Gardiner Sanitary
District
Board of Directors
Meeting
October 18, 2012
Meeting called to
order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members Mike Quartararo, Charlotte Hinshaw, Dixie
Hash and Marc Fullhart. Also present
were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Roger Hermansen, Dennis Conger, Jessica
Lloyd-Rogers and Jerry Schneider.
Written copies of
the previous minutes were passed out and read, Marc motioned to accept the
minutes, seconded by Charlotte, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.
Written copies of
the financial report were passed out and read, Mike motioned to accept the report and pay the
bills, seconded by Dixie, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.
New
Business:
Jackie
introduced Roger Hermansen who was the diver for the sewer line repair so that
he could give a report on what he’d done and not have to stay for the whole
meeting. Roger gave us a brief history
of his diving background: he started commercial diving in 1989 so has many
years of experience, and he said he’s never seen a pipe in as bad shape as the
district’s is. There is definitely
potential for a catastrophic failure because it is so weak. He is preparing a written report on his
repair work and he also brought a dvd with a video documentary of the
work.
Old Business:
Ray conducted
a smoke test on the 6th of October with the help of Steve Bell. The Gardiner Fire Dept personnel also
participated. Ray has a written report
of the problems that they found and the addresses that are involved. Mike read a letter that he has prepared that
he would like to have sent to the homeowners’ whose properties were shown to
have issues.
Ray reported
that there was a huge increase in flows immediately after the last rains, something
that shouldn’t have happened quite that quickly, and suggested that they get
some new manhole covers that are designed to direct ground water away from
entering the sewer system through the manhole covers. Marc made a motion to have Ray order 3 such covers,
Mike seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Charlotte
presented the proposed ordinance update that she and Dixie prepared. They proposed to adopt the $15.00 per month
per EDU rate increase that the engineer has suggested, $10.00 to be effective
as of Jan. 1, 2013 and the other $5.00 per month per EDU increase beginning
July 1, 2013. This increase would bring
the EDU rate to $75.00 per month in Jan and then $80.00 per month in July.
Dixie stated that she would much prefer to continue the special property tax
rate which is due to expire at the end of this fiscal year, and possibly even
increase that rate, rather than increase the monthly user fees, but she doesn’t
see any way around at least some increase in user fees due to the huge increase
in charges that Reedsport has levied against them. Even though she doesn’t understand how they
calculated the figure that they have billed us, we must, for the time being,
operate under the assumption that it will need to be paid. Charlotte outlined the notification procedure
that must be met in order to update an ordinance, so the 1st reading
of the proposed new ordinance will be read at the Nov 15th regular
board meeting, with the second reading at the December 20th board meeting.
Dixie made a
motion to make the new EDU increase effective 1/1/13, Charlotte seconded and
the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Charlotte
reported that there is no update on the heater grant as of this date.
New Business:
Ray reported
on the main sewer line break that occurred last week, reiterating what Roger
had to say, and added that per the agreement to use the vacated water line as
the backup sewer line, we are required to flush the line after any usage, so he
is in the process of finding a tanker truck that will be able to handle the
volume.
Safety
Meeting:
Ray has
scheduled an OSHA consultation.
Dixie
reported that she had received an email from Becky Bryant stating that they had
sent the new study back for clarification on the scope of work and are still
waiting for completion of that. Norb
Wondra received a call from Susan Morgan requesting a copy of IP’s Phase 1
study, stating that the county needs more information to investigate possible
insurance coverage.
Ray reported
that all 4 pumps have been reconditioned now and are in good position to make
it through the winter.
Ray also
presented a proposal to have Steve take over the meter reading 7 days a week in
order to keep him employed as he has proven to be a lot of help to him and a
dependable employee. However, he would
still like to have the new contract he proposed for himself approved at the same
rate that was discussed prior to this even though his duties would be
reduced.
Mike
questioned what Steve’s rate of pay was for meter reading vs. emergency
callouts and Ray explained that he was getting $10.00 per hour regardless of
the work or time. Mike made a motion to
raise the rate for Steve for callouts to $15.00 per hour, Dixie seconded and
the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Dixie made a motion to have Steve read meters 7 days per week, Charlotte
seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote. Marc made a motion to accept Ray’s proposed
new contract to start November 1, Mike seconded and the motion passed by
unanimous voice vote.
Dixie
referred to an email that she had received from Garrett Pallo in which he
stated that the Reedsport Sewer Plant was out of compliance with the DEQ and
asked Ray if he knew anything about it.
Ray explained that the Reedsport plant had been receiving an excess of
RV dumping since Winchester Bay restricted their dump station to a fixed number
per day, causing an overload of RV chemical that they had not anticipated. They are in the process of working to correct
the situation.
Items not on the Agenda, Open to the Public:
Dennis
Conger suggested that the board should consider setting up a meeting with the new
Reedsport city manager as soon as possible to conduct contract talks and also
to request support for the IP plant proposal to the county commissioners. Jackie and Dixie volunteered to get together
with Dennis and review the details of the contract proposal and to try to set
up a meeting with Mr. Wright and Vera Koch.
All agreed that time was of the essence especially since the district
had just received a letter from Vera threatening small claims litigation for non-payment
of the monthly billed amount.
Dennis also
contributed $25.00 to the District to go towards the purchase of a new printer
since the old one is starting to fail.
Suggestions for Next Meeting:
- First
reading of the new ordinance
- Update
from the engineer re:meeting with commissioners
- Update
on the meeting with City of Reedsport
Mike made a motion to adjourn, Marc seconded
and the meeting was adjourned.
Submitted by Mary
Chambers (Office Manager)
