08-28-13 ww committeeAugust 28, 2013
A meeting of the Scandia Wastewater Advisory Committee was held on the above date. The meeting was called to order by Chair Chris Ness at 7:00 p.m. In attendance were: Doug Salmela,
Council member Jim Schneider, Daniel Cartier, Holly Kaufhold, Wayne Schmidt, Brad Bergo Planning Commissioner Steven Philippi Staff Kristina Handt, Tim Keiffer, and Engineer Ryan Goodman.
Members absent were James Malmquist and Mike Peterson.
Motion by Cartier, seconded by Kaufhold to approve the minutes from the April 24, 2013 meeting. Motion carried.
Staff Report
The committee reviewed the staff report from Public Work Director Kieffer regarding activities related to the sewers since the last meeting. There are two tanks left to pump in the 201
system, staff will be raising access covers, tanks are being put into GIS system, new contractor used for pumping tanks has led to cost reductions.
Review July 2013 Test Results
Goodman summarized report on test results from July testing of the 201 system. No limits were exceeded. A-Deep and B-Deep wells were not sampled this time because of damaged casing
and pipe that was discovered when contractor tried to pull pumps in these wells that weren’t working. Kieffer will talk to Pete Ganzel at Washington County about the possibility of
just capping these wells since others wells are available down gradient for monitoring.
2014 “201” Draft Budget
Keiffer mentioned the control panels in Bliss are old, failing and it is getting difficult to find replacement parts so he has been seeking quotes on upgrades. Dave Gardeen, Vice President,
Sales, TPC was present to cover over a proposal to upgrade control panels in both the 201 and Uptown systems. The proposal includes upgrading all control panels and a number of options
but they could be implemented in stages. The base price for seven pumps would be about $119,000 with options the price would be around $160,000. Gardeen answered questions from the
committee regarding selected brands, pricing and other options. Ness asked Kieffer which parts of the proposal are most needed. Kieffer suggests starting with Bliss 3 and 4 since
they’re having the most trouble and then the Anderson-Erickson control panel. Cost to do these pumps would be approximately $48,000. The question was asked if the individual tanks on
properties needed to be monitored and how they would work with the new control panels for the lift stations. Kieffer doesn’t’ recommend updating control panels on the individual tanks
because they are much simpler and it would not be cost effective. It’s more important to monitor what’s going into the drain field. Upgrading the control panels on the lift station
will not cause a problem for the individual tanks on properties because they don’t’ interact. Gardeen stated the pricing would be good for one year and provided a list of references
from Oakdale, Stillwater, Cottage Grove and Hugo.
The committee reviewed the draft budget for 2014. No rate increase is proposed, staffing will be charged to the fund rather than as a transfer to the general fund, the budget includes
$45,000 for control panel upgrades. Expenses exceed revenues which means fund balance will be needed. The fund balance at the end of 2012 was approximately $165,000. Cartier asked
about the efficiency and economy of scale of doing a larger project versus the piecemeal approach. The
committee will work on putting together a long range plan and capital improvement plan for the 201 system at future meetings.
2014 Uptown Draft Budget
The committee reviewed the draft budget for the Uptown System for 2014. Staff time will be charged directly to the fund rather than as a transfer to the general fund. Treasurer time
could be reduced if billing was done quarterly rather than monthly. Kaufhold and Schmidt were in agreement that anything to bring down costs should be done. An ordinance update will
be brought to a future meeting to recommend the change to the City Council. Utility costs (Xcel) are increasing as a result of the system upgrades completed in 2012 and the loan repayment
is included for 2014. So far no pumping has been required this year. Kieffer stated it is very dependent upon the usage from the customers. The 2014 budget includes the same amount
for pumping in case it is needed next year. The draft budget includes a 5% increase in the usage charge. The committee will review expenses again in November to see if the rate increase
is still necessary.
Committee Membership
Handt suggested the committee membership be reduced since there have been struggles to get a quorum of members to meetings in the past. Also, 10 members on the Wastewater Advisory Committee
is double the membership of other committees and boards. Based on attendance Handt recommended the following be appointed to staggered terms, thereafter the terms would be five year.
Initial appointments did not indicate term lengths.
Brad Bergo, Holly Kaufhold, Dan Cartier, Doug Salmela and Wayne Schmidt with Jim Schneider as the non-voting Council Liaison. Ness pointed out that those appointments gave Bliss and
Uptown two representatives but A/E only one. After further discussion the committee suggested a seven member committee comprised of two representatives from each system and one voting
Council member. Terms would be staggered so there would be overlap amongst the two positions for each system. Terms would end February 1st consistent with other committees.
Motion by Schneider, seconded by Kaufhold to recommend to the City Council a seven member Wastewater Advisory Committee with staggered terms to be provided by Handt. Motion carried.
Future Meeting Date / Agenda
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20 at 6:00 p.m. The budget, test results, flow data and long range planning will be on the agenda.
Motion by Schneider, seconded by Cartier to adjourn. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristina Handt
City Administrator