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DRAFT COPY
MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE
BINGHAMTON-JOHNSON CITY JOINT SEWAGE
BOARD
Village of Johnson City,
2nd Floor Conference Room
Members Present: Thomas
R. Augostini, Chairman
Eugene
Hulbert, Vice Chairman
Thomas Dellapenna, Jr.
Kenneth
Kinsman
Kevin
Transue
Also Present: Kenneth Helisek, Esq., Co-Counsel
Robert C. Murphy, Esq., Co-Counsel
John
Perticone, Esq., Co-Counsel
Catherine P.
Aingworth, Interim Superintendent
Beverly J.
Palmer, Fiscal Officer - ABSENT
John
Cox, Fiscal Officer - ABSENT
Michele Cuevas, Confidential Secretary
Kathleen
C. Carney, Transcriptionist
Guests: Bob Bennett, Engineer,
Kevin Connors, C&S Engineers
Luke Day, Commissioner of Public Works
Dave Donahue,
John LaGorga, Stearns & Wheler
Howard LaFever, Stearns & Wheler
Mayor Lewis,
Art Ospelt, Outgoing Board Member
Mayor Ryan, City of
Dave Twomey, Haylor, Freyer & Coon
Brian Verdon, Haylor, Freyer & Coon
Henry Weitzman, Broome County
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chairman
Tom Augostini called the meeting to order at 1:40 p.m.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
Chairman Augostini offered Privilege of the Floor to outgoing Board member Art Ospelt. Mr. Ospelt thanked the Board for the opportunity to have served on the Board and encouraged the Board to continue the positive progress that is being made.
Chairman
Augostini introduced John Perticone, Esq., of the law offices of Levene,
Gouldin & Thompson, who shortly will be co-counsel representing the City of
Binghamton to the Binghamton-Johnson City Joint Sewage Board.
Stearns
& Wheler
Staffing
Project
John
LaGorga of Stearns & Wheler
submitted their final staffing report to the Board. He noted the major change from the last
workshop was the increase in the total number of employees from 43 to 48. He indicated Table 8 as a phased approach to
hiring. It will take three to four years
to bring the Plant to the total of 48 employees.
Lime
Stabilization Project
Installation
of the lime stabilization system is expected to begin the last week of October
with completion by the middle of November.
Landfill
Leachate/Biosolids Swap
Henry
Weitzman, Commissioner of Public Works and David Donohue, Deputy in charge of
the landfill and engineering introduced themselves to the Board. Mr. Weitzman indicated his desire to
move forward with the leachate/biosolids swap, as it will benefit both the
County and the Plant.
Mr.
LaGorga explained that the purpose of inviting Mr. Weitzman and Mr.
Donahue today was to introduce them to
the Board and to kick off this idea. The
landfill leachate is estimated at 50,000 gallons a day. Stearns & Wheler has performed a
headworks analysis which was approved by the EPA. Currently the Plant has approval by the EPA
to accept the landfill leachate. The
headworks analysis only included metals and will have to be reviewed for BOD
and suspended solids. In exchange for
the leachate, the landfill will accept the biosolids that are being produced
from the treatment plant, which is on the order of 50 tons per day.
Before
implementing a leachate for biosolids agreement with the County, the Board will
have to adopt the new local limits, upon changing the local limits, issue
permits to the existing industries and then also issue a permit to the
County.
Mr. LaFever indicated that they would request background information from the
County regarding the quality of the BOD, solids, metals, etc. They would then evaluate that information and
make decisions as to where the leachate would be put into the system, if
holding tanks would be necessary, etc.
The initial study was to determine if the Plant had the capacity to
handle the heavy metals.
The
Board, Plant Management and County representatives discussed the idea, as well
as where the landfill's leachate is currently taken, how much is trucked, how
it is stored and trucked.
Concerns
at this point deal with not knowing how the BAFs will operate, which lead to
concerns with odors and the amount of trucks coming to the plant.
Interim
Superintendent Aingworth stressed that this agreement would not be able to be
implemented until the BAFs were up and running.
The
County currently spends approximately $250,000 to $275,000 annually in trucking
costs (to truck leachate to Ithaca).
Chairman
Augostini expressed that this effort was worth pursing considering the amount
the County is paying (to Tompkins County) and the Plant is paying (to Broome
County) to handle these wastes.
Mr.
LaGorga stressed that this discussion was a beginning point to introduce the
Board/Plant to the County and to begin to make plans for a leachate/biosolids
"swap".
C&S
Engineers
Construction
Progress
Mr.
