##VIDEO ID:04ftw6CGOT0## yeah yes good evening lunenberg this is Brett Ramon um I'm the vice chairman of the Sewer Commission and um I would like to ask everybody to join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance Mike would you happen to have that flag there he is would you be willing to lead us sir a pledge allegiance flag unit States the repice all right and gentlemen it sounds like that every time we do it okay gotta I was like oh wow it's not just you on your end okay it feels good now in any event moving right along um yes in accordance with the acquirements the requirements of open meeting law please be advised that this meeting of the Sewer Commission uh is being recorded and will be able to be found on the lunenberg access YouTube channel after the meeting the following information is also provided from members of the public that would like to participate in the meeting remotely to participate remotely from a computer please use the link join to join uh the public meeting webinar found on the posted agenda or from a telephone dial the toll-free number 888 475 4499 and enter the webinar ID 871 17681 1305 if you have not registered with zoom you will be asked to for your name and an email address no no participant ID is needed press pound when asked I will do a roll call uh to confirm that all members and staff are here um and are present and can hear me U members when I call your name please respond in the affirmative um Mike Mackin here Eli Torres here and uh Joseph Hurley not here Scott doll here and Brett Ramon is here uh and staff when I call your name please respond in the affirmative uh Bill Bernard here Jane ranley here thank you both for being here um and um I would like to see ask if there is any public comment that is uh anybody from the public here I don't see anybody do you see anybody Bill nope there's no public here all right um and I'm going to ask if there's any public comment from the Commissioners I myself have one I would like to say hello to Scott and Eli and thank you both for being here and uh introduce you to lunenberg as our newly appointed members of the um SE Commission of lunberg um you have all have you gentleman met bill yet no we no now we did right right okay and this is Jean she's she does all our recording and she's magnificent doesn't miss a trick right hi Jane hi welcome to the commission yeah thank you than you and um having said that thank you gentlemen thank you Jean and Bill and Mike of course and we'll get moving right along are there any other uh comments from the commission or staff seeing none okay uh seeing none are there any announce ments that need to be made all right we're going to move right into current business um we're going to start with the reor reorganization of the Sewer Commission now that we have enough members to have a quorum um we as most people know we have lost our um um our leader our chair um Tron Reynolds and so we're going to need to uh find a new uh chair this evening and a clerk um and I would like to start by hearing any nominations uh for those who would want to be chair I would like to nominate Mike Mackin myself and then have a discussion on that folks sure I would second the nomination for Mike yep yeah second the nomination for Mike okay and um Mike do you have any comments before we vote [Music] and just to say that we're at a very challenging time and uh I'm rather new to the commission and so I appreciate any support that uh you know could be given along the way given the the challenging transitional period that we're in um and uh you know I'm looking to lean on Bill and and and the staff to make sure we're we're on the road properly I promise uh that we're going to give you uh any support we can and of course um uh be here with much patience and during your learn your go as you go process and uh help you any way we can thank you uh having said that um we actually need to uh we need somebody to make a motion uh to vote for Mike Mackin as our new chair is if could uh one of you gentlemen make a motion um for this vote you g to make a motion to start the vote for Mike Mack is commission uh new chair for the commission yeah new chair for the commission sorry all right um could I have a second on that yeah I would like to dominate Mike Dawkins as a chairman thank you very much um since the there's been a motion and it's been second um I'm going to do a roll call vote and answer the affir affirmative of I if it's a yay or nay um Scott do hi Eli Torres hi um Mike Macklin Mackin all due respect ol stain okay and I for myself so the motion carries and Mike is our new chair thank you hey congratulations I'm honestly not sure how this works I assume I should continue the meeting or do we know I assume I will but Bill how does this work you know if I could indulge the the the commission uh to allow uh Brett to uh continue to the end of the meeting and then we'll pick it up next time and I'll I'll run the meeting if that's acceptable to the members sure no problem yeah no problem here all right and I shall do that thank you Mike um so moving on uh we do also need somebody in the U the position of Clerk and we've tried to get we've had a description of this in the past um basically Jean is doing that job for us I'm not sure what else is involved in being clerk other than if the chair isn't present and Vice chair is in presid then the clerk would probably have to run the meeting um Bill are you aware of any other uh yeah not really yeah I have to try to dig up the descriptions I could I've been the clerk for for a little bit now and um I haven't been called upon to to do very much you haven't been overwhelmed with the possession I've not been overwhelmed with past would anyone like to nominate