S5 Box
BRUNSWICKREGIONAL WATER & SEWER H2GO
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012
OFFICIAL MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairman, John Crowder 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 John Crowder, Chairman, Jeff Gaskill, Vice Chairman, Bobby Johnston, Secretary, Carl Antos, and Poe Butler, present from H2GO was Bob Walker, Executive Director, Russ Lane, Assistant Director, Scott Lewis, Engineering Compliance Director, Scott Hook, Finance Officer, Brenda Thurman, Customer Service Supervisor, and Teresa Long, Clerk to the Board.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA:
Mr. Walker requested adding four items under New Business; Security Cameras, Time Clocks and Policy, Proposed Resolution to Amend the Personnel Policy Holiday Schedule and Remote Work Order System through Inhance.
CONSENT AGENDA:
Approval of January 10, 2012 Regular Meeting Minutes: Commissioner Antos pointed out a couple of typos on page three, also that the minutes read 2011 and should have been 2012, also on page four he said the amount in paragraph three for the waterline encasement should have been $50,389.00 and not $53,000.00. Commissioner Butler motioned to approve the January 10, 2012 Regular Board Meeting Minutes as amended, Commissioner Antos seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Approval of Closed Session Minutes: Chairman Crowder suggested to take the closed session account of February 20, 2009 out of the accounts to be released because of an issue that has not been settled. Commissioner Antos motioned to release all of the closed session accounts presented with the exception of February 20, 2009, Commissioner Butler seconded, the vote was four yeas and one nay by Commissioner Gaskill, the motion carried. (See Exhibit A for a list of closed session accounts released)
COMMISSIONERS REPORT:
Commissioner Butler reported that he attended the meeting at the Leland Fire Department and found it to be very beneficial. Chairman Crowder reported on the Belville Council meeting, he said they talked about purchasing the property they are in now and about some developments in the town. Commissioner Butler reported that he and Commissioner Gaskill went to the county meeting but there was nothing reported on that affected us, it was mostly concerning the north end of the county. Chairman Crowder reported that he attend the meeting at the Leland Fire Department, he said they discussed trying to reduce the insurance rating, he said one of the key topics was fire hydrant maintenance.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None
OLD BUSINESS:
Carol-Lynn Preliminary Assessment Resolution: Mr. Walker recommended that the board table this resolution until he gets some additional background information from the attorney on potential impacts that the assessments might have, defined in the resolution as unimproved non-residential lots. Chairman Crowder asked if there were not also some issues with Chapter 11 on Mr. Lisk’s part, Mr. Walker said yes. Commissioner Butler motioned to table the Carol-Lynn Preliminary Assessment Resolution indefinitely, Commissioner Gaskill seconded, the vote was four yeas and one nay by Commissioner Antos.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Goodman Road Waterline Encasement (24” Steel Casing): Mr. Walker recounted that he had been in negotiations with Barnhill Construction regarding the water line encasement on Goodman Road along I140 corridor, he said negotiations started out at $54,000 and they have come down to $46,000, Mr. Walker said they agreed on that price and he went ahead and gave The Wooten Company the go ahead to finalize the plans. Mr. Walker said that he did execute an agreement with Barnhill Contracting for the $46,000.
Waste Water Treatment Plant: Mr. Walker reported that he had a meeting last Wednesday with Vaughn & Melton, Lee Fleming and the rest of the design team, he said the plans and specifications are close to a biddable constructible state, he said they were going to advertise for bids next week on Monday or Tuesday, he said they have two pre-bid meetings scheduled, one of which contractors must attend, he said the dates are February 14thand the 29th. Mr. Walker said the date to receive bids will be March 15th, he said the time will be set and the bids will be opened publicly, he said that information will be in the bid advertisement prepared by Vaughn & Melton.
Pickett Ridge Lift Station Update: Mr. Walker said he had been talking with Marty Stone of The Wooten Company, he said Mr. Stone has finalized his analysis of the surge problems at the Pickett Ridge Lift Station. Mr. Walker said he has also discussed these items with Jerry Pierce and Carter Hubbard. Mr. Walker said what we are proposing to do is go ahead and replace our existing 8” PVC line with an 8” ductile line, he said that eliminates any surge problems on our line but will not help anything downstream of us, he said that is not our concern at this point. Mr. Walker suggested that after the transmission improvements are completed, we should come back and do some real testing of our pump station and see what it will do with those improvements Mr. Walker said he proposed to Jerry Pierce to put a contingency fund in the transmission system upgrades so that once we evaluate our lift station and we find our speculations are true then we can put in larger pumps or VFD drives to reduce the speed of the pumps. Mr. Walker said he thought it would be best to wait and see which would be more efficient, larger pumps or VFD drives, he said since we are replacing an existing 8” line which is about 850 feet, we do not need any permits, he also said he thinks it will cost less than $30,000.00, if so we will be able to do the informal bid process, he said we will need three quotes from different contractors. Mr. Walker said if the board will authorize him to solicit these informal quotes we could start construction in February. Commissioner Antos motioned to give Mr. Walker permission to solicit the quotes for the installation of the 850 feet of 8” ductile iron pipe, Commissioner Johnston seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Manhole at Juniper Creek: Mr. Walker stated that Commissioner Butler had brought to his attention a problem with a manhole at Juniper Creek, he said we checked it out and it was just mud coming up around the asphalt at that particular manhole.
