DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
Meetings are held at 303 Hollister Avenue in DeKalb.
DeKalb Sanitary District
July 15, 2009
Minutes
Approved August 19, 2009
The July meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on Wednesday, July 15, 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 former District Treasurer Richard Stokke and current District Treasurer Wayne Fesler attended, as did Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mike Holland, P.E. of Trotter & Associates. Jaime Smirz, City of DeKalb Community Development Department, was present and Jim Schneider attended for a portion of the meeting, as did Mike Weckerly of Morningstar Media.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Struthers moved approval of the July agenda. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
The June minutes were approved by a motion made by Trustee Collins and seconded by Trustee Zar. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of:$446,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund, $13,011.68 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund and $ 9,694.83 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to pay the bills as presented, but instructed Mike Zima to include a letter of protest to the State of Illinois with the NPDES fees, which the Board feels are in excess of IEPA purposes and unfair for smaller communities relative to metropolitan areas. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
In Public Input and Communications, Janice announced that the tenants in the District's house at 1109 Sycamore Road will be moving out. The Board wants to inspect the property and consider necessary repairs and upgrades before setting the new rental fee and advertising for a new renter.
Wayne Fesler gave the Treasurer's Report and discussed investments made. He explained his request for resolutions concerning District collateralization policies to be considered later in the agenda.
Trustee Struthers moved to approve resolutions individualized for each banking institution stating the Board's requirements as to collateralization of investments. Trustee Collins seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Zar read the following Resolution:
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Richard O. (Dick) Stokke has graciously and competently served as the Treasurer of the DeKalb Sanitary District since 1975, and
WHEREAS, under his stewardship in that capacity, the District’s finances have grown dramatically and remained strong, and
WHEREAS, the Board of Trustees of the District and its Staff owe a debt of gratitude for the excellent service Dick has rendered to the District for the past 34 years, and
WHEREAS, the citizens and taxpayers who reside within the District have been fortunate to have Dick serve as the Treasurer and have benefited greatly from the service that he has provided, and
WHEREAS, the District is desirous of publicly recognizing Dick for his service to the District.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees of the District does hereby formally extend its heartfelt thanks to Richard Stokke for his 34 years of service to the District as the Treasurer and commend the excellence of that service and wish Richard the best in his retirement from the position of Treasurer of the DeKalb Sanitary District.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this Resolution shall be spread upon the record of this body and a Certified Copy hereof shall be prepared and presented to Richard Stokke as a token of the Board’s appreciation for his dedicated service.
Trustee Zar moved, seconded by Trustee Collins, that the Resolution be adopted as read. On roll call, Trustees Collins, Struthers and Zar voted “Yes”. The President declared the motion carried, the Resolution was adopted and so ordered.
Trustee Collins presented a copy of it to Mr. Stokke. Mr. Stokke discussed his years at the District and thanked Janice Tripp and others for their help.
Keith Foster said the District and the Town of Cortland are close to finalizing their new agreement for provision of emergency wastewater treatment services to the Town of Cortland by the District.
Mike Zima said there had been no requests for annexation or pre-annexation this month.
Scott Trotter provided the Engineer's Report in writing and deferred discussion to the individual items later in the agenda.
Mike Zima had no plans to review, but is continuing to work with Northern Illinois University on the new chiller plant they have built. He said that their planned rate of discharge to the 8-inch sewer would overwhelm it and they will have to either make provisions to reduce the rate of discharge or discharge to the sewer on Lucinda.
The District, as a separate governmental entity, does not pursue permitting from other agencies when building on its own property, but the City of DeKalb has requested that it do so. Mike Zima reported on a meeting in which the City expressed concern about the esthetics of the proposed biosolids storage building on the District's south slope property, since it is visible from South Annie Glidden Road. The Trustees affirmed their philosophy of cooperation with other governmental bodies. Trustee Struthers instructed the engineers to address screening the biosolids storage facility to help maintain the attractiveness of the DeKalb entrance corridor. The Trustees instructed Mike Zima and Keith Foster to meet with City of DeKalb administrators about special use permitting.
Scott Trotter reported that attendance at the Biosolids Rehabilitation and Improvements Project mandatory pre-bid meeting by 13 general contractors indicates there will be a good number of bids when they are opened on July 31, 2009.
The Country Club Lift Station Project pre-bid meeting was also well attended on July 7, 2009. Bids for that project will be opened on August 3, 2009.
Mike Holland reported that Elliott & Wood expect to have the West Lincoln Highway Sewer Replacement Project completed by the end of July.
The 2009 Spot Repair Project is also underway by Elliott & Wood and is about 80% complete.
Holland says Visu Sewer is ahead of schedule on the 2009 Lining Project. Trustee Collins moved to approve Change Order #1, which is an addition of $36,593.75 for three additional lining locations and an increase in pipe diameter at two locations. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
The 2009 Sewer Grouting Project contract was also let to Visu Sewer, and they are beginning work on it.
Steve Olsen and Mike Zima reported on the installation of the flow meters on the main plant interceptor sewers and the beginning of data collection for the Permanent Flow Monitoring Project.
There is nothing new on the Infiltration and Inflow Reduction Plan (Private Lateral Program).
Seven of the nine households on Moraine Terrace responded to the District's survey about their willingness to have the trees causing root problems in the sewers taken out. All of them voted to have the trees removed. Scott Trotter was asked to bring a rough estimate of the scope of the work needed and costs to the August meeting.
