Minutes of Prudential Committee Meeting

Jericho Fire district No. 1

August 19, 2014

Attendees: Mac Lippert, Fred Lavenberg, Les Allen

Wellhead protection area. Les showed a recent copy of the current ANR map of our wellhead protection area that now includes the area for our primary source well. The fact that it was missing came to light in conjunction with the hearing for the Atwood development, with which there was a conflict.

CCR (Consumer Confidence Report) This water quality report for the year 2013 was distributed to our water system customers, mostly by email and some by US mail as required by State law.

UIC (Underground Injection Control) The “draft” permit (not to be issued until we complete the leach field re-construction) shows a new requirement for us, to measure the sludge level in the holding tank quarterly and to report the back-wash water quantity used. Our System Operator (SOS) will add this to the tasks that they perform for us. This is in addition to the annual engineering assessment reporting requirement for the backwash system.

Filter backwash leach field reconstruction The reason for this was explained in our June meeting minutes. The engineering work; design, permit processing, bid processing and construction supervision has been contracted and partially performed. The construction contract has been signed with the work expected to commence before 9/1/14. The total cost for this is expected to be $22,960.

Water service charge increase likely Due to several unexpected projects we have used most of the Capital Reserve fund, the money which was planned for expected replacement needs. This will need to be replenished, and the PC will be working to determine how much the quarterly billing will increase next year to accomplish this. LP to Vt Gas John Irving reported that the conversion to natural gas of our pump house heater and electric generator will cost $940.

New bill collector needed Debbie Lackey informed the PC that she will be moving to North Carolina (she’s taking Dave with her). We thank Debbie for the tasks she has performed for us and extend Dave and Debbie our best wishes. Debbie will conduct the 2014, 4th qtr. Billing, and a new bill collector will be needed by December. If anyone is interested in helping us with this please let us know soon. First to

Possible billing by email The PC discussed the possibility of sending the first pass billing by email. This will not cover every customer but will dramatically cut down on the work and save the district about $150/year. We don’t know if or how well this will work but further investigation will be done. We welcome your comments.

Respectfully submitted

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential committee Meeting

Jericho fire District No. 1 (Foothills Water system)

May 21, 2014

Attendees: Brian Stevens, Ann Kroll Lerner, Mac Lippert, Fred Lavenberg, Les Allen

Ann reported that the Vt. Gas conversion work, LP to natural gas, at the reservoir/pump house was completed.

Fred reported that the Customer listings upgrade is a work in progress. Due to the cost reduction conversion to a Yahoo based e-mail system, getting all customers into this database is taking some time.

Les reported that the Source Protection Plan update work, performed by S.O.S. was completed. This and the dependent application for a Phase II/V monitoring waiver has been prepared for submission to the ANR Drinking Water and Ground Water Protection Div. This monitoring for volatile and synthetic organic chemicals can be conditionally waved based on historical experience.

Les reported completing a 39 question survey from the DWGPD Capacity Program of the ANR.

Our customer complaints about water discoloration was discussed. Our system operator recommends customers with this experience, flush out their water heater. He also proposed that they (S.O.S.) conduct their annual distribution line flushing soon and include the scheduled half (one of two sides) reservoir cleaning. These work tasks were approved by the PC (Prudential Committee).

Our underground Injection Control (back wash holding tank and leach field) failed inspection. The cause was our neglect, three years ago, to pump out accumulated manganese from the settling tank and some of that sludge was pumped into the leach field, causing its dysfunction.  The ANR has ordered the leach field replaced (by 9/1/14). Green Mountain Engineering is preparing for us, an estimate to do this.

Brian led a discussion of our finances, using several documents that he prepared. He projects that we will reduce our cash reserves at YE by $4,000. There were two principal causes for this; 1) the expensive (in mid-winter) distribution line rupture repair and 2) creek bank re-construction of the flooding last year. Otherwise, expenses have tracked to expectations.

The second part of our financial review was the capital replacement reserve fund. This is money needed for anticipated but irregular items, such as well pump replacement and filter element re-bedding. This fund needs to provide $28,000 for six projects expected within six years. The year end reserve fund amount will be further reduced with the unplanned leach field replacement. Although yearly budgets have historically provided for reserve funding through budgeted surpluses (and accumulated cash reserves from prior years are adequate to provide for near-term equipment replacements), the Prudential Committee may want to consider a future rate adjustment to compensate for the current year deficit.

