um we have we have records that have tell us some things but don't expect to be contacted by the city to perform an inspection you don't want to be contacted by a city or

wait for an inspection you may perform your own by visiting EPA protector tap this is a tool that EPA made to show you how to find your service and get down on it and what's a galvanized service what's a lead service what's a copper service um once you've performed your inspection then you can submit all that information with a photo directly to mass DP self-identification tool um and

that gets directly sent to the city's uh the Water Department and uh gets updated to the inventory and then if you don't want to you know if youd want have any questions on any of this just call the water department and get it up so this is the uh search your address so this is what this will look like it's a simple uh address search right in the top left corner um you have the both the

public uh Street side and the house side here so on the left you have Street side this is the same for every single point on here on the right you have the house side you have the different materials that could be there non-lad unknown definitely does not contain letter galvanized that really is like any service that's like that we we have information on maybe it's 4 Ines in diameter we know it's definitely not let

are galvanized um but we don't you know maybe the typ correct was missing the the the actual material typee um unknown and then non and then what is the next step for these materials requires replacement requires F further evaluation unknown requires inspection so on and so forth um this is information links to exposure for lead like I said those Mass EP and EPA resources the city's uh information on

the service City's uh BL service L replacement program and then press releases there's about a few that that we've done or the city's pushed out so we just listed those there um link to the asset management database utility club uh so what does this have um mapping attributes for mapping attributes for City use on day-to-day work um inspection forms at the for for inspections at the meter for

inspection at the curb stop and we're digging down and inspecting the material customer self identification records review um and then replacement forms full private public whatever you need and just so you know what those forms look like in uh utility Cloud that's this is sort of this is a typical service line investigation form we have on the left um shows the house you know photo of the

lead uh in this case it was lead um ask for diameter information how we verified the service all things that are important to the water service line inventory in general that go up as part of the Mast DP submission and then uh a replacement replacement form one of these that was done on March 13th uh uh and you can see you know the new copper being installed or the you know old lead

in a lot of cases or confirming you know a lot of times we're digging down we're only doing one side uh getting that confirmation picture of the the side that was non Le is just as crucial as when we're digging down for to replace Le so just on this to the utility cloud is the asset management software that we've um standardized throughout water source storm water for use so our our

employees are familiar with the use of this they're able to use the forms there George Garcia has hundreds of different forms and inspections and documentation built in these were added in specifically for the lead service prog so when someone self-identifies it self- populates a uh a standard form that you guys are already using or so when when they self-identified doing the using the

D's we website so so there's a link on our website and you can click on I want to self-identify and it brings you to a Smart sheets page that DP has set up okay there's a list of questions that the customer fills out um and then that gets emailed to an email group I'm on that group I think Zach's on that group um we set up a independent email just for this project

lslr ma.org so that that email is on this um we didn't want it to go directly into utility Cloud because we want to be able to check it and verify it like over the past couple of weeks we've gotten some uh you know one of them uh two of them came in with pictures of the service and stuff like that uh one of them came in saying I don't know what it

is so at least that way we got their contact information this way we're able to contact them schedule an appointment for somebody to go out and inspect yeah it's a touch point right like even if at minimum we get a touch point we have someone who's demonstrated interest right in the program and now we have a phone number which in a lot of cases can be like the path to the path of Victory

on this so yeah even just and if we and if we can get a conclusive inspection out of that great uh so here's a tutorial I'm going to go through like an address or two and and you know the link for that um nastp self identification tool is right in the the points themselves so I'm going to get that up right now we'll run through a few

points have been so I think maybe if we ask to the other screen yeah I got wonder if there any dead languages okay language yeah is this in use in in um any other community in the Commonwealth right now so this was built for us uh it was built for us yeah it would be very tough for to have a model CU a lot of communities are different um and there isn't there are a couple of

