Minutes of the Meeting of the Prudential Committee

Jericho Fire District No 1

April 21, 2015

Attendees: Brian MacDonald, Ann knoll Lerner, Les Allen

CCR: Les reported that the CCR (Consumer Confidence Report) was distributed electronically to 67 of the 72 water system customers. The remaining customers will be served via US mail. This report of our water quality in 2014 has a mandate by State law to attempt delivery to all customers. This report will also be added to our web site.

Op Permit: Les reported that he received notice that our State Operating permit is due to expire and he will file the required renewal application.

Generator Maintenance contract: A maintenance contract offer from Reliant Electrical Works was reviewed, discussed and approved by the PC. This included a list of yearly preventive maintenance items for a cost of $250. This generator is what will keep the reservoir and the pressure pumps operating during a power outage.

Customer shut offs: After consideration of the pros and cons of operational testing all 72 customer shut-offs it was decided to not do this work. We currently will operate on a fix when needed bases.

Back-wash holding tank pump-out: With the withdrawal of our U.I.C. (Underground Injection Control) permit, the PC discussed this now uncontrolled part of our operation and alternatives for manganese sludge disposal. With the cost of $780 per pump out, expected 3 to 4 times per year, it appears worth considering. After a discussion, It was concluded that more research is needed before making a decision.

“FoothillsAll” email distribution: Recent use concerns were discussed. The Yahoo facility for simple e-mail to all (in the Foothills), is a free facility but with the restriction of no document attachments. Les explained that he created a separate Water System Clerk’s distribution that will allow the attachment of documents like the CCR recently sent. Otherwise, he would be required to send 72 US Mail letters.

Other types of water system documents, like these meeting minutes, can also be sent directly, without a copy and paste. It was not intended, and shouldn’t be used by piggy backing, as an alternatives to the FoothillsAll distribution. That distribution is intended for all other options useful to the Foothills neighborhood. There are currently 56 on the FoothillsAll distribution of the likely 67 possible. We hope that those missing will be able to sign-in successfully. It should be noted that a distribution to “all” goes to “all” and some discretion should be used before adding to everyone’s In box.

Respectfully submitted;

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential Committee Meeting

Jericho Fire District No. 1

February 17, 2015

Attendees: Brian McDonald, Fred Lavenberg, Les Allen

Financials: Financials were not reported nor discussed.

Bill Collecting: After researching the requirements, mostly related to the bank deposits, Mac has informed the PC that he will continue billing by mail. The Second quarter 2015 will be mailed this month. One of our water system customer is in arrears two quarters after paying with checks that have bounced. The house is currently unoccupied and the water has been shut off. The whereabouts of the owner is not known. Mac has performed all proper notifications (stipulated by law). Because the post office is forwarding mail, it was decided by the PC that a certified letter from the Clerk, representing the PC, would be sent in an attempt to determine the situation. A property lien is being explored.

Back wash holding tank: The tank was pumped out on 2/6/15 when the sludge depth indicated the need. Because this seems too frequent, Les and our system operator Kirk Patch were observers. The tank is 17’ long with the access at one end. While the sludge that is pumped out is a soft flowing material, we concluded that there may be an accumulation (25 yrs. ?) of solids at the other end that is reducing the containment volume. We decided, and the PC supports an effort to gain access at the other end of the tank for clean out purposes. The second sealed concrete access will be replaced with a “Tuft-Tite” lid. This will allow us to determine if there is a problem and a way to remedy it. This work will be done during warm weather. It is hoped that this will reduce the frequency of pump outs.

Vt. public meeting laws: As a Fire District, we are a municipality under Vt. State law and subject to meeting notice and meeting minute’s regulations. The Vt. State legislature made changes to these laws last session and are considering changes again. We are able to maintain awareness of these activities through weekly legislative publication from the Vt. League of Cities and Towns.

Respectfully submitted,

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential Committee Meeting

Jericho fire district No. 1

November 18, 2014

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

Ratified electronic decisions: Three decision made via e-mail between meetings were ratified by the P.C. These were for SOS requests to; hire a plumber to check out the filter building heater, to purchase a sludge judge for measuring the back wash tank sludge level and to purchase a back wash tank lid that a single person can remove.

Reservoir building gas conversion: The installation and hook-up of natural gas was completed. Les will contact Suburban Gas to remove the existing propane tank and discuss compensation.

