BWC Minutes
Wellfleet Board of Water Commissioners
Town Hall Conference Room
Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 6:00 PM
Commissioners Present: Justina Carlson, Chair, Neil Gadwa, Catharie Nass, Lori Vanderschmidt
Commissioners Absent: James Hood
Also Present: System Manager Michaela Miteva
Chair Carlson called the meeting to order at 6:03 PM.
On Call/Emergency Repair RFP
The approved RFP document will be advertised by the end of the week. The contract will be for three years.
Tower Inspection and Paint Update
As yet there has been no response from Chicago Bridge & Iron to the letter that was sent by TA Terkanian on 9/8/15, regarding the condition of the water storage tank and CB&I’s liability. In addition, TA Terkanian had examined the tank inspection report and was not concerned with the condition of the tank in the near future. He agrees that mitigating the surface rust and repainting sections of the tank should take place in the spring. Terkanian is not hopeful that legal action will be fruitful, so funds for the repairs will need to be procured by way of a warrant article for the 2016 Annual Town Meeting. A Request for Proposals will go out for bids from contractors in order to have an estimate to use in drafting the warrant article. The deadline for articles is February 5, 2016.
Budget Planning for FY17
The Board was provided with a copy of the Budget Schedule for FY17 that was approved by the Board of Selectmen on 9/22/15. Miteva suggested that the BWC be prepared to draft a preliminary WMWS budget at the November 3rd meeting, and a final FY17 budget by the November 17th meeting.
Master Planning: Review 2003 Master Plan & 2015 Updated Wellfleet Map
After having reviewed the 2003 Master Plan the BWC was concerned at the lack of relevancy to current conditions. Many things have changed since the Plan was originally drafted.
Vanderschmidt presented a draft of an outline of priorities and deliverables that she developed in response to the Master Plan review. In it she proposes a prioritized list of neighborhoods for expansion. The Board discussed these suggestions.
The Board spent some time examining the map of Wellfleet recently produced by EPG that includes existing water mains, properties and streets. They consulted the EPG map of Wellfleet that includes all of the fire hydrants and the delineations of properties within 1,000 feet of each hydrant. Using the criteria of sodium levels, the Board explored options for the placement of water mains in a future expansion. Indian Neck, Pleasant Point, Old Wharf Rd, and the remainder of the Central District were discussed. Enlarging the mains on Coles Neck Rd was also a considered.
Nass presented some information on betterment fees and how they are implemented.
Nass also suggested that looking at nitrate levels will be an important next step in determining priority areas for water system expansion.
Tufts Project
Sol Ucciani, the graduate student from Tufts, will attend the next BWC meeting to report on her work to date.
Meeting Time & Protocol
Board members should expect meetings to last approximately two hours, and that the discussion will adhere to the posted agenda in order to comply with the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.
Chair Carlson requested that accommodations be made Lori Vanderschmidt who suffers from profound hearing loss.
Minutes
Chair Carlson moved to approve the 9/15/15 BWC minutes; seconded by Gadwa, the motion passed 4-0.
Correspondence
none
Topics of Future Concern
- Review of WMWS Rules & Regulations in relation to leak mitigation and customer liability forgiveness (Dec.)
Next Meeting:
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 6:00 PM at the Wellfleet Town Hall in the 2nd floor Conference Room.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:09 PM.
Public Records Materials of 10/6/15
- FY 2017 Annual Budget, Town Meeting, & Election Schedule
- Master Plan 2015: Priorities & Deliverables draft outline
- Town of Salem document: What is a Betterment
- EPA document: Sodium in Drinking Water
- EPA document: Drinking Water Advisor: Consumer Acceptability Advice
- BOH Sodium Test Results