DATE OF MEETING:
September 4, 2014
PLACE OF MEETING:
Pawling Village Hall, 9 Memorial Ave., Pawling, NY
KIND OF MEETING:
Special
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chairman David P. Kelly
Commissioner John Burweger
Commissioner Brian Griffin
Commissioner Robert Liffland
Commissioner Stan Mersand
Commissioner Dan Peters
CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Joe Zarecki of Zarecki Associates
Karl Sundblom of Severn Trent Services
Michael Shiffer of Severn Trent Services
At 5:00 p.m. roll call was taken and the special meeting of the Pawling Joint Sewer Commission
was called to order by Chairman David P. Kelly with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Discussion:
1) Meeting with the DEC: Joe Zarecki
Joe said the meeting was very intense right off the bat. The woman that he spoke with
was hoping there would be representatives from the Commission and someone from
Environmental Consultants to answer any questions, accept any violations or penalty’s,
or make decisions. Joe said that she felt that the Commission wasn’t taking the I/I issue
and the violation at the plant very seriously. Joe explained that the Commission does take
this quite seriously and that they have taken major steps to address the I/I issues and what
those steps are. Joe said she wants a full assessment of the plant and she wants it accurate
and thorough and she wants it as soon as possible.
There were no enforcement actions taken and no violations.
Joe said that Mike Batz gave him a list of problems at the plant.
Joe and Karl Sundblom walked around the entire facility to address and document things
that are wrong with the plant.
Joe handed out a letter that he draft to the DEC with pictures that he took of the issues at
the plant. He said he wants to go over the pictures and violations with the assistance of
Karl and Mike, then discuss what kind of costs are associated with these issues and then
if the Commission agrees with the summery of work that needs to be done, he will work
with the attorney to draft a letter to the DEC which will strengthen its case.
Joe went over the pictures with explanations. Karl Sundblom and Mike Shiffer assisted
when asked to.
2) Assessment of WWTP: Karl Sundblom and Michael Shiffer
Joe, Karl and Mike went over the pictures with explanations and there was some
discussion during their presentation.
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Chairman Kelly said he feels that they are mixing two issues together; they are mixing
what is wrong at the plant with the violations. He said the Agenda list’s the meeting with
the DEC and the violations but it seems like they are pointing out a lot of other issues.
Joe said that what he is pointing out is giving everyone an overview of what is there and
how the violations will be corrected. He said this is to show that the Commission is
taking a good hard look at the plant operations and what the plans are to correct the past
violations.
Joe said they will talk about the cost at the end of the discussion.
They did lay out priority repairs needed as the filter building being the most important.
They will need to get TAM in there to clean it out. Karl went over the issues they need to
take care of and there was some discussion.
Joe gave the cost break down starting with the filtration plant. TAM will come in and
suck out all of the sludge and get it clean, that will be a $2500 bill for the day, plus the
labor and materials. You won’t know what’s there until it’s cleaned out. He said they’re
looking at anywhere from $7,000 to get the paint, clean it and fix it and not knowing
what the block is like. They can try to save some money and put the sludge in the drying
bed and the dumpster, that way they won’t have to pay TAM a tipping fee. Joe said
they’ll look into that. So what they are looking at is $7,000 for half of the tank, then
another $7,000 for the other half, so they are looking at about $14,000 to get that back
and running.
Joe said on the equalization tank, that whole tank has to be pumped out to get all of the
filter material out of there and get the blowers working right. Again, they can take that
material and put it in the drying bed and then the dumpster. So the Commission is
probably looking at another $2,500 for TAM. And nobody knows what the aerators on
the bottom look like so they really can’t estimate those costs. Joe said they don’t know
how much the electrician will charge to get the starter box for the pump in the filter
building will charge. He thinks with all of the ifs, guessing a budget of $5,000 for that.
Then there is paint at about $100 a gallon. Some handles might be about $300. He said
he’s thinking that if there is a budget that they can’t exceed that they know they will
have, it gives them flexibility so that they can keep moving the project forward to show
the DEC that the Commission is serious about the violations.
