DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
Meetings are held at 303 Hollister Avenue in DeKalb.
DeKalb Sanitary District
August 19, 2009
Minutes
Approved September 16, 2009
The August meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on Wednesday, August 19, 2009. In attendance were Trustees Dennis Collins and Tim Struthers. Michael Zima, District Manager (a portion); Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration; Steve Olsen, Plant Foreman; and Betty Jones, Secretary were present. Attorney for the District Keith Foster and District Treasurer Wayne Fesler attended, as did Scott Trotter, P.E. of Trotter & Associates. Jaime Smirz of the City of DeKalb Community Development Department attended, as did Jim Schneider and Mark Davenport.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Struthers moved to approve the August agenda. Trustee Collins seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the July minutes with one adjustment for a typographical error. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of: $ 200,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund; $6,593.73 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund; $4,875.45 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Struthers moved to pay bills as presented. Trustee Collins seconded. Motion carried.
Janice noted that a Pay Request #2 from Visu-Sewer in the amount of $265,926.49 was received too late to be addressed at this meeting and will be put up for payment consideration next month, and that Insituform has submitted an invoice for the emergency contract they completed. Footages will be verified and that invoice too will be submitted next month. The Trustees agreed.
In Public Input and Communications, Jim Schneider asked how the "pervasive economic downturn" has impacted on the District's revenues and what the District plans to do about it. Trustee Collins reminded him of the District's policy of operating on a user fee basis, and said that while water use (and thus the District's sewer use fees) have flattened, it has not fallen, probably because of the large impact of NIU and other public bodies whose population has remained constant. He said that since the District does not use annexation or connection fees for operations (but saves them for capital expenses to meet capacity), the fact that they are down has no impact on operations. Mr. Schneider asked where money for the planned expansion will come from. Trustee Collins told him that the work that is planned is not an expansion but rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and that user fees will be used to pay the low interest loans used to finance it. He noted that there will be further information on these loans later in the agenda.
Mark Davenport introduced himself as a citizen of Cortland and said he was concerned about why there is still no agreement with Cortland for emergency water treatment and would save his questions for the discussion of agenda item seven.
Treasurer Fesler gave the Treasurer's Report, noting that he had distributed the reiterated collateral requirements to all the banks with whom the District does business. He said that he has made arrangements at all institutions to track transactions electronically and will investigate other options for streamlining the accounting process. He and Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration asked the Trustees to approve opening an account dedicated to the payment of the upcoming Biosolids Rehabilitation and Improvements and Country Club Lift Station Projects. Trustee Struthers moved and Trustee Collins seconded doing this, and the motion carried. Trustee Struthers noted that the State's deposits into this account might at times raise the deposit amount beyond the approved limits for very brief periods. He asked Treasurer Fesler to investigate collateral or insurance safeguards.
For Mr. Davenport's benefit, Attorney Foster and the Trustees summarized the District's history of interaction with the Town of Cortland. Foster said the District is waiting for the Town of Cortland to respond to Mike Zima's comments so that an agreement can be finalized and presented to both governing bodies for approval. Mr. Davenport raised questions about the old agreement for service. Mr. Foster said that in his opinion the old agreement had been ended by Cortland's removing themselves from the District's Facilities Planning Area, and that a new agreement would be necessary before the District would agree to let the Town of Cortland discharge.
Mike Zima and Keith Foster will be meeting in early September with representatives of the City of DeKalb to discuss special permitting issues.
Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded Annexation No. 226 Ordinance No. 526 annexing .791 acres at the request of TAILS Humane Society. The necessary petition, plats and fees have been submitted. Motion carried.
Scott Trotter submitted the Engineer's Report in writing and deferred discussion until the individual agenda items.
In Plan Review Steve Olsen showed maps of the proposed "DeKalb Commons" development at Route 38 and Peace Road. He raised the issue of the developer's desire to install the sewer that would extend service to future developments in their Phase Two construction. Trustee Collins said that the Board's policy is to require all developers to extend service to its far edge so as not to block potential development. The Board agreed that they will require Shodeen to do this in Phase One. Steve said that easements for sanitary sewer are also still pending and that the District has $1,800 in engineering expenses that will have to be reimbursed under DSD Ordinance No. 496. It was agreed that the District will not sign IEPA Sewer Construction Permit applications until these items have been addressed, but Trustee Collins told Olsen to provide Shodeen with a checklist of what they are expected to do.
