DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
DeKalb Sanitary District
April 18, 2007
Minutes
Approved May 2, 2007
The April meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at noon on April 18, 2007. Trustees Dennis Collins, Tim Struthers and Carol Zar were present. Attorney for the District Keith Foster and District Treasurer Richard Stokke were present. Michael Zima, District Manager; Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration; Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman and Betty Jones, Secretary for the District attended. Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates, Inc. were also present. Julie Kiefer-Bell, Angela Valianos, Dee Carter, Joan Mosher and Tom Engstrom attended for portions of the meeting. Jim Schneider attended the meeting.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Zar seconded approval of the April agenda. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved approval of the March minutes. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:
- $6,468.48 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax -IMRF Account (plus amount to cover last payroll of the fiscal year.)
- $4,599.00 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax -FICA Account (plus amount to cover last payroll of the fiscal year.)
- $20,000.00 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax-Corporate Account
- $110,143.38 to the O & M Fund from the EPA Replacement Account
- $136,585.00 to the EPA Replacement Account from the Revenue Fund for annual funding
Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved for payment of bills as presented. Trustee Zar seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded approval to pay the bills received between now and the end of the fiscal year at the end of this month. Motion carried.
During the public input and communications portion of the meeting, Angela Valianos requested and received permission to ask the Board some questions about the status of Cavel International. To facilitate discussion that item on the agenda was moved forward. Ms. Valianos asked the status of the $25,500 fine already levied against Cavel for violations in 2006. Mike Zima and Keith Foster answered that Cavel will be provided an opportunity at the May 2007 Board meeting to make their appeal that these funds be returned to them, and that the Board will respond at that time. She asked if Cavel remained in violation as of the end of March. Mike Zima responded that with sampling expanded from one day a week to five, Cavel continued violations of their ammonia limit and did not achieve compliance by the end of March as they had committed to do. The District had previously stated its intent to fine $1,000 per violation for violations during the last part of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, of which there have been 55. Keith Foster said Cavel will be given notice of an opportunity to make an appeal to this at the May 2007 meeting. Cavel physically disconnected their process discharge pipe from the District’s collection system on 3/30/2007 (but not the office restrooms which have a different discharge point). Mike Zima said that they would not be allowed to re-connect to the system until they could show themselves able to be in compliance with their permit “from day one.” He said that would necessitate them disposing of their effluent themselves while testing to demonstrate the ability to meet the discharge limits of their permit if they were allowed to reconnect.
The other citizens present were asked if they wanted to give public input, but did not. Because some of those present were neighbors, the Board announced their intention to hold a work session to compare the Strand suggestions for changes to the Facilities Plan Update to Trotter & Associates suggestions and decide which of them to incorporate. Trustee Zar said and Trustees Collins and Struthers agreed that while the discussions about the Facilities Plan Update will be discussions of a working philosophy on a par with the City of DeKalb’s Comprehensive Plan rather than discussions of how to implement needed changes, the neighbors should be invited to attend because they have expressed concern at being left out of these discussions. A notice of the workshop to be held at noon on Wednesday May 2, 2007 will be posted on the website and mailed to area newspapers and radio stations and the District’s immediate neighbors.
Mike Zima said that although developers for DeKalb Business Center, Park 88 South and Bethany Road Development had previously requested time to speak to the Board about their projects, he has had no contact from them this month.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report and discussed the District’s investments. Trustee Struthers requested that a report on City of DeKalb fees collected be added to those included each month in the Treasurer’s Report.
The Board reviewed the tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded its acceptance. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded approval of the wages for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Motion carried.
Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded appointment of Keith Foster of The Foster Buick Group as the District's legal counsel for the Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Motion carried.
A motion was made by Trustee Zar, seconded by Trustee Collins to appoint the engineering firm Trotter & Associates of St. Charles, as District Engineer for the Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins made a motion to appoint Richard Stokke as Treasurer for the Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Trustee Struthers seconded the motion. Motion carried.
A motion was made by Trustee Collins, seconded by Trustee Struthers to approve the firm of Sikich LLP to conduct the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Audit. Motion carried.
The Board discussed the input from the public at meetings and in the media that noon meetings are difficult for some people to attend. A discussion of possible meeting times followed. The Board noted that almost all available evening times conflict with the already established meetings of some other public body, and the current noon meeting schedule at least has the advantage of not doing so. Trustee Collins moved to change the meeting time for the meetings during the May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008 fiscal year to the third Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. at the office of the District. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried. Because the Board is attempting to better meet the needs of its constituents by the change in meeting times, public input about the change will be solicited, note will be taken of changes in attendance, and the matter of meeting times will be reviewed at the October 2007 meeting.
Treasurer Stokke presented a review of the current financial depositories. Trustee Collins extended the Board’s commendation to Treasurer Stokke for his work as Treasurer. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded the following policy as to depositories and depository limits:
- Set a limit of $2,000,000.00 for total deposits at Resource Bank. This includes $100,000.00 insured under FDIC, $700,000.00 insured deposits and $1,200,000.00 to be collateralized at 100%.