Commissioner Peters asked Joe if he has a ballpark number of what the budget amount is.
Joe said he thinks a budget of at least $15,000 between now and next week. Next week
Mike Batz will be back and they can get a better handle on what the budget will be.
They didn’t want to wait another week because that is 7 days the plant is operating
incorrectly, taking a chance of getting bad test results.
Chairman Kelly asked Joe if they will have some prices on the pumps for next week’s
sewer meeting. He asked if the board makes a motion to go up to a certain amount of
money until next Thursday, what can be done between now and next Thursday.
Karl said they will get TAM in there and they will start pumping the filter out so they can
get down to the bottom of it, then they can see what they have. They will get the filter
building working right and the final tank can be started.
Chairman Kelly said they need to have an accurate budget amount because they have
money already dedicated to other projects so they have to know what they are looking at.
He said if this winds up to be a $100,000 – $150,000 fix then they have issues with
money.
Commissioner Peters asked what amount are they be comfortable with.
Mike said they are estimating this work at around $20,000.
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MOVED by Commissioner Mersand to approve spending up to $20,000.00 to do the emergency
repairs at the plant addressing the DEC violations. SECONDED by Commissioner Peters.
Commissioner Liffland said he knows they have to get this work done but he is wondering, and
would like the attorneys opinion on whether this is due to neglect by the previous operator. He
feels that they should have some responsibility for this. He would like the attorney’s opinion. He
said they neglected the plant badly and he wants to vote no.
Commissioner Mersand said he agrees with Commissioner Liffland but that these corrections
have to be made. The Commission can go after the previous operator afterwards. He thinks they
should go ahead and authorize this. Commissioner Peters said he thinks they have to get moving
on some of this stuff because it is affecting the effluent. Five were in favor, Commission Liffland
opposed. Motion carried.
Joe gave the board drawings of locations and conditions of the existing pump stations and the
electrical panels the way they are today.
Joe gave the board drawings of locations of manholes that need to be uncovered which will be
part of Severn Trent’s project. In addition there are 6 locations where manholes and pipes need to
be repaired. He did that with photo documentation. He’s already been in discussion with Severn
Trent. He said this is part of the 2014 SSES report and part of the flows at the plant, which is
some of the violations at the plant. He said the DEC was very happy with the pressure the
Commission put on Cedar Valley to take care of their I/I.
Joe said in addition they talked about the SSES for 2014 where there is a tentative proposed
ordinance for a list of discharge into the system and he thinks discussions on these topics went a
long way with showing that the Commission is moving forward.
Commissioner Peters asked if there is an estimated cost on the manhole issues.
Joe said no, a lot of these were just put together and hopefully they can have this on the Agenda
for the next meeting. They will discuss if the Commission wants the highway guys to do the
excavation and Severn Trent would do the repairs to the pipe, or if they want to sub it out.
Joe said he gave Severn Trent copies of this so they are aware and knowledgeable on the areas
that need repair.
Commissioner Griffin asked if we have gotten any updates from Cedar Valley. He said they
asked for a report last meeting.
Joe said he doesn’t know where they are.
Commissioner Griffin said he’d like to see a report by Thursday.
Chairman Kelly said he’ll draft a letter and get it to Brian and Brian will get it to their attorney.
Mike Shiffer said that he did inspections over at Cedar Valley. He said there was no physical
ground water going into any of the basins. He jetted all of the lines. He said smoke testing is
scheduled for a week or two. He said he didn’t see any roof liters going into the system.
Mike said there were a handful of manholes that were really bad due to the fact that they are 20
years old and probably were never jetted or cleaned and there were about 6 or 7 of them that were
really blocked up.
Commissioner Peters said that they are seeing double the flow from Cedar Valley.
Mike said what they are seeing is not going to be double the flow.
MOVED by Commissioner Peters to close the meeting and adjourn. SECONDED by
Commissioner Mersand. All were in favor and motion carried. Time: 6:40 p.m.
___________________________________
Brian Griffin, Secretary
PJSC Meeting September 4, 2014
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