different types out there um you know I think uh uh Chelsea I think has one or up next to I was just curious is to response I think a lot of it's new right some some folks have like the this sort of like dashboard where you can see the inventory like but a lot of people don't have the customer self identification portion that's still new like M only put it in to use I think a year

ago so but uh and one thing that's big is you got to adverti its use that's you know that's why we're here today so in public meeting can really make sure that people are aware of this thing and then we're also pushing out these postcards to every in the future every LED or unknown service within the city that has this QR code that comes right here yeah this is really the kick off kickoff for

a big bigger public Outreach uh campaign we're going to do uh tar Ed social media um advertisements even though I'm not a big fan of social media a lot of people are um so we're going to do some targeted social media advertisements uh to do this uh mailings to uh all all houses that are listed as unknown service material uh as well as um we're also going to do a reverse 911 call uh

to the whole entire area to let people know to be on the lookout for the mailing and uh they have the ability to go to the site to look at this I'm I'm sure you've taken this into consideration when I was um just um based upon my own experience in the past which is eons ago um I I think it's important that we stress that compliance is a requirement of receiving service and that if you do

not respond we will in fact take steps so the so we we've you know we've been doing Outreach now for year and a half trying to do inspections so we have a number of people that we've done multiple outreaches to 10 plus outreaches whether it be mailings phone calls uh door hangers uh with no response um now we're taking one of our inspectors is doing a more targeted door knocking approach uh to those houses on

Saturdays and Sundays um and the letter that he's leaving uh has the has the postcard that'll go in the mailing U but it also has uh the next step of letter that we're mailing out which is um non-compliance we have the right to discontinue Water Service you know we have by ordinance we have the right to go in and inspect absolutely we can disconnect and inspect um you know again that's that's that's

the next step that we're taking and and you know it works we I was just talking to the inspector today he got a call from somebody and she said right to him well I didn't look at any your other notices because it seemed like it was optional this one's making it look like I need to do it so you know that it's got to be mandatory you know once you

get to that point it it's going to change some of the people's minds if you're doing door knocking can you do that on non if somebody has a non non-solicitation could you still have the right to go onto their property it because it's a municipal service I would say we're not soliciting anything we we're trying to gain access to our water meter which we have rights to by ordinance ordinance gives us the

permission to enter at any time yeah so I just wanted to yeah make that so they're not getting chased out by somebody's pit bull M that actually happened one read meters one time yeah just just we'll go through this quickly but like you asked about the language translation it's right here at the top pick any language and it changes the whole web page oh there you go I'm not going to

keep it on there because I cannot read whatever what does this Sayad I don't with that haven't done that one not to say that it's not a great language Arabic oh I love it and that's almost right away if if you're not what I'd like to say um so again here's the mission statement um say you have some folks that are open this up and they're like I don't want to read all this I I know

what a service line is I go I want to go to my address immediately you search down and this will ping you right here give you the steps for searching your address um so that's what that button for just to have another touch point of like I I don't need all this you know other stuff other information I just I want to go search my address click that it takes you drops you right down

immediately um what is a service line just shows that graphic again right there it's not right in your face though you can drop it and close it um some of the steps for unknown service lines and then uh searching your your address so to uh 90 stle

street so this service um so what you do is you click on it right like that if you guys can't see that can zoom a further um can look at it and then you have you know the the actual address the account ID what type of building it is um when the the building was built what the street side is and what the house side is of the service um and then say

if it was an unknown service you could click this here and it would bring up this tool that the mdp smart sheet with this is where you could actually self-identify you enter contact information um I will do my stuff all your all your information what the build year was you're constructed you have the ability to access this by phone it's very mobile friendly um and then once that's

submitted an email gets generated you get these all the time Paul but email on weekends a lot lately and uh you get a nice little you get nice photos though and and all the information that's required um so this this particular service was was replaced a couple weeks ago um so you could see here that this this uh service was um already updated you have plastic on the the public side and copper on the private side

