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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-08-16 BOWC MIN Stillwater, Minnesota August 16, 2018 Regular Meeting: The regular meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners was held on Thursday August 16, 2018, at 8:00 A.M. All Commissioner were present, with President Speedling presiding. Also present was Jim Tibbetts, Council Member Menikheim, Karin Kills and Matt Ellingson. On motion of Commissioner Vania, duly seconded by President Speedling, all voting "Aye", the Agenda was accepted as presented. On motion of President Speedling, duly seconded by Commissioner Vania, all voting "Aye" the minutes of the July 12, 2018 regular meeting were read and approved as written. On motion of Commissioner Vania, duly seconded by President Speedling, all voting "Aye", Resolution No.1521 was approved for payment. Jim reported to the Board that the Olive Street work is moving along, most of the water work has been completed, he is still monitoring to make sure all our valves get brought up to grade after the asphalt gets put down, also a lot of mill and overlay and curb replacement has been done for the City of Stillwater reconstruction project this year. Two valves have been paved over downtown and Jim has been in touch with John Jurek, with City of Stillwater Engineering Department to let him know what valves need to be exposed. We have replaced three hydrants on Third Street, also put an extension on one, one planned valve was replaced and the other was replaced because it started to leak after it was operated and it would not stop. Manager Benson informed the Board that the original cost of the Third Street project will be increased due to the additional work that was required. Manager Benson also provided the Board with a picture explaining why twenty five feet of watermain needed to be cut out. Nottingham Village started doing their water and sewer tie-ins, the county project on Osgood Ave is moving along; they may start connecting the watermain loop in about two weeks and two more developments will be starting in a couple of weeks with 15-20 homes each. Manager Benson informed the Board that he was asked by Public Works Superintendent Tim Moore about running a plastic water service line from the concession building at the JC Ball Park to the dog park to provide potable water for the dogs, Manager Benson informed the Board that we do not allow the substitution of plastic verses copper pipe for service lines. After discussion, the Board does not want this to become a stepping stone for running plastic services lines to homes, therefore on motion of Commissioner Vania duly seconded by President Speedling, all voting "Aye", if they want potable water they will have to run Type K Soft Copper, non-potable water can be run in plastic pipe like an irrigation system, this would require a meter and backflow and there would also have to be a sign stating this is non-potable water with a spigot only, no fountain. Manager Benson provided the Board with a three year contract extension from CliftonLarsonAllen to complete the auditing for the Board with a 2% increase in 2019 0% for 2020 and 2% increase for 2021; the City of Stillwater Council has already approved a three year extension, therefore on motion of President Speedling, duly seconded by Commissioner Jensen all voting "Aye" the three year contract was approved as written. Manager Benson was asked by the crew if they would be able to accrue an additional 40 hours of comp time this year only because they are short staffed and putting in more hours, Manager Benson included himself in this as Kellie has been out for three weeks with a torn rotator cuff and he has been putting in a lot of additional time in the front office also the crew has been filling in for him at break and lunch times. After discussion, on motion of Commissioner Vania, duly seconded by President Speedling, all voting "Aye" staff will be able to accrue an additional 40 hours of comp time in 2018 only and this may be used in 2019. Manager Benson will be paid overtime for hours put in above the 40 hours according to the Union Contract. Manager Benson will be in contact with President Speedling if he feels they need to hire a temporary person after he talks with Kellie and finds out when she can return to work. Manager Benson informed the Board that he was contacted by Our Saviors Lutheran Church on Olive Street about their irrigation charges and after investigation they found that the meter was for irrigation use only and this should have been a deduct meter for the sewer billing. The meter was installed in 2003 and was setup wrong in our billing software at the time; he also contacted the City of Stillwater Utility Billing Clerk. Manager Benson has calculated a refund of $7,647.96; after discussion on motion of President Speedling, duly seconded by Commissioner Vania all voting "Aye", Our Saviors Lutheran Church will be given the option of a refund or a credit for $7,647.96 which would stay on their account. The following items were discussed, with no action taken: 1. Accounts receivable balance as July 31, 2018 was $299,950.32 with the actual amount being $279,375.48; this is $ 26,000.00 lower than last years. 