someone to be Clark Eli you feeling it you can nominate yourself if you'd like well I mean what is it involving stuff like that you know I really want to know before I get myself into you know I'm willing to do anything but you know I just want to make sure that I you know that I'm the normal duties of a clerk of any committee are to keep the records uh you know basically the The Record Keeper of the committee uh given the fact that we have assistance in the in the recordkeeping not just assistance B basically we have someone who who does that for us very well um there's very little that's that you're called upon to do other than uh as we said you know chair the meeting should both the chair and the vice chair be absent I've never seen happen actually I haven't seen it happen either no um so could be uh I'd like to nominate Scott doll since he didn't say [Music] no I have no problem with helping out okay second that what what was that I will second that oh okay very good it's been uh Scott doll's been nominated and the nomination has been second let's do a roll call vote Eli Torres yeah hi Mike Ma hi and uh Scott doll I stain okay and I for myself motion carries we have office we have our new officers in place thank you everybody this is quite wonderful it is quite wonderful Belle has hand up yep uh I guess it goes without saying that Brett Remains the vice chair i p I think for the record we should actually have that done so I nominate for vice chair of the Sewer Commission I'll I'll second that motion all right the motion's been uh the nomination been put forth It's been seconded uh we'll do a roll call vote um we'll do Scott dll hi Eli Torres hi Mike Mackin hi and I'm going to abstain um but the motion carries three to one or with no objections um all right and thank you B I think we start a new tradition yes we did um and I wasn't sure I I honestly going into this wasn't sure that um the vice chair had to be renominated but it only makes sense that it happens you know what I mean um yeah Le a tall oak there right now yeah dotting the eyes and crossing the te's Elsa suspenders there you go all right so next on the order of business would be talking about our business manager position um let's start a discussion with that and I'm going to ask Bill for an update in that area B if you could take the okay sure well since we have two new members let me go back a little ways so we had a longtime business manager many many years um that was Barbara she retired but before she retired we hired an assistant sewer business manager and that was Paula so when Barbara retired Paula took over the position so it was a seamless transition as Paula knew pretty much knew what the position was all about she was doing a lot of the work anyway so it's seamless uh so Paula was here about a year and a half and she recently left so we haven't we had we did hire an assistant she only lasted a few months and then we hired a new sewer business manager she only lasted about a week she left last week just left the key on the desk and said the job's not for me so right now we're without a sewer business manager so pretty much all the workload is on my back so a little bit busy but I know we're actively trying to recruit a new business manager we're we're looking at any candidate that applies for any job in town now and looking at that resume and saying will they be a good fit and you know we're asking them would you like to interview um so that's about where we're at with that if I might yeah um so right now we're looking internally well that's that's one option I mean are we making active efforts outside of the the town employees at this point and if so what are they Well normally any position is is posted on the MMA website it's posted on indeed and on the town website there may be other places um I don't believe it's been posted yet uh the the HR Director she's been out sick for a while so and it just happened late last week so we will be actively recruiting very shortly I I was just gonna add that um Paula is available for training uh she's actually GNA come in on Friday afternoon to help me out a little bit I got a a stack of to do things to to get through so for the ignorance but what what's involved in the position uh it's pretty involved pretty involved so the biggest thing is the billing right we had to Bill our customers just under a thousand custom um the software system that we use is um not user friendly and it's given us a lot of trouble um it's there's nothing intuitive about it so it's you know you just can't pick it up and say oh you know this step oh yeah this follows this that follows that it's it's not like that at all but before Paula left she did make a manual so she did a step by step of all the processes that you know the Su business manager would have to do she took screenshots and she put notes so not totally in the dark and you know the new person coming in isn't totally in the dark but it it's there's a big learning curve for this job okay there's a whole bunch of day-to-day things that also go are involved I mean we we often see um you know particularly you know business customers who are you know behind on their their their billing um you know we have you know issues around connections um you know the you know the maintenance of the system itself is is almost a full-time job just to keep up with it's a it's a 20-y old system um and it's it's in need of attention um you know anytime that there's a you know a repair needed you know there's you know the business manager has to draw up the you know the documents to you know hire people to do it and you know it's there's um it's it's it's involved and it's a a it's a high you know high energy job okay is that does that capture it a