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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-29 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee January 29, 2008 Minutes Councilors: Hawes, D’Errico, Palmer, Gratwick, Wheeler Staff: Barrett, Farrar Others: Moriarty, Water District Trustees 1. Quarterly Update – Bangor Water District A. Introduction of Trustees and Staff Chair Fournier introduced members of the District. B. Bangor Water District 2007: A Year in Review Using a PowerPoint presentation, Kathy Moriarty started with a recap of 2007. Last year the District’s 17th annual open house was attended by 230 students from six area schools. It is the District’s largest public education and public relations event and was held at Floods Pond treatment facility and pumping station. The District also holds quarterly tours with a record breaking th attendance of 1,359 attendees in the fall tour. On May 9, the unveiling of the Thomas Hill Standpipe model was unveiled at BIA, where it continues to be housed. Their web site and their annual newsletter is another educational and public relations tool. The Board reviewed fluoride information this past year and presented a report to the Council regarding the District’s position regarding fluoridation. Looking at water resources and water protection efforts, the District’s source of supply is exempt from filtration. This was a 1991 exemption from the EPA and each year the District needs to continue to meet the criteria and file a watershed control report and have an inspection by the State Drinking Program each year. The District finalized a forest management plan revision. The primary goal of this plan is to protect the District’s source water quality. They referred to LD 165 which designated the artic charr as the state’s heritage fish and there are charr in Floods Pond. In planning for the future, the District is looking at additional water sources. The District has identified a site in Hermon. Water quality and water treatment accomplishments for 2007 include conversion of hazardous gaseous chemicals to their liquid former which was safer and less expensive. There are two new drinking regulations on the horizon for 2008. One is the EPA long term 2 enhanced surface water treatment rule. The second rule was the state two disinfection by-product rule. The District’s levels are well below what is required by EPA but the rule would require more frequent testing. She referenced the EPA’s requirement for led and copper rules. The District’s 2007 test results indicating that the District still continues to comply. Regarding distribution and storage, the District has 8 storage facilities. One is the Thomas Hill Standpipe and extensive renovations were started in 2007 and will be completed in 2008. Bangor Water District worked with the Brewer Water District testing the interconnect between Bangor and Brewer, a pipeline that goes under the Penobscot River Bridge. The test was to show that if Brewer needed water in case of an emergency that Bangor could supply at a quantity and quality. The test was a huge success. 2007 capital improvements projects included replacement of approximately 3,000 feet of pipeline on Hogan Road. This pipeline has had many breaks throughout the year. 1,000 feet of pipeline was replaced on Venture Way. She spoke of older valves on either side of the Essex Street Bridge and a waterline will be installed underneath the new bridge in 2008. The District totaled 53 water leaks for 2007 which is average. The District has 172 miles of pipeline in its distribution system. The District has also completed its 2007 program directional flush of all 172 miles of pipeline. A micro turbine was installed at the Veazie control value site. This will be used for producing electrical energy at the control valve site. It is expected to be on line in 2008. Plans are being worked on regarding meter reading which is currently a home to home reading. The District is looking to move into radio-read meters which can be done by a drive by, not a home to home reading. The District has evaluated the best system to start the new program. It will be installed throughout 2008. Public relations will take place through bill stuffers, the web site and the District’s newsletter. The District has requested a 7% rate increase from the PUC. Bangor Water will still continue to have one of the lowest rates in Maine. The District is working with the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant to evaluate a new billing software system. The two agencies currently share a very outdated system. Responding to Wheeler, Moriarty said the interconnect would supply water from Bangor to Brewer when Brewer is in need. In 2008, Bangor will be working with Brewer to look at another interconnect near the Rooks Road on Rt. 9 where Brewer would be able to supply Bangor with water in the case of an emergency. C. Invitation to City Council and City Staff to tour water supply and treatment facilities Moriarty extended an invitation to tour the District’s facilities. D. Council Members’ comments and/or questions Palmer commended the District for its role and efficiency in providing quality water. Wheeler talked about fluoridation being introduced at a public meeting which took place at the old City Hall auditorium. Gratwick mentioned the importance of not flushing pharmaceuticals down the drain, as they have a negative impact on water quality. D’Errico asked how aquifer is recognized. Moriarty indicated by geologist. 2. Resolve, Supporting Penobscot County’s Grant Application to the State Fund for the Efficient Delivery of Local and Regional Services Farrar introduced Ken Huhn, David Casavant, Candy Guerette. Farrar had provided background information to the Committee with their agenda to discuss a Chamber of Commerce effort, through its Regional Collaboration Subcommittee, to explore opportunities for municipal collaboration along the Penobscot River Corridor. There are currently seven communities interested. Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, Hermon, Old Town, Orono and Veazie. Four major areas identified: assessing, general assistance, animal control, and road striping or painting. If approved by this Committee and the City Council, the Resolve would indicate Bangor’s intention to support a grant application made to the State in the amount of $75,000 to be managed and implemented by the County. Casavant said the intent of the grant is on a contract for services model on the services mentioned by Farrar. The strength of the model is in the fact that this is a contract for services model, it doesn’t require redistricting, it doesn’t look at potential cost sharing, but it involves the County providing contracts with municipalities for purposes of suggesting they could actually provide and deliver services in a cost effective model that would save municipalities money. A contract for services model could certainly be extended beyond the current seven municipalities. The grant has been facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce and as facilitator they cannot receive the grant. Once the model has been implemented with this group, it would be the intent that it would be a self- sustaining model. The grant actually provide seed money. The model will be evaluated afterwards by a group put together by the Chamber to see if the model could be put forward in other areas. Guerette said with her ten years of history in municipal government she feels this would be particularly valuable to the area of general assistance. Huhn said with the changing state demographics and consolidations all coming about is because of expenses. This is unique because it sets up a model under the County and sets up a model where it is a volunteer effort. Gratwick commended the group. He spoke about the actual ways in which the model would work. Casavant said with the seed money there would be a hired individual to oversee the contract for services model and would also seek expert consultants in terms of implementing the model. Since this is a contract for services model, if there were concerns by the municipalities they wouldn’t be required to participate. Through this model, current expertise from the municipalities will be used. Barrett provided two examples. In the area of animal control, there is nothing to prevent the county from providing animal control services for which individual municipalities would contract. It is similar to what the City of Bangor now does for kennel services at the Bangor Humane Society. In the area of assessing services, it is equally spread among the municipalities. In the model, it might be different along the lines of the regional communication center where there is a separate advisory board overseeing the operation. Each of the services could be structured differently depending upon the service. Gratwick said it would seem to be a complex project. In the municipalities, Barrett stated there is a huge diversity of services that are provided and the extent of the services provided. Guerette mentioned the health officer positions and duties. Barrett said it has been discussed and it may not be in the initial list. A number of communities have expressed interest in contracting with Bangor due to the nature of our health department. Barrett said that Bangor is doing its own internal audit in this area to have a better handle on who does what. Huhn said he recognizes that the County does not have an infrastructure at all and this is why they started with the services and communities selected and a grant to further study it. Gratwick asked if there is receptivity at the county level. Casavant replied yes. Guerette said the group is not interested in just another layer of government and it seemed the way for this region to go was with the County and to see which of the Chamber’s 21 municipalities are interested. Wheeler asked about the role of the County Commissioners and if the number of Commissioners would be affected. Casavant said there are no plans to change the structure of County government. Wheeler asked about the project management budget of $50,000 with a completion date of May 30, 2008. Casavant said it is draft model which demonstrates the nature of the grant application and how it might be structured. The model needs to be run by the State Planning Office. Responding to Wheeler, Casavant said the Council Resolve, if approved by the Council, is a non-binding resolution that expresses the support of the City of Bangor to go forward in cooperation with six municipalities and the County to apply for the grant which is based on a contract for services model with the County receiving the money for and with the intent of hiring an individual and implementing the contract for services model. Palmer talked about the need to regionalize services and this item might help bring that about. He agrees with the concept of this proposal as discussed this evening. D’Errico asked if purchasing might be added to the list for sharing costs among the municipalities. Guerette said there is a history of this with the PVCOG but not all municipalities are members of PVCOG. This model might provide another option. She thanked D’Errico for the recommendation. Responding to Gratwick, Barrett said there is another model called inter- municipal contracting. He used traffic signal maintenance as an example. Currently, most all work is done by Bangor and the local municipalities are billed for that service. Regarding health and welfare, there is a regional entity based in a municipality, it can be used as the model. It doesn’t have to be transferred to the County. Barrett said that Bangor has the most professional assessing operation in this part of the state if not the state as a whole. Not all communities reach the same standard in policy and professionalism as Bangor has in place. He thinks that perhaps the other communities can be brought up to Bangor’s level of standard. He cited one area as the area of assessing personal property. It comes down to a question of how to fit service provision models into a governmental structure that requires modernization. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval to the full Council. Committee adjourned at 6:15 p.m.