DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
DeKalb Sanitary District
November 15, 2006
Minutes
Approved December 20, 2006
The November meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on November 15, 2006. In attendance were Trustees Dennis Collins and Carol Zar, Attorney for the District Keith Foster and District Treasurer Richard Stokke. Michael Zima, District Manager; Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration; Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman; and Betty Jones, Secretary were present. Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates attended. Bob Seyler, Mayor of the Town of Cortland and Mick Gronewold of Fehr-Graham & Associates attended for a portion of the meeting. Jim Schneider attended the meeting.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Zar moved and Trustee Collins seconded approval of the November agenda. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved approval of the October minutes. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:
- $225,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund
- $268,047.50 from the Revenue Fund to the Bond & Interest Fund
- $6,636.61 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund
- $11,075.00 from the Dedicated Tax Audit Fund to the O & M Fund
- $4,521.72 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund
Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to pay bills as presented. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
No one was present wishing to give public input.
Mick Gronewold of Fehr Graham & Associates and Town of Cortland Mayor Bob Seyler filled the Board in on the current status of the Town of Cortland’s progress in taking over the treatment of their own sewage. Their plant is not operational yet. The DeKalb Sanitary District stopped signing IEPA permits for new sewer construction in the Town of Cortland in October 2003 because the design capacity in the line carrying Cortland’s sewage to the DSD collection system had been reached. Cortland committed to the IEPA to supply the sewage treatment but cannot do so yet. Houses have been built in Cortland that have no sanitary sewage treatment available to them.
The Town of Cortland is asking the DeKalb Sanitary District to reevaluate the current load to the 15-inch pipe based on the actual flow as opposed to design criteria and to allow additional connections to the DeKalb Sanitary District. Expressing disappointment with Cortland’s intergovernmental communication and cooperation in the past few years and stressing that the District’s responsibility is to serve all of its users of which only one is the Town of Cortland, the Board instructed Mike Zima to recalculate the pipe capacity and submit a written report to them. If any additional capacity is identified, the developers would have to pay District connection fees. In some cases, pre-annexation fees might also be applicable. Attorney Foster would be asked to develop an intergovernmental agreement addressing the procedures and time frames.
Cavel International has not yet paid the fines levied for their 2006 violations of their discharge limits, although their attorney has spoken with Attorney Foster about the problem. This item will remain on the agenda.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report.
Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration gave the Trustees information on the 2006 Tax Levy (payable in 2007) which will come under consideration at the December meeting of the Board.
There were no requests for annexation this month.
Discussion of connection fees was delayed until Trustee Struthers could be present.
Scott Trotter presented a sample development policy as per the Board’s request. The Board gave feedback and the policy will be redrafted, but permission was granted to implement it in discussions with developers.
Vote on the establishment of regular workshop meetings or Committee of the Whole meetings was also deferred until Trustee Struthers can be present.
Mike Zima presented the City of DeKalb’s draft proposal for an intergovernmental agreement on issuance of permits, inspections, billings and collection of monies. City and District staff will be meeting this week to discuss this further.
Developers of the Park 88 Lot 9 have asked for a tax abatement. The Board has a policy on this matter in place and entered into an intergovernmental tax abatement agreement. According to the agreement parameters, the tax abatement for Park 88, Lot 9 is approved.
Engineer’s Report was supplied in writing and discussion was deferred until the individual agenda items to follow.
Outside review of the Facilities Plan Update by Strand, Inc. is continuing.
Lion’s Park Lift Station Improvements Study Phase has advanced to the point where meetings are being held with the Army Corps of Engineers on the floodway issues.
The Stormwater Improvements – Wetlands Mitigation project is on hold as per the decision at last month’s meeting.
Mike Zima reported on a call from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency representative who is reviewing the District’s request for an F.P.A. extension. No formal response has been received yet.
Mike gave the Board information about a Water Environment Federation/United States Environmental Protection Agency workshop on the development of Emergency Response Plans and the Trustees asked Mike to attend.
Although Illinois Department of Transportation did agree to fix the below grade manholes on Route 23, they have not begun to do so.
There is no new information about the Greenwood Acres Drive backup situation. Mike Zima reported that Oakcrest DeKalb Area Retirement Center was found to have a grease trap that does not meet Illinois Plumbing Code standards for installation. He informed Oakcrest management by letter that they must remedy this situation and recommended that they do so by installing a larger grease trap as per the DeKalb Sanitary District’s current standard. Mike Zima will follow up on their compliance.
The Trustees will sponsor a Holiday Luncheon for District personnel to be held at 12:30 on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at Johnny’s Charhouse.
Eleven District employees took advantage of the District’s Flu Prevention Program this year by having inoculations at the District’s expense.
Janice Tripp presented three requests for catastrophic loss relief that were forwarded to the District from the City. The City of DeKalb has approved all three requests and they all meet the criteria of the policy. Trustee Collins moved to approve the Catastrophic Loss request of Alta Meador of 327 Serenity Lane for losses incurred from a leaking toilet. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried. Trustee Zar moved and Trustee Collins seconded approval of the Catastrophic Loss Request of Chris Carger of 1021 Springdale for losses incurred due to vandalism. Motion carried. The Catastrophic Loss Request of Julie Schweitzer of 838 South 7th Street was approved by a motion made by Trustee Zar and seconded by Trustee Collins. Motion carried.
In New Business, Mike Zima reported on the Laboratory’s perfect score on the DMR-QA26 test for 2006 and offered kudos to laboratory personnel for their implementation of their QA/QC policy.
The Trustees reviewed the report from the USEPA’s annual site inspection. They stated that the laboratory will have a deadline of March 2007 for the development of a written QA/QC Policy as per the EPA’s requirement.
Janice informed the Trustees of the Workman’s Compensation statistics for the year, and reported on the success of the Safety Luncheon Program.
Trustee Collins moved to continue this meeting until 2 P.M. on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 for the purpose of holding a workshop on development policy issues. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried. The meeting was continued.
DeKalb Sanitary District
December 13, 2006
Minutes
The continued November meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at 2 p.m. on December 13, 2006. In attendance were Trustees Dennis Collins, Tim Struthers and Carol Zar. Michael Zima, District Manager, Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration and Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman were present. Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates attended, as did Attorney Keith Foster. Jim Schneider attended.
The meeting had been continued for the purpose of holding a workshop on development policy issues. During the workshop, there was a general discussion of sewer extension issues, annexation fees and connection fees.
After the workshop, a motion was made by Trustee Zar to adjourn. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried. Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President