Commissioner Antos related that a friend of his in Magnolia Greens had a sink hole next to where the meters are and sewer lines, he said Russ Lane sent two of our guys out there and they found a drip leak on our side of the meter, Commissioner Antos said his friend sent him an e-mail stating how friendly, professional and prepared our staff was and he thanked our organization for getting the job done, Mr. Lane said the two guys were Travis Neville and Elliot Hall. Commissioner Butler asked about the problem at Sunstone, Mr. Lane reported that there was a leak underneath the customer’s driveway, he said they were able to repair it without digging up her driveway, he said we did have to get a landscaper out there to fix her yard back.
Mr. Walker reported that he has a meeting scheduled with Mr. Hollis on Thursday.
Chairman Crowder asked about the water storage tank, Mr. Walker reported that all repairs have been completed.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Meter update: Mr. Lane reported that they have about 700 of the ¾” meters to finish up, about 70 of the 2” meters and about 67 of the 1” meters.
Mr. Lane reported that on Saturday night we had an 8” water line on Lanvale Road that came apart, he said he had four guys out there repairing the line and they finished up about 11:00pm. Mr. Lane said he had to do a boil water advisory Saturday and call the State Health Department, he said the advisory was lifted today after the samples came back from the lab. Mr. Lane said about 20 customers were affected, all of Springstone and four other houses on Lanvale Road, he said since we put the Boost Pump on line we are finding some weak places in the water lines.
Mr. Lane said he got the numbers together for the unaccountable water used in 2011, he said we used 597,363,000 gallons in our main system and 11,580,900 gallons at the Grayson Park system, he said we have 3.76% of unaccountable water for the year, he said that percentage is good but it is still 22 million gallons, he said this comes from flushing the lines every year, the fire department and people stealing water, Mr. Lewis pointed out that we also had to fill up the Booster pump and the elevated water tank and drain them. Mr. Lane reported that our percentage for unaccounted water is well below what the state wants us to be, he said they like to keep it around 10 to 12 percent.
ENGINEERING COMPLIANCE DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Winners Oval Deed of Dedication: Mr. Lewis said he got the deed of dedication back this morning, he said Mr. Coble had reviewed it and made some changes and the developers attorney had made those corrections as well. Mr. Lewis said we have received all the information we need to complete the deed of dedication, the walk through, the inspection reports and the certifications have been signed by the engineer and by Mr. Walker and sent to the state for return. Mr. Lewis said the maps are included in the deed of dedication, he said he wanted to go ahead and get this recorded so that we can put it into service. Commissioner Butler motioned to accept the deed of dedication of Winners Oval, Commissioner Gaskill Seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Concerning the camera update, Mr. Lewis reported that Mallory Creek had been completed today with 4,713 feet camerad today giving a total of 11,528 feet for the second phase in Mallory Creek, he said they found no infiltration and no problems with the pipes besides the normal wear. Mr. Lewis said flow looked good through there, he said a few rain guards are missing that will be replaced.
FINANCE OFFICER’S REPORT:
Audit Report: Mr. Allen Thompson, auditor for H2GO stepped up and gave his presentation. Mr. Thompson reported that there were no significant audit findings, no difficulties encountered when performing the audit, no uncorrected miss-statements, no disagreements with management, he said management provided a representation letter, he said they are not aware that managers consulted with any out-side auditors, Mr. Thomas said the main thing you hire an auditor to do is to issue an opinion regarding financial statements and that they are materially correct and in compliance with US GAP, he said they have issued that opinion and it is included in their report. Mr. Thompson said the trend information is important also, he said this is where you can see where your revenues, fund balance, debt, operating income are and where they have been, Mr. Thompson said he has shown this information from 2007 until now. Mr. Thompson said he believes that our operating income makes us sustainable and it’s not just dependent on tap fees or recovery fee, he said we have a profitable enterprise without any of the add on fees. Mr. Thompson said the charts and graphs show that we have a positive trend in our fund balance. Mr. Thompson said the District is financially sound, he said our debt coverage ratio is at 459% which is extremely strong. Commissioner Butler asked about bad debt expenses of $36,118.00, Mr. Hook explained these were the accounts that were brought before the board and were approved for write off, some of which were due to bankruptcy, some we couldn’t find social security numbers for so we couldn’t send them to collections. Chairman Crowder thanked Mr. Thompson for his report.