little bit more bill yeah yeah so it's the day-to-day stuff that I want to get caught up on with Paula you know a lot of people have called and said well um I don't think I owe anything the last bill says I owe something can you check that or people sell their homes and then we have to send out a fin read so those going to get done there's just a stack of stuff that's piled up in the last couple days a little over a thousand customers there's always customer service involved yes y very much so all right well when they post the listing I mean I'm I can ask around to some people that I know and share the listing once we know the particulars oh excellent that would be great yeah very good well thank you Bill thank you Mike thank you Scott before we move off of the the this if I could just introduce it we don't have to do it today because it might be worth agenda item into itself is to just look at um the role of the the of the Commission in the hiring of the business manager uh I only had one experience and it just seemed that we were we were the horse that was put after the cart um and uh you know I want to just have a a more thoughtful process in mind for the next time so I just suggest that we might want to note that I'd like that as an agenda item for the next time so Mr chair I could speak to that a little bit okay pleas yeah so um the former I I don't know but was the former Town manager but the former way we did things was the for the interview process it was typically myself in the Human Resources Director uh we didn't involve the commission but the new interim Town manager has a different thought on that uh his thought is yeah the the commission should be involved um not not necessarily an active role in the interview you know asking the questions but being at the interview to to hear firsthand what how the candidate sounds and you know they can give their opinion uh but ultimately it's still up to myself and the Human Resources Director to to do the hiring but definitely the the new interim Town manager wants the input of the commission that that's good to hear gotcha thank you Belle all right uh that brings us to the assistant to the business manager position and I assume it's essentially the same update yeah so we have a bunch of candidates for the assistant but to me it doesn't make sense to hire an assistant before the business manager I think the business manager should have input into that because they're gonna have to work together every day right absolutely so we kind of held off on that position a little bit that's a shame that we have C and yep okay no that makes perfect sense to me as well um all right moving on we have uh uh you for you sent us today Bill some manhole repair ifbs um thank you for getting those out to us um and estimates and didn't know uh yeah I give AEF update on that and just one last thing the um um Scott asked about the qualifications for the business manager so I one of the emails I sent was the uh the sheet for the assistant um I I was digging hard but I couldn't find the sheet for the business manager but when I do I'll send it over to you guys okay I don't know if when these were sent out but I haven't received anything but that could just be that my mailbox just established today oh okay all right all right so okay the manhole ifb so ifb it's invitation for bids so but from the new members um the town was awarded um Opa money so that was Federal money um to be spent because of um of Co right the the big shutdown but every town got it a piece of that pie so the Sewer Commission got a $100,000 of that so we targeted manholes that had been previously inspected that showed signs of inii so inii is infiltration and inflow so in other words clean water is getting into the system so that water then gets sent to the waste treatment plant and we're paying for clean water to get cleaned so we don't want to be doing that so we targeted the worst of the the manholes where we believe water is getting in so this contract is to make repairs to those manholes so it's um we got a $100,000 hopefully we get I don't know 40 or 50 or so or maybe less manholes repaired and uh stop some of the water from getting in well what's a repair is it just a tack weld of the of the lids or is there a rebuild well in in many cases we're replacing the frame and covers because some of the covers are cracked or or they're leaking um then going down in the middle the the next section they would call the chimney with Clay brick so some of those are getting repaired uh most of our man holes are pre-cast concrete but sometimes the seams will leak or there'll be leaks around pipes so there's um we're doing a cementitious lining in some of them uh I just didn't know if it was the position of some that were in a place where water was gathering too but yep that happens too sometimes they set a little bit low and it puddles over them and the other thing we're going to put um like an inverted hat inside of them so it'll catch any water that happens to sneak through the cover they actually work pretty good so what does have water go Bel that gets cut on this inverted hat it just sits there y it eventually evaporate yeah yeah okay very good okay are you did you have more questions Scott no uh did you understand all that Eli yeah I'm just reading it right now I'm reading the whole thing that he send over yeah and that inii that he brought up uh which is why we need to repair these man Halls is a very big issue for the commission um there's been many many a meeting spent on on finding it handling it um more often than not it's manhole covers um but looking for any possibility of where it's coming in into the system um because as he said uh any outside water coming in is water we're