uh again you you blue constitutes non-led red constitutes uh lead by record review gray constitutes unknown green uh constitutes unknown definitely does not contain letter G um so these are all that's any service in the city you can do this you can see how many points there a lot of these um it it it does once you zoom in and out it doesn't load all the points so it makes it a little easier to utilize so

like you look at all those Services yeah again so this is every property every property within the city every service within the city um you know uh some property you know as we went through um if uh if if a property has multiple accounts uh we we're still working to sort through some of those to uh to get them down to the one service but if you do have a property with

multiple accounts you go to the one Circle that uh has the color in it and that's usually the one to use or you can just call the water department and we can send somebody out uh to uh to to make sure that or you can talk to somebody on the phone and they can make sure that you're that you're filling it filling it out properly um again the self- inspection uh is definitely something uh that that

customers can do easy and quick on the phone you know Zach mentioned a couple of times the QR code um I've actually kind of been on that again I'm not a technology uh junkie or anything like that but if I get something and it has a QR code and I have my phone in my hand most of the time and you can scan it with your phone and see how to access it

and what to do it's a lot better than having to sit there and try to type a website in uh I I think a lot more people would be apt to be able to uh to use it at that point with the Q R code all the apps and stuff that we had this is uh available on phones um as well as a self-identification tool uh the uh other thing that we will

be adding here soon uh we're doing an online fillable form for the consent form for inspections and Replacements uh so that will be uh that will be unless it's already on here right yeah so it'll be um online you don't you won't even need to print it out in send it and send it in or email it in you'll be able to fill it out right on digitally sign it

and it'll come right back to us uh so that's another uh thing that we're adding through this uh through the program again there's things always evolving we're trying to figure out the best way easiest way for uh customers to be able to uh identify their service and everybody might think that you know we know what the service is but I went on um I was on the map just uh just a week

and a half ago and uh property that I own was unknown on the customer side so excuse me yes it was yes it was I had you know I went into utility Cloud I updated it um but everybody might think that they know it take a couple take a couple minutes scan the QR code go in see whether we know if if we don't know if do the self-inspection or just call the water

department hey I checked your map it says you don't know what my service SI and can I schedule an appointment um you know we have no problem sending an inspector out to be able to do that and just um one thing I didn't mention but the entire this entire form and the the uh the inspection forms and replacement form the Hub site the tool was all um made was able to happen through the uh

uh lead pipe inventory and public engagement Grant through the United States EPA um so that that program wanted wanted you to FOC on inventory focus on inventory and engagement that's what we're doing here yeah again so this whole entire site a lot of this work that we've done uh has been through grants again the L pipe grant grant is one of the large grants uh that we I think that one was

$100,000 um the inspectional services which um kind of made all the background behind this map a lot of the uh and uh Carries On Master list and stuff like that that was through a grant through the srf program um for 750,000 and actually we just awarded another 400,000 for additional uh inspections excent um you know again this is all Grant funded not costing our rate payers excellent any questions

on my only it's not a question it's just a concern compl liance is always going to be the U the uh issue and um ensuring compliance so yeah and I think this is like another method of we're often trying to get information to people in like three to four different manners right and like this is another way of getting information for yeah excellent great well I a hell of a tool HDMI back

that's excellent that really is thank you as I said yeah Zach and his team has put put a lot of work into it George Garcia in our office with the utility I mean you can see a lot of work has been done in incredible outstanding all right we're moving along next item for consideration item number 10 is a modification of the fiscal year 2025 water rate and the budget of us as we

voted on at the last meeting M Mr clerk so uh our budget did go our budget uh was in front of uh Committee of Finance last Tuesday uh I was there Zach was there as well as well as uh Mr Dave Fox from RIS who gave the presentation to the water board um who gave a presentation and fielded any questions the council then took the took the budget and referred it to the full