2. Karen Kill, the administrator for the Brown’s Creek Water Shed District attended the meeting to discuss ways they could work with the Water Department on water conservation. There is a portion of Stillwater that falls within the boundaries of the Brown’s Creek Water Shed District, Liberty on the Lake, Legends, Settlers Glen, Millbrook and some of the newer commercial districts. They have funds in their 2019 budget for Local Government Cost Share Program, they would like to mimic the Cities of Woodbury and Cottage Grove with a Smart Irrigation Controller Incentive Program. The Water Department is interested in some type of a program for reduction in irrigations and what impact it would have over the next ten years it to meet the 10% per capita reduction as recommended in the 2016 water supply. Karen will talk with Carnelian Marine St Croix, Middle St Croix Water Shed District and Washington County Conservation District and she will report back for the October 2018 Board Meeting. The Water Board will be meeting with Safe Water Commission at the September 2018 Board Meeting to discuss their backflow prevention program and see if they are interested in adding irrigation controller inspection to their program. Manager Benson will be talking with City of Stillwater Administrator Tom McCarty about requiring smart controllers on all new construction. 3. Matt Ellingson with T.K.D.A. explained after meeting with Dave Hume and John Oswald with W.S.P. formally L.B.G (the company that worked with T.K.D.A to complete our Wellhead Protection Plan.) Discussion was held with W.S.P on how to build the contested case hearing regarding the modeling and the ground water flow direction; these are also some of the items that we have discussed with Attorney Sienko on the Amicus Brief. Matt feels they have a good leg to stand on as they have been working on a high level technical argument. Once we are notified of the Contested Case Hearing Process they will have to start working with Attorney Sienko and get it ready to submit to the Court; at this point we are still waiting to hear back from the Court, again this is for our individual Contested Case Hearing to fight the four conditions added to our Water Appropriations Permit on March 1, 2018, which includes; convert to surface water, a residential irrigation ban, per capita water use plan and report collaborative efforts. Matt has also been working with Manager Benson and Attorney Sienko on the Amicus Brief and White Bear Lake has passed the protective level about a month ago and the lake is the highest it has been in the last 15 years. 4. Manager Benson introduced the Board to David Sienko with Levander, Gillen & Miller via phone, David updated the Board on the Amicus Brief that he has been working on; this will be filed on Friday August 17, 2018 as it is due by Monday August 20, 2018 because of how the rules are set-up, the Board has seven days to file after the principal Brief that they are most aligned with; this being the DNR, our brief will not be terribly long as the Board was not part of the original case and David does not have access to the entire record, probably 20-40 banker’s boxes full of documents that David has no access to because the Board’s not a party in the Case, they are an Amicus, which means “Friend of the Court” The Board is in a weird place and is required to comply with the DNR’s new amendments to our Water Appropriation Permit based upon the District Court Order, but we were never involved in the District Court Case to begin with; many years ago the DNR moved to dismiss the case for the plaintiffs failure to add the necessary parties, the District Court talked about the Municipalities and then listed ten cities and Stillwater was not one of these ten cities in the District so the court eventually denied the DNR’s request to dismiss the case and also did not add the ten municipalities in question, later on the District Court in the final order talked about the cities that have the greatest impact on White Bear Lake and Stillwater was not one of them and at the end of the day the court said okay to a five mile radius around White Bear Lake will be drawn, and because of our Well #11 that is 4.99 miles from White Bear Lake Stillwater gets stuck into it and we have to comply with the Court Order but were never involved with the Court Case to begin with. This is very difficult and complex from every conceivable angle Legal, Common Law, Statutory, Regulatory Stand Point and based upon many factual records from many dulling expects, at the end of the day the Courts believed the Plaintiffs expert not the DNR’S experts. All we can do is ask the Court of Appeals to remove the City of Stillwater and the other three cities that