At the Board's request, Mike Zima reviewed the procedures for the City of DeKalb's administration of the District's quality assurance standards for house laterals. The Board wants to assure that house laterals are installed in such a way as to prevent future inflow and infiltration problems, and asked Mike to pursue tightening the procedures.
Mike presented charts and graphs showing electrical cost data. The Board asked him to continue this monitoring to help them with future decisions about what vendor to contract with and whether or not to participate in purchasing groups.
After a review of the City of DeKalb's Catastrophic Loss Relief Policy, and despite concerns about the increasing number of claims (especially related to toilet malfunctions), the Board expressed its gratitude to the City of DeKalb for administration of the policy and decided to continue to coordinate its relief policy with theirs. The District will begin work on a public education effort to inform people about how much water can be lost from poorly maintained toilets.
Trustee Collins moved to approve four catastrophic loss relief claims, each of which did meet the criteria of the City and District's policy: Patrick O'Neill of 470 Red Wing whose water-powered sump pump malfunctioned, James Wordelman of 2 Arrowhead Lane whose water-powered sump pump and softener malfunctioned, Keith Wassel of 2592 Soros Court who had leaking toilets and Dan Sears of 238 Augusta who had leaking toilets. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Mike Zima has received a request from Waste Management to allow them to bring landfill leachate to the treatment plant. The Board asked Mike to research the nature of the leachate, applicable pretreatment standards and regulations, impact on local traffic and necessary fees and report to them at the August meeting.
The Board deferred discussion of succession planning to their executive session.
There was no new business.
Trustee Collins moved to go into Executive Session to address personnel issues. Trustee Struthers seconded, and the motion carried. The Board went into Executive Session.
After the Board returned from Executive Session, Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded a motion to continue today's meeting until noon on August 5, 2009 for the purpose of reviewing bids received for the Biosolids Rehabilitation Project Phase 1A on July 31 and for the 2009 Country Club Lift Station Improvements on August 3. If there are no complications Scott Trotter agreed to provide them with the Engineer's recommendations on the bids prior to the meeting. Motion carried.
DeKalb Sanitary District
August 5, 2009
Continued July 2009 Board Meeting Minutes
Approved August 19, 2009
The July meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees had been continued until noon on August 5, 2009 for the purpose of reviewing bids received for the Biosolids Rehabilitation Project Phase 1A on July 31 and for the 2009 Country Club Lift Station Improvements on August 3.
Present at the meeting on August 5, 2009 were: Trustees Collins, Zar and Struthers, Keith Foster Attorney and Wayne Fesler Treasurer, Scott Trotter and Mike Holland of Trotter and Associates, and Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration and Betty Jones Secretary of the District.
Scott Trotter reviewed the nine bids received on Friday, July 31 for the Phase 1A Biosolids Rehabilitation Project, and recommended awarding the bid to the lowest bidder, Williams Brothers Construction, Inc. of Peoria, Illinois. Williams Brothers Construction, Inc. was also the lowest of nine bidders for the Country Club Lift Station Improvements Project, and Trotter and Associates recommended awarding them the bid for that project also.
Scott explained that the two projects have been presented to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency as one package on which the District is seeking federal stimulus and low interest loan funds. The total of the $1,828,000 .00 bid on the 2009 Country Club Lift Station Improvements and the $18,640,000.00 bid on the Phase 1A Biosolids Rehabilitation Project exceeds the twenty million dollar cap. He explained that each bidder for the Biosolids Rehab was asked to submit alternative numbers: 1. for the contract minus the gravity belt thickener work, and 2. for the contract minus the tertiary filter work. He put before the Board the question of whether they wished to pursue either of these deducts in order to avoid or reduce a commitment of District funds from reserves.
The Board asked him for advisory input about the impact removing those portions of the contract. He advised against removing the tertiary filter work, because that system has failed. But he said that the gravity belt thickener currently in use can be expected to last another five years and is adequate in capacity for current needs. He explained that the Facilities Plan Update calls for installation of a new and larger gravity belt thickener in the Phase 2A phase, and that it was only included in this earlier project because it is to share a building with the sludge dewatering equipment. He said that plans for the building do include breakouts for the installation of a gravity belt thickener later. He estimated the cost of installation at a later date.
The Board asked Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration to review with them the amounts of money in District funds set aside for construction of this type, and she explained the funds on hand in the IEPA Replacement Fund and the Public Benefit Fund that could be applied to projects such as those under consideration.
Scott Trotter was asked to review the probable amount of stimulus and low or zero interest loan money available to the District. When asked, he stated he was not aware of any other programs that could be a source of the funds over the twenty million dollar cap.
After the three Trustees reached consensus, Trustee Collins made a motion to issue the Notices of Intent to Award both the 2009 Country Club Lift Station Improvements Project (bid price $1,828,000.00) and the Phase 1A Biosolids Rehabilitation Project (bid price $17,735,000.00 after deduct for removal of the gravity belt thickener) to Williams Brothers Construction, Inc. of Peoria, Illinois. The combined amount of the two projects (allowing for a 3% contingency and 7.5% for Construction Engineering) would then come to $21,624,015.00 ($19, 597,175.00 for the Phase 1A Biosolids Rehabilitation Project and $2,026,840.00 for the Country Club Lift Station Rehabilitation Project). He further moved to pay the $1,624,015.00 remainder from funds the District has on hand. Trustee Zar seconded, and the motion carried.
Scott Trotter will submit the District package to the IEPA for review. Both projects were bid contingent on loan agreement approval.
Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President