Council um last night I was in front of the ordinance committee with the proposed rate that the board approved uh which was uh a rate of $436 um and uh was in front of them and uh it was some questions and discussion on our retained earnings uh Su didn't have any retained earnings uh but Water Division did have retained earnings that were certified this year uh in just under $400,000 um it was the recommendation

will the council to amend the uh water rate um so that we would uh use a certified free cash um in the amount of 396,000 excuse me $398,500 as a revenue Source within our FY 25 budget again that's not a very good B in practice as was uh as was explained by uh Mr Fox when he was in front of uh in front of this Bo in and the Council on uh Finance but

um you know the council is trying to um trying to lessen the impact uh on on on the rate payer in a one-year time frame the recommendation and they understood that uh next year uh recommendation was a 5% increase on the Water and Sewer rate uh so the discussion was next year we come back with a uh with a higher rate increase in the 10 to 12 because that's what we'll need to make it up in

the 10 or 12% range uh next year on the water to make up that difference uh so it was a reduction in the rate in down to a water rate of $424 uh the budget did not change overall uh in the amount of 16, 173,00 94 again I just put it in front of you because the revenue side uh did change because we're using the utilization of uh retained earnings uh as a revenue

Source within the budget do we have to accept the the council's request if I may um under the city ordinance under the powers uh and acts of 1871 um the water board shall have an exercise subject to any order of the city council all of the powers so basically the council can say to us we would in especially in this case we would prefer that you use your retained earnings and that is a decision that they're

making and that we can follow I just I my feeling with all of this is that they're just kicking the water can down the road um and we're going to you know will they have will they remember this next year um you know like we we literally spent a lot of time and some money to bring a professional in to explain to them like this is the best practice this

is what we should do for the future of the city and then they come back and say well no we don't want to do that like um with with no professional um opinion coming from any other uh body I guess so I just I don't necessarily agree with it I think that you know we had data and we have um uh you know information that provides that that should be at the 436 so that we're not

using the retained earnings so that we have that money you know for a rainy day fund although we've had a lot of rain we have a lot of water to sell but um I just I don't know that your point is extremely well taken um and the reason I just brought up the powers under the acts of 1871 is they we are the Agents of the of the council in in so many ways um I agree

with you I I'm I'm torn on this one but I I think um seeing is it's not exactly unheard of it had been used in the past and I what I got to say I'm torn on this um but as a good soldier I'd follow the council's lead on this one and um I think it'll be important to remind them of this when it comes budget time next year assuming they remember um um your points well

taken Chris I I can't say I don't uh I can't say I don't disagree yeah we have a bit of a quandry here then um if we make you go back and tell them no what happens um realistically we we not yeah I'm not sure um you know essentially the council is the is the committee that sets the rates uh sets the ordinance uh so they create the ordinance so

um the water board if the water board was to uh not approve this rate amount um I don't know if they could you know that would be a question for the city clerk whether they could unilaterally adjust that um if this board was not to approve the budget uh as uh using the retained earnings uh and the rate was not at the $3 um 36 as it was proposed uh then we

would have an unbalanced budget um and uh essentially it would be uh we would either have to cut our budget or um general fund would need to support the unfunded portion of our budget would be a similar situation to what we were in last year when our rate wasn't certified current so a couple of years ago uh wasn't last year it was two three years ago might have been even now

but yeah our rate was not approved until December of that of that year um we operated 6 months we were we were were unable to build the full amount of the rate increase um I'm just saring this out as an a question would it um following commissioner Collins's concerns here would it would it be appropriate for us to request a letter from um the council um you know again I know they the

ordance committee did vote on it uh did vote on it last night there is a uh there is a um city council meeting next Tuesday uh which I believe they were uh planning on putting R in budget um because the budget needs to be approved within 45 days of submission yeah I was going to say there's like 14 days left on that clock yeah it needs to be acted on um

within that 45 days so um the rates not so much um perhaps the board should send a letter to the council well maybe that's what we should do I I I I would like to entertain sending a letter to the council um accepting their recommendation but pointing out that they have charged us with operating this department as an Enterprise fund there have been serious questions asked by councelor Ponty for