- Set a limit of $2,000,000.00 for total deposits at The Northern Trust, Castle Bank, National Bank and Trust Company of Sycamore and American National Bank. Any amount deposited over the $100,000.00 which is insured under FDIC is to be collateralized at 100%.
- Set a limit of $1,000,000.00 for total deposits at Old Second Bank. Any amount deposited over the $100,000.00 which is insured under FDIC is to be collateralized at 100%.
- Set a limit of $500,000.00 for total deposits at Fifth Third Bank. Any amount deposited over the $100,000.00 which is insured under FDIC is to be collateralized at 100%.
- Set a limit of $100,000 plus interest for total deposits (held without collateral) at any FDIC insured institution.
Collateralization of investments shall be with Treasury bills, notes or bonds or Agencies of the Federal government. GNMA pledges are also acceptable to the Board, but in that case 120% collateralization is required. Collateral is to be held by a third party bank.
The Board stated that the above amounts are deposit limits, and on occasion interest will be added to an investment causing it to go over the authorized bank limit. This would be allowed until the investment matured. The limits set are to be adhered to except in special circumstances. It was noted by Trustee Collins of a conflict of interest as a director of Resource Bank. It was noted by Trustee Struthers of a conflict of interest as President and Director of Castle Bank. Motion carried.
A motion was made by Trustee Struthers and seconded by Trustee Collins that two signatures be required on all checks. Authorized signers of checks during the Fiscal Year from May 1, 2007 through April 30, 2008 are Trustee Dennis J. Collins, Trustee Timothy A. Struthers, and Trustee Carol B. Zar, along with Richard Stokke, Michael Zima, and Janice Tripp. Michael Zima and Janice Tripp were directed by the Board not to sign together unless in case of an emergency. Motion carried.
There were no requests for annexations or pre-annexations this month.
The intergovernmental agreement with the Town of Cortland in regards to use of remaining P.E. is still under review at Cortland.
The Trustees and Attorney Foster reviewed the intergovernmental agreement with the City of DeKalb for billing services. Attorney Foster will modify as per the Board’s direction.
Scott Trotter deferred the Engineer’s Report to the individual agenda items with the exception of recommending that the District send two staff members to the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Conference which is to be held in San Diego this year. Trustee Collins moved to amend the budget line item for such expenses to allow that. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
There was no further discussion of the Facilities Plan Update.
Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded an addendum to the contract with Trotter & Associates for the Facilities Plan Update, in the amount of $150,696.36, for work beyond the original assignment. Motion carried. The Trustees instructed Scott Trotter to each month provide them with draft invoices for all work assigned to them that has not otherwise been contracted for and Scott Trotter agreed to do that.
Scott reported that the preliminary design is done for the Lions Park Lift Station Project. The District and City will schedule joint public meetings to inform neighbors about the project. Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded a motion that the Lions Park Project will be completed using District funds. Motion carried. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Sewer Construction Permit Applications were signed and will be submitted by Trotter & Associates.
Mark Eddington reported on the bids received for the 2007 Sewer Lining Project and recommended awarding the contract to Insituform Technologies USA of Lemont, Illinois, the low bidder at $402,112.00. Trustee Collins moved to issue the Notice to Award the contract to Insituform. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried. The Trustees asked Mike Zima to provide them with a graph of expenditures for sewer repair and rehabilitation from 2000 to the present.
The insurance and bond requirements have been met by Elliott & Wood of DeKalb, Illinois. Trustee Collins moved to sign the contract and issue them the Notice to Proceed for the 2007 Spot Repairs Project. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
The Storm Water Improvements – Wetlands Mitigation Project remains on hold.
Steve Olsen is working on the Emergency Response Plan and expects to have a draft ready for presentation to the Board by August 2007.
Steve Olsen reviewed the bids received for the District chemical suppliers for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. K. A. Steel Chemicals, Inc. was low bidder to supply Sodium Hypochlorite 15% at $0.56 per gallon. Basic Chemical was low bidder to supply Sodium Bisulfite 38% at $1.19 per gallon.
There were no requests for Catastrophic Water Loss Relief this month.
There was no new business.
Trustee Collins moved to continue the meeting until noon on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 for the purpose of a workshop on the Facilities Plan Update. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
DeKalb Sanitary District
May 2, 2007
Minutes
Approved May 16, 2007
The April 18, 2007 meeting of the Board of Trustees of the DeKalb Sanitary District having been continued until noon on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 for the purpose of a workshop on the Facilities Plan Update, a workshop meeting was held at the office of the District. Trustees Dennis Collins, Timothy Struthers, and Carol Zar were present. Michael Zima, District Manager; Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration and Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman also attended. Scott Trotter and Mark Eddington of Trotter & Associates Engineers participated in the workshop. Community members and the general public had been informed of the workshop and invited to attend for informational purposes although no public input was scheduled, and a number of people attended.
Those present evaluated and compared wastewater treatment technologies as suggested by Trotter & Associates and Strand Associates, who performed a third-party review of the Facilities Plan Update.
No action was taken on the Facilities Plan Update at this Workshop session.
Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the workshop. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried. Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President