Check Register: Mr. Hook said the check register the board has been given covers from Thanksgiving up until now. Commissioner Antos requested that the Utility Billing Checks which are the deposit refund checks be omitted from the check register he said there was no point in wasting paper to print them, the board generally agreed. Chairman Crowder asked about American Industries and what that was for, Mr. Hook said he will have to look that up, Mr. Lane said he thought that was where we bought the chemicals for the treatment plant. Commissioner Crowder asked about Harris Computers, Mr. Hook explained this was for the yearly support and maintenance license agreement for our Inhance software.
Financial Report: Mr. Hook said at the end of January we should be at about 58% of our budget, he said this report was ran on January 18th. Chairman Crowder said he is a little concerned about the vehicle fuel, he encouraged staff to be more vigilant with their travel. Mr. Crowder asked about the overtime at the waste water treatment plant being 83%, Mr. Lane explained that we must have someone out there every weekend, he said they had to continuously wash the filters, he said we should not have to be there on weekends when we get the new plant built.
ATTORNEY’S REPORT:
Mr. Coble said he had a couple of updates suitable for executive session.
NEW BUSINESS:
Security Cameras: Mr. Walker said that the board had instructed him at the workshop to look into purchasing additional security cameras, he said for the office building and the garage area he received a quote from ADT, he said we currently have an eight channel DVR in his office and we currently have eight cameras, he said they discussed adding four more cameras, one in front of the office building and three additional cameras inside the maintenance building, he said we would have to upgrade the eight channel DVR to a 16 channel DVR. Mr. Walker said the total cost on that upgrade would be $4,603.83 with an additional $39.79 per month maintenance fee. Mr. Walker said the eight channel DVR could be transferred to the Belville Plant, he said we will need additional cameras there once the new plant is complete, he said they now have a four channel DVR at the Belville Plant which we could move to the Booster Pump Station, he said the estimate to move that four channel DVR and set it up at the Booster Pump site is $2,405.54 with a monthly maintenance fee of $14.82. Commissioner Butler said he thought we needed a security system at the elevated storage tank also, the rest of the board was in general agreement and they instructed Mr. Walker to get a quote for that.
Time Clock: Mr. Walker said that at the workshop they discussed putting workforce management policies into place, including a time clock, he said he did receive a quote from Nova Time, he said they would provide not only a card swipe terminal for the maintenance guys and also in the package is software for our personal computers and would be a web based time and attendance software so that office staff and Brian Griffith at the treatment plant can log in and we could track everybody’s time, also holidays, vacation and sick time. Mr. Walker said regarding a time clock policy, this company would provide with this package a 20 page questionnaire of what we want the software to do, he said when you complete this it would basically be setting your policy. Mr. Walker said once we get to that point we could have a workshop and go through the questionnaire with the technician that Nova will provide, he said once we get this policy, the personnel policy could be amended with regard to the time clock policy. Mr. Walker said he has two different quotes for the time clocks, the first is to purchase a car swipe terminal for $3,529.00 plus a one-time set up fee of $695.00 and a monthly fee of $40.00, this includes software and hardware maintenance for one year. Mr. Walker said the other quote is to lease the equipment, which would cost $177.00 per month and a one-time set up fee of $695.00. Mr. Walker said that he and Mr. Hook had discussed the two options and they think the lease option would be best because technology changes so often. Commissioner Butler motioned to proceed with the time clock issue and purchase the equipment, Commissioner Gaskill seconded, the vote was four yeas and one nay by Chairman Crowder.