A development project proposed for a section of the D. Davis farm, with access from the Foothills, will add septic tanks/fields within our wellhead protection area. This is the area from within which bacteria is “reasonably expected” to migrate to the well source within the 2 year degradation time. We have expressed our concern to the Jericho Development Review Board, which, procedural, will defer to the Vt. ANR, Water Resources Section, for septic system approval.

Charlie Wiegand has performed $450 worth of free work to clear rocks and boulders from our river property, without which we could not have the usual brush-hogging work done.

Respectfully submitted,

Leslie Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential Committee Meeting

Jericho fire District No. 1 (Foothills Water System)

March 24, 2014

Attendees: Brian Stevens, Fred Lavenberg, Mac Lippert, Ann Kroll Lerner, Les Allen

Brian reviewed the current “Income and Cash Flow” and the detailed “Income and Expense” documents. The only out of normal expenses were the charges related to the recent leak repair. ECI Construction cost was $7,277, SOS operator support cost was $1,775 and plumber cost to fix the line blockage at #35 Foothills cause by the leak repair work was $465. The total comes to $9,517.

This expense, plus the approx. $9,000 unplanned cost for last year’s creek embankment fix, is cause for us to consider a re-look at the Capital Replacement Fund balance before next year’s annual meeting. The purpose is to see if we still have sufficient funds for expected long term expenses.

Fred reported that his work to update the e-mail and call-em-all customer lists is nearly complete.

The latest Customer Confidence Report, the annual report of our water quality, has been received from the ANR and will be distributed to our customers in compliance with State laws.

Two Prudential Committee decisions made off line (for schedule urgency reasons) were ratified. These were;

1)      A decision to decline a State offer for a free professional leak detection survey. The reasons for passing on this were the pre-commitment required to the expense associated with any fix they recommended and the competitive nature of the bid application process.

2)      Our agreement to accept the SOS bid of $200 to produce an update to our Source Protection Plan. This is a State mandated update to our Plan, due by June 1.

We also received from the State a request to submit an application for a Phase II/V testing waiver renewal. This is due when and with the SPP by June 1. This is simply an accepted avoidance of water testing, not needed in the circumstance of our system. We only need to ask, again.

We agreed to a contract with Green Mountain Engineering for an inspection of our filter backwash, settling tank and leach field system. This is referred to as UIC (Underground Injection Control) for which our permit requires this annual engineering inspection and report. The cost for this is $350.

Les explained a complaint that he has. His grumbling are omitted for brevity. A legitimate inquiry regarding our water system is often made in conjunction with the sale and purchase of homes in the Foothills. Our web sitewww.jerichofoothills.org provides all that is needed. There can be found; our bylaws, our water system regulations, the Consumer Confidence Report, a diagram of the system and the management organization. Les explained his willingness to answer homeowner questions and potential home buyer questions but not realtor’s “tell me about the water system” requests. These have been all too frequent. Also, his name and phone number should not be provided to realtors or included on MLS listings. Please!

 

Respectfully submitted;

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential Committee Meeting

Jericho Fire district N0. 1 (Foothills water system)

February 18, 2014

Attendees: John Irving, Mac Lippert, Ann Kroll Learner, Les Allen

John reported that the work to fix the pipe leaks in the Reservoir building is scheduled for Wed. 2/19 at 9:00am (tomorrow). Water from the reservoir will continue to flow but without pump pressure. This pump off condition will only effect a limited set of customers, higher up in the Foothills as gravity feed will continue to supply water to the majority of homes. John will e-mail the “foothills-all” customer list and Fred Lavenberg will put out a phone message via our call-em-all phone service.

This expenditure, estimated at $550, was approved at our 12/17/13 meeting.

Other repair work completed, or in the works, and had been authorized via e-mail PC vote, were ratified at this meeting by vote of the Prudential Committee. These are;

1. $950 for a replacement propane heater in the filter building.