Van Gelder reported on the progress of the construction, characterizing it as
"slow" getting back to where they would like to be. One of the major areas of improvement is the installation
of the filter media. All stored material
from the Port of Albany is now either on site or in the tanks. They have begun removing the stored filter
media from the Village of Johnson City.
By the middle of next week (at the latest) all of the cells should be
filled.
Areas
of the plant have been cleaned, pump, painted and rehabbed. Pumps have been removed and are starting to
be returned (after being repaired or replaced).
Those are being put back together.
Mr. Van Gelder has preliminary schedules from Contract 4 that puts the project
out to August 2007 for the solids handling contract. He has received all of the recovery
information in Contract 1 and Contract 3.
They are in the process of compiling a master schedule for that
work.
FEMA
Submittal
Kevin
Connors reported that he is working on the FEMA schedule with
Mr. Palladine. He distributed the latest submittal (3.0), which has been
submitted to FEMA. He reported that they
are making progress with FEMA on Contract 1 and are still discussing Contracts
3 and 4 with FEMA.
HAYLOR, FREYER & COON
Brian
Verdon provided the Board with a history on the builder's risk policies written
for the current construction projects.
He updated the Board on the insurance issues relating to the builder's
risk policy and the flood of 2006.
When
the policies were written, it was agreed the Plant was in flood zone
"C". The policy for Contract 3
has an exclusion in it if the Plant was determined to be in flood zone
"A". Travelers has sent their
own engineers to the Plant to recertify the elevation of the property and are
reporting that the Plant is in the "A" zone. Based on this recertification, they have
declined to pay the claim. Mr. Verdun
reported that as a representative and advocate for the Board/Plant they would
like to meet with corporate counsel and the Board to formulate a stern response
to Travelers declination. FEMA's website
currently places the Plant in a category "C" zone.
The
payment for Contract 4 is fine and payment should be forthcoming shortly.
Dave
Twomey addressed the Board regarding flood insurance for the existing
buildings. He noted three problems with
obtaining flood insurance:
1. Whether the Plant was eligible for
flood insurance (per FEMA).
2. If
the Plant is in Zone "A" the only way to obtain an actual quote for
flood insurance is to have a surveyor or engineer perform an elevation
certificate.
3. The
new flood mapping service puts part of the Plant in an "A" zone and
part in a "C" zone. It would
need to be determined which buildings are in "A" and which are in
"C". The pump station on Gates
Road is definitely in an "A" zone.
Mr. Twomey explained how National Flood Insurance can be obtained for each structure at the Plant.
The
Board discussed FEMA's disbursement policy for future flood damage. It is believed that FEMA will not pay for the
same (future) flood damage and will require the Plant to obtain flood
insurance.
Chairman
Augostini advised that at the end of the disaster recovery, FEMA may inform the
Board/Plant that they will not reimburse for another flood occurrence. Mr. Hulbert felt that they would not have to
advise the Board that they would not reimburse for future damage. It was his belief that this was FEMA's new
policy and it would not need to be stated up front (it is automatic with new
regulations). Chairman Augostini did not
have the same understanding. He felt that the Plant would need to obtain a
flood insurance policy in order for FEMA to help reimburse with future (flood)
disasters.
Mr.
Twomey expressed that they would be glad to meet with FEMA's insurance
representative in order to clarify the requirements. He asked for the contact information from the
Board.
Mr.
Connors will follow up on the hazard mitigation issues with FEMA and C&S
(for the new construction projects).
Interim Superintendent Aingworth is handling hazard mitigation issues
for the existing plant.
MAYOR RYAN
Mayor
Ryan explained to the Board that he would like to appoint someone to the Board
who lives outside the City of Binghamton.
He referenced Section 17 of the Inter‑Municipal Agreement noting
that the Board would be comprised of six members, three appointed by the Mayor
of the City of Binghamton and three appointed by the Mayor of the Village of
Johnson City and that the members shall be residents of the municipality for
which they are appointed.
He
pointed out that in the past, the Board was represented by two people that did
not live in their respective municipality
when they served on the Board (Dan Coleman and Bill Virgilio). He also pointed out that the current
agreement was written in 1965 when sewage treatment was a much less complex
issue. He stressed that as it is much
more technologically advanced now, he felt that just as most
municipalities have residency
requirements, there are often waivers given due to the need for expertise that
is not available within the municipalities' boundaries. He stressed past practice and also the
technologically sophisticated nature of the Plant as reasons for his desire to
appoint an engineer who does not reside in the City of Binghamton (Dave West,
engineer for Shumaker).