paying for that um our customers should not be paying for that the commission should not have to be handling um or the system shouldn't have to handle so it's it's basically our Thorn it's basically the thorn and our side um everything else you can fix pumps you can fix I mean you know emergency repairs things happen but the I is this constant sort of uh quiet battle that we face yeah so that's something that we should grab attention to you know so like that we can start saving some money for the customers pretty much yeah I mean we're here that's why we're here is to is for for our customers um and to try to keep costs under control and so on and so forth so it'd be interesting how would we actually track if the repairs were working because it's you know in a sense weather driven you you know if we have less rain or snow of course it's going to be lower last year looks like the repairs worked you know kind of one of those variables are really well as I understand how how we how we originally get to something about that is we compare water usage with the actual flow into the system itself so yeah okay so the customer water usage is an indicator of what we should be treating stuff over that we're assuming is inii okay gotcha that makes as an overall and uh you are right Scott there's variables um obviously um on rainy years like we had this past season U compared to the last month um there going be a big difference in the flow just because of the the lack of rain flow this past month as opposed to all those inches we got at a time yeah last year um basically all year but and finally Scott sometimes when they open up a manhole you can actually see the water coming in it's not it's not a yeah and that's fine I understand yeah so it's very hard to to find where it's coming in right yeah run around town and open manholes right but there's thousands of them right yeah start so we have bought a device that we could put in the manhole it it hangs there and it it sits in the water flow and okay you know if we should see it rise or fall if it rains and water's getting in um it we had the device that stopped working that they're sending me a new one so we're kind of in between right now but yeah we are trying to find ways to to stop it but it's it's not easy and there's no system you'll ever have zero II it's that's impossible no I gotta so does each myole has one one one of those Floats or is just one float that for the whole system we we only have one um you know was a little bit expensive so we wanted to try it out if it gave us some good data helped us you know find areas of town where the you know water's getting in then maybe we'd buy some more but we haven't had too much success with it yet gotcha so yeah that's what I I know we're new and we're just trying to get caught up but it's was there any particular areas in town where it seems to that you maybe have identified as a hot spot of trouble or is it just kind of widespread right now we have some ideas you know which area but still it's hard to pinpoint so it's an ongoing battle something we'll be doing forever okay great gotcha thank you Bill thank you everybody um were there any more questions regarding the manhole ifb and repairs uh did we want to go over the estimates bill or did you just wanted to let us know about them at this point which estimates is that uh the you sent us today from CTE and yep that's um letter F on the agenda for f I'm sorry say again that's letter F on the agenda we're almost there okay all right um so let's get an update on the special town meeting articles um and seen as your are oper ating manager at the moment B I'm going to ask you again for an update on that okay so at the previous meeting because we knew we weren't gon to have a quorum and we knew the Articles had to get in uh we did a a vote or the commission voted um pretty much trusting the sewer business manager and myself to to put in the Articles properly you know not knowing what the articles were so um at first I thought there was two articles that had to go in and but then when I talked with Paula she came in and helped us one night um she figured out we only need one article so the one article transfers funds uh 47 $46,000 plus uh into the sewer capital reserve stabilization fund so that money came from fiscal year 25 excuse me fiscal year 24 which ended June 30th of this year 2024 so that was the difference between our revenues and our spending so our revenues exceeded our spending by that $46,000 so that money is just kind of sitting there now so we need this um War article to put the money where we want it which would be in the SE capital reserve stabilization fund thank you Bill do we have any questions about that anybody does that require a vote uh no I don't think so because you did vote on it the last meeting okay yes I remember that and um okay if one else has any questions on that let's um move on to the line repairs that um on mass one and how are we looking there uh looks like we need to talk about it have a possible vote yeah we probably should vote it since it's a it's a big spend so it uh last year for the new members last year at Mass one so Mass one is one of our bigger um pump stations it's it's on Massachusetts Avenue uh just opposite towns and Harbor Road youve probably seen it there it's a like a green Hut it's all fenced in so last year we did a repair to um the pipe that went up into the one of the pumps so we had to replace pipe when they were in there they got a close Clos a look at some of the other pipes in there those other pipes need to be repaired so this two cost estimat so uh I guess I'll start with the force meain so the force mean is the pipe going out of the station so the the pumps will pump the storage