1. Approval of minutes of
the June 9, 2008 meeting.
Motion made by Mae Nachman, seconded by Jim Cooper to approve the minutes of the June 9, 2008
Water & Sewage Commission meeting with the understanding the grammatical error on Page #4, Item #8 the word
"plain" be corrected to "plane".
Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried.
II. ACCOUNTING
2. Consideration of claims
for the Water and Sewage Treatment Utilities.
Paul Adamski presented the statement of claims for the Water Utility for June. The balance as of June 1, 2008 was
$1,452,850.50; the bank deposits recorded in June 2008 were $383,175.19. Checks issued since the June 9th, 2008
meeting numbered 42279 through 42336 were in the amount of $335,629.51. Checks numbered 42337 through 42356 for
$14,419.76 were presented for action on July 14th, 2008. The net balance on hand July 14th, 2008 was $1,485,976.42.
Kim explained that claims will be filed with the plane owner's insurance for the costs incurred for the clean up
of the crash site at the well field. The Commission would like Kim to investigate whether our insurance carrier
would have covered these costs if the pilot of the plane would not have had insurance coverage.
Motion made by Mae Nachman, seconded by Jim Cooper to approve the water utility claims for the month of June 2008
as audited and read.
Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried.
Paul Adamski also presented the statement of claims for the Sewage Treatment Utility for June. The balance as of
June 1, 2008 was $1,585,688.39; the bank deposits recorded in June 2008 were $176,126.30. Checks issued since the
June 9th, 2008 meeting numbered 26247 through 26283 were in the amount of $169,773.33. Checks numbered 26284 through
26305 for $50,463.04 were presented for action on July 14th, 2008. The net balance on hand July 14th, 2008 was
$1,541,578.32.
Motion made by Carl Rasmussen, seconded by Mae Nachman to approve the sewage utility claims for the month of June
2008 as audited and read.
Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried.
3. Discussion and action on 2008
water rate increase.
The Commission voted last month to withdraw the water rate increase for 2008 due to the fact that the Well 5 Nitrate
Removal Project was not going to be done at this time. Kim felt we would be o.k. without a rate increase for 2008
but if they decide to build Well 11 in 2009 a split rate increase would need to be done.
Shortly after the June Commission meeting Kim found out the Public Service Commission has a list of criteria we
would have to qualify for before the Public Service Commission would even consider approving a split rate increase.
Due to the uncertainty that a split rate increase would be approved, Kim decided to have the item pulled at the
Council meeting so the motion the Commission originally made at June's meeting would not be approved by City Council.
Kim stated the rate increase without including the three million for the Well 5 Nitrate Removal Project will be
approximately 8%. That would be an increase of $5.99 per quarter for the average residential customer or .07 cents
per day.
Kim recommends the Commission amend last month's action to withdraw the 2008 water rate increase and to proceed
with the rate increase as proposed to the Public Service Commission not including the three million for the Well
5 Nitrate Removal Project.
Motion made by Jim Cooper, seconded by Eugene Tubbs to amend last months action to withdraw the 2008 water rate
increase and to proceed with the rate increase as proposed to the Public Service Commission not including the three
million for the Well 5 Nitrate Removal Project.
Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried.
4. Discussion and action
on use of Water Department restrictive funds.
Kim explained to the Commission that years ago when Consolidated built machine #35, we started to place the funds
acquired from their bills in a restricted account to pay for the debt service for Well 4.
At that time, there was no formal instruction from the Commission on what those funds could be used for. Well 4
debt service will be paid in full in May 2009. The balance to pay off Well 4 is $234,562.50. That would leave us
with over one million dollars in that account after Well 4 is paid for.
Kim is requesting a motion from the Commission for her and Brenda to use these funds for construction related items.
The Commission felt if every item Kim wanted to use the restricted funds for would come before the Commission that
a motion clarifying what the restricted funds could be used for would not be necessary.