2. $440.93 to replace the worn impeller and associated gaskets in one of our booster pumps.

3. $100 to $200 estimate for the pump motor re-conditioning. This will allow the pump to be our spare, back up pump.

The schedule for the conversion of the reservoir building heat from propane to natural gas was discussed. Some of Vt. Gas work has been done but the final connection (underground) will be done when weather permits. Ann will follow-up with Vt. Gas for scheduling this final connection.

The need to re-establish an annual audit was discussed. Mac offered to take on finding a volunteer auditor and scheduling a YE 2013 audit.

Les will follow up his request to SOS for an estimate to re-do our Well-head Protection Plan. This must be completed for the State by June ’14.

Les commented on the work he must complete to transfer our Fire District records to a file cabinet (Fire District owned) in the Town Office. When completed, our records will have a long term repository and be accessible by FD officers.

Respectfully submitted;

Les Allen, Clerk

JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential Committee Meeting

Jericho fire district #1 (Foothills water system)

Dec. 17^th, 2013

Attendees: John Irving, Brian Stevens, Fred Lavenberg, Mac Lippert, Les Allen

System technical items:

John reported that the malfunctioning heater in the filter building had been replaced at a cost of $950. (just in time we might add)

John reported that the pump house has several pipe leaks that need fixing. It appears that vibration from the on/off of the pumps has caused loosening of some joints. This will require cutting and replacing portions of pipe. John had secured an estimate from a local plumber, Steve Chase, who had multiple recommendations, for $500 to do the work. This expenditure was approved.

John also reported that the Vt gas line has been partially laid to the pump house. The under driveway piece and the in-building connections remain to be done. When completed this will replace the current dependance on the more expensive propane.

Financial:

Brian provided and explained; 1) the balance sheet, 2) a summary of income and expense, 3) a cash reconciliation. A quick summary; we have a remaining State Bond Bank liability of $275,242. This is from the 2004 reconstruction of our system upon our initial ownership, we have a bank balance of $52,177 (this includes our capital replacement fund), we have a projected YE surplus of $18,533 (before yearly additions to our Capital. Replacement Fund).

From a review of current year expense and expectations for the next year it was concluded and agreed that there is no increase in water rates required at this time.

Administration:

Les reported that a meeting is scheduled on 12/19 with VTRAN auditors who have an obligation to perform financial audits of all recipients of FEMA funds for the 2011 “Irene” hurricane. (This happened)

Les also reported receiving a notice from the State that our Wellhead(s) Protection Plan is required to be updated by June 2014. After some discussion of the requirements it was decided that Les will ask our System Operator, Simon Operations Systems, for an estimate to do this work.

Others: Annual meeting notice

The Prudential Committee set our 2014 annual meeting to be on Tuesday, January 21,2014 at 7:00 PM, in the Conference room at the Lawson library.; with the following agenda.

Article I To elect a Moderator for one year.
Article II To hear the Treasurers report.
Article III Shall the JFD#1 accept the proposed or amended budget?
Article IV Shall the JFD#1 authorize the Prudential Committee to borrow money for the temporary needs of the Fire District?
Article V To elect a JFD#1 Prudential Committee member for a period of three years.
Article VI To elect a Treasurer for one year.
Article VII to elect a Clerk for one year.
Article VIII To elect a Bill Collector for one year.
Article IX Other JFD#1 business thought proper when met.

Respectfully submitted;

Leslie Allen, Clerk JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential Committee meeting

Jericho Fire District #1

Oct. 14, 2013

Attendees: Brian Stevens, Fred Lavenberg, Ann Knoll Lerner, Mac, Lippert, Les Allen

Finances: Brian provided a “Balance Sheet” and an “Income and Cash Flow Summary”. These show that the cash flow from operations YTD is on track with the Budget exception for the $9,350 for the Creek bank rebuild after the May flooding.

This work we considered an emergency as it had been so declared for the “Irene” repair. Because we proceeded to fix it as before, we neglected to file a notice with the State within 30 day of the Presidential disaster declaration. A FEMA rule. The consequence is we do not qualify for assistance. After some discussion about the rigidity of FEMA rules and the slim possibility of an appeal success, it was decided that we should try. Les will do this.

