##VIDEO ID:x_ZEY9TQM9A## good evening um I'd like to open the water commission's meeting of September 9th 2024 at 7:01 the meeting is uh being recorded on zoom and the zoom link was posted um as is allowance by the extension of the open meeting law um tcam is Def is recording the meeting and will'll be uploading it to YouTube uh roll call of uh members and attendees Todd milans chair present Nathan meta Vice chair present clerk present superintendent present okay if any of the um attending residents would like to announce their so we know who's here I'd appreciate it just so you know 58 West um Meadow Road is coming because it resolved itself in the next Bild in this last bill okay well that's great and then so and I don't know if the other person's here all right so we'll let people speak you're Lisa you're um muted I'm Lisa dle from 60 South Harbor Road in Townsen good enough now is there anyone else doesn't look like it all right um moving on uh one point4 Chairman's additions and deletions uh one thing I just I want to announce is um the Board of Water Commissioners has a new select person uh liaison and that would be Joe shank um 5.1 approve the minutes of [Music] um which one is it of July 10th July 30th and August 8th did you guys get to look at those I did yes I I was reading through July I did not read through June and August okay I did June 10th and July 8th excuse me the only two I emailed everybody to let them know that August 8th wasn't available at this time okay oh yes that's right I did everyone to let them know that okay well so yes I did sa minutes I did too the only word I would say that I wanted um and it this is being me being nitpicky um but instead of clearing could it just say cleaning of the lines when we were talking about uh helping Dave flush out the lines or whatever um I guess they mean the same thing so we could leave it as is oh I was gonna say which one is with okay yeah you know what that's just me being piy don't worry about it it's good enough um I'm good with them um what about uh Jess Nate do you want to take a minute to read the other ones I'm reading through June right now okay normally one does one's homework before the meeting just so that they're not holding everybody else up in the meeting up just saying wow wow well you're wasting time we're sitting here waiting everyone was emailed the packet one one night every three months probably is not a huge deal this is very important and um yeah I I don't have time to sit around and look at emails all day so I did not get an opportunity I'd appreciate you if you didn't Raz me about that so alternatively if you want to just make a motion and uh you two can vote absolutely and I just won't abstain because I want to give I'd rather give you an opport if Jessica has better things to do then and be here you absolutely can move that along she's either of you could make a motion hey I'm a resident this is my first meeting I I just got to kind of say it's this is not comfortable for me I have something worthwhile to say I'm happy to go first and if you guys want to insult each other I would say that we take our appointment excuse excuse me I'm going to grab control of the meeting I'm going to grab control of the meeting right now you've got something to say asked the chair and we'll go through it with that um thank you give Nate a few minutes to go through the um the minutes the did you get through both or did you just got through one Nate Mr chairman yes sir I absolutely think Lisa's idea is is a great one we should absolutely take our appointment first she do I think she's here for are you are you one of the she is yep is are you oh yeah 60 South yep there it is all right um while Nate is doing that we'll take it out of order Mrs dagel uh you have the floor as we speak right now oh well thank you I live in South harber Road so I'm in the thick of um the project so I want to First say I'm not somebody who goes on social media and complaints I don't listen to towns people say anything nasty I try to be a positive person so want to start by saying I think you guys have been done an excellent job with the whole construction project um with that said I'm here tonight obviously I know you're doing your best I'm going to kind of ask you there a couple things maybe you could do better I own um four donkeys and two horses and they're all rescues so they've come from hard circumstances and my request is when the water is going to be brown that if we can get notification I think you have our cell phones because of the smart water meter and this is an issue for a few reasons so first off and by the way I want to say Jessica has been excellent when I call so thank you Jessica um contrary to what you think they don't want to drink the water when it's like really gross looking okay and it has a lot of iron in it so that would cause them to hesitate yeah and just to kind of inform you I have older animals they tend to be a little more susceptible to colic and if they don't drink adate water they can get for example like impaction colic which can range everything from it goes away in its own to the vet makes an $800 visit at midnight to having to Trek them up to New Hampshire for surgery which can run $18,000 but most importantly you know like two of my Sixx have like suffer Beyond word so it's I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to have a clean bucket with cold clean water in it and to watch a horse drink that who was you know found in a field