Co-counsel
Helisek expressed concerns and felt that the Board should abide by the existing
legal agreement. He felt that if changes
in the residency requirements are desired, they should be made by amendment to
the Inter-Municipal Agreement. This
amendment must come from the owners and not from the Board.
Mayor
Ryan expressed that this Plant has become so technical that the agreements
should be rewritten to require Board members to have some expertise
(engineering, etc.) in order to deal with the technical issues.
Mayor
Lewis expressed his willingness to ask for an amendment to the Inter-Municipal
Agreement on behalf of Johnson City.
Chairman Augostini expressed that he would like to see changes made to
the entire Inter-Municipal Agreement as well.
He advised the Board that the DEC and the EPA would like to have the
outside user agreements uniform.
Mr.
Kinsman expressed his concern with consternation from the outside users if a
Board member is appointed who does not live within the "city" limits
of one of the two municipalities. In the
past some of the outside users have demanded representation on the Board. As they are not an owner, they have never
been granted representation.
Mr.
Helisek advised that a conflict of interest statement be incorporated in the
new Inter‑Municipal Agreement.
The
Board discussed allowing members to be chosen who live outside of the city
limits of one of the municipalities.
Chairman Augostini cautioned that potentially the Board could be
comprised of six Board members who are not city or village residents. He indicated he would be opposed to such an
arrangement. He advised that possibly
each mayor be allowed one of his three appointments to be a non-resident.
The
action by the Board is to recommend to the mayors to take to their respective
legislators that it has been recommended that the contract be modified with
language to be drafted by corporate counsel and the attorney for Johnson City
modifying Contract 1, Paragraph 17 of the Inter-Municipal Agreement so the
mayors would be allowed to appoint one of their three members who lives outside of the respective municipalities'
residency requirement.
Mayor
Ryan suggested that each mayor also have the option of appointing a member
outside of the residency requirement as long as that member is an employee of
the municipality. If the member leaves
that employment, his/her position on the Board would be vacated.
Chairman
Augostini asked for a motion to amend the residency requirements of Board
members.
Mr. Kinsman made a motion that the Board
recommend to the owners that they alter the municipal agreement to allow each
municipality to appoint members as follows:
·
One person
must be a resident.
·
One person
need not be a resident of the municipality.
·
One person
that may or may not be a resident. If
they are not a resident, they must be employed by the municipality to serve on
the Board. If their employment with the
municipality ends, their position with the Board would also end.
Second
by Mr. Transue.
Motion
carried: 4 ayes
1 nay
1 vacancy
Chairman
Augostini asked for a motion requesting to the owners that the contracts be
updated and amended to merge into the Plant law.
Mr. Kinsman made a motion recommending that the
owners review the outsider user and Inter-Municipal Agreements in order to
modernize them to meet today's requirements.
Second by Mr. Hulbert.
Mr.
Kinsman amended the motion as follows:
Recommend to the owners that they review the outsider user and
Inter-Municipal Agreements in order to modernize them to meet today's
requirements and modify them in accordance with the DEC recommendations and the
pending consent order. Second by Mr.
Hulbert.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairman Augostini asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the September 12, 2006 meeting.
Mr. Transue noted that on Page 11 the vote should have been noted as follows:
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
1 nay
0 absent
Mr.
Hulbert made a motion to accept the minutes from the September 12, 2006 meeting
as amended. Second by Mr. Dellapenna.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
FISCAL OFFICER'S REPORT
Chairman Augostini presented a Fiscal Officer's report, dated October 10, 2006, with a balance of $2,608,183.37.
Ms. Palmer will present the updated encumbrances at the November meeting.
Mr.
Kinsman made a motion to accept the Fiscal Officer's report as presented. Second by Mr. Transue.
Motion
carried: 5ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
BOARD LISTING
Chairman
Augostini presented a Board listing of $453,003.92.
Chairman
Augostini asked Michele Cuevas to back out all flood data from the board
listings.
Mr.
Hulbert made a motion to approve and pay the Board Listing totaling
$453,003.92. Second by Mr. Dellapenna.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
CONTRACT FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Chairman
Augostini deviated from the agenda to introduce John Perticone, Esq. and
explain that the Board would be entering into a contract for professional
(legal) services with Mr. Perticone.
Mr.
Murphy explained that Mr. Perticone is a partner at Levene, Gouldin &
Thompson and has been practicing in the area since 1979.
Mr.
Perticone explained to the Board that his firm does do work for CSEA in the
form of representation at disciplinary hearings. They are not CSEA's corporate counsel and do
not perform labor negotiations for them.
