DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
DeKalb Sanitary District
July 19, 2006
Minutes
Approved August 16, 2006
The July meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on July 19, 2006. In attendance were Trustees Dennis Collins, Tim Struthers and Carol Zar and Attorney for the District Keith Foster and District Treasurer Richard Stokke. Michael Zima, District Manager; Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration; and Betty Jones, Secretary were present. Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates attended. City of DeKalb Alderman Steve Kapitan and local residents, Joe Bonomo, Eileen Dubin, Tom Engstrom, Pam Mau and Loretta Muller also attended.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Zar seconded approval of the July agenda. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved approval of the June minutes. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:
- $120,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund
- $20,039.54 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund
- $13,955.87 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund
Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Struthers moved to pay bills as presented. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
In Public Input, Alderman Kapitan raised the questions of the below grade manholes resulting from the IDOT resurfacing of Route 23 near Hollister. After discussion, it was agreed that Scott Trotter would write a letter to IDOT about the possible damage to City and District infrastructure from heavy trucks hitting the below grade manholes. The District will work with the City of DeKalb in encouraging IDOT to correct the problem.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report.
There were no Annexation or Pre-Annexation requests.
At Michael Zima, District Manager’s recommendation, Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded amending Ordinance #387 to disallow manhole style grease interceptors and make the larger vault style interceptor the minimum District standard. Motion carried.
The Engineer’s Report was presented in writing and deferred to individual items later in the agenda.
No plans have been presented for review this month.
Scott Trotter presented three possible plant layouts and discussed the rational behind them and the engineering benefits of each. The Engineers and Board answered questions from those present about the layouts.
Mark Eddington reported that the 2006 Lining Project should be completed this week. Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration reported on her compliance with a Department of Labor Prevailing Wage Compliance investigation. The lining company has taken responsibility for cleanup in the case of some apartment unit backups, but in the future apartment owners will be instructed to shut off the water during lining so that noncompliance with the water use reduction request cannot create backups like the one that occurred.
Engineers are still evaluating Lion’s Park Lift Station relocation options.
The feedback received from local residents earlier in the meeting will be used in the planning for the Stormwater Improvements Wetlands Mitigation project.
There had been nothing new in regard to the District’s request for an F.P.A. extension, but Mike Zima reported on his conversations and correspondence with the IEPA about the Cortland FPA development.
Bids were received from two companies for the District’s Biosolids Management Program. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded awarding the contract to Steward Spreading who was the low bidder and has been the District’s hauler for the current year. Trustee Collins told Mike to work with them on the per yard price for solids disposal even though that is only an optional adjunct to the main contract. Motion carried.
Keith Foster and Mike Zima reported on communications received from the parties to the Greenwood Acres Drive backup conflict. There has been no resolution yet.
Janice Tripp’s investigation of outsourcing contractors to handle the District’s billing will continue, and Mike is still working on getting estimates from other sanitary districts for what they pay for billing. Upon questioning by Alderman Kapitan, Trustee Collins reviewed the administrative staff’s interactions with the City since receiving the City’s request for what the District finds to be an excessive yearly rate for its billing services. Collins said the Trustees would like to meet with City officials about the matter.
Because only one bid was received for asphalt replacement, that bid was kept unopened and bidders were informed of an extension of the bidding until August 10, 2006. Last year’s bidders were also informed of this.
Mike Zima has requested proposals from CTE and Strand for an outside review of the Facilities Plan Update.
There were no requests for Catastrophic Water Loss relief.
In new business, Mike Zima reported on the note from Susan Dockus, Treasurer of Cortland about implementation of the transition from collection of connection fees. The Board told Mike to inform Cortland that we will continue collecting the connection fees until Cortland takes over the treatment of its own waste.
In response to a question from Alderman Kapitan about the basis for annexation fees, Trustee Collins responded that both connection and annexation fees will be reconsidered after the Facilities Plan Update has been voted on.
A request from the DeKalb Economic Development Corporation for the District’s participation in a tax abatement program was received too late for today’s agenda, but will be voted on at the next meeting.
Mike informed the Board of Cavel’s continuing violations and that there will be another administrative order issued to them as per the District’s Enforcement Response Plan.
Mike discussed a request from Don Irving to use water at three new homes for outside landscape with no sewer charge until the homes are sold. The Trustees agreed that Mr. Irving should install secondary meters like anyone else.
There was some additional discussion on the facility plan update as well as growth and development on the south side of DeKalb.
The Trustees did not go into an executive session to discuss land acquisition.
Trustee Zar moved and Trustee Collins seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President