one are we even charging enough so um I think that we have a professional recommendation as to what to do they are not doing that yeah yeah and and and again if they approve the 424 now um you know if the council does that they always have the ability to go back and change that as well so um you know if the board wanted to send a letter to

them saying that um you know if if the board supports the 424 uh you would say we support it to be able to uh continue our budget process but we don't feel that it's uh you know applicable to use the retain earnings so you know again we can work something where it's uh you know explained out that you know we we we did a I would Financial study to understand what our rates should be uh

and the recommendation that we provided to you uh we feel that you should uh that you should uh reconsider and uh increase to that amount yeah I I I think I might be a little happier with accepting not um agreeing with 424 accepting 424 under protest for particular reasons that we would list M we would okay um therefore let's put this in the form of a motion that the chair will entertain a motion um and

help U please chime in here uh that we will accept 424 our preference is 436 except 424 with some hesitancy with a preferred rate of 436 profession presented as professionally recommended

um if you also want to put something in we may want a few would we have to would we have to call for another meeting to finalize the letter in other words we can put together something quickly now and give ourselves 24 hours to make any additions to that could we we could do that Zoom meeting by Tuesday could we just thinking a timeline wise I don't I don't

want to push it any further than we have to so that it gets down there right away yeah well um to do a letter from the board if you wanted to designate the clerk to to draft that letter and then um to execute that letter um or the clerk to work with the president to draft that letter that works that works you know so that way it's not that way

we're not you know I don't to send it down there 5 minutes before the meeting y I heard they don't like that you know it's it's it's it it's a it's a difficult position here I think I think the issue that uh uh commissioner Collins and I and I think yourself to some degree um see is that year after year uh Paul and consultants and um people other people in the office spend a

tremendous amount of time and effort uh and this year we spent a bit of money with a consultant uh to put together numbers that that are necessary for the for the Department to function as it should yes and almost every I I don't I shouldn't say almost every time many times um they've been here for I've been here for a number of years many times increases get cut or or rejected to some degree and

um it's it's just it's it's just not correct budgeting practice for the Department I I don't think it's safe in the long term um and I you know I don't think it's right to uh to the people who' put in the time and effort to come up with the numbers that need to be those numbers the numbers don't the math doesn't lie we can't make two and two three because we think

so yeah um it's not fair to the rate payer because eventually at the end of the day it's eventually it will catch up it it will catch up so it's just it's it's to Chris's Point um you know it's not just the time and effort that these people put in to figure out what the right numbers are those right numbers are because they will eventually then benefit the rate payer

so I'll get off my Soap Box no it's not a soap box you're doing exactly the right thing um and you know I'm at the end of we took our oath uh many years ago um we are effectively the voice of of the rap payer to some degree we have a shoe in both yes um we are the voice of the rap paay and we are responsible for the public health yes and safety of well over

aund odd thousand people and we take that very seriously the council holds a trump Ace in that the the power that was delegated to the city by the Commonwealth rests with the council who has delegated that back down to the board so um yeah put the letter and see what happens that's I guess that would be I I'm 100% in favor of a letter uh to the council stating our

concerns um that a great deal of time and effort has been put into this and that we are extremely uncomfortable with the suggestion to use retained earnings although we are sensitive to the rate we're also sensitive to not kicking the can down the road so to speak MH your your wordssmall enged here sir yeah okay definitely um you know I think the best route would be if one I can draft a letter work with the

president to get it and as the uh as a clerk and the president executed for the board excellent then we'll just leave this at the moment um it's it's it's it's the board's will of what they want to do uh again um if you were to approve this and then send the letter the council could always increase back to the original amount does that me with your approval if we approve it we lost we've approved it

yeah I know it's kind of surrendering the high but I am also new to this board so I wouldn't I know how things go up and down let's say this is a very unusual situation in fact I've never heard of it for and I we like to be different I'm sorry we like to be different we do um I I'm just looking for the appropriation here my question and this is probably

