DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
Meetings are held at 303 Hollister Avenue in DeKalb.
DeKalb Sanitary District
February 18, 2009
Minutes
Approved March 18, 2009
The February meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. 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 for the District Keith Foster and District Treasurer Richard Stokke attended, as did Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mark Eddington, P.E. of Trotter & Associates. Representatives of DeKalb School District #428’s new high school project, Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers and McMahon Associates Inc. were present for portions of the meeting. Jim Schneider attended.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the February agenda with the change that items 6 and 7 would be moved forward in the agenda to accommodate the visitors. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Zar moved to approve the January minutes, both those for January 21, 2009 and those for the January 30, 2009 special meeting. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Item #7-- New High School Project: Mike Zima, District Manager showed the Trustees proposed sewer layouts for the new high school site and discussed his preference for a layout that would meet the District’s policy of asking developers to install sewer that will benefit the surrounding area as well as themselves. Trustee Collins stated, and the other Trustees agreed, that the District wants property owners around the high school site to have the same rights to Sanitary District service as those anywhere else in the District. Trustees Collins and Struthers asked for clarification of which lift station would service the new high school site, and Mike Zima said that there is capacity at the Heatherstone lift station to serve them. Engineers for the School District explained their reasoning behind sewer placement on the site. The Trustees explained their policy of asking developers to extend sewer to their own far property line. Trustees Struthers and Zar asked for an estimate of how much extra it would cost the School District to use the sewer installation pattern preferred by the District, and Scott Trotter estimated an additional $150,000.00 cost. The School District asked that the Trustees consider waiving connection fees. The Trustees said that whereas they are committed to paying the $3,000 per acre annexation fee for the 75 to 100 acre school property from the Public Benefit fund instead of asking District #428 to pay it, they will not waive the connection fee. They pointed out that this has been the District’s long-standing policy based on the different purposes of the two fees. Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration, reminded the School District representatives that they must still present a petition for annexation to the DeKalb Sanitary District and that annexation must be completed before IEPA sewer construction applications will be signed by the Sanitary District.
Item #6 – Pretreatment Program Update engineering proposals: Representatives of the two firms presented explanations of their firms and their proposals, which had also been submitted in writing. The Trustees questioned the presenters about their expertise and experience. After the presentations, the Trustees discussed the credentials and proposals briefly. Trustee Zar made a motion to contract with McMahon, who gave the lower quote, for pretreatment program update services, contingent upon Mike Zima requesting that McMahon include a clause in the agreement stating McMahon's ability to deliver a finished product at the stated cost. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Returning to the agenda order, Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of: $280,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund; $6,464.30 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund; $4,608.16 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund; Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve payment of bills as presented. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Public Input: Jim Schneider said that the cost of Phase #1 of the Facilities Plan Update had at one time been quoted to be 37 million and then later said to be 60 million. He asked how the cost had gone up so much. Scott Trotter promised to bring an explanation of how and why the cost estimates changed over the years during which the FPU was being generated. Jim also said that because of the downturn in the economy, the District should be able to reduce the cost of every project it undertakes. Trustee Collins assured him that the Trustees will do the best they can to assure value for its users.
Also during Public Input, Janice gave the Trustees copies of a letter received from Clara Nieman and asked to have a discussion of Mrs. Nieman’s request placed on next month’s agenda. The Trustees agreed.
Treasurer Stokke gave the Treasurer’s Report and discussed investments. He stated that he would like to resign as Treasurer, but will accommodate the Board’s needs until a replacement is found. Treasurer Stokke presented the proposal of Sikich LLP, Certified Public Accountants for 2008-2009 Fiscal Year Audit services. Trustee Collins moved to contract with them to perform the audit. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
There have been no petitions for annexation or pre-annexation this month.
