##VIDEO ID:YDwoxEpPGCg## water commissioner meeting called to order at 6:m on October 3rd 2024 roll call Dave me commissioner present commissioner John Kane present uh Randy BR DPW director present you can bar Wagner DPW office manager pres good public comment we have any is there anyone in the waiting room nobody waiting no public comment review minutes till that gets back next month elderly rate applications we have one all the requirements I will make a motion to accept the single elderly rate application I second all in favor John K yes Dave M how Okay the monthly commitments do we have any across from n's office y July August and September okay doing this we can move on to the DP W director's report uh uh so first item is you met verl today uh she started as our new office manager on September 16th so this is week three uh so far so good uh and uh Chrissy has been helping Barrel out a couple hours each day to help um get up a speed um our next big push is water bills um so once we get through the water bills next week uh Chrissy will be back to full as as the next item here is about lead service line inventory we've been talking about this probably for almost a year now so we have a a report due to D in October and we've done a lot of Investigations so far uh going through all of our service cards there have been a basement inspections um those that we've asked residents to submit information on others that we've done ourselves we were a consultant then also we we have also performed um some vacuum excavations so we got some stats here to share with you uh we have total 2,772 water services and so far we have not identified any lead service any Services that's good that's a good thing however there are 25 that are galvanized steel and so galvanized steel does have traces of lead in it um and per the new lead and copper rule um galvanized lines must be replaced um as if as if they were a lead line so the I think I think most of these were identified through a records review um at you know through a service card so those 25 lead service or sorry galvanized service LS we still need to do some more investigation work whether it's getting information from the homeowner or doing another vacuum excavation to identify the material and we got to put eyes on it before we can Ru it out as a non-led line so that's something we have to we have to do moving forward um there are 1,00 618 services that are unknown and so the way DP is approaching this program is if it's unknown it's assumed to be led now I think it's highly unlikely that any if a few if any are LED but until we can put eyes on it or we can rule it out through what's called a predictive modeling effort um we have to assume that they are LED that that's that's D's policy so when we submit this report in October uh we have to identify these unknowns and uh these unknowns plus the 25 that are galvanized we have to send up a notice to each property owner telling them basically what the findings of our investigation is so far and that they may require more followup investigations uh there're also 1,129 non-led lines and a lot of these were were flagged or identified as non-led just because of the age of the house when it was built anything built after 1987 is considered no lead so all the new homes you know off South long road all those are post you know 1990 installs um that's a big number of the 1,129 that are non-led um so in order to kind of move forward uh I did note that we have a report to the DP in October uh that's not the end of it so we still have to identify the unknowns and we still have to replace anything that's lead or galvanized and so what we have an opportunity is a DP submit an amendment to their original contract to do more investigations and basically do more basement inspections and do more vacuum excavations um this is all D is putting I say tens of millions of dollars into this program um every Community is going through it you know the numbers that we see here are not out out of line of what other communities are finding you know a lot of the records unfortunately aren't great they have some information but not exactly what we're looking for so until we get that you know put the eyeballs on these service lines uh they are considered to be unknown um and that requires further investigations now there is a predictive modeling effort that Ty bond is doing so if we get enough data into built into the program we can make assumptions uh based on the age of unknown properties uh we know maybe when the house was built you know there's information you know but we know other houses that were built in the same timeline are non-l other houses in the neighborhood Also may be nonl so based on that predictive modeling effort if we can get to 95% confidence that it is non-led then DP will accept it as a as a non-led line so we really need to get more more information to input into the model um because otherwise if we don't and we don't know the material then we're going to have to basically dig it up and excavate it and replace and that's going to be more more costly so there was an item later on the agenda about the amendment that we got from tyan bond to do that work I do know that this program uh it's being funded through the um uh Mast uh what's it called drinking water program revolving fund revolving F thank you yeah uh I they they they put tens of millions dollars in this program I know those funds are running out so uh but there's still money available for for more work and I imagine most other communities