out and up to the I believe it goes to lemoner Road from there so that's all under pressure so the pipe that goes out of the well right underneath the pump station is a big well I don't know almost 10,000 gallons that pipe is pretty rotted so what they have to do is they have to dig down on the outside of the well cut the pipe on the outside cut it on the inside you know put in a new piece going through it's a big job um to do it we pretty much have to shut down the pump station so we'll do it at night um we'll put out something on Facebook you know to our customers that are in that there you know asking them try not to do laundry overnight or don't take a long shower overnight when we're working that kind of stuff uh it worked the last time the the flows were pretty low but in place of The Pump Station we have to bring in pumper trucks to catch all that flow right so that's not included in the cost estimates that I sent um but that's probably another I don't know two or three thousand on top of this estimate so that those trucks they'll catch the flow they'll go dump it at another one of our stations and then come back and catch some more flow and also the Force main has to be drained so it's it's a few miles long so there's there we estimated 10,000 gallons in that pipe alone so as soon as you cut that pipe it's all gonna flow back at you so they have to empty that pipe so again big job this there's a lot of prep work they they set up staging inside the the well because you know it's like 14 feet deep so have a place to work and they they'll do it overnight the main work and uh the estimated cost oh it's the so for the new members CTE it's Chad TM that's the name of our company that does maintenance for us so they've hired a subcontractor Pride environmental to do the bulk of the work but CTE will be there too you know uh to shut the controls off and and make sure everything goes as planned um so that cost estimate the total was [Music] 66,67 plus he can add another the pumping trucks yeah plus the pump trucks so you're looking at a cost of about $70,000 for that repair so the repair we did last year was similar and it didn't cost I forget that cost but it's comparable to this so I don't believe the cost estimates overinflated I I think it's pretty good cost got how long is this going to take to do like the whole process yeah so they'll they'll spend a few days setting up but the the main work could be done in one night okay yeah what's the notice be a messy job so the gentlemen the um it would be just to give you a little background on that by pressure line um the importance of replacing words having issues um as opposed to keeping it as it is and hoping for the best um being a high pressure line having that let loose at some point knowing it's a possibility uh due to rot or other damage um an emergency repair on a line like that um under pressure I I don't even know where we would start making that estimate because it would be under an emergency situation um and it's a main one of our main lines with as he mentioned over a mile um without it being planned to be drained just imagine everybody's just using their system as usual and then a mile of main comes down the hill with a broken pipe before we find out about it um the ramifications would be uh quite quite exensive the the Hazmat and the EPA impact is going to cost triple that before you start the repair probably exactly so the wet well would show right up and every time somebody flush a toilet more would go out and there's wetlands in that area so yeah would you could probably triple this cost if it was an emergency exactly um what what kind of notice do we have to give the public for this type of of you know an hours of shutdown yeah we like to give minimum three days but typically about a week gotcha but this needs attention like ASAP because we don't want it to go to our emergency because obviously yes sir I get I get it that's another reason why we're all here yes sir and Bill um I'm assuming that we need to do that before you know the cold season starts yeah it would be easier yeah they don't want to work in icy conditions so the sooner the better okay once we approve uh what what what how long would mobilization be well I'll have to give CTE a call and U have them schedule it I'm guessing they'll get it within a month okay a month yeah gentlemen I don't think we should wait um does anybody want to search for other numbers I think no this needs like an this needs to be addressed like yeah and if it's our main vendor that's recommending the subcontractor I mean I don't you know we got to defer to them on their expertise if Phil thinks that's best do I mean it's best to speak on our behalf of that well can say uh from my ears on the commission thus far that we've found CTE to be very dependable and um Fair uh in their dealings with us on many occasions um you know obviously you're in business to make money but at the same time they've they've put their best foot forward on every occasion that I'm aware of um and done their best to keep the prices realistic including our maintenance um we try to keep them on with the maintenance because they've been so dependable just to give you a little background there Goa they built did say too that last year they did something Sim we did something similar and it was kind of same pricing so that's like a waste situation there for us because it didn't go up as much so shall I make a motion yes so um we need someone to make a motion to vote on the CTE um estimate and see if we can get that approved and get this repair moving before it's at AG I make a motion that we approve the U uh estimate dated U I can't see that date hold on I'm looking off of my phone September 4th SE September 