DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
DeKalb Sanitary District
June 18, 2008
Minutes
Approved July 16, 2008
The June meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on Wednesday, June 18, 2008. In attendance were Trustees Dennis Collins, Tim Struthers and Carol Zar. Michael Zima, District Manager; Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration; Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman; and Betty Jones, Secretary were present. Attorney Timothy J. Conklin and District Treasurer Richard Stokke attended, as did Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates. Diane Strand of the Midweek and two representatives of School District 428 were present for portions of the meeting.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the June agenda with the change that item 10A would be moved forward to accommodate the school district representatives. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Struthers moved to approve the May minutes. Trustee Collins seconded. Motion carried.
Mike Zima described his meeting with architects for District 428 who presented the concept plan for a new high school on the north side of Dresser Road east of Normal. There was some discussion of the routing of sanitary sewer service to the site. Mike has requested information on sewer loadings to be anticipated so that he can provide the school district with information on sewer availability with adequate capacity. The issues of annexation and connection fees will also have to come before the Board. Trustee Collins expressed the Board’s willingness to cooperate with the school district. Trustee Struthers encouraged the school district representatives to facilitate the supplying of the necessary data as soon as possible. The Board directed Mike Zima and Scott Trotter to look into area sewer routing easement availability and the potential for a gravity sewer to service that area instead of going to either the Heatherstone or the Regional Lift Station.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:
- $150,000.00 to the O & M Fund for Operations from the Revenue Fund
- $6,459.24 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax -IMRF Account
- $4,746.10 to the O & M Fund from the Dedicated Tax -FICA Account
- $697,367.24 to the O & M Fund from the EPA Replacement Account (to be made on 7/1/2008)
Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Presented with the problem of the contractor for the Lions Park Lift Station being slow in providing waivers, the Trustees approved Janice informing the contractor that the next pay request will not be put on the agenda until all submissions are complete even if that means that payment is delayed until August.
Trustee Struthers moved to pay bills as presented. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
No Public Input or Communications was offered.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report and discussed investments. He applauded Janice’s monitoring of cash flow and the accurate feedback she gives him on investment timing.
There were no annexations or pre-annexations sought this month. The Board asked Janice to report to them on previous use of public benefit money for annexations and to get from Keith Foster an opinion on the acceptable use of public benefit funds for annexations.
Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded Ordinance No. 512 directing the District’s compliance with Illinois Department of Labor prevailing wage rates. Motion carried.
Scott Trotter submitted the Engineer’s Report in writing and deferred discussion to the individual agenda items except to recommend that the Trustees plan on attending the WEFTEC 08 meeting which will be held at McCormick Place from October 18 to 22.
There have been no developments on the Facility Plan.
Scott Trotter recommends a workshop session to discuss the draft of a five-year capital improvements plan he has drafted.
Mark Eddington described the work being done on the Lions Park Lift Station, but warned that the contractor may not make the 7/11/08 substantial completion date because of slow progress by the underground contractor.
Although Northern Trust agreed to pay one-third of the cost of pre-positioning sewer pipe at the Hillcrest and Twombly intersections with the Bethany Road extension, DeKalb County’s contractor is working on the project now and there would not be time for the District to bid a project and get the pipe installed before the road is finished. Scott Trotter recommended asking the County to add the work to their project as a change order with District reimbursement to the County. The Board expressed their willingness to forego the potential savings rather than to act inappropriately. The District’s Attorney, Keith Foster, will be consulted as to the advisability of Scott’s recommendation before any discussions with the County take place.
Trotter and Associates have recommended a workshop on the Infiltration and Inflow Reduction Plan but that has not yet been scheduled.
Mark says National Power Rodding has identified areas on Woodley Avenue, Miller Avenue, Thornbrook Road, John Street, and College Avenue as requiring heavy cleaning. They are about 80% finished with the project and will probably complete it in July.
The Tenth and Locust project has been advertised for bids. The difficulty of motivating the three individuals (whose shared lateral could be addressed as part of that project) to pay their share of the costs was discussed, and it was decided that the project will go forward without addressing their problem if they do not participate. Code violations would then be recorded against their properties and they would be expected to find their own solutions the next time the shared lateral creates problems for them.
The Trustees signed an amended Country Club Lift Station Project Engineering Agreement that removed the bidding from the design phase contract. A topographic survey has been completed and design work is ongoing.
Mark and Scott described the benefits they expect the District to experience from the Permanent Flow Monitoring installation they have recommended. The Trustees urged that data gathering must result in data being presented to them in a form that can help them with future decision-making.