near death with no water no food no shelter and Etc okay so if I had some advanced notice because like what time sometimes I I'm in like can I stop you first one second if we're GNA have a plan shutdown yeah we could notify you okay but most of the time it is unplanned and this the system's reacting to something that went on it they do do we can do reverse 911 I don't Dave do we have access to sorry my my rescues are barking so I apologize um um I don't know how localized our system is to calling specific people um but we can you know like uh they do have some utilities have a list of priority calls so like a dialysis if you have um when I was working in shelm there was a dial two dialysis plans so if we had a discolored water event we were to call them immediately that sort of thing we could put you on that sort of short list I I but a lot of times um you know discolored water it happens a main break happens yeah somebody opens a hydrant I mean most certainly if there's a plan shutdown Dave can speak to it they've done a pretty good job of trying to notify everybody as they can I agree that's about the only time we would be able to notif you prior rest of the time it's it's more reacting to what whatever happened in the system yeah and part of my reason for attending tonight is just to learn more because you know so I'm a business owner nothing's perfect you have to go with the punches and for me I need to potentially do a couple things one is know somebody in town that has wellwater right now what I do if it's going to be a long period I go down to hanners and I buy $21 gallons of spring water for my little Lov Lees okay was a little crazy so um and then to have water available so if it's a morning where I really got to scoot to work you know sometimes it takes 20 30 minutes to flush the line and sometimes that doesn't make a difference right because it depending on the event so I do understand that I could take some measures into my own hands if by understanding that's why I'm here tonight so I can make better decisions one thing I would explain to you too about discolored water is not to flush right as it happening the way it works is okay if you have discolored water in the system it kind of goes like a a blob around in the system so if you pull water in and it's discolored The Blob is still in front of your house so to speak it's not the necessarily the whole system what we've usually or what I've done historically in my profession is to tell people to wait 45 to an hour to let the water pass and then try flushing and run 15 minutes if it if you run the tub for 15 minutes that usually has the biggest flow in the house Nate I'll get to you in two secs um sure use the tub um that doesn't clear in like 15 minutes shut it off and wait again I run a hose out of the barn so I'm not one of these people that's like I got six teenagers that want to take three showers a day they're goingon to this is all about the farm animals so I just run a hose out of my barn but that's good to know and when I do call if it's working hours and Jessica to answer she she's fabulous so I I'd like to highlight the positive um then I guess my other question would be you know maybe for those of us who live in South Harbor Road maybe we could have like a token $25 off our bill just to say hey you guys have been good sports and we've run a lot of water out into your yard that I know you're paying for you know just a little something so that's it that's all I'm here all right one thing I would also ask and then I'm going to get to Nate is um Jess great I will not deny that but the water clerks you're calling the clerk's office okay whereas she may then have to call the water department if you want a quicker response time I would call the water office oh I didn't know that wrong Jess aess oh she was talking oh she was talking I thought she was patting Jessica on the back there like so but Nate had his hand up and Nate you had a question or a statement No I just wanted to speak to what Lisa said um Lisa I'm on Brookline Street uh very near um like four houses north of Highland um I have a mop syn in my basement and I noticed and it it I can get a pretty tremendous amount a fair a good amount of a good volume of water out of that uh sink um I don't believe it's anything more than a half inch but I think that it's just so old it flow is it's my point is that I notice that if I keep this thing open um and and use the tap to its capacity that I will get discolored water from that as well I'm not sure if your barn or your your setup is is similar where um you're getting a a large volume um certainly releasing large volumes of water is much like when the water department flushes and does work with the system they're moving yeah larger sorry from the house and then I have a a frost free hydrant and if I filled every bucket it's probably about 20 gallons but I as soon as I noticed the discolorization I stop the the last one I think the reason I was a little Curt when I called is I had started laundry I'm like crap I got to stop it take the stuff out you know I know I could go buy some special thing but um you know um Dave do we give out the do we have redbe gone and yes I yes we do and I just bought two more cases because with your laundry yeah don't dry it go get the red be gone go down to they give it out for free for for issues like this rewash it with the redbe on and it'll get rid of all the iron that may have stained your laundry especially if you're doing whites