4th from C GTE um with the amount of u 64,65 with the understanding that we will be responsible for additional costs involved in the pumping Mike that was the other one this one is uh oh I'm sorry 66770 sorry I'm on the wrong one yep so you'll give me that number again 66,67 what Bill said all right uh before we second that uh was there any actually is there a second on this motion someone want to second that motion no I I'll say I'll second the motion thank you Scott now that the the motion has been made and it's been seconded I I need to ask one more time if there's any further description on this before we vote on it no it's notop reading to talk about because we got get I I did just want to ask Bill and this is more of just putting it out there did they give how long were the was this original pipe in place and is the newer technology going to be you know is this good for being proactive in the sense for the town of we we'll get a lot of longevity out of this proactive repair well the the system been in place since the early 2000s so it's it's a over two th over 20 years old okay did they say what type of pipe they're gonna replace it with I think they're GNA replace the pipe in kind it's a steel pipe yeah PVC won't hold that pressure is that correct no no no I'm not saying PVC I'm just saying you know you never know it's some kind of new liner or something that they're putting on the pipes you know if we could expect longer time out a bit but yeah hopefully we do but we'll see yeah right bill I thought there was um it seems to me I remember Paula mentioning pipes that were going to be dipped in something or the outside was going to have a some kind of protection to it as opposed to what was original Mike do you remember that really um I could be wrong but I thought there was some additional protection as opposed to the original pipe that was talked about yeah I don't know if you see anything on that estimate bill it's not in the cost estimate now okay all right well um moving forward are we is everybody comfortable yes yes okay uh well then I'll do a roll call vote um Scott Dell hi Eli Torres hi Mike Mackin hi and I for myself motion carries thank you everybody um and then um let's talk about uh the FY 24 budget update Bill we have the other repair oh that mass one so that's the suction lines so that's the lines coming down from the pumps so just looking at the processing it there's a lot of prep work just to get to those pipes and for this one the the other repair we probably need two or three pumper trucks this one we probably only need one and it's more just on standby because we do have two pumps we can do one at a time uh so the pumping cost would be less but there still is there's a lot of work just to to get these old section lines out and put the new ones in so again that that one is uh the $ 64,65 cost estimate um same circumstances it's CTE hiring Pride environmental to do the work where is this area uh same Pump Station Mass one oh it is okay yes yeah we we've had some major problems with mass one recently um bill is this a this is a multi-day repair for that is it not yeah there's a lot of prep work um did I say yeah estimated time three or four days per side so yeah they're going to be there almost two weeks doing that one do do you have any idea Bill how many days we'd be operating on one pump well probably three or four days which isn't too abnormal you know that the pumps we can live on one pump for a while you know and thank you Bill um well we need to make a we need a motion for this estimate as well to move forward would anybody like to make a motion for The $64,000 repair for the inlet pipes connected to the pumps i' m one yeah I'll do the second motion on that okay and oh that that that would be the first motion but would anyone like to second that second all right um are there is there any further discussion seeing none um Scott doll hi Eli Torres hi Mike Mackin hi and I from myself motion carries um was that uh I only scanned those quickly before I had a chance to sit down here so that's why I missed that one bill was there any further work to talk about at last one well I hope that's it we all hope that's it for a very long time hopefully all right uh let's move to the budget and um if you could let us know where we are there with that bill um so I have to take um a short break if you could keep the meeting going I'll still be here all right I'll try to talk slow this is for the update on the fiscal year 20124 budget so we're in fiscal 25 now um talked about it a little bit earlier when we talked about the warrant article so uh Mike may remember we were pretty nervous we weren't our uh spending was going to exceed our revenues you know towards the end of fiscal 24 the last couple months it it didn't look good but in the end we ended up with more revenues than spending and what happened was um the the betterments came in higher than we thought so when a new customer comes on to the system they have to you know pay their way on it's a a uh initially it was called a betterment now we call it a privilege fee for newer customers and that number came in much higher than we thought the other um Revenue that came in much higher than than we thought would would come in was connection fees so the commission had voted earlier in the year to uh raise rates for fiscal 25 um we send all of our Wastewater to lemonster and fitzburg so both lemonster and fitzburg their rates went up so we had to go up you know so we're not losing money and there was a uh the connection fee went up pretty significantly it almost was it like doubled almost I think it's over doubled yeah so a lot of people saw that and they said whoa I'm gonna get my permit in now I'm gonna connect you