WATER POLLUTION CONTROL COMMISSION
Regular Meeting
March 15, 2017
Present: Jim Miller, Todd Eubanks, David Pattee, Rich Regan, Amy Atamian & John Fisher.
Eugene (Gino) Burke & Matthew Bernardini of Veolia Water.
R. Regan called the meeting to order at 7:31 pm in the Hearing Room of the Town Hall Building.
ITEM 1: APPROVAL OF MINUTES of February 15, 2017 meeting
Changes:
p. 1, under item 2, 2nd paragraph: change “effluence” to “effluent”;
p. 1, bottom, last paragraph before motion: delete “etc.” after best service and add, “Compatibility with other equipment in the plant.”
p. 2, under new topic, change “is doing his charting” to “is doing his electrical charting”.
Motion: Approve minutes with changes. No discussion. D. Pattee, A. Atamian.
ITEM 2: REPORT FROM VEOLIA WATER
The commission welcomed G. Burke back after his illness. Veolia reported that the plant survived the snow event (winter storm Stella).
Veolia reported:
–Weekly power washing continues of the on-line primary drum screener.
–Internal wasting totaled 21,400 gallons.
–started PAC system.
–Inorganic backwash of membranes completed.
–35,150 gallons of waste sludge was processed through our thickener belt press.
–6,400 gallons of waste sludge was hauled off site for ultimate disposal.
As per the new testing regulations (the 5 Day BOD test) Veolia will add iron and aluminum to the chemical tracking list.
Points of discussion:
Generator Transfer Switch needed repair; PLC repairs for influent pump controls. The switches that died were 10 years old, 5 years older than the warranty life. Direct Logic, the system that died, is likened to 1980s computing: outdated. The system was costly to repair. The plant lost all programming because all the switches are connected. In total: lost 6 or 7 switches. It was a 40 hour episode. Had NIC programmers on site for 3.5 days; charged $5,000. PLCs were about $1,500 apiece. An email was sent with total cost.
The whole influent cabinet got wiped out. Veolia is trying to figure out how to bypass switches so they don’t burn each other out simultaneously in the future.
M. Bernardini described how expensive re-doing the whole thing would be. The commission asked about doing a review of the consultant’s report and see if they ever pointed out anything about issues that would pop up with the original system design. Veolia suggested an upgrade to Allen Bradley system; it’s completely digital.
M. Burke described the experience as a learning curve but they want a better approach.
Discussion continued about putting a package proposal together for an installation of a new system.
UV Transmittance system has been installed. Discussion followed.
J. Miller pointed out that the charting still not correct. Please fix.
Carbon: Got 3 bids. Carbon is a commodity so goes up and down. From Carbotrol, Clean Harvest and Jacobi. TBD which company to use after review of bids.
Outdoor Lighting: all upgraded. Modern LED and Photocells.
Blower Repair: Will be looked at on Friday (3.17.17) and fixed.
Generator Switch G. Burke reached out over and over again to Kinsley Power/Kohler for over 3 weeks, getting no response. He finally got through to the office. The coil repair will happen sometime in April when the part comes.
G. Burke wants to look for new vendor. Veolia is tired of the process of being ignored. Discussion: J. Miller will follow up with S. Gniadek and see who services the schools in town.
At 8:57 pm Veolia team leaves.
ITEM 3: DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON FINANCIAL STATUS
MOTION: Request of transfer $60,000 from town of Redding. R. Regan. D. Pattee. No Discussion. Unanimous.
K. Stauffer was unable to attend meeting. R. Regan approved payments for: Alice Smith, $90; Aquarian Monthly, $186.77; Eversource, $2,783.93; Frontier, $280.46; Hocon Gas, $15; Little Blue Construction, $1,482.50; Transcanada, $4,122.45; Veolia Monthly, Feb., $27,181.42
MOTION: Pay all invoices except Veolia monthly for March 2017 $27,181.43, Veolia Reimbursable for January $8,833.77 and Veolia Reimbursable for February $6,475.79 as subject to the Chairman’s review. R. Regan. T. Eubanks. No Discussion. Unanimous.
ITEM 4: COMMISSION MEMBER COMMENT
When does the commission have to make a decision about the carbon? Find out if Redding can use their own forklift vs. the bidders’ fork lifts, which incurs a cost to the town. Have M. Bernardini reach out to vendors and determine what the differences are. The commission agreed the quotes need more review.
R. Regan will send email to Veolia, focused on the two low quotes as well as forklift use by Veolia vs. the vendor forklift (i.e. remove forklift use out of bids).
ITEM 5: Public Comment
None.
ITEM 6: Motion to adjourn
J. Miller; J. Fisher.
9:19 pm
Submitted by Alice Smith