Minutes of January 11, 2022
Vice-Chairman Kimberly Cole called the meeting to order at 7:00pm at the Makanda Baptist Church fellowship Hall in Makanda. John Dickson volunteered to conduct roll calls throughout the meeting and a roll call was taken. Board Members present were Vice Chairman Kim Cole, and Trustees Grace Brewer, Pat Brierton, Joseph Burrow, John Dickson, and Paul Heern. Chairman Hughey was absent. Trustee Brierton asked how many board members are required for a quorum and Mr. Twomey answered (4).
The District Secretary/Office Manager Karen Dunn was absent. The Treasurer, Mr. Mike Williamsen was present. The professionals present at the meeting were Mr. Mike Twomey, Legal Counsel, and Mr. Joe Boyke, Engineer. Water Operators present were Mr. Kenny Cowan and Mr. Bill Dailey. Visitor present were Mrs. Lucille Burrow.
The Board reviewed the minutes of the December 14, 2021, regular meeting. A motion was made by Trustee Brierton to accept the minutes as presented; seconded by Trustee Heern and with a roll call vote of (6) yay votes and (0) nay votes.; the minutes were approved.
At this time, Mr. Boyke was given the floor to present two (2) items for discussion, questions, and approval. First, he said there were no other contractor invoices and presented a Clarida-Zeigler invoice #21270 for Engineering for $5041.25. Trustee Brewer made a motion to approve the invoice; seconded by Trustee Burrow; a roll call vote of (6) yay votes and (0) nay votes; invoice was approved for payment. Second, he presented an IEPA request for loan disbursement #8. Trustee Dickson made a motion to approve the disbursement as presented; seconded by Trustee Burrow; a roll call vote of (6) yay and (0) nay votes, disbursement #8 was approved as presented. Mr. Boyke answered questions regarding the final leak detector funds available, and contingency fund balance remaining, and final amount remaining due to Maxcor. Vice-Chairman Cole signed both the invoice and disbursement paperwork and gave Mr. Boyke his copies; then put our copies in the envelope with the checks to be given back to Karen Dunn by Kenny Cowan for processing.
Vice-Chairman Cole said there are (2) communications to present. First, Bob Hughey sent everyone an email shortly before the meeting and everyone has a copy now. Everyone was given a few minutes to read his update on progress being made and his focus for 2022. Second, the original agenda prepared by the Office Manager has been revised with additional information items to present. The Board meeting will consist of the first agenda and the new page 2 informational agenda.
Treasurer Williamsen and Mr. Boyke were given the floor to discuss the new Water Loss Workgroup that was formed in January 2022. Mr. Williamsen described the goals and purpose of the group focusing our resources and specific action items given to our manpower to find and repair our water loss from 40% down to less than 15% in this year. Mr. Boyke described his new spreadsheet and new data collection methods to narrow down the actual areas with amounts of loss. He will need another route 6 created in the yellow line that will narrow down a large portion and will work together with staff to begin this. There was discussion on the leak detector meters not radio read; Joe presented his research and quote for $900.00 for this capability to be added from Midwest Meter. Mr. Cowan volunteered to drill the holes in the lids with a bit that Brian Bush has, or he has. The Board all recommended we purchase this. A motion to purchase this “not to exceed $900.00†by Trustee Brewer; seconded by Trustee Burrow; a roll call vote was taken and (6) yay and (0) nay votes, the purchase not to exceed $900 was approved. Mr. Boyke said that he emailed the quote to all the workgroup members and Kim said she would forward the email to Mrs. Dunn and Chairman Hughey for ordering.
Mr. Bill Dailey presented an assessment of the (2) generators in the (2) pumpstations he and Brad Chapman accomplished on January 11, 2021. He began by explaining both generators are in poor shape, and both are inoperable. Trustee Heern asked who would do the work on them. Mr. Dailey said it would be Brad Chapman who works for the City of Carbondale in the fleet department and is responsible for all the generators in the city. In detail, Mr. Dailey explained PS1 first: has an older 2016 battery in unknown condition, block heater not working, AutoStart is disabled, and although the propane tank is 65% the age of the fuel is unknown. PS2: a warning light is on at the panel, block heater and battery tender both unplugged and were plugged in. There was discussion on how to proceed. and Brad Chapman will require $25.00/hour. There was discussion about a need for a quote from Brad Chapman, getting the parts purchased, and getting a tax free number from the office manager. Mr. Dailey said he would discuss this with Chairman Hughey to arrange for the parts to be purchased and Mr. Dailey will ask Brad Chapman to prepare a quote for twice a year maintenance on both generators. Brad Chapman told Mr. Dailey he will do it on a Saturday as soon as he can and as soon as he can get the parts.
Mr. Bill Dailey reported that he looked for a check valve on a pump in PS1 being installed from a picture that was sent to him by Chairman Hughey. He said that it doesn’t appear to be installed but if the part can be located, he can install it. He will discuss this with Chairman Hughey and this parts issue will need to be resolved. Continue it on the February meeting.
Mr. Kenny Cowan gave an update on his progress doing line and valve locating and placing marker stakes in the district. Thus far, Mr. Cowan reported that he has located and marked 20 valves. He indicated he needs more risers, Treasurer Williamsen said he can purchase those and submit receipts for reimbursement or ask Mrs. Dunn to order them. He is planning to exercise valves soon and is making good headway. Mr. Twomey asked if blue valve marker now in his yard could be modified to be less of an obstacle and more visually appealing or removed. Mr. Cowan agreed to fix this situation.
