DeKalb Sanitary District Board Meeting Minutes
Meetings are held at 303 Hollister Avenue in DeKalb.
DeKalb Sanitary District
October 21, 2009
Minutes
Approved November 18, 2009
The October meeting of the DeKalb Sanitary District Board of Trustees was held at the office of the District at noon on Wednesday, October 21, 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 Timothy J. Conklin and District Treasurer Wayne Fesler attended, as did Scott Trotter, P.E. and Mike Holland, P.E. of Trotter & Associates. Jaime Smirz, City of DeKalb Department of Community Development; Mike Weckerly of Morningstar Media; and Jim Schneider attended.
President of the Board Collins called the meeting to order.
Trustee Collins suggested changing the agenda for today's meeting to bring item 18 – Morningstar Media – forward in the meeting to follow item 5. Trustee Struthers moved to approve the agenda as so altered. Trustee Zar seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Zar moved to approve the minutes of the September 16, 2009 regular meeting of the Board and the September 29, 2009 special meeting of the Board. Trustee Collins seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the transfer of: $270,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund; $9,815.71 from the Dedicated Tax IMRF Fund to the O & M Fund; $ 6,929.04 from the Dedicated Tax FICA Fund to the O & M Fund; $115,200.00 from the Dedicated Tax Corporate Fund to the O & M Fund; $9,100.00 from the Dedicated Tax Audit Fund to the O & M Fund; $250,000.00 from the Capital Fund to the O & M Fund. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried. Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration noted that after securing approval from Trustee Collins, she and Treasurer Fesler transferred $80,000.00 from the Revenue Fund to the O & M Fund on 9/23/09.
Trustee Struthers moved to pay bills as presented and agreed with the request of Mike Zima and Janice Tripp that checks to Elliott & Wood, Inc. for the Locust Street Project, the 2009 Spot Repairs Project (less a 10% retainage), and the West Lincoln Highway Project (less a 10% retainage) be cut when the standard Engineering review protocol has been completed. Trustee Collins seconded. Motion carried.
Trustee Zar moved to approve the payment of the IEPA Revolving Loan – Main Plant and the Fairview Drive Revolving Loan prior to 11/01/09 . Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
After a discussion, the Board asked Mike Weckerly of Morningstar Media to prepare a presentation for the November meeting recommending ways for the Board to inform the public of the receipt of stimulus funds.
In Public Input and Communications, Jim Schneider questioned why the District turned down the revenue offered by Wastemanagement West for accepting its leachate. Mike Zima explained that the concentration of the leachate would make it probable that the plant would frequently violate its EPA discharge limits. Jim then asked how the allocation of the remaining plant capacity is allocated, and Mike Zima explained the evaluation process.
Treasurer Fesler submitted a written Treasurer's Report and discussed the refusal of some banks to collateralize loans as per the District's requirements. After discussion, the Board declined to change its policy and instructed Treasurer Fesler not to invest District funds in banks that will not adhere to the policy. The Board reviewed its depository limits and Trustee Collins moved to change item 6 of its policy to read: "Authorization to invest in individual certificates of deposit of an amount up to but not exceeding the FDIC-insured limit each, not to exceed a total of $2,000,000.00 to be purchased through Northern Trust and to be held in safe keeping at Northern Trust. No more than the FDIC-insured limit is to be invested at any one bank. " Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
The review of the Audit Report for Fiscal Year 2008-2009 will take place at the November meeting.
The District is waiting for the Town of Cortland to return the agreement the DeKalb Sanitary District Board signed at the last meeting. The Board asked that Keith Foster and Mike Zima update them on the status at the next meeting.
Mike Zima has submitted the necessary applications and documentation for annexation of the south slope property to the City of DeKalb and for a Special Use Permit for the construction of a biosolids storage barn there. He also wrote to property owners near the property informing them of the District's plans.
There were no requests for annexation or pre-annexation this month.
Scott Trotter submitted a written Engineer's Report and deferred discussion to the individual agenda items.
In Plan Review, Mike Zima said that he continues to work with NIU on specifications for their chiller plant that will allow the plant to operate without overwhelming the 8-inch sewer that will serve it. He said that earlier consultation with the DeKalb Sanitary District would have been preferable. He informed the Board of the necessity of the installation of a lift station at the site of the new DeKalb High School due to errors in the planning that resulted in the internal sewer being lower than the external sewer.
Janice Tripp reported on Builder's Risk and Flood insurance recommendations for the Biosolids and Country Club Lift Station Projects. She and Mike Zima will be evaluating how much Builder's Risk insurance to purchase for the Biosolids Project in addition to what is already held. She said she will definitely purchase Flood insurance for the Country Club Lift Station site as it has flooded in the past. Scott Trotter said that after construction the new lift station should be high enough to avoid flood damage.
Trustee Collins moved to issue the Notice to Proceed with the Biosolids Rehabilitation and Improvements Project to Williams Brothers Construction, Inc. contingent on all insurance and bonds being satisfactory as assessed by Trotter & Associates and Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration. Trustee Struthers seconded . Motion carried. A pre-construction meeting has been scheduled for October 23, 2009.
Trustee Collins moved to issue the Notice to Proceed with the Country Club Lift Station Project to Williams Brothers Construction, Inc. contingent on all insurance and bonds being satisfactory as assessed by Trotter & Associates and Janice Tripp, Assistant Manager Administration. Trustee Struthers seconded . Motion carried. A pre-construction meeting has been scheduled for October 28, 2009.
After discussion of the West Lincoln Highway Project and the construction delays caused by the District requiring the lining of one segment prior to the contractor's work there, the Board decided that Trotter & Associates should receive compensation beyond the agreed-upon "not to exceed" amount for extra work required by DeKalb Sanitary District's decision. A time extension change order for the project will be prepared.
Mike Holland reported that the 2009 Spot Repairs Project is wrapping up.
Final Change Orders and Pay Requests for the 2009 Lining Project will be presented to the Board next month.
Visu-Sewer will present a deduct pay request for the work not done due to the condition of some concrete sewer lines which precluded grouting being effective.
The Board asked Mike Zima and Steve Olsen to put together a presentation for next month's meeting telling the Board where flows are being monitored and what measurements are being kept.
The Board reviewed the engineering agreement for the Moraine Terrace project which is scheduled for spring 2010 and requested that RPR (resident project representative) fees be removed.
The Board asked Scott Trotter to bring information about his recommendation for raising connection fees to the November meeting for discussion.
Mike Zima and Janice Tripp will bring recommendations about user rate increases to the November meeting. Trustee Collins noted the Board's hope that the amount of the increase could be lessened by the stimulus money helping to pay for necessary equipment repairs and replacements.
The Board instructed Janice to get the necessary work done to prepare the 1109 Sycamore Road property for rental.
Trustee Collins moved to approve the catastrophic loss relief requests of Sally Donaldson of 724 North 11th Street and George Rader of 921 North 15th Street. The losses caused by leaking toilets did meet City/District policy requirements. Trustee Struthers seconded. Motion carried.
The Richard Waddell request for refund of sewer charges for water lost into the ground under a mobile home because of a leaking water line was approved in a motion made by Trustee Collins and seconded by Trustee Struthers. Motion carried.
In New Business, the Board authorized Janice to go ahead with planning a Holiday Luncheon to be held on the first or second Wednesday in December. Janice told the Board about a prepaid tech support service offered by CMJ Technologies that should save money over paying for individual service calls, and presented estimates for replacing Administration Building landscaping.
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 Zar seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried.
Trustee Collins adjourned the meeting.
Dennis J. Collins, President