more a question for the city clerk um is what the actual appropriation uh so the council votes with the budget they vote on an appropriation um well the appropriation is like the general fund budget where it just uh deals with the uh whether it just deals with the expense side uh or if on an Enterprise fund they're also approving the revenue side as well I'm not sure on that um because that's how it works on the

general fund they when they approve the budget they're only approving the expense side well this uh without getting too far into the swamp this this brings up a very interesting question as to whether an Enterprise fund requires city ordinance approval and that that's a whole other constitutional question so to speak can the city clerk clarify any of

that

we should have a commercial announcement so so it looks like uh on the appropriation that was done by the um by the uh Finance team for the city uh looks like it is uh approving the amount to be raised by either water retained earnings or departmental receipts so that is on the or well so two separate lines one line retained earnings so how much you use in retained earnings and how much would be

departmental receipts for the total amount of uh money raised to support the expense side of the budget so she has it in there as the 424 with the retained earnings right now this is what went from the uh from the original budget and it has zero in the retained earnings okay so again that's because um they haven't received anything else so this for the for the change that was done last night at at city council this

would have to be revised in the retainer there that

um God I don't want to use retained earnings really don't you know using retained earnings as as we've said is is is not a good practice it is a practice that we've used for a number number of years yes if you do look at the um the impact to the to the rate paay and what's being used within uh within this fiscal year uh we had about uh $1.4 million loss of retained earnings within the sewer

budget and again this is the water board but uh overall impact you know 1.4 million on the suicide uh and uh 300,000 on the on the water side roughly what we used in uh in last year's but budget so total of $1.7 million needed to be raised by rates uh without even uh without even increasing anything within our budgets um so the impact on the rate pay this year is uh uh is substantial uh

and that you know that's identified this as one of the biggest uh rate increases that we've uh that we've had across the board again with this uh you know and I think the council's will when the when the ordinance committee did this was to try to minimize the impact this year and be able to spr and that was said directly at the meeting last night was to be able to spread it over a 2-year

period um to be able to take and be able to uh lessen the blow this year uh but then understanding that next year rather than the recommended 5% rate increase it would be a 10 or 12% however it works out for for next year because you would have to make up a that retained earnings that used in this year's budget plus then you also need to make up the retainment that

you would have left at the end of end of next year's but and that that's really where the concern lies because the memory is short yeah and you know as soon as you come back and say well I'd like a dime in in in fiscal 26 they're going to say no we can't and I is are are we running for election again this this we ar this year next year they are and that's part of my

concern if I we end up with a new Council and a new mayor then you know it's not their responsibility to uphold that agreement that no not at all the dead guy did you know not at all not at all then ni ni fiscal Year's budget would still be we'll still run under this Council and this mayor the coun yeah everybody was just in stated past January can we send the letter with our

concerns and then hold our vote of approval for next week can we do that it's putting everyone you know it's it's it's like we're we're putting you in an uncomfortable position but we're doing it for the right reason and that's a quandry um I mean push come to shove they could remove all of us and and just do what they wanted but um I would prefer to work with the

council but I would like to work with them from a position of strength and and straightforwardness you know and saying we're doing our best due diligence as you want us to do and we're going to have to tell you that we're not in favor of this at all um and here are our reasons now if you insist then put it in writing and tell us so that's our if that's our best cost of

action I think that's what we have PA morally I think it's the best course of action yeah I think at some time you do have have to stand up and say no that's not right um especially coming on the heels of after the presentation that you went through so laboriously and gave it to him and and the answers that were coming back if I recall right one of the members of the council said I don't

think you're raising the rates high enough and the very same counselor I believe who is suggesting this has up until this point been totally opposed to this practice so um how do you wish to proceed you if I you I I was not at uh I'm I was not at the meeting um but you you know you got a good feeling that we won't have short-term memory for 20