were never in question and never mentioned in previous pleadings, never mentioned in the complaint, never mentioned by the Court. The four municipalities should be removed from the District’s Court order on the Water Appropriations Permit. This is ultimately what we are asking for and to keep this confined to the issues important to Stillwater and the other three cities, Lake Elmo, Oakdale, and St. Paul Regional Water Supply; Lake Elmo is also filing an Amicus Brief. One of the requirements of an Amicus is that you don’t restate everything that has already been stated; the Court wants us to shed new light and that’s why our brief will not be as long as the DNR’S however the DNR’S does touch on the fact that these cities should have been included earlier on in the case, Manager Benson will forward the Amicus Briefs from the DNR, City of White Bear Lake and the Town of White Bear Lake to the Board for review. 5. Commissioner Jensen brought up the progress on updating the Emergency Response Plan and after discussion Matt Ellingson from T.K.D.A. will be working with Manager Benson and provide an update at the November Board Meeting. 6. Discussion was held about the infographic and that we missed the deadline to include it with the cities newsletter, Manager Benson will check with the City to see if they will be sending out another newsletter this year. Commissioner Jenson brought up the website and Manager Benson informed her that he has contacted the library and was given a contact of Dan Gustafson, this is the person that designed the library’s website and Manager Benson is waiting for a call back. As Commissioner Jensen stated in the June meeting, if you go onto the City’s website and click on the Library’s link you will be directed to their site and the library states their site is easier to maneuver and update with the information. Manager Benson will have Dan come to the September to discuss options and cost. Commissioner Jensen also mentioned World Without Water Day and after discussion, this will be put on the calendar for next year because there is too much stuff going on right now to complete this by October 10, 2018 and Karen stated this is a national day 7. Commissioner Jensen talked about Stillwater becoming a Green Step City and after discussion Council Menikheim stated that this a bottom up partnership with the citizens and this will have to be driven by Sustainable Stillwater because the City cannot do this without their help, the expectation is that the public would do the research, evaluation and education then bring this forward to the City and they would approve them to move forward. Commissioner Jensen wanted the Board to be aware that there are some water segments in this program. 8. Commissioner Vania would like to have a drinking fountain installed at Neal and McKusick at mile marker #3 water station. Manager Benson will get an estimate for something similar to what is at station #0 on the north end of town by the DNR trailhead. Manager Benson will bring a quote back to the next Board meeting and also this would have to be approved by the City Council. 9. Manager Benson informed the Board that he and Jim have reviewed the nine applications and four of them were chosen; they will be interviewing them and the plan is to bring a recommendation to the September Board Meeting. 10. Manager Benson asked the Board if there were any items they wanted him to bring to the City Council Meeting, Manager Benson suggested the Amicus Brief and the Contested Case Hearing and Commissioner Jensen recommended informing the Council about the smart controllers for the irrigation systems, we having been working with Brown’s Creek; this is part of our goal recommended in the 2016 Water Supply Plan for a 10% reduction over the next ten years. The Board feels this will have the biggest impact on overall reduction. The Board is willing to support Sustainable Stillwater if they are approached regarding the Green Step Program. 11. Commissioner Vania attended the U of M Turfgrass and Irrigation Education Event and he recommends that the Water Department start using Fescue seed mixes based on soil conditions at future Water Department sites and further recommendations will be put on the Water Department’s Website once it is up and running. 12. Manager Benson informed the Board that the City is moving forward with Cartegraph; due to the amount of work required with this new program the work for the Water Department will not start until next year. 13. Manager Benson will sign up Commissioners Jensen and Vania for the AWWA conference in Duluth this fall and provide them with a registration receipt. 14. President Speedling requested new chairs for the Board Room, Manager Benson will get a quote and bring this back to the next meeting. There being no further business, on motion of President Speedling, duly seconded by Commissioner Vania, all voting “Aye”, the meeting was adjourned. Steve Speedling, President ATTEST: Robert G. Benson, Secretary