know get my connection fee paid up now in in fiscal 24 instead of paying double you know a few days later so we had a mad rush in in June of you know contractors and people coming in saying I want a connection fee I want to connect here here here so that came in much higher so that's what saved us so we came in positive that was a good thing awesome that's the way we like it h yeah May will keep you on as manager how's that s somebody had to say it all right um is that is that the the whole budget update from your end bill or yeah yep uh you know we're early in fiscal 25 it started in July so we're only what two and a half months in almost three months in so we're doing fine in fiscal 25 we haven't done the big spending yet which um for the new members we actually planned for these big repairs these two big repairs um when we put our budget together for fiscal 25 we put a lot of money into what we call the capital repairs and Mike and Brett will remember we kept adding you know because we kept learning oh no we got to do this we got to do this so we put well what was it was almost $400,000 into that line item so we have plenty of money to make these repairs it it was planned oh perfect so we're doing okay and fiscal 25 and there's money in there for additional repairs we know we're probably do to be facing this year um yeah we also have our Dana Street Pump Station which is our largest pump station is that correct though that's correct our Dana Street station is over near off of electric out um over by not far from CVS and um and we've been doing some inspecting over there or had CTE do some inspecting and we've seen some similar damage happening there um but we may have to be proactive with as well so again that's why we put aside so much money for this fiscal year for repairs because we're expecting to need to do them and also we'll actually save our customers and um the system itself and the town uh actually it's actually just the customers I suppose um the ex exuberant costs of emergency repairs instead of being proactive like we are so this is how we do it we plan ahead as best we can when emergencies happen you take care of them but uh if you can avoid emergencies of course is by far the best way to go certainly the most affordable approach definitely it's a smart thing to do yeah and we we try to look long term so I'm over speed I'm over I'm over talking this but just since you're new I just thought I'd threw out what what we've been planning what we've been doing yeah no thank you we appreciate it because like that we know where you guys are coming from you know that we got the money that we're not going to ask for the money because we already have the money and being on the commission is some of the you know some of the the interesting things that we need to face and and analyze and plan and um uh keeps us on our toes so um moving on um is there any questions about the budget at this time from anybody no sir no all right um with that um we're actually moving on to uh our future agenda items to talk about whoops the screen and um I just wanted to ask um bill first for your input on what you think should be on upcoming agendas and then we're going to all discuss it together as members too what do you have for our spell that looking forward you think we should put on the next agenda so definitely I think we have to keep the sewer business manager um on the agenda the assistant sewer business manager on the agenda um I think some other stuff like the manle ifb repairs that can just be business manager updates at at that point the line repairs so I guess just those two for now that's all I could think of okay could we put on there uh you make a note to put on the agenda um an update on where we stand with the mass one repairs as far as CT um response to us approving the estimates and what their their progress is at our next meeting if any sure also uh what else but also is there anything regarding I don't know if you've come across that on the paperwork um I know you're not a full-time manager uh hopefully um you've got other things you have to handle in town but regarding uh grease traps and delinquent payments on that are we just GNA kind of not think about that at the moment or any anything like that is there anything still bending out there that you saw the paperwork that we should talk about there there is so we're renewing the grease traps now the grease trap permits now but our regulations say they should be renewed in April so I think we're doing them now because um the regulation you guys voted on and then we went right into it it was just the timing didn't work out in April so we did it around this time last year so one of my thoughts is maybe we should get on schedule with our own regulations so maybe we can give people a grace period you know from you know renew them now but then next the next renewal will do them in April so there' be a grace period of you know September through April it's a thought it's up it's up to the commission but it gets us back on schedule yeah well having yeah let's put that on the agenda um if you could maybe send us uh send us what we voted put it on there to refresh our memories and our new members can get a look at it um and then on our next meeting that can be a a fine discussion to have yeah y sounds good and um Mike is there anything you can think of that we should add to next we've or we've reorganized and again I think it's just a matter of discussion um I mean I'm I'm of two minds of it whether uh we you know try to plan for you know at least one face-to-face meeting a month um you know the pros the cons the difficulties of attempting to do something like that um something to think about so you know I think it's worth at least a