26 I 2026 and it isn't anything that we can hold anybody to but I'm just curious as to what your feeling was uh you've been down there a number of years now you know get an idea out a few people up more yeah again I I would naturally have hesitation because um what's to say when they see free cash next year if there is any um they don't want to use it to subsidize rate

increases um you know it's it's a practice that's been used for years because nobody likes to see um the uh either the stabilization account or a uh free cash account uh carry money they say well the R's too high which isn't the case that that's how a uh that's how any budget should respons thing to do needs to operating so am I saying that that's what's going to happen next year

uh no that's not what I'm saying you know um could something you know go on the record uh you know to the council so that it could be pulled out next year that this is our plan to uh increase the rate by what we taken down this year plus whatever is needed for next year's budget um so that it's on the record and it's a letter that could be brought out

uh to remind the Council of that um you know that's that's a route that I would be a lot more comfortable with so that way you know we have it saying we're starting next year at a 12% increase and then we're building our budget our budget and our rates uh from that rate uh not starting at the 424 next next year starting at 436 and building our rates from there I'm not opposed to that

recommendation I that I'm not opposed to that I have one quick question Tom what did we lean last year how much any idea on water one and a half million yeah I think we were a little bit higher last year I don't think it was no I thought it was 2 23 I excuse me nowhere near 398 you know what I'm thinking yeah know okay sorry that that was combined that I was

thinking all right um I'm not have you got enough of a feel for this to um put that in the um yeah all right um I can draft something get it to the president for his review and approval um if the board designates him to review and approve and then I can get it down to so will approve pending receip receipt of the communication the clerk will be sending from the board to the council regarding

this is so moved second all in favor I I thank you um next next item um 2024 regulatory inspection Power Engineering um it it's of interest I'm curious as to whether or not they are anticipating the water level coming down for their damn inspections um the water level will need to come down the water level so so what's in front of you uh and these have already been approved this is for

informational purposes for the board uh we have three dams um High Hazard dams that require phase one studies to be done within uh FY 24 uh those need to be done every two years they need to be done by a profession uh registered professional engineer within the state of Massachusetts um Park Corporation will be doing those for us uh total amount for NOA choke uh North with Tupper Pond

and Terry Brook uh is the amount of 15,750 just on the water levels if you'd like me to touch on there uh a little bit all the ponds as everybody knows we've had a substantial amount of rain uh the past month and a half uh over 18 Ines of rain um we've been working uh to uh the Fourth Street Gate House the gates have been dropped uh almost 10 ft over 10 ft

um dropping them anym we wouldn't get any benefits because of the head loss within the pipe from pum have uh over the uh trash racks we've had guys cleaning them twice a day typically uh during uh during regular times uh when we get when we got heavy buildup we were having them come in on weekends and do it and stuff like that so we've been maintaining it staying on top of it uh

and moving that forward um the uh northw Tupper Pond as of uh as of just a little bit earlier today was at -5 um excuse me the South that's the southw uper Pond -5 which is high yeah Which is higher than where we would like to be um but again we're moving as much water out of there as we could uh out of the quicker Shan River we also uh put a

couple of diesel pumps over on Plymouth a uh and we're pumping out of the quick aan River uh into the tunnel the CSO tunnel for additional relief uh to help bring the pond down faster um The Watershed for that is shorty Pond Stafford Pond Deval Pond all flow down into southa so we're looking uh not to impact the residents there the other issue that I have with South wupa is really the north wupa the only Outlet

out of North wupa is South wer um through the South wupa to the quicker sh in and out north wer Pond right now is 33 in above full pond uh it has crested over ader Ona Lan Westport uh and it is uh on the causeway up on wils oh there are ducks on the causeway trust me yes we've uh you know uh it's just a couple inches over there uh we've

been monitoring that since last week at arak Lane last week uh had the water come up up to the and above the edge of the pavement but now it's fully across the roadway with the recent rain that we got today um so uh we do need to drain some water out of North with tuer pond uh as soon as we are able to uh but we won't be able to until we bring South with

