DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
DeKalb Sanitary District
December 20, 2006
Minutes
Approved January 17, 2007
The December meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on December 20, 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; Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman; and Betty Jones, Secretary were present. Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates attended. Jim Schneider attended and Jerry Krusinski attended for a portion of the meeting.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded approval of the December agenda. Motion carried.
Trustee Zar moved approval of the November minutes. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:
- $275,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund
- $10,146.00 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund
- $6,823.78 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund
- $689,442.44 from the Revenue Fund to the Revolving Loan (Main Plant) Fund for Fiscal Year 07-08
- $40,519.50from the Revenue Fund to the Revolving Loan (Fairview) Fund for Fiscal Year 07-08
Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Struthers moved to pay bills as presented. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
During the public input portion of the meeting, Jim Schneider asked about links to EPA on the District’s web site and was instructed how to find the other links page using the web site’s index.
Also during pubic input, Jerry Krusinski presented to the Board plans for the DeKalb Business Center development and a proposed eight-point pre-annexation agreement. The Board gave their feedback and instructed Scott Trotter to make estimates on the District’s requirements and costs and Attorney Foster to develop a draft agreement for the Board’s consideration.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report, noting that deposits at Resource Bank are over the depository limits at this time due to the accumulation of funds for January payments and reinvestment. This situation will be corrected soon by transfers of funds.
Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded approving the 1/1/2007 Bond & Interest payment in the amount of $251,523.75. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to pass Tax Levy Ordinance No. 500 for Fiscal Year 2006-2007. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded Ordinance No. 501 for the Tax Abatement for the District's Series 1998 Bonds. Motion carried.
There were no requests for pre-annexations or annexations this month.
There were no requests for annexation this month.
As to Cortland’s request at last month’s meeting requesting that the P.E. load on the Cortland 15-inch sewer be reassessed, that has been done and Mike Zima reported to the Board on the results. He has also found out that although the DeKalb Sanitary District did not sign off on the Robinson Farms Phase 2 and commercial developments or the Brian Grainger build out, the Town of Cortland did, and connected them to the earlier portions of those same developments which connect to our sewer. The P.E. remaining on the 15-inch is not sufficient to account for even these developments at full build out, and could offer no assistance to Cortland for other developments they have undertaken and now cannot serve. The Trustees instructed Mike Zima to determine what he feels to be a safe allotment of additional space on the 15-inch sewer. One-half of that capacity is to be reserved for DeKalb development along Pleasant Street and no more than one-half may be allotted to Cortland for the above-mentioned developments use. Attorney Keith Foster is to develop an intergovernmental agreement concerning this. The Board agreed to Mike Zima’s suggestion that connection fees are to be collected for any property that does use the District’s treatment plant for any period of time. Only connection fees for properties that never use the District’s plant will be refunded.
Mike also informed the Board of the Eagle Homes proposal to pump and haul the sewage from the 24 houses they have built at Nature’s Crossing in Cortland. Permits for their construction were not signed by the DeKalb Sanitary District and were granted by the IEPA for construction only. Since the Town of Cortland’s sanitary sewer is not yet available, the developer is asking to be allowed to haul to the District at the District’s current septic hauler rate of $0.03 per gallon. They would also pay non-refundable connection fees for each residence that uses the District’s treatment facilities. This plan has yet to be approved by the IEPA.
Cavel International has not yet paid the fines levied under the last Administrative Order. Keith Foster will communicate to them the necessity to do so or be closed as per the conditions of their Industrial User Permit.
Trustee Zar moved and Trustee Struthers seconded a one-year agreement with the City of DeKalb for billing services. Motion carried. Janice Tripp reported on the estimated cost of the District’s taking over its own billing through an outsourcing firm. This is a great deal less than the City of DeKalb’s proposed charge to the District. She was instructed to present the data gathered to the Trustees in writing for their consideration at a future meeting.
Agenda item 13 A on the proposed DeKalb Business Center development was dealt with during Public Input.
The Engineer’s Report was submitted in writing with discussion deferred to the individual items later in the agenda.
Mike Zima and Trotter & Associates Engineers met with Strand Engineering representatives and gave them the Draft Facilities Plan Update for review, which is now underway.
Field work on Lions’ Park Lift Station Improvements Study Phase has been completed and meetings with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Natural Resources are scheduled.
The Storm water Improvements – Wetlands Mitigation project remains on hold.
Mike Zima reported that the IEPA approved the District’s request for an extension of their F.P.A. for the northern portion of the area requested but denied the southern portion as the reviewer did not see any potential for development that far south. Mike says that can be petitioned for later, as needed.
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.
Mike Zima attended a 3-day seminar on the development of Emergency Response Plans, and his work on that project is continuing.
The Board’s discussed development policy at the workshop held on December 13 as a continuation of the November meeting.
There was no new communication about the Greenwood Acres Drive backup situation this month.
Mike Zima has received the District’s new five-year Sludge Management Permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The radium limits specified by this permit make that the most restrictive contaminant in our sludge and will severely impact on our ability to dispose of it. Mike will inform the City of DeKalb and the Town of Cortland that their discharge permits will need to be revisited. Under the permits issued for each of their radium removal facilities, the District reserved the right to limit or stop discharge that would cause the District to violate any of its permits or interfere with the District’s Biosolids Utilization Program. The connection permits issued to those facilities by the IEPA affirm that limitation. It would then become the responsibility of the other municipalities to dispose of their radium elsewhere.
As per the EPA’s requirement, the DSD laboratory staff has provided Mike with a draft QA/QC policy to review.
There were no requests for catastrophic loss relief this month.
In New Business, Janice said that she is investigating alternate insurers and will present to the Board a comparison of the benefits they would offer as compared with the current provider, Aetna. Aetna’s rates will be 8% higher this year. In the meantime, the Aetna policy will remain in force.
Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration said that there is a conflict for the March 2007 Board Meeting. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded changing the date of that meeting from March 21 to March 14, 2007. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried. Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President