DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
DeKalb Sanitary District
July 17, 2007
Minutes
Approved August 21, 2007
The July meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 17, 2007. 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. Julie Kiefer-Bell attended for a portion of the meeting. Jim Schneider and Rudy Espiritu, Assistant City Manager for the City of DeKalb also attended the meeting.
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
- $500,000.00 to the O & M Fund from the Revenue Fund
- $4,975.37 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund
- $6,680.82 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund
Trustee Struthers moved to pay bills as presented. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
During the Public Input portion of the meeting, Jim Schneider said that State Street had some water problems last week. He asked whether the exit of the Town of Cortland from the District’s collection system will positively impact on this kind of problem in his area.
During a lengthy discussion of the rain event on July 9th and 10th, Trustee Collins asked the Engineers for feedback on whether other towns have street water problems and sewer system backups during rain events. Scott Trotter said that more recently developed communities don’t have as many problems but that it is typical for older communities to have sewer problems during rain events. He said that the cause was probably deteriorating house laterals and storm sewers allowing the direct inflow of street water into the sanitary mains.
Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration, described situations reported to her by residents in calls on Monday and Tuesday. Mike Zima said that his analysis of the rain event logs showed some residents reporting street flooding (which is really the province of the City of DeKalb Street Department), some reporting sewer problems, and some who were unable to determine where the water was coming from. Steve Olsen said that the Monday rain event which resulted in 5 inches of water falling in 80 minutes was worse than any he has seen in his 27 years at the District: “We were overwhelmed.”
Trustee Collins expressed concern that with the amount of money the District has spent replacing and lining sewer mains to tighten the collection system and prevent storm water from entering it, there are still problems. Scott Trotter pointed out that when street flooding causes basements to fill up with storm water, the sanitary sewer system also floods because of the storm water going into basement floor drains. He said that there is no storm or sanitary sewer system that can be expected to handle the most extreme events. “Nothing beyond a ten-year event is planned for.”
Janice suggested that the District make reports of blocked storm drains in writing to the responsible City departments instead of just telephoning in the reports in hopes that the City of DeKalb will institute a storm sewer maintenance program as the District has been urging them to do since the 1996 flood events. Trustees Zar and Collins voiced a desire to work in unison with the City of DeKalb and approach the shared problems in a non-adversarial way.
Asked by Trustee Collins what could be done to prevent problems like those experienced last week, Scott Trotter suggested requiring lateral inspection and approval before the sale of any property. Requiring homeowners to repair laterals known to be leaking before the sale could be completed would be just like the necessity to repair a leaking roof before selling. He said that would be a way to institute repairs on a part of the sanitary collection system that the District does not own.
Trustee Collins raised the question of whether the District’s yearly rehabilitation expenditures could better be spent on laterals than on sewer mains. Trustee Struthers said that he would want some objective measurement instituted to substantiate improvement or assess results. Trustee Zar said she would like to see a proposal for what the District could do to help areas of the City hardest hit during heavy precipitation events, and Trustee Collins instructed that lateral program development become a standing agenda item.
There was no other public input offered.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report and reviewed District investments.
Mike Zima reported that the $38,000.00 fine levied against Cavel for violations 10/2006 through 3/2007 was paid yesterday.
Janice Tripp said that the Audit for the Fiscal Year ending 4/30/2007 is being completed.
There were no requests for annexations this month. Trustee Collins asked about the large Northern Trust proposal. Staff and Trotter are defining a necessary interceptor sewer’s alignment northwest to the property.
At the Board’s request, Mike Zima reviewed the impact on the District of the City of DeKalb’s request for a 12-year Central T.I.F. District extension. This would be minimal because the District is funded by user fees rather than property taxes. Letters to affirm the taxing body’s support of the City’s request and an intergovernmental agreement were signed and will be returned to the City of DeKalb.
Mike Zima had nothing new in projects to review.
The Engineer’s Report was supplied in writing and discussion deferred until the individual agenda items.
Scott Trotter said that TAI has acquired updated data from the District for 2003-2007 and is updating the Facility Plan Update accordingly. The Facility Plan Update is also being revised to include items from Strand’s review as discussed with the District’s Board and Staff in May.
An advertisement to bidders for the Lions Park Lift Station Project was published in the Daily Chronicle on Wednesday, July 11th. A Mandatory Pre-Bid Conference will be held on Thursday, August 2nd at 2:00 p.m. at the project site. Bids will be opened publicly at 2:00 p.m. on August 16th at the DeKalb Sanitary District’s Offices.
Insituform has completed the lining for 33 out of the 74 project locations. Pay Request #1, totaling $156,544.20 and Change Order #1 totaling $3,160.00 for the Annie Glidden Road manhole abandonment, have been approved by TAI and the District. It is estimated that the project should be completed by mid August.
Elliot and Wood has completed the 2007 Spot Repairs Project. Pay Request #2 in the amount of $37,241.53 was submitted with the monthly bills. They will submit a Change Order for approval next month (an increase for adjustments made to pavement dimensions).
Staff is reviewing revisions to the District’s Standard Notes & Details.
Steve Olsen will present the draft Emergency Response Plan next month.
Michael Zima, District Manager was instructed to submit checks for NPDES fees due August 8, 2007 with a letter of protest prepared by Attorney Foster.
Mike Zima and Steve Olsen presented their case for changing from a one-year biosolids management contract to a contract with a 3-year agreement and yearly adjustments based on the Engineering News Records Construction Cost Index. The Board agreed that this could be done.
There were no requests for Catastrophic Water Loss Relief.
In New Business, Mike presented graphs comparing rainfall to plant flow, announced the annual IAWA meeting in Galena, and reported on a conversation with Town of Cortland Mayor Robert Seyller who invited interested parties from the District to tour Cortland’s new treatment facility before it goes on line. Some Trustees would like to do this, and Mike will so inform Mayor Seyller.
Janice Tripp was instructed to prepare a reception and gift for Jim Smith who will be retiring with 31 years of service on Friday, July 27, 2007.
Steve Olsen announced he will be interviewing applicants from the application pool for an entry-level operator to augment staff when Jim leaves. He also commended Jan, Betty and District employees for work done during the heavy rainfall events.
Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried. Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President