and not like that um the other thing is um have you ever flushed your hot water tank well I had the plumber here today because um the overflow tank had a leak thankfully I went into the basement last night to look up my oil level for the preby so um but it was interesting the water that came out all over the place and overflowed out of the bucket did have the iron in it so what happens is so um Iron can be dissolved and not be seen and what happens is as it oxidizes it cements out so heating water is a chemical change if there's any iron dissolved in the water itself it oxidizes and settles to the bottom of the tank I'm a guy yes I did read in instruction manual because I couldn't figure out what was going on in the instruction manual for a hot water tank it says to flush it out at least once a year um there's a SP it on the bottom okay just put put a hose on it's a hose screws right onto it run the hose outside um and then just let open the spigot up and let water run don't shut any valves off or anything you want water coming in and pushing whatever's on the bottom out if you've never done it it might look a little muddy um but that's because and what you'll do is you'll extend the life of the tank it'll help the tank operate correctly so the sacrificial anodes will last longer um that the the tank itself will operate more efficiently because as that sediment builds up um it becomes less deficient because that sediment becomes a heat sink also that energy can get directed at the bottom of the tank that's why a lot of Tanks fail at the bottom so would say I would say you know spring and fall wouldn't be a bad time to do a flush on the on the tank um but it also can cross over into your cold water especially if you have Val Mi your valves yeah my plumers here right in town Corey Patterson so he was here this morning because my overflow tank apparently is kaput so it leaked so he replaced that so I'll ask him and I'm not like the kind of the and stuff so yeah I can have him come over so then my final point would be this is great maybe this information could be summed up and put in your Facebook page I think we all know right when the communication Works people tend to again I don't take anyone to task on social media and if anyone in town  about the Water Project it's like shut up because I lived on the street and we had a heatwave and your guys especially the guy who's kind of it's kind of the foreman he stopped by my barn the other day to check the water um Mike is it excellent I saw him out on yeah I saw him out on Sundays you know I mean this well they have that so that you understand they they do have to operate in check the facilities and the Wells on the weekends and stuff like that so they they're they're out and about um actually and they'll probably see them more often once we open up the treatment plant because the office is moving down there down to driving well they were driving the thing because what happened is how how it rained every weekend so during the day the construction people would smooth the road out and then it would rain on weekends and the ruts like you know I ended up with a flat tire that's just how it goes you know it just seemed to rain like cats and dogs every weekend and now we we're back to the ruts but they'd fix it sometimes they'd come out in a weekend so as I said uh that was a b that's a big project and I want to be positive about that okay one one thing I would suggest you look at too especially if you're continually to have it um it should get better once the plant gets up and running but talk to your uh plumber about a um it's a really simple filter it's not expensive and it's Prim it's just a sediment filter it's called a one micron cloth wound sediment filter it's whole house they would put it after the meter and what it would do it does it I've found it to be the one of the better filters to catch iron and Mangan um without reducing the flow and it look it the cloth wound seems to do a better job of absorbing a lot of these materials and not clogging up quickly so you're not having to change it and stuff it'll put it in white if you start to filter stuff it will change color but that means it's doing its job so if you the only time you know they'll tell you it probably lasts three to six months or whatever so you'd have to judge that but if that's something you know you wanted to do like out at your um where the horse do we F the water up for the horses that might help also the issue that um Nathan brought up where you have such a long line out there putting something out there might catch any of the iron that's built up in your house plus I have a hot water t a hot water tank in my barn I'm just WR wrote myself a note because you know um I drain the T you know I don't really use it that often but um okay I don't have show horses so they're not like getting all the crazy bathing crap going on but you know sometimes it's hot yeah okay all right um this was great I do I need to stick around uh just only if you want to no I'll pass but thank you I appreciate your uh good listening and your advice I took a bunch of notes and I'll give Corey a call tomorrow so we can have a game plan all right yes ma'am thank you thank you bye okay you bet alrighty um Nate are we ready to go back to the minutes yeah yeah I've reviewed those okay um 5.1 uh approved minutes of June 10th 2024 July 30th 20124 um I'm all set with them to approve them as is does anybody have problems with them Nate everything