In the Engineer’s Report, Scott Trotter reported on the meeting he and Trustee Zar had with an aide to Congressman Foster. He said that he believes the District is on course for requesting Federal Stimulus Fund infrastructure improvement funds. He asked that the matter of a resolution pertaining to the Country Club Lift Station Project be placed on next month’s agenda. Scott said he would provide an outline of the changes to the Capital Improvements Plan at next month’s meeting.
In Plan Review, Mike Zima said that the District’s flow monitoring shows a significant inflow and infiltration problem in the West Lincoln Highway area near the proposed Shodeen development. While District policy would ask the developers to replace defective pipe in and around their development to do away with I & I, there is some pipe across the street from their development that needs to be replaced. Mike suggests a project to do so this summer prior to IDOT highway repair plans. Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Zar seconded having Trotter & Associates design a project for the sewer replacement at a cost not to exceed $18,700.00. Motion carried.
Scott Trotter said that the IEPA review of the Facilities Plan Update is ongoing.
Scott presented an Engineer’s drawing of the proposed biosolids building, and received feedback about changes to the façade that the Trustees preferred. He asked Steve Olsen to explain the problem with the tertiary sand filters that has raised the possibility that they should be included in Phase 1A of the Facilities Plan Update instead of waiting for Phase 1C as originally planned. Steve said that the filters will not last more than one year in their current condition and that estimates on repair costs would be in the range of one and one-half million dollars, which is much more than originally budgeted. The high cost is due to the equipment being over thirty years old. Trustee Collins moved to add the rehabilitation to the Biosolids project. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried. Scott will contact the IEPA about the addition. The Engineering contract amendments will be dealt with next month.
There was nothing to report on the Permanent Flow Monitoring Project.
The Infiltration and Inflow Reduction Plan discussions are on hold.
Trotter & Associates presented an engineering proposal for the 2009 Spot Repair project which would include 10 spot repairs identified by Steve Olsen from the District’s SSES work. Trustee Collins moved to approve the contract at a cost not to exceed $26,200.00. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Lining jobs have been identified for the 2009 Lining Project. Because a discussion of the type of material to require is planned, this item was deferred until next month’s meeting.
Although Mike Zima had developed an alternate suggestion for dealing with the root problem on Moraine Terrace since the City of DeKalb is reluctant to remove the parkway trees causing the problem. However, the Trustees did not accept that alternative and repeated their previous statement that DSD will not replace the sewer pipe in the area until the trees have been removed.
Discussion of the illegal connections in the downtown area was deferred until the March meeting. However the City has met with the subject property owners.
Mike Zima has received no response to the memo he wrote Cortland's Engineers, and Keith Foster has had no word from their attorney regarding a new service agreement.
DSD was awarded the judgment in the case against Eagle Homes. Eagle Homes has yet to pay their past due invoices.
The Trustees declined to further consider the proposal of Energy Advantage Inc. to work with the District on electrical cost reduction.
Trustee Zar moved to approve the Catastrophic Loss Relief requests of Tara Mitchell of 1431 Hulmes Drive who had a leaking toilet, and of Barb Carey of 609 Franklin whose water softener was defective. Both requests did meet the City of DeKalb/DeKalb Sanitary District Catastrophic Loss Relief Policy requirements. Trustee Struthers seconded both requests. Both motions carried.
In New Business, Trustees Zar and Collins expressed their belief that DeKalb County should appoint Trustee Struthers for another term on the DeKalb Sanitary District Board.
Janice Tripp presented 2008 property tax extension figures received from the County.
Janice updated the Trustees on the difficulties with obtaining Wagner Construction’s wage documentation. The Trustees approved withholding 25% of the company’s payment until all documentation has been received from them and all subcontractors. Trustee Collins said that if the company fails to comply with Prevailing Wage laws they will not be considered for further District projects.
Janice asked the Board to consider contracting with a cleaning firm to clean the bathrooms, entry and Board Room before the Board’s monthly meetings. The Trustees questioned why District staff was no longer able to do the job satisfactorily. Steve Olsen assured them that he would work with his staff to see that they do.
Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President