Brian also showed a “Summary of Income and Expense” that includes a detail listing of all payments made. Brian commented that an appropriate bill payment process would be for the treasurer to make payments only after a PC approval. The Committee approved his continuing to make payments upon receipt of bills and display the detail at the monthly meetings.

Technical: The installation of a VT. Gas line to replace the more costly propane at the reservoir, pump house had been delayed by a needed agreement between the Lerners and VT. Gas. It is from the Lerner’s property gas line that the water system line is to be accessed. Ann reported that the agreement was completed to their satisfaction and only needs a notary of their signatures.

WEB page: Our web page was temporarily down due to a needed renewal payment, which has now been payed. This brought awareness of it being not up to date. Fred noted that he believed some data may not be sufficiently “fire walled”. Fred will meet with Mike Wright, our web master, and discuss what to do about the web site condition.

Other: Les reported finding evidence of camping/partying on our lower well property. This past Saturday evening, at sunset, saw four cars parked at the road gate. The “no trespassing “ sign has been missing for some time. It was agreed to replace a “no trespassing” that adds “authorized persons only” to accommodate service persons. It was noted that all Foothills residents, as co-owners of the water system, are considered “authorized persons” and can/should feel free to enter for recreational purposes.

Respectfully submitted,

Leslie Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential committee Meeting

August 20, 2013

Jericho Fire District No. 1

Attendees: Fred Lavenberg, Mac Lippert, Brian Stevens, Les Allen

Brown water: The recent multiple customer reports of brown water was discussed. Our System operator responded to a number of questions intending to identify the cause. Included in his response was; 1) the distribution line flush performed in June went according to plan and the water at each flush point ended with clean water, 2) the reservoir water with weekly observations, looks clean, 3) The filter back-wash reaches clean water discharge, The filter media treatment with chlorine instead of permanganate was manufacturer recommended and appears to provide an improvement.

The opinion of the operator, with our support, is that individual service lines from the system distribution lines to individual homes is the likely source of accumulated sediment. This accumulation is from disturbed sediment during the system flush. Because these lines cannot be flushed during the system flush, they should be done by each home owner by opening an outside faucet for 10 to 20 minutes, preferably bypassing any house filter.

Gas line conversion to reservoir building: Neither Ann Lerner or John Irving were in attendance to address the status of this item.

Treasurer’s report: Brian presented a :balance sheet, cash flow summary and a year to date I & E statement. The year to date cash flow, compared to the budget, appears to be on track.

A bill from C. Wiegand for work performed to re-construct the Creek bank after the May 22 flood erosion was discussed. The amount of $9,350 included the yearly brush hogging of the 14 acre site. The re-construction work resulted in a heightened embankment, larger stones and grass seeding to better prevent back side erosion if future flooding occurs. This May 2013 flooding far exceeding the water height that occurred from hurricane Irene in 2011. Les explained that none of this expense will be re-reimbursed from either State or Federal. Brian believes this is containable from our reserve fund but may result in some future risks.

Bill collector: Sandi Colbourne ended her service as one of our collector team members. We thank Sandi for volunteering her time for this task. We are pleased to accept Debby Lackey as Sandi’s replacement bill collector, with Dawn Makowenskyi continuing her team support.

Jericho town wide water system: Les provided copies of a letter he is sending to the Jericho Select Board, encouraging them to initiate a study for a “town” water system.

The motivation for this came from observing the conflict between geologist assessing the risks to the Jericho East wellhead from the proposed Dollar General store. The store will be at the extreme edge of the defined “well head protection area”. If the risk is sustained by the State assessment, it would mean that most of the Jericho Commercial Zone could not be developed.

Our system has two well sites and the Jericho-Underhill Water System has two well sites, all having additional wellhead protection areas that inhibit development. All of these restriction would be removed if the Town formed a water utility that absorbed these water systems and the Jericho Village water system (which abandoned their wells some years ago) and provided water from the Champlain Water System (lake) all of the public (and many private) wells could be abandoned along with the needed protection areas. Les hopes that a Town funded study would define if and how this might be done and the consequences to current water systems ownership.

Respectfully submitted;

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1