are also going to be requesting more money as they submit these reports and identify where more needs are so we'll talk about that in a little bit uh item three water restrictions we did Implement them on September 9th due to low levels in the Russell River and they were lifted on October 1st that's in accordance with our permit um as of October 1st there's no longer a need for water restrictions uh barrel and Christie are working on our water bills for the April 1 to September 30th bill cycle um they should be expected to mailed out in mid to late October item five Bungalow street is under construction carus construction is a contract contactor uh they are replacing the water main as well as doing other work with drainage and water and drainage and Sewer lines uh the water main is the new water main is in it was tested chlorinated and starting next next week the contractor will start replacing services to the new water M item six We performed our uh yearly leting copper samples uh which included taking samples from 20 houses plus schools and daycares uh all the levels came back below any reporting levels any action levels uh we did send notices to all the property owners with the location with the results and item seven if you remember we got a grant from D to do some skate upgrades uh and with that we replaced the PLC uh which is a basically brains of our ska system it was system was old it was outdated it had uh basically um you could F replace some parts for it uh and it was also outdated so as part of a cyber security program we were able to upgrade that PLC uh and so that was a that's mostly done at this point our consultant has a little bit of more work to do next week but that's pretty much done and then item eight is Jeff our backone insector is continuing all of his backbone inspections so he does a big round and he bring in and he does another round of inspections in the fall in the next page it says our work order summary since our last meeting the shut offs those were so currently shut offs so okay so out of the 188 we only had to end up shutting off two uh that remain off so we did the 188 or so shut off letters we had the follow 9 93 door knockers and then I think we shut off three of them one of them paid after we shut off so the two remain and these two that are shut off they are vacant properties okay so so that's working actually going out and doing it yeah oh yeah yep I forget how much I don't know if you know bar how much we had in delinquent the dollar amount it was tens of thousands of dollars oh yeah I mean just the the minimum charge times 200 yeah yeah so it was we do it every year uh usually in the late summer that's that's the timeline when we do the shut off process and we coordinate that work with the treasur collector's office as well so yeah that's it's a good program and you question is that this 136 South longard is that the same spot on the hill that keeps leaking or is that different I don't know I I have to Kevin on that one yeah I wonder if we if we have to dig that one out again it might be there was one on South longer we had we had to put another sleeve on earlier this year I was that same that one I think that one's one I think that might be a little further up the road before you get to that yeah that was different never mind V you have any old business no uh I have nothing no what about new business uh well the uh lead service inventory Amendment request that's in your packet um so Tian Bond put together scope to do more vacuum excavation and basement infections and basically they the way they do it is you know by number of days so X I think it's 10 days of vacuum excavations and I think maybe 10 more days of basement inpections should think in their proposal was stated what they were going to do was there more pages this barel do you have the [Music] original think this cut off every other page everything I has the full packet that everyone so apologize for that so there is this is one two three four five and then six so I think that's it of this of the application itself know it was I can find on my phone here here we have it in night know I can share it zo put on the zoom here it's basically doing you know they they did this work over the summer and and uh obviously we need more data so I think for the predictive modeling efforts we need to put physical eyeballs on 180 more services whether that's through basement inspections or vacuum excavations and this proposal will let us will get that basically get us 180 plus eyeballs on those Le surface lines it seems like a lot it's just the way the program is it's a lot it's it's a the program is huge money grab but I know one of the conditions of the program is it has to be% of program money has to go to MBE WB communities or um um businesses which does not help for the price there we go think about 400,000 we only have 2,000 Services yeah it's like dollars per service might as well is DPW around go look well you can get yeah well they know the paperwork side I guess if you if you scroll down bar this is the amend yeah starting right here so task 1.21 is if you scroll down just a little bit further that's the predictive modeling effort we talked about is trying to get you know once a data is collected putting it into the into the into the model 1.2.2 basement section so five days of basis inspections so what we'll do is we'll put flyers out we'll send postcards and notices to Property Owners uh will'll do a PR blast asking people to sign up like we did over the summer sign up for an