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BRUNSWICKREGIONAL WATER & SEWER H2GO
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011
OFFICIAL MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairman, Carl Antos called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm, a quorum was present. Chairman Antos lead the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Present from the Board of Commissioners were members Carl Antos, Chairman, John Crowder, Vice Chairman, Poe Butler, Secretary, Bobby Johnston and Jeff Gaskill, present from H2GO was Bob Walker, Executive Director, Russ Lane, Assistant Director, Scott Lewis, Technology and Compliance Supervisor, Scott Hook, Finance Officer, Brenda Thurman, Customer Service Supervisor, and Teresa Long, Clerk to the Board.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA:
Chairman Antos stated that Sonny McNeill had requested to be put on the agenda, Chairman Antos suggested putting him under Old Business. Commissioner Crowder motioned to approve the agenda as amended, Commissioner Johnston seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
CONSENT AGENDA:
Commissioner Crowder motioned to approve the August 9, 2011 Regular Board Meeting Minutes with the typos corrected on pages two and four, Commissioner Johnston seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
COMMISSIONERS REPORT:
Commissioner Crowder stated that he went to the Brunswick County meeting, he said Bill Sue got the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Commissioner Crowder said they are looking at amending their payment plan so we should look into coinciding that with our policy, he said they approved to finance the Capitol Improvement and Impact Fees over a three year period.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Chairman Antos called Coretta Pellom who was on the agenda, she was not present, the clerk stated that she believed the problem had been worked out.
Emilia Conroy of 663 Pine Branches Circle addressed the board, she said she has lived here since November 2003, she said her water bills normally are within reason, $60 to $100.00, she said her bill this month was $842.63, she said they found out that they had a leak, she said her husband came down here and spoke with someone and they were told they would still have to pay a large part of the bill. Chairman Antos explained to Mrs. Conroy that H2GO cannot adjust the water bill because we have to buy the water from the county, however we can adjust the sewer bill. Commissioner Butler told her that she could set up payments with no interest if she needed too.
OLD BUSINESS:
Sonny McNeill said that he wanted to communicate with the board, he said he has a lot of documents and drawing and specifications in response to discussions with Mr. Walker. Mr. McNeill said the complaint that was filed against McNeill was totally erroneous, he said it was not based on fact, he said he had it reviewed by other professionals in the engineering community and they didn’t understand why the case was filed. Mr. McNeill said he could provide certain information to us without going to court, Mr. McNeill stated that he has an attorney in Raleigh, NC, however he has not brought an attorney on board for this matter because he does not think it is necessary if he can communicate with the board. Mr. McNeill said it was indicated in the complaint that his company had not done things that they had in fact done. Mr. McNeill said they did not bill for shop drawings because shop drawings are done after the job has been awarded. Mr. McNeill said they have done drawings for three versions of a 1.6 mgd treatment plant on two different sites at least two versions of an 800,000 mgd plant, he said they brought in two sets of preliminary shop drawings which he has a copy of, he said at that time they sat down with staff, before the drawings were submitted to the state which was in March. Mr. McNeill said he found they had a big set of drawings that had not been submitted to H2GO. Mr. McNeill said attorney Coble did not have everything concerning the contract on the complaint, two of the things being the schedule of values which tells what McNeill would bill for at certain times. Mr. McNeill said the basis of Mr. Coble’s complaint was that McNeill did not file certified and sealed shop drawings, he said they were not planning on providing that until after the job was bid. Mr. McNeill said you don’t need an attorney to interpret what the contract says and what has been done. Mr. McNeill stated he has not billed for more than what was done, he said they have done more than what has been billed for, he said they have done more than five complete plant designs, two of which were signed, certified and sealed by registered engineers in North Carolina, he said he does not understand why we are going to court, he said we would have to do away with McNeill’s contract, Fleming’s contract and the permit and start the process all over again. Mr. McNeill said their contract and Mr. Flemings contract is a performance based contract and not a detailed bid specification. Mr. McNeill said another thing Mr. Coble left out of the complaint was the two change orders, Mr. McNeill said it got back to him that the had gone up on their price, he said they started out with a nine million dollar budget, it was reduced to 4.5 million with a contingency of .5 million depending on soil conditions, which brings it up to five million dollars, he said the change orders tell you that their price came down 600 and some thousand. Mr. McNeill recommend that they get together and talk and lay the facts out on the table and deal with them. Chairman Antos thanked Mr. McNeill and told him they will take his comments under advisory.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Mr. Walker said he had nothing to report.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Mr. Lane reported that 180 meters had been changed out since the last meeting, he said about 17 or 1800 are left to change, he said he is having trouble getting the meters in because a computer chip on the MXU’s
TECHOLOGY AND COMPLIANCE SUPERVISOR REPORT:
Mr. Lewis reported that the new website is up and running including the link over to Bill Pay, he said they are still working on putting some forms on the website. Mr. Lewis said we have received the information from our billing company concerning the notice of cut offs going out on the on-call system, he said they tried to run a test on it today but it gave an error and did not pull from the cut off list. Commissioner Butler said the cut off notice should go out on every bill, even the original bill should state that the water will be cut off by a certain date if the bill is not paid by the due date. Mr. Lewis said he will check with Inhance and see if we can add another line on the bill.
FINANCE OFFICER’S REPORT:
Mr. Hook pointed to the check register and monthly budget report up to August 17th . Commissioner Johnston asked if Laughlin and Sutton had cashed their check, Mr. Hook said that they did but Landmark had not cashed theirs. Commissioner Crowder asked Mr. Hook if he could generate a report for the physical year ending June 30, 2011, Mr. Hook said he could but there would be some auditor adjustments coming later.
ATTORNEY’S REPORT:
Mr. Coble said his reports were appropriate for executive session.
NEW BUSINESS:
Commissioner Butler asked if we had any increases in our fees lately, he said he heard a report today about the Town of Leland having problems with some of their customers complaining about an increase in fees, he said H2GO is getting blamed for it, he said someone should go to the next town meeting and let them know that our fees have not changed. Mr. Hook said The Town of Leland adopted our rates as of July 1st, he said our fee schedule is different from the town’s and that is what is causing the problem, he said it is not our fault. Commissioner Crowder said he heard at that meeting the town resolved to revert back to their fee schedule before July 1,2011. Mr. Walker said he is going to meet with Mr. Farris the Leland Town Manager to discuss this matter.
EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS LITIGATION ISSUES AND CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS:
Commissioner Butler made the motion for the Board to enter into Executive Session to discuss litigation and contract negotiations, Commissioner Gaskill seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Commissioner Butler made the motion for the Board to return of Open Session, Commissioner Crowder seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
INFORMAL DISCUSSION:
None
ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEXT MEETING:
Chairman Antos announced that the next meeting scheduled was the regular meeting of September 13, 2011 at 6:00pm. Mr. Walker stated that there would be another informational meeting on September 14, 2011 concerning Carol-Lynn Estates that would be held at the Leland Community Building behind the town hall.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Butler motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:50pm, it was seconded by Commissioner Gaskill, the motion carried unanimously.