Scott Trotter explained that the Letter of Commitment received this month from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency means that $20,000,000.00 has been set aside for a low interest loan for the DeKalb Sanitary District. He says that he has submitted to the IEPA information about the bids received and the Notice of Intent to Award the bid to the low bidder, Williams Brothers Construction, Inc. of Peoria, Illinois. The contracts for the Biosolids Rehabilitation and Improvements Project and the County Club Lift Station Project cannot be awarded until a Letter of Agreement for a low interest loan has been received. That letter will state the terms of the loan. He explained that there is usually a delay between the submission of the first pay request for a project funded by IEPA low interest loans and the time the State pays. He asked whether the District would pay the initial pay requests and wait for reimbursement. The Trustees declined to do this, and instructed him to tell Williams Brothers that they will be expected to wait for payment until funds have been received from the IEPA.
Scott says that Elliott & Wood has substantially completed the West Lincoln Highway Sewer Replacement Project, with only testing and restoration outstanding. He noted that the District's goal of completing the work before the IDOT repaving began was achieved.
The 2009 Spot Repair Project has been completed except for restoration.
The 2009 Lining Project work has been done, but VisuSewer must supply the District with post-lining video footage before the contract is complete.
VisuSewer has just begun the 2009 Sewer Grouting Project.
Steve Olsen explained that the District has begun collecting data for the Permanent Flow Monitoring Project. Trustee Struthers asked that Steve bring to next month's meeting a one-sheet summary of what data is being collected so that if the Trustees have questions or want additional data collection it can begin at once.
Nothing new has been done on the Infiltration and Inflow Reduction Plan (Private Lateral Program.)
The estimate for the Moraine Terrace project is $175,000.00. After a discussion, the Trustees instructed that Mike Zima, District Manager should send a letter to the residents of Moraine Terrace and to the City of DeKalb stating the District's intention to schedule this project for late spring 2010.
Steve Olsen explained the problems with the Raw Pump Variable Frequency Drive and the failure of several costly repair attempts. This equipment is necessary to keep the plant running. Although this item had not been budgeted, Trustee Collins moved and Trustee Struthers seconded approval of the installation of a new drive at a quoted cost of $20,000.00 (equipment and installation) from TRI-R Systems. Motion carried.
The DeKalb County Economic Development Committee has inquired of the District about a project code named "Spring." Data developed by Mike Zima and presented by Steve Olsen indicated that there would be an issue concerning ammonia and biological oxygen demand created by the discharge from the proposed facility and that if they went into their proposed phase two production plans, there would be a sewer capacity issue. The Trustees expressed surprise that the District had not been asked about capacity earlier in the planning process. Trustee Collins said that while the Trustees want to help bring jobs to the community, they are responsible not to create a discharge violation situation. Trustee Struthers said "We want to be receptive to job growth and should try to welcome new development if we can." They asked that more information about Project Spring be obtained for discussion at next month's meeting.
In the course of the above discussion, the Trustees asked that the plan review, project administration and inspection fees ordinance should be put on September's agenda for review.
After discussion of the mistake made on District 428's petition and plat for annexation of the new high school site, the Board directed that Keith Foster should address the legal issues that need to be corrected, but that since the 4.5 acre roadway is necessary to the high school (although not to be dedicated by Shodeen until after the annexation) they would allow the use of Public Benefit money for its annexation.
The public information project to be conducted by Morningstar Media is on hold until details of the District's IEPA low interest loan are finalized.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the Catastrophic Loss requests of Jesus Flores of 604 East Roosevelt and Bill Lovett of 221 Northbridge and the request for reimbursement of sewer charges for water that did not enter the sanitary of Tyler Scott of 1009 Springdale. All of the requests met the City and the District's policy requirements. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Mike Zima presented his calculations on the impact of the landfill leachate Waste Management is asking to bring to the District and recommended not to approve their request. Scott Trotter pointed out the possible financial advantages to accepting the discharge. The Trustees asked Scott to evaluate the District's remaining ammonia capacity and present the information to them at next month's meeting so that they can consider both this request and the Project Spring request with a clearer picture of the threat either project might pose to the District's discharge standards.
Trustee Collins presented a timetable for the hiring of a replacement for Mike Zima who has announced his retirement as of April 2010. He announced that the Trustees have asked Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration to delay her retirement so as to allow the new District Manager to participate in the job description and hiring of her position. She has agreed to do so. Trustee Collins will begin to recruit members for a search committee. Those not employed by the District will be offered an honorarium. It is hoped that the District Manager Search Committee will be able to meet early in September.
In New Business, Janice explained the necessity of adding a collection system cell phone to the District's account. She also asked the Trustees to consider the problem of employee retention in light of the District's pay scale being lower than that of nearby wastewater treatment facilities. Trustee Collins and Trustee Struthers declined to consider any adjustment of the wage scale at this time, but expressed a willingness to continue discussions. Steve Olsen informed the Board of the hiring of another laboratory technician.
Trustee Collins moved to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President