DeKalb Sanitary District

DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes

DeKalb Sanitary District
April 16, 2008
Minutes

Approved May 21, 2008

The April meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at Noon on April 16, 2008. Trustees Collins, Struthers and Zar were present. Attorney for the District Keith Foster and District Treasurer Richard Stokke were present. Michael Zima, District Manager; 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. Jim Schneider attended

President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.

Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded approval of the April agenda. Motion carried.

Trustee Zar moved approval of the March minutes. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.

Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:

$50,000.00 to the O & M Fund for Operations from the Revenue Fund
$15,283.64 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax -IMRF Account
$11,003.15 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax -FICA Account
$33,000.00 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax-Corporate Account
$379,385.41 to the O & M Fund from the EPA Replacement Account
$38,712.97 to the Connection Fee Account from the Revenue Fund (NIU married students housing)
$136,585.00 to the EPA Replacement Account from the Revenue Fund for annual funding

Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.

Trustee Collins moved for payment of bills as presented and payment of bills received between now and the end of the fiscal year at the end of this month. Trustee Struthers seconded the motion. Motion carried.

In Public Input, Jim Schneider pointed out the number of homeowners in trouble in DeKalb and handed out a map showing properties in various stages of repossession. He said he is concerned about this and feels every level of government should try to help the situation instead of making it worse by raising rates and taxes. Trustee Collins expressed the Board’s commitment to keep all these things in mind in its long-term planning.

Richard Stokke, District Treasurer gave the Treasurer’s Report. The Board and Mr. Stokke discussed the current fiscal climate and identified investment strategies to achieve greater security. He also sought input on the Board’s feeling about the preferred length of time on investments.

Mike Zima said that there were no annexations requested this month.

The Board reviewed the tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2008-2009. Mike Zima, District Manager asked that an item of $180,000.00 for rehabilitation of the tertiary filter be added. Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Zar seconded acceptance of the budget as presented with that addition. Motion carried. Notice of an opportunity for public review of the tentative budget will be published, and a public hearing on the budget will be scheduled in conjunction with the May 2008 Board meeting.

Trustee Zar asked that wage recommendations be given to Board at the March meeting next year, along with information about how those recommendations would impact on the budget. Then at the April meeting the Trustees could give the District Manager direction on what figures to put into the budget for the upcoming fiscal year’s wages. Mike agreed to implement these changes. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded approval of the wages for Fiscal Year 2008-2009. Motion carried.

Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded appointment of Keith Foster of The Foster Buick Group as the District's legal counsel for the Fiscal Year 2008-2009. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Collins, seconded by Trustee Struthers to appoint the engineering firm Trotter & Associates of St. Charles, as District Engineer for the Fiscal Year 2008-2009. Motion carried.

Trustee Struthers made a motion to appoint Richard Stokke as Treasurer for the Fiscal Year 2008-2009. Trustee Zar seconded the motion. Motion carried.

After receiving assurances from Mike that Sikich LLP has committed to perform the audit in a timely fashion, Trustee Collins made a motion which was seconded by Trustee Struthers to approve the firm of Sikich LLP to conduct the Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Audit. Motion carried, and a letter of agreement was signed.

Trustee Collins moved to set the monthly District Meetings for Fiscal Year 2008-2009 on the third Wednesday of each month at noon at the District office. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.

Treasurer Stokke presented a review of the current financial depositories. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers 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.
Authorization to invest in individual certificates of deposit of $100,00.00 each not to exceed a total of $500,00.00 to be purchased through Northern Trust and to be held in safe keeping at Northern Trust. No more than $100,000.00 at any one bank.
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 that he is a director of Resource Bank. It was noted by Trustee Struthers that he is President and Director of Castle Bank. Motion carried.

A motion was made by Trustee Collins and seconded by Trustee Zar that two signatures be required on all checks. Authorized signers of checks during the Fiscal Year from May 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009 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.

Scott Trotter presented an Engineer’s Report in writing and deferred discussion to individual agenda items.