appointment to come in and do an inspection Ty Bond will coordinate that when they consultant uh and try to you know St these inspections back to back and they'll try to Target certain neighborhoods you know one day to to maximize their efficiency and then the vacuum excavations so 24 days of vacuum excavations so when we did the first round I think we had 10 days and their progress was about 8 to 12 a day depending on soil conditions if they encounted Rock if they had to you know dig down a couple times to find the service so that that's the progress that we're going to get for the vacuum excavations but it's a lot better than having to dig up the whole Road and identify the the material like that and then all that goes into basically the modeling effort um that task item four is just the the program management inventory I think that's it so that's the schedule that's the that's the uh the scope of work schedule this work will be done most likely next year I tell you every other community is going through this whole process right now um there's only so many mbwb around so they're tied up with other communities we just kind of wait our turn till they're available to work on our project so there's no the definite timeline this when this needs to be done U but um expect it'll be done sometime next year and the fee $181,000 $181,200 or those efforts we should just vacuum excavate every single one on our own be cheaper it's it's crazy but hey it is what it is cheap just to replace them all right I mean if you do if you can do eight a day and they're couple hundred bucks a piece I mean we yeah that's just huge money grab yeah but that's Massachusetts do we want to wait for Ed or I would ask you authorize this today if you could just because I know the dollars through the pr program will run out at some point and I don't want to wait if we can avoid that what is it what's the odds that we're going to get into this and then the state's going to just say oh sorry we got no money they' come before once we get the funds secured they're yeah when do we get the funds because we're we're paying the invoices when do we get reimbursed we are getting we resubmit for reimbursement every month okay so so we're we're we're we're paying out but then we're reimbursing it you know within 30 days so we'll know the most we'd be a month and they're like oh hey we don't have any more Grand money left so it's our best interest just to keep going until they run out of money yeah yeah once once once we sign off you know assuming we we sign off on this the M the money is allocated to the town it's not going to go not going to go away they but at one point they will say sorry you know we're out of money to the next me that they ask for funds so we don't want to be that first one or you know be on that list where we're asking too late for the request and then this this next round will complete the survey right that that's the plan yeah the survey then now there the next step is to okay those 25 potentially galvanized or non ined service lines the next step is okay now we're on a timeline replace all those and I think it's I think it's 10% a year we have to replace okay so we have 25 you know assuming that's worst case that's that's manageable right other communities they may have hundreds or thousands of them so those communities are probably going to be requesting more money through the same program to replace you know 100 service lines at a time and if we're talking you know two or three or four a year we just may do that through our budget that's a discussion they make at that time just once we have idea how many exactly we have to do do we know if there is going to be grants to do the replacement there is now yeah there is now and and this is this is dp's probably number one priority right now like I said they're funneling tens of million dollars every year in this program I don't see the stopping yeah until every LED service line has every service line has been identified and replaced as you know not nled yeah I mean we're getting reimbursed for it so I might as well spend the state money yeah not going to come to us go to someone else already into it so what do we do stop halfway and then then it's on us regardless so have a motion I'll make a motion to ex to send the application to the select board with our approval for the updated the amended request from time bond for the lead service line inventory I second all in favor John Kane yes I think yeah s board have to be involved they are the techly the the grant goals for the select board as that's just their role in the process so they will be meeting on Monday I'll pass along actions of your more tonight and then ask that they authorize the chair to sign the application all right any other new business nothing for me no nothing for me all right next meeting date it's going to be the first week in November so I'm going to be gone the 7th is our normal are you out that week D is that you talking yeah [Music] no yeah I'm leaving on the the 5ifth and I'm coming back on that following Sunday we could go to the 21st if you want yeah probably be good on the 21st that actually be good we'll have bills out by by right around the M you know the 21st of October bills will do 30 days you know if there if there is any batement requests they have to be in by the time bills are due so yeah 28 we can hear them on that meeting on the 21st of November 21st 6 o' all right we have a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn I second Favor John Kane yes Miss