Trustee Heern brought up getting the district a metal detector and he saw them on sale at Menards for about $100.00. Mr. Cowan also showed the members a picture of a green-stick Metal Detector that he is familiar with and would get a price on it. No action taken, and metal detector needs will be discussed again at the February regular meeting.
Vice-Chairman Cole said Chairman Hughey has purchased much needed tools and toolbox that Mr. Cowan can pickup and take with him or may keep at the office. Mr. Cowan thanked for this and indicated he would leave the tools at the office for now.
The quote for the leaking pump from EMS was reviewed and discussed. The Board members discussed aspects of the pump seal “repair alone†trip, pump seal repair on a “site inspection tripâ€, and the seal kit price. The general discussion was to repair the seal on a “site inspection trip†and no further action was taken. Chairman Hughey has been in discussion with EMS office and field staff, Jaime and Jason. Update will be given at the February meeting.
Vice-Chairman Cole passed out a final and approved copy of the Employee Handbook to all members, professionals, and staff. She thanked everyone that worked on the handbook in the workgroup including Mr. Twomey. Employees were asked to sign the “receipt of the handbook†and “confidentiality statement†forms and return to the Office Manager. Update on forms completion will be given at the February meeting.
Vice-Chairman Cole gave an update on progress of the workgroup since the last regular meeting. The ordinances have been completely reviewed and a rate history and ordinance history listing all activity back to 1975 was provided in the Board packets. Work can now begin to update ordinances following Mr. Twomey’s suggestions to the workgroup. Progress update will continue at the February regular Board meeting.
No update on the completion of the 2021 Sexual harassment prevention training as Mrs. Dunn is absent. Will follow up with an update on the forms completion at our next meeting in February.
ROINC Kimberly Cole provided a routine activity report for the month of December with all duties performed and all samples satisfactory (Routines, Tower, Office, and a Customer complaint) Next, she described progress on the 4 violations that were given to BPWD at the Feb. 26, 2021, IEPA inspection. First, a cross-connection survey has not been done since 2013 and is required every (3) years. A letter and a cross connection survey was obtained from the IRWA website and was modified for BPWD from the IRWA website and will be given to Office Manager Dunn to proceed immediately on mailing to all 400 customers and tracking any missing surveys to be returned by deadline of March 1, 2022. There was discussion with Mr. Cowan about the survey results and he agreed to help ROINC Cole access each customer for risk of cross-connections before signing off each one. This violation can be considered in progress with estimated completion in March-April 2022 timeframe. The surveys are required every (3) years, therefore this should be assigned to the Office Manager future calendar to send out again to all customers in January 2025. Next and second violation, the Nitrification Plan was submitted for review and is in effect utilizing the Carbondale Central Lab for testing until a meter can be purchased and a new WSO is hired. This violation is considered resolved but the plan can be improved and expanded with on-site testing. Next and third violation, the Operational reports are now being submitted timely and this violation is completely resolved. Lastly and fourth violation, there are10 missing operating permits that need to be submitted on BPWD projects dating back into the 1990’s. ROINC Cole is in contact with Kent Cook at the IEPA in Springfield; she has all the project files that were pulled and given to her by Office Manager Dunn; and she has the form to complete the paperwork. She was told by Kent Cook that any project done and missing an operating permit in the last 5 years that was not coliform sampled will have to be sampled now. The coliform report must be submitted with the operating permit paperwork. Further updates on these violations will be given by ROINC Cole going forward at every regular meeting to the Board until all these violations are completely resolved. The (8) recommendations will be added to the agenda to be discussed at the water loss workgroup and the next regular Board meeting.
No new information related to Carbondale Water District was presented for discussion.
Financials for November 2021 were presented by Treasurer Mike Williamsen. He noted the 138%-to the good over the 125%-required from a bank standpoint on the bond net income target spreadsheet.
The District Secretary’s report and the Accounts payable report for January 2022 was presented by Treasurer Williamsen. A motion was made by Trustee Brewer to transfer $1785.00 from FSB repairs to FSB Op/Maint account; seconded by Trustee Burrow; a roll call vote was taken with (6) yay and (0) nay; the approval was given to transfer the funds. Trustee Brewer made the motion to accept the reports as presented and to pay the bills; seconded by Trustee Brierton; a roll call vote was taken with (6) yay and (0) nay; the approval was given to pay the bills.
Vice-Chairman Kimberly Cole signed checks, along with the second approved signature, Treasurer Mr. Mike Williamsen and put back into the envelope and gave to Kenny Cowan per Office Manager Dunn’s instructions to take back to the office.
Mr. Kenny Cowan had no new information to discuss for the Water Operators or leak detection meters.
No additional public comments or questions were presented at this time.
There was no further business, a motion was made by Trustee Burrow to adjourn the regular open meeting and go into Executive Session, which was seconded by Trustee Heern. A voice vote was taken of (6) yay and (0) nay votes; the regular meeting was closed. The visitors and the water operators were released from the meeting space. A motion was made by Trustee Brewer and seconded by Mr. Heern to open the Executive Session at 8:26pm. A voice vote was taken of (6) yah and (0) nay. A recording device was started. Mr. Twomey announced all of the persons present. A personnel matter was discussed and no action was taken. This concluded the executive session after 27 minutes. A motion was made by Trustee Dickson and seconded by Trustee Brewer to close the Executive session at 8:53 pm and re-open into an open regular session. There was no further business, a motion was made by Trustee Dickson and seconded by Trustee Brewer to adjourn.