Mike Zima briefly discussed the Four Corners project, which appears to be moving forward. The developers have not yet begun necessary contact with or submissions to the DeKalb Sanitary District. He also discussed an effort by the developers to reinitiate the Parkside Oaks project.

As noted at a previous meeting, Trotter and Associates has submitted the District’s Low Interest Loan Pre-Application to the IEPA for review. Jim Schneider asked Scott to state for the public record what the cost was. Scott Trotter stated that the sixty million dollars the District asked the IEPA to pre-certify was all inclusive for phase one improvements.

River City Construction continues work on the Lions Park Lift Station Improvements. Mark Eddington had earlier recommended the payment of Pay Request #5 in the amount of $82,437.52, and it was included in the approval of today’s bills.

Mike Zima reported that the Excess Flow Sand Filter Repair Project was completed by Siemans in a timely manner and that the excess flow facility is operational. The entire payment of $146,211.00 was approved with today’s bills.

Mark Eddington presented Change Order #2 reducing the contract cost on the 2007 Sewer Lining Project by $8,337.00 for quantity adjustments and the deletion of one job. Trustee Collins moved its approval. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried. Final payment is being held by the District for completion by Insituform and their subcontractor.

The project to update the District’s Standard Detail and General Notes has been completed and those documents are ready for inclusion in any project including sewers. Mike Zima explained the advantage of this requirement.

Northwest Service Area Interceptor planning continued with the April 11, 2008 meeting between Mike Zima, Scott Trotter, Mark Eddington and NIU representatives and engineers. Mark summarized that meeting for the Trustees. As to whether the District wants to install sewer at Twombly and Hillcrest crossings of Bethany Road while work is being done this summer to save some installation costs, Trustee Collins reminded those present of the District’s stance of following rather than leading development. He requested that a written analysis of the situation and costs of installation now and later be provided to the Trustees who will consider the matter at next month’s meeting.

Scott Trotter said that establishment of four permanent flow monitoring points on the 303 Hollister site and installation of a flow meter at the Regional lift station would be necessary to assess the effectiveness of any inflow and infiltration reduction interventions. They recommend a Permanent Flow Monitoring Project with a budget of $75,000 to $100,000 to get that set up. The Trustees were given a Draft Private Service Lateral Rehabilitation Policy last month. Scott recommended a workshop on this topic. The Trustees said they will come to the June 2008 meeting prepared to set a workshop date.

Keith Foster says that the covenants on the property that the District was considering purchasing would render the property not usable by the District, but the due diligence phase is ongoing. In answer to Jim Schneider’s complaint that the decision to purchase the property had been made in closed session, Trustee Zar said that it is necessary to consider such decisions in Executive Session.

The 2008 Large Diameter Interceptor Inspection and Cleaning Project will get under way May 1, 2008. At Trotter & Associates recommendation, Trustee Collins moved to issue the Notice to Proceed as of that date to National Power Rodding Corporation. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.

On behalf of the homeowners who will be sharing the cost of the 2008 Locust Street Sanitary Sewer Improvements, Mike Zima asked the Board to consider removing the engineering costs from the homeowner’s portion. The Trustees agreed to this.

Keith Foster has heard nothing new from Cortland about reworking the service agreement.

The Foster Buick Group’s efforts to collect sewage dumping fees owed the District by Eagle Homes continue.

All policy requirements having been met, Trustee Collins moved to approve Eutiquino Cabalerro’s request of relief on sewer fees on water that escaped from a ruptured outside hose at 453 Knolls Street West, and did not enter the public sewer. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.

In New Business, Steve reviewed his recent memo about the problems on Knollwood. There are nine houses connected to a backyard public sewer that needs to be replaced. He recommends we wait until fall to begin the project.

Mike Zima did a presentation for and six District employees attended The April 10 Central States Collection System seminar, which was held at the DeKalb Park District.

Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Zar seconded.

Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.

Dennis J. Collins, President

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