He noted, however, that this was a conflict of interest and asked that
the Board allow Mr. Murphy to continue with the labor negotiations with CSEA. He also would not be involved in disciplinary
matters, again either Mr. Murphy or Mr. Helisek could handle that
issue. Mr. Murphy indicated that he
would deal with the labor and negotiations issues for as long as
necessary.
Mr.
Murphy indicated that there were ongoing issues concerning consent orders with
the DEC and EPA. Mr. Murphy will provide
a transition period to bring Mr. Perticone up to speed with those issues.
Chairman
Augostini asked for a motion to accept the recommendation by Mayor Ryan to
appoint Mr. John Perticone, Esq. as Binghamton's co-counsel with
payment going to Levene, Gouldin & Thompson for legal services rendered at
the rate of $125.00 per hour effective October 10, 2006.
Mr.
Hulbert made a motion to accept the recommendation by Mayor Ryan to appoint Mr.
John Perticone, Esq. as Binghamton's co-counsel with payment going to
Levene, Gouldin & Thompson for legal services rendered at the rate of
$125.00 per hour effective October 10, 2006.
Second by Mr. Dellapenna.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
Chairman Augostini asked for a motion to continue the current arrangement with Mr. Murphy for negotiations with CSEA on an ad hoc basis along with the matters he is presently involved in and provide a transition period to the new co-counsel.
Mr. Dellapenna made a motion to continue the current
arrangement with Mr. Murphy for negotiations with CSEA on an ad hoc basis
along with the matters he is presently involved in and provide a transition
period to the new co‑counsel.
Second by Mr. Hulbert.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
CORRESPONDENCE
Interim
Superintendent Aingworth noted the following correspondence(s):
·
Letter from
Computel Consultants indicating they are filing a formal claim for over billed
charges with Verizon. A firm figure as
to the over billed charges should be received in approximately six weeks.
·
A letter from
the civil service commission was noted.
·
Letters from Broome
County Planning for proposed senior housing projects were noted.
·
Mr. Helisek
drafted a letter to the Board regarding the title/duties of office manager.
·
There were
letters from the DEC regarding the employees passing their exams for operator.
·
Proposed Kemiron
contract. This will be going out to bid
as the current contract expired in August and the Plant will be operating on a
month‑to‑month basis until this is rebid.
·
NYSERDA
announcement regarding available monies for power generation. The Plant management has met with a
representative from NYSEG research.
NYSEG research is interested in applying for this program. They will
address the Board at the November meeting.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Violations, Complaints
& Significant Problems
·
The plant and Johnson City Pump Station have been severely
damaged by the flood of June 28. Minor
and moderate repairs and replacement of equipment continues. Eight out of ten settling tanks are on
line.
·
Urgent repairs to the Johnson City Pump Station and
Binghamton Main Pumps are pending.
·
There continues to be a controlled burn in the compost
bioreactor. Plant personnel monitor
temperatures daily and apply nitrogen to control the temperature of the
fire. The cost for nitrogen is
increasing. Quotes are being gathered to
have the compost removed if the fire department extinguishes the fire.
Compliance
·
The effluent suspended solids, BOD and iron limits were met
in September.
·
Influent suspended solids were 173, and effluent suspended
solids were 37, which is an average 75% removal. Current effluent limits for suspended solids
are 53. Influent BOD was 181 and
effluent BOD was 106, which is an average 41% removal. The effluent BOD limit is 132.
Personnel
·
Pending: Informational request from Civil
Service regarding title changes.
·
Pending: We are coordinating with
Binghamton Civil Service to review and approve qualifications for several
positions including shift operators (4).
·
The commission has requested a letter of clarification
regarding the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent positions.
·
Completed: Ron Warwick and Elliott
Wagner have completed all educational requirements and passed the 3A Operator's
exam.
·
Pending: Promotion of Ron
Warwick to Operator.
·
Continuing: Three additional
employees have completed two of the three operator educational training modules
for licensing.
·
Continuing: Management personnel continue meeting with consultant Jack
Bills
·
Initiated: We have begun to label
our buildings with numbers for emergency responders.
·
Continuing: Labor Management
meetings to discuss new management initiatives, including scheduling and
training.
·
3 employees (1 mechanic, 1 maintainer and 1 operator) are
out on disability. One additional
employee has filed for disability and one employee is out on suspension.
Compost
Facility
·
Continuing: The compost bioreactor
continues a controlled burn. We have
received an invoice from Haun Welding for their loss of use of liquid nitrogen cylinders
as a result of contamination from compost leachate.