Holiday Schedule: Mr. Walker stated that he had given the board a Resolution to amend the personnel policy which will amend the current holiday schedule, specifically the days that would be taken for Christmas. Commissioner Crowder said this was talked about at the workshop, he said some of the commissioners thought three days for the Christmas Holiday was excessive. Commissioner Gaskill motioned to approve Resolution 2012-01-002 which will amend the personnel policy of Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2GO as adopted May 27, 2008, Commissioner Butler seconded and the motion carried unanimously. (See Exhibit B)
Remote Work Order System: Mr. Walker said this is related to fuel costs, he said we could be more efficient if we had some sort of technology in communication between office staff and field staff. Mr. Walker said our Inhance software has an add on feature called I-Remote which will allow office staff to transmit work orders to the guys in the field if they had laptops, he said the guys could also amend and create their own work orders. Mr. Walker said this would keep the maintenance workers from running back and forth to get work orders, he said this could be used for water, sewer, collections and line locates and could also be used to transmit the meter vault reads back to Mr. Lane. Mr. Walker said he is suggesting two laptops but he would like to have at least three laptops, one for the water side, one for the collection side and one for the line locator. Mr. Walker said the cost from Inhance which includes one laptop, licensing for three laptops, training, software and maintenance is $18,000.00, he said we already have one laptop so if we buy one more laptop the total capital cost investment is $20,000.00. Commissioner Johnston asked why we cannot use cell phones to transmit the necessary information. Commissioner Antos said he thinks the system will pay off in the long run considering the rising cost of gas. Commissioner Butler expressed his concern with the laptops getting banged up and damaged by the maintenance workers, Mr. Lewis said the laptops would come with a standard warranty, Commissioner Butler said he would like to think about this for a couple of weeks. Chairman Crowder said he spoke with Jimmy Strickland with the Town of Leland, he said they get their work orders on tablets like a cell phone but the screens are bigger and they have cameras on them so that pictures can be transmitted back and forth, he said the town bought three or four for about three or four hundred dollars each, he said it would not be compatible with our Inhance software but would be a savings. Commissioner Butler said that the maintenance workers could keep work orders in their trucks, get the information by phone and write them up. Commissioner Antos suggested that staff look for alternative solutions and bring them back to the next meeting, Commissioner Antos said he is not worried about the guys punching out the laptops because younger people are more familiar with the new technology, he said he would like to find a more simple, faster system but he wanted to see something adequate to generate work orders and track them. Mr. Walker said with the phone calls back and forth, we don’t have that paper trail. Mr. Walker said one of the benefits of the I-Remote system is that it would make us more responsive. Chairman Crowder directs Mr. Walker to put together a few other options with real costs and the pros and cons of each.
Commissioner Gaskill said that it was stated at the workshop that we are still growing 7%, he asked how was that figured? Mr. Walker said we have two growth rates, one is customers and one is work orders, he said the 7% was based on the number of customers over the past four years.
EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS LITIGATION ISSUES AND CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS:
Commissioner Antos motioned for the board to enter into executive session to discuss litigation and contract negotiations; Commissioner Johnston seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Commissioner Antos motioned for the board to return to open session; Commissioner Gaskill seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
INFORMAL DISCUSSION:
A budget workshop was set for February 13, 2012 from 3:00pm until 6:00pm here at the District.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEXT MEETING:
The next regular meeting will be held on February 7, 2011. A budget workshop will be held on February 13, 2012 starting at 3:00pm at H2GO.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Butler motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:30pm, it was seconded by Commissioner Antos, the motion carried unanimously.
__________________________________ ________________________________
John Crowder, Chairman Bobby Johnston, Secretary
__________________________________ ________________________________
Teresa Long, Clerk to the Board Date of Approval
Appendix A
Closed Session Accounts Released 1/24/2012
2-6-2008
3-10-2008
7-15-2008
7-22-2008
8-27-2008
9-23-2008
12-9-2008
1-8-2009
3-24-2009
4-14-2009
4-28-2009
5-29-2009
6-3-2009
6-23-2009
7-14-2009
7-28-2009
8-11-2009
8-25-2009
9-8-2009
9-22-2009
10-27-2009
11-10-2009
12-15-2009
1-26-2010
2-25-2010
4-27-2010
5-4-2010
9-16-2010
11-16-2010
Exhibit B
BrunswickRegional Water and Sewer H2GO
Resolution 2012-01-002
RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE PERSONNEL POLICY OF THE BRUNSWICK REGIONAL WATER AND SEWER H2GO as adopted May 27, 2008.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Commissioners of the Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2GO, Leland, North Carolina, that the Personnel Policy, be amended as follows:
ARTICLE VII, SECTION 2. Holidays
AMEND SECTION 2. Holidays to read as follows:
When Christmas Day Falls On: The District Observes:
Sunday Friday and Monday
Monday Monday and Tuesday
Tuesday Monday and Tuesday
Wednesday Tuesday and Wednesday
Thursday Wednesday and Thursday Friday Thursday and Friday
Saturday Friday and Monday
Adopted this the 24thday of January, 2012