Tupper Bond down a little bit to a uh to a safe Point um right now the uh you know again we're flowing as much water as we can out of there uh the forecast right now is not showing any rain till the end of next week which let's hope it stays that way um and uh you know we're going to we're going to be working we'll have staff monitoring the pumps over the

weekend uh checking the trash racks over the weekend making sure that we're good uh and then uh hopefully by um I'm hoping maybe by Sunday um or Monday we'll be able to open the north to start to drain some water from the north into the South um I noticed um I went through the um Wilson Road Causeway uh on my usual truck through the woods and when when I came back

there was a very nice sign thank you very much putting uh standing water on the causeway so we did put our message boards out at those two locations just that's a very smart move because people go down there they have no idea what they're running into and um my quick question are there trash racks going at Nat Brook at the Interceptor drain there no no okay are we is curious because um as I said

earlier it doesn't look like that Brook is Flowing as hard as the Interceptor seems to flow you know what I'm saying I I'm not seeing a A Rush of water although that swamp is filling up like crazy over there should drain this all right and just the last last thing for board information was the staffid pond uh Dam emergency action plan um so as you know St pond dam is in Rhode Island not Massachusetts uh so

Rhode Island I don't know if it's an officite Dam safy whatever office oversees the dams within rhod Island de de yeah yeah they are requiring now um kind of following Mass's footprint for an emergency action plan uh which CH par will be uh will be doing for us do um are we maintaining flashboards in that that that damn or or were they um removed at one point so uh we don't

have uh the shorty Pond and Stafford Pond are fixed uh we have not added or deleted ports to those ponds um shorty we added we added one a couple of years ago just a 6in p but Stafford Pond Stafford Pond is fixed we could adjust if we if we deem necessary um but uh we have not moved it since the uh Dam has been constructed 5 years ago thank you um updates um I believe commissioner

Collins had a question regarding westport's Bond um boat upcoming officially Reas the question I did notice um there was some uh something in the paper in reference to uh potential water sewer line running down Route 6 and I'm assuming that water would come from us yeah so uh Westport they have asked us uh the May's office uh and I reviewed it for a letter of support for uh additional water to be uh

to be floating to Westport uh Westport has gone to uh the uh State um water management board uh and has gotten a determination of insignificant uh through the interbation transfer act to extend their sewer uh and water uh further up Route 6 um from my understanding they're looking at extending so right now water goes up to roughly about the Cozy Nook that that area they'd be looking to extend it up

and around uh one of the schools that they have a little bit further up I believe they're having some issues with the wells that are on site uh and uh emerging contaminants uh in those Wells um so it uh they have uh talked to us um they are I know there is a public vote out there um for uh for the town of Westport I believe for water and sewer extensions uh my standpoint I would we

have the capacity both within our water system and sewer system to be able to uh Supply them and work with the communities um how larger our customer base uh becomes whether it's either in our community or uh other communities the uh the and this came up at the council one of the council is you know asked well we use less water it costs us more yeah that's the case so if our customer base grows essentially it

becomes cheaper for each customer uh so that's a good thing for uh our customers as well as uh as well other customers we have the available resource to be able to sell um if they have the customers will supply it to so there's talk there uh in relation to Freetown uh I was just contacted by them uh in expansion of their sewer um um so that's that's a good thing up in that area um and then

uh North T Idan is expanding their sewer system uh and then North Tian fire district uh and Stonebridge um you know again I've heard that Stonebridge fire district that their plant is uh is starting to show some age and uh they have a smaller customer base uh so I think they're looking at whether it's worth improving their plan or looking at other options have are they still using that French

filter system at Stonebridge where they have to backwash yeah they do they do a number of backwashes actually we take their back wash uh sludge at our wastewater treatment plan yeah they'd be wise to just plug in it'd be a lot more cost effective for them thank you for the update I appreciate it no problem are there any other business come before the board not hearing any chair to entertain a motion to

adjourn so moved second all in favor I I