BWC Minutes
Wellfleet Board of Water Commissioners
Town Hall Conference Room
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Present: Justina Carlson, Chair; Neil Gadwa, James Hood, Lori Vanderschmidt; Roy Maher of White Water, Miriam Spencer BWC clerk & secretary
Regrets: Catharie Nass
Chair Justina Carlson called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.
WhiteWater Report
Roy Maher of WhiteWater gave the Operations Report of March 17, 2015. Commissioner Hood suggests that the BWC work through TA Terkanian to ascertain the presence of a warranty and the recourse available. Discussion followed regarding repainting the tank.
Action: Chair Carlson will speak with TA Terkanian to look at the contract.
Connection Request
Helen Purcell - 30 Higgins Lane/125 Main St – no curb stop, water has been tested and has passed. 125 Main St. has been deemed unbuildable. Commissioner Hood suggested that the issue be tabled until the BWC can determine who is responsible for installing the curb stop.
Action: Commissioner Hood will speak with the family and Marcia Seeler, the neighbor on East Commercial St. Chair Carlson will speak with Michaela Miteva to determine whether the owner is an abutter.
FY 16 Water Enterprise Fund
The budget for FY16 was recommended by the Fin Com. The financial model came into question and both committees agreed that working more closely together in the future may provide a solution, but that any change now would complicate matters too close to town meeting. Commissioner Hood suggested that connections fees and usage fees are not enough to cover the annual debt service. He reported that a suggestion that was floated at the last Financial Committee meeting was that $300/yr plus usage fees multiplied by 500 abutters would cover the debt service.
Master Planning
BW Commissioners Nass and Vanderschmidt met with C. Andrew Ramsburg, Assoc. Professor and John Durant, Assoc. Professor, both of the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tufts University, in order to begin to structure the scope of work for an engineering graduate student who will be working with the BWC on the Master Plan. The university wants to be sure that the student is working toward a master’s thesis, and not simply providing labor. Suggestions for projects included working on unconventional solutions to providing potable water to outlying areas such as Indian Neck. It was suggested that she could start with updating the existing Master Plan using the current cost basis.
Action: Vanderschmidt will determine the student’s academic requirements and draft a scope of work for further discussion.
Tufts also requested that the student be provided with a stipend. Commissioner Hood stated that the BWC would need to go through TA Terkanian and the BOS in order to hire the student as a consultant and provide a stipend.
Staffing
New hire – Miriam Spencer for clerk and secretary
The BWC and TA Terkanian still need to formalize Coordinator Miteva’s managerial role.
Other Business
6 Commercial St – nonpayment
Action: Chair Carlson will follow up with the owner.
Minutes
Commissioner Hood moved to approve the minutes of February 3, 2015. Commissioner Gadwa seconded, and the motion carried 4-0.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place on April 7, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Wellfleet Town Hall, in the Conference Room, 2nd floor.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 8:35 p.m.
Public Records Materials of 3/17/15
1. WhiteWater Report of 3/17/15
2. Email from Paul Millett to Doug Ballum re: storage tank
3. Photo of storage tank
4. Est. from Marcel A Payeur, Inc.
5. Map Detail of 125 Main St and 30 Higgins Lane
6. FY 2016 Water Enterprise Fund Budget
7. Tufts background information for Master Plan project