Operational
Issues
·
Plant personnel are working
overtime in their efforts to bring the plant back to pre‑flood conditions
as a result of flooding on June 28.
·
Plant personnel have received
quotes for the replacement of our skimming system. We will be working with the city to develop
bid specifications.
Digesters
·
Number 3 digester is currently working to stabilize
solids.
Centrifuges
·
The Westphalia centrifuge is on-line. One new centrifuge may be on line within two
months. Interim Superintendent Aingworth
will follow up with C&S.
Influent
Pumps
·
Pending: Corrective action is being
planned through C & S Engineers and lead agency, the Village of Johnson
City. The Johnson City Terminal Pump
Station suffered significant damage. The
corrective action being coordinated by Johnson City may assist in the repair of
some problems.
Primary Tanks
·
We are in chemical precipitation and primary settling only
mode with tanks 1-8 on line, 9 and 10 cleaned and pending repair.
Industrial Pretreatment
Program
·
Continuing: Stearns & Wheler is
assisting our staff with the Industrial Pretreatment Program.
·
Investigation is needed for organics (fuel oil) showing up
in influent, occasional discharges high in solids and oil and grease in food
handling and serving facilities.
Plant Business
·
We are requesting permission to go out to bid for polymer,
ferric chloride, HVAC maintenance agreement.
·
We have closed out the FEMA paperwork for the flood of April
2005 and begun the application process for the June 2006 flood.
·
The polymer and ferric chloride contract for chemical
precipitation with Kemiron has expired and materials and equipment are being purchased
on a month‑to‑month basis pending a rebid.
Recommended Board Actions
We request the Board to
promote Ron Warwick to Operator.
Contract 3 – BAF's
Work is in progress.
Contract 4 – Solids
Handling
Work is in
progress.
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
There
were no Board Committee Reports.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr.
Hulbert inquired as to when Jack Bills would have the Board objectives. Board members were to have a one-hour meeting
in September to compile/formulate the Board objectives, but that meeting was
not held. He would like to make sure
this is done.
Michele
Cuevas to provide the objectives to the Board members along with the staffing
plan for the three shifts.
A
date will be determined to review the Management by Objectives plan.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Helisek referenced and explained his letter of October 4 to the Board regarding the Office Manager position at the Plant.
Mr.
Murphy suggested that Interim Superintendent Aingworth be appointed to the
manager position as one of her roles.
Mr.
Hulbert made a motion for a resolution that the Interim Superintendent be
appointed Pre-Treatment Program Manager as defined in the rules and
regulations. The Interim Superintendent
will fulfill these duties at no additional compensation. Second by Mr. Dellapenna.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
The Board discussed with Plant management how to record time for salaried employees' timesheets. The basic question is whether to mark down the actual amount of hours worked (although salaried employees are only paid for eight hours per day).
Mr.
Murphy advised that this may be an issue to discuss with the comptroller. The Board asked Mr. Perticone to draft
an explanatory letter to civil service to clarify this issue.
Interim
Superintendent Aingworth informed the Board that Endweld is charging the Plant
$20,000.00 for damage their equipment sustained while providing nitrogen to the
Plant (their equipment did not have backflow preventers). Mr. Perticone will draft a letter to Endweld
indicating the Plant will not pay these charges. Interim Superintendent Aingworth was also
advised to notify Mr. Twomey at Haylor, Freyer & Coon of this issue.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion
by Mr. Kinsman to enter Executive Session at 4:45 p.m. to discuss personnel
matters. Second by Mr. Transue.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
Motion
by Mr. Kinsman to exit Executive Session at 4:58 p.m. Second by Mr. Transue.
Co-counsel
Helisek noted that no action was taken as a result of Executive Session.
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
ADJOURNMENT
Motion
by Mr. Transue to adjourn at 5:02 p.m.
Second by Mr. Hulbert
Motion
carried: 5 ayes
0 nay
1 vacancy
The second meeting for October is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. in the Second Floor Conference Room in Johnson City. The next regularly scheduled meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Clerk's Conference Room at the City of Binghamton.
TIME & PLACE OF NEXT BOARD
MEETINGS
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
@
2nd Floor Conference Room,
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
@
City Clerk's Conference
Room, City of
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen C. Carney
Transcriptionist
Mayor Ryan, City of
Mayor Lewis,
Kenneth P. Helisek, Esq.
Robert C. Murphy, Esq.
John L. Perticone, Esq.
John Cox, Deputy Comptroller
Catherine Aingworth, Acting Superintendent
City of Binghamton, City Clerk
Haylor,
Freyer & Coon
File