Jim Wagner Excavating was the low bidder for the South 9th Street Sanitary Sewer Extension project. One homeowner has paid the cost of installing a new lateral to meet the public service, but one has not. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded awarding the contract even if the homeowner does not pay, and placing a lien against the property for the amount owed. Motion carried.
A letter from a homeowner on Knollwood was reviewed. The District will schedule a project to install new public sewer main, which should remedy the problem experienced there. Despite their compassion for the homeowner, the Trustees declined to deviate from the District’s long-standing policy of not compensating for damages experienced due to backups unless the District was remiss. The sequence of events was reviewed and the Board felt District staff had acted as quickly as possible.
Because the failure of the District’s lining installation on Moraine Terrace contributed to roots blocking the home sewer service, Janice has submitted the costs of the cleanup there to the District’s insurer.
The backup problems at 1208 University are related to root intrusion. Lining will be scheduled to correct the problem, but the District will not compensate the homeowner for damages.
Janice was asked to prepare a news release reminding people to call the District when experiencing sewer backups. She will also look into the possibility of having a brief message about that printed on the sewer bills.
Attorney Timothy J. Conklin said there was nothing new to report on either the Cortland disconnect or the Eagle Homes litigation.
Trustee Zar moved and Trustee Struthers seconded a donation of $1,000 to be transferred from the Public Benefit Fund to the O & M fund and sent for donation to the DeKalb Economic Development Corporation in response to their request. Trustee Collins and Trustee Struthers noted conflicts of interest as members of the Board of that organization. Motion carried.
The Board reviewed the City’s suggestions for changes to the Catastrophic Loss Policy and agreed that while in general they will follow the City’s lead as the City administers the program, they feel strongly that catastrophic compensation should be a one-time only event.
Janice says the catastrophic loss claim of Harriett Sauser of 181 Buena Vista Drive is still on hold because information on the possible causes of the great water loss have not been supplied to the District.
Trustee Collins moved to award the Catastrophic Loss claim of Frank Pardridge of 478 Bethany because the water lost when an outside faucet was left running did not enter the sanitary sewer. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
In New Business Steve Olsen asked the Board about the timing of the sewer replacement that will be necessary on Moraine Terrace. While Mike Zima has approached Rick Monas, City of DeKalb Public Works Director about removing trees from the City parkway, he was told that the question would have to go before the City Council. The Board agreed that replacement of the sewer line will not be considered until the trees that are causing the problem are gone. They asked that the Moraine Terrace issue be left on the agenda.
Steve Olsen asked that purchase of an additional raw pump be placed on next month’s agenda.
Trustee Struthers moved that this meeting be continued until June 30, 2008 at 12 noon for the purpose of awarding the 10th & Locust Project contract. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried, and the meeting was continued.
DeKalb Sanitary District
June 30, 2008
Continued Board Meeting Minutes
The continued June meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on Wednesday, June 30, 2008 for the purpose of awarding the 10th & Locust Project contract. In attendance were Trustees Tim Struthers and Carol Zar. Michael Zima, District Manager; Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration and Betty Jones, Secretary were present. Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates attended.
Vice President of the Board Struthers called the meeting to order.
Mark Eddington reviewed the three bids received for the Tenth and Locust project. He recommended awarding the bid to Elliott and Wood who was the low bidder. Trustee Struthers moved to approve the bid award. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
As to the extension of the contract to perform the work necessary to provide proper service to 116, 120 and 126/128 North Tenth Street, the willingness of the owners to participate by granting the necessary easements and sharing among them one-half of the cost remains uncertain. Irene Arias at 120 is already participating through city CDBG funding. Mike Zima spoke with attorneys for Charles Ogundipe who owns 116 and Boyce Besinger who owns 126/128. Mr. Besinger is protesting that his share should not be one-third of the one-half because his property is adjacent to the public right-of-way and a public sewer already. Although he has not previously raised this point in the seven years of negotiation, the Board granted this to be true. Trustee Struthers moved to award the extension contract to Elliott & Wood (as the low bidder) and for the DeKalb Sanitary District to contribute an additional $4,000 to accommodate negotiations. The amount is to be shared as $1,000 each to help defray costs for Ogundipe and Arias and $2,000 for Besinger. All of this is to be contingent upon all necessary easements being signed and the remaining money from the Ogundipe and Besinger to be on deposit with the District by 12 noon on Thursday, July 3, 2008. Otherwise the project will not be done and the homeowners will be left to perform and fund the corrections to their shared lateral themselves. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Struthers moved that this meeting be adjourned. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried, and Struthers adjourned the meeting.
Trustee A. Struthers, Vice President