discussion I don't there's more to know I mean first of all you know where where would we hold it that we could hold the public um and I know the time town hall is fairly uh used up um and uh you know what's convenient for the for the Commissioners is also and for the staff is also a part of the discussion so um it's worth a discussion absolutely let's get that on there as well B we'll do um and our new gentlemen or new Commissioners uh did you I can't the only anything yeah go ahead well I I'm not trying to overstep any bonds but I just want to try to get a grasp on mass one about what how many of the where we have slightly over 900 customers on sewer uh on public sewer in lunenberg and what's the percentage of people using the system and how many people are going to be inconvenience during this because I'm a big fan of social media I've only been here a year but I know a lot of people don't read it here and you guys just learned you got more out of the The Mailing and I'm not saying mail but I could certainly help you know when it comes to water department and Sewer the paper notices in people's mailboxes seem to go a long way so I can speak to that there's actually relatively few people on that line um okay the biggest the biggest area is the Meadow Woods trailer park down on massav almost Shirley line right that there's that and then there's a few customers the the high school and um not the high school the the primary school is on that and a few homes in that area I'm one I'm one of yeah so there's Rel I could deal with it that's one of the to do I'm I'm only thinking that you know $50 in photocopy fees ends up being a lot better than you know a couple thousand dollars for the system being overwhelmed on a pump truck you know just that people are aware that's all yeah um another station I would definitely say yes and this station if you're not worried about it I'm not worried about it yeah we took a chance the last time and the flows are really light you know we had a couple of trucks standing by well needed one you know but we played it safe so okay I'm fine with that very good all right so it sounds like we have a a nice agenda agenda lining up for October 8th already that's great all right um is there any old business we should talk about Bill or Mike that you can take up all right maybe we can uh get the chairman to track down the new member that's not here Mr chairman yes sir first owner of business find find our missing board member yeah it's all good um all right well is there any comment uh while that would be from the commission is there any other comments from the commission before we start wrapping up yeah again I just wanted to uh thank the new members for stepping up uh and volunteering their time um it's volunteers that make the town run and so we always appreciate it when people step up you know I've seen um I've been on enough committees in town to know that you know as many people as we can get involved really helps the make decisions better so thank you no I appreciate it we just gotta you know we just gotta think we just get to keep up to speed you know obviously it's a lot of learning process and everything else so we'll try to catch up you know as much as we can so like that we could you know go from there thing I I I can say about this is that it's always something to be learned perfect I like that I like as long as we learn one thing each day that's very very good yeah y I hope you you gentlemen find it interesting so far and um there is a lot to know um and glad to have you on board and again thank you second what Mike said so we're glad to have you it's also on top of that you both being on the sewer line is also something we were we're glad to have you on for to uh to have customers as Commissioners helping us make these decisions yeah makes sense yes sir yeah I'll let you know when I'm backed up that's fair that's Bill don't talk like that I don't like I I do want to thank bill for uh you know not not that he volunteered for it but he kind of had to take over but if you need any help uh with some of the clerical work I can try to help you it's part of my part of my background but we don't want the building to get to in the rear that's very very thank you yeah don't turn on don't turn down and offer like that Belle yeah yeah but we you can give me a call this week whenever you got time all right excellent gentlemen um well thank you very much uh also is there any public comment from the public I don't see any Bill do you see any nope there's none all right so our upcoming uh meetings uh in the future are going to be our next one is October 8th at 6 PM regular meeting October 29th would be the one after that then November 12th and November 26th um and did the last email say that it was in person at Town Hall the next meeting I thought it said it was a town hall no no I don't I don't no we need to discuss that okay it doesn't say it here but it should uh but these are all scheduled a zoom meetings gotcha okay but but on the next on the next agenda we are going to discuss meeting in person definitely that's how good to be good to get together yeah yeah and also um um that doesn't mean um part of the discussion of course could be could some of these meetings be turned into imperson meeting I don't know how that problem but we'll have that discussion next time sounds good sounds good very good now I'm looking for someone to uh make a motion to close the meeting so moved all right would anybody like to second that that second motion all right having motion to close the meeting and second um I'm G to call roll call vote Scott I El Torres hi Mike Mackin hi and I for myself the meeting is closed thank you everybody can stop the recording now B thank you all