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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-05-19 Sewer Committee Minutes Sewer Committee • Meeting Minutes May 19, 1999 Councilors Attending: Michael Crowley, Pat Blanchette, Nichi Farnham Staff Attending: Jim Ring, Ron Heller, John Murphy, Brad Moore Others Attending: George Moran (Waterworks, Inc.) The meeting convened at 4:04 p.m. 1. Abatement Request - Waterworks, Inc. The bill received on 12/4 showed an unexplained high consumption for the above company. At that time, Brad suggested waiting another quarter to see what the consumption would be. The next quarter showed consumption at a minimum. Brad invited a representative to the meeting to explain the use of the facility and the opportunity for water use at the facility. � George Moran of Waterworks, Inc. explained that in the 10 years that the • business has been in their current location, there haven't been any significant changes in the business and in what they do. They have 2 bathrooms and 3 sinks. They average from 22 to 28 employees. During the period when the bill was high, there was road construction going on outside of the business but they are not sure if this had an impact. It is unclear why the bill jumped during that time. As a result, a new meter has been installed. If abated, the amount would be $580.38. Committee recommends waiting for the next billing period to consider the abatement so they can see what the consumption will be. The next bills will be sent out during the first week of June. There will be no interest or penalties charged during that time. Approved to table until the third week in ]une. 2. Sewer Extension Request - Stillwater Avenue ]im explained that this was discussed with the Municipal Operations Committee and staff wanted to be sure that this Committee was aware of the request. The extension is needed for the new Circuit City building currently under construction. The contractor bears all expenses. Committee recommends approval to Council. � • 3. Sewer Consumption Trends Treatment Plant Consumption July 1995 - April 1999: Ron Heller explained that this is based on a rolling 12-month average. Each data point that is used incorporates the 12 previous months. The data points at the beginning and end bounce up and down. In the middle, they are much more constant. July 1995 to July 1997 shows a straight down decline. July 1997 - June 1998 shows a slight up kick. Treatment Plant Consumption per bill sent - This was run as a check on the above data and indicates that the two correspond. A lot of the decline may be attributable to individuals and firms conserving water more. Percentage Decline: Between 1995 and 1996, consumption dropped .71%. From 1996 to 1997 it dropped 3.71%. In 1997-1998 there was the upkick with an increase of 2.26%. The change between 1995 and 1999 is a loss of ' approximately 4.46% of the consumption and consumption per bill has declined approximately 6.75%. The annual change compounded is just over 1.1% on total consumption and just over 1.7% on consumption per bill. Councilor Crowley asked what this does with consumer cost? Ron answered that • at the WWTP they are running at an annual deficit and running down the cash and using it to fund their operating deficits over time. At this point, there is a lot of fundability so there is no need to raise rates. The projections show that there is no reason to raise rates until 2002 and possibly later. Quarter to Quarter Change in Consumption: The first quarter is July, August, September and it shows the change from the first quarter of 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 was down 6.6%. July, August September of the first quarter usage is down 6.25 from 1995 - 1998 (Calendar Year). The second quarter's data for October, November, December shows it down 3.5% from 1994 levels through 1998. Third quarter, January, February, March, is up almost 3/4% from 1995. The fourth quarter, April, May, June is down a little over 2%. At this point it looks like we are losing billable flow. Councilor Crowley asked if the City had lost heavy water users during this period? Ron answered that they are sending out the same number of bills. There haven't been any heavy water users moving out of town. Jim Ring agreed the data is puzzling. Staff will look closer at the data to see if there were other contributing factors, such as weather, etc. CH2MHill did a facilities plan in the early 90's and they projected that there would be, over time, approximately a 1% decrease annually in billable flows through conservation. Jim pointed out that in the first few years since that • report was done, there wasn't much change, but it is being seen now. 2 Ron pointed out that the information is not easily explained however staff will • look at the data and try to explain the variations. 4. Staff Update ➢ Jim explained that staff recently received a request from the Town of Hermon to purchase additional capacity in the treatment plant. Hermon's agreement contains provisions for acquiring a limited amount of additional capacity in the treatment plant. The agreement is structured so that they can request 25,000 gallons for each year of the 5 year period for a total of $125,000 gallons per day capacity. The total amount to be paid by Hermon would be $49,310. ➢ ]im updated the Committee on the issue of standby generation at the plant. Tied into this is the Y2K issue and Brad has been looking at the cost of standby generation at least for a short period of time in case there are problems as a result of Y2K. Brad explained that the most critical concern was the turn around at the end of the year if Bangor Hydro has problems. • Staff looked at the rental of a generator for standby if this were to happen. The generator would handle 600 kilowatts and would power half the plant but would be enough to get by. The lowest cost is $7,500 per month for a 3- month minimum. There are additional charges if it is run over 20 hours per month and also charges for wires and a transfer switch. It will easily cost • $30,000-$40,000 to have this for December 31. Councilor Blanchette commented that her concern is on a day-to-day operation. If violent weather hits Bangor, and the power goes out, Pat feels that there needs to be a generator facility to handle something like this. StafF has asked for cost on permanent installation of a generator and will update the Committee when the information is received. Bangor Hydro has assured stafF that because of the nature of their systems, it is unlikely that there will be any wide-spread power outages as a result of Y2K. Their generating equipment is not heavily computer driven. Staff will pursue the permanent installation of a generator, however a temporary generator does not seem feasible at this time. ➢ Brad updated the Committee on informing homeowners about the sub meter program. StafF put a message on the bill which has generated a lot of phone calls. Customers are being cautioned to look at their consumption first. ➢ ]ohn Murphy invited the Committee to walk through the Davis Brook tank. A paper will be prepared on the Davis Brook Project for the Water Environment Federation. Councilor Crowley asked if the media had been invited to take a walking tour of the sewer and should they? Staff will discuss the possibility of inviting the media to tour the sewer. � With no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. 3