Kim confirmed all requests for use of these funds will be brought to the Commission for construction related items
for the Water Department.
No action was taken.
5. Report on Fourth Avenue
construction bids.
Kim stated bids actually came in under budget although utilities and road were bid together.
Kim read a statement made by the Director of Public Works regarding the Fourth Avenue constriction bids as follows;
despite the fact the low bid came in under our estimate we are recommending to reject all bids for this project
and plan on rebidding in early spring. In analyzing the bids, it appears that there was some difficulty in utility
contractors getting good concrete prices and definitely some difficulty in concrete contractors getting good utility
prices. Our intention would be to separate the utility work and the street paving into two contracts. There is
good probability we will see lower prices in all areas next year even with inflation since early spring bids are
typically lower. In analyzing the bids we would anticipate a cost savings of over $100,000 by separating the bids
and doing it in early spring.
III. WATER OPERATIONS
6. Report on water distribution
operations.
The report was distributed.
A total of 237 valves were operated in 2008.
The underground construction on Plover and Shaurette is complete and ahead of schedule.
7. Report on water supply
operations.
Our pumpage in June was 209,792,000 gallons, a decrease of 37,514,000 gallons of water from June 2007.
Kim stated that pumpage is down again.
IV. SEWAGE TREATMENT OPERATIONS
8. Report on Collection System
garage change orders.
Kim explained the change order for $14,191 occurred because of poor soils at the construction site. They ran into
some organics, soft soils and poor backfill materials. The site is where the sludge storage lagoons used to be
which apparently weren't filled with the best fill. They had to take out more than anticipated and bring in some
clean fill. At one point, Rob Molski shut construction down due to the fact they weren't providing us with pricing
on what the additional charges would be.
Another change order was proposed for $28,000 that would have been to haul out soils and bring new soil in and
taking off two feet of material where the floor of the garage would have been. There was concern there would be
this same problem where the grit pad was to be installed. So Kim had them dig up where the grit pad was going to
be to check the soil and it only ended up being 6 yards. Then Kim talked to Nummelin Testing about compacting the
soil instead of taking it all out and bringing new soil in so they did and only had to remove about 6" in
the middle.
The suggestion from Nummelin Engineering was to redesign the garage floor slab with reinforcing steel instead of
mesh due to the fact we do not know what the soils are way underneath that.
Kim also found out the original contract was bid with sales tax included so that will come back as a credit which
will cover most of the additional costs incurred to date.
9. Report on Collection System
Maintenance.
The sewer report for the month of June was reviewed by the Commission. Kim stated the crew will be focusing on
doing more televising and they are doing a good job.
10. Report on sewage treatment operations.
B.O.D. (2.31 ppm), Phosphorus (0.565 ppm) and Suspended Solid (2.86 ppm) limits were met for the month of June
2008.
The next Water & Sewage Commission meeting will be August 11th, 2008 at noon.
V. ADJOURNMENT
Motion made by Mae Nachman, seconded by Jim Cooper to adjourn the meeting.
Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried.
MEETING ADJOURNED
12:24 p.m.
BOARD OF WATER AND SEWAGE COMMISSIONERS
EUGENE TUBBS, SECRETARY
The meeting minutes reproduced
on this website are derived from the computer files used to produce the official minutes for the City of Stevens
Point, but are unofficial. The minutes on this web site cannot be certified under
s. 889.08, Wis. Stats., and cannot be considered prima facie evidence under s. 889.04, Wis. Stats. Certain tables,
maps, and other documents that are a part of the official minutes are not included in the files reproduced on this
website. Please consult the printed minutes, available in the City Clerk's Office,
for the official text. The decisions made by City of Stevens Point boards, committees, and commissions (other than
the Police & Fire Commission) are advisory only and are not binding on the city until affirmed at a meeting
of the Common Council. Some of the minutes on this web site might not be approved by the Common Council as of today.