Sludge in the back wash holding tank: Les reported our SOS operator measured the sludge level to exceed the allowable and that P & P Septic pumped out 3,000 gal. of manganese sludge on 11/12. This is the second pump out in 2014, within a little less than 6 months. From this it was decided that we need to plan for three pump outs per year, going forward.

Stuck shut-off valve: at #6 Ridge Rd. Our operator reported that more often the connecting pin assembly corrodes and can be replaced. This shut-off needs complete replacement and due to the lateness of the season, recommended that this work be postponed until Spring of 2015. A shut-off of water for all of Ridge Rd. and re-flushing will be required. The PC agreed with the recommendation from our operator to defer this work. Les will contact the absent owner to notify that our water system operator has proposed that we (they) conduct an all customer shut-off valve assessment next summer. Some of these valves are nearing 40 yrs. old and may have corroded beyond usability, as shown by the valve at #6 Ridge Rd. The P.C. approved this proposal.

Water scale/sediment: reported at #15 Ridge Rd. Fred will contact the customer to investigate further and provide recommendations.

Bill collecting proposal: The pending 1st qtr. 2015 billing will occur in the normal manner. Beginning with the 2nd qtr. Of 2015 Mac Lippert will try electronic billing notification and offer the option for electronic transfer for the payment. To do this will require a new, dedicated bank account from which the payments can be monitored and then swept into the treasurer’s account. The Prudential Committee approved this proposal and authorized Mac Lippert to set-up this new account at the Merchants Bank.

Financials: Brian Stevens presented the current balance/prior year comparison, and the income and cash flow summary. The planned expenditures tracked reasonably well with priors except for three unplanned expenditures which have depleted our reserve fund, as reported previously. This reserve fund was planned to accumulate sufficiently to accommodate six significant expenses (in excess of $28,000) within the next three years.

After considerable discussion of the implications and how to meet potential consequences of this short-fall in the reserve fund, the P.C. agreed that our proposed budget for 2015 will include a 15% increase, to begin with the second qtr. Billing. The P.C. will prepare a sufficient presentation of this need at the annual meeting. Anyone wishing to discuss this earlier can plan to attend the Dec. P.C. meeting on 12/16 at 7:00 PM, Rawson library.

Annual meeting preparation: The Fire District annual meeting will be held; 7:00 PM, January 20, 2015 in the conference room Ann and Fed will continue their terms as P.C. The P.C. will nominate Brian McDonald for a three year term as P.C. member. The P.C. will nominate Brian Stevens and Les Allen, each to a one year terms as Treasurer and Clerk respectively.

Respectfully submitted,

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

Minutes of Prudential committee Meeting

Jericho Fire District No. 1

October 21, 2014

Attendees: Ann Knoll-Lerner, Mac Lippert, Les Allen, Brian MacDonald

Organization changes: Debbie Lackey and Dawn Makowinskyi, who have together, performed our bill collecting tasks, are both leaving us; our management team, the neighborhood and Vermont. We thank them both for their service to our water system and our neighborhood and we wish them well in their new adventures.

Mac Lippert has offered to take over the water billing and Brian MacDonald has offered to fulfill the remainder of Mac’s PC committee position.

The PC Committee voted to accept Mac’s resignation and appointed him as our Bill Collector. We thank Mac for his nearly three years on the PC and for his willingness to step into another job for us.

The PC Committee also voted to appoint Brian MacDonald to the empty PC position. We welcome Brian to our team.

Delinquent water bills: The current set of delinquent bills was discussed. One of these is still outstanding and the water will be shut off. It is unfortunate that this occurs as we are a volunteer organization and the extra work imposed by these delinquencies is not compensated. We discussed the State laws that both govern and constrain our actions. An additional and allowable 8% collector’s compensation was discussed, but the PC Committee voted to not impose this.

U.I.C. permit/sludge measurement and reporting: With the completion of our re-constructed back-wash leach field, the State’s permit requires quarterly measurements and reporting of the manganese sludge level in the settling tank. Our SOS operators will perform this additional measurement during October. It is likely that this tank will have an addition pump out before winter.

Budget proposal for 2015: no work was done at this meeting on this. The November meeting will see us finalize what will be proposed at our January Annual meeting so that it can be published in advance.

Discussion: We spent a few minutes discussing the water system, our varied measurements and reporting, and our monthly meeting protocol. We will have more of this at future meeting to ensure Brian gets up to speed quickly.

Respectfully submitted;

Les Allen, Clerk, JFD#1

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