looked okay and just I just want to say Jess you're welcome to your opinion but traditionally we sat in the meeting room and we would read the minutes that were presented to us at the table and I know you may not be used to that you've been doing a lot of stuff on Zoom here and we've been doing Zoom for a few years and I don't mind a little gentle razing I didn't know if you were serious or not and in in truth though we we shouldn't do that in front of of while want it's being taped um but also especially if there's people here to talk um we can we can agree to disagree or whatever but and I you know what I'll take some ownership of that I'm the chairman I should have controlled the meeting a little bit better than I did and for that I apologize um usually we work very well together and stuff like that so I'm you know anyways roll call vote on proving the minutes Todd molans and chair I believe we need a motion first oh you're right could I have a motion please motion to approve minutes those dates okay I have a motion to approve the minutes packet of June 10th and in July no what is it yeah July 8th J June 10th and July 30th isn't July 8th in the packet ju I'm looking at July 8th right now oh then which one is wrong the agenda or the minutes M Mr chairman so August 8th is not included in our packet Brenda had said mentioned to us that it was not currently ready so we are voting to move that we approve the minutes of July June 10th and July 30th yeah but on the on the on the packet it says July 8th not not July 30th I'm not seeing I'm seeing the packet it's July 8th yeah in the packet it says Water Commission is meeting I missed that I apologize July 8th 2024 and in June 10th but in the agenda it's says June 10th and July 30th and August 8th which date is correct the 30th or the eth I think it's the eth the eth I think CU she got the confused between August 30th and like it was transposed in her head or something I have a meeting in the calendar for July 8th I don't know which meetings were cancelled no I know but the July the minutes on the the the packet is correct I think the agenda is wrong so yeah all right I'll make a motion I make a motion to the Board of Water Commissioners approve the meeting minutes of June 10th and July 8th of 2024 second motion is made and seconded can I have a roll call vote Todd bansen I Nathan matala I Jessica foli I all right and we have taken care of 2.2 uh we will go down to 4.1 on discussion of weekly warrants yes so Mr chairman if I may I ask that this be put on um I'm seeing a lot of items come across the warrants that have the board has not discussed uh that we have not voted on some of the things may be just regular planned things but I don't want to I certainly don't want to get new installations large decisions I I don't want to get informed of that upon receipt of payment and our signatures so can I ask a question do you have a do you have a do you have a dollar number in mind that would need our approval because I'm going to be honest when we get the plant up and running um plant um plant parts are not cheap and I don't think there would be time for us to uh call an emergency meeting to get together to approve something that needs to get ordered so if we're going to do this I would think I certainly I'm I'm not for creating allowing anybody to create an installation without our approval or input um but we if we're going to do this I think we should think about a dollar value that we that decisions can be made like and but you know in in cases of emergency anyways um the staff have the ability so like we have a main break we can't fix it they have to call hydrotech in um they have the ability to do that so that the water system doesn't have to declare an emergency um but in the same token when that happens um the board should be notified that that's Transit transpiring so I agree with that but I'm wondering if you had a dollar number in mind that we could agree upon so that we don't slow up anything in ordering parts or or something like that um yeah so that was another thing that was discussed at length um in a meeting uh that um Dave the TA and our our previous leison had um it's a practice that the board of Selectmen employees I I think that's a great conversation that we should have we should absolutely put that on an agenda um yep and and we should discuss this and and then furthermore to your point with um this new facility with the posos treatment it is Uncharted Territory for the operations of this board in the water department so certainly there is going to need to be some delineation that should also be uh discussed at length I don't think it's that's not our purview that's why they hold can I finish please can I finish please certainly um I I understand what you're saying there you come from a water background you know there's stuff that must be done it shall be done and I don't disagree with that um but with this new facility uh we are in Uncharted Territory as far as this board and the workings of the water department and I think that it should be uh examined closely once this facility gets open um and once we're able to as a board we should we should probably have a work session or some appropriate way to look at the differences that this new facility is going to bring to the department and include it in and that's one of the sections that I have a big blank section um that I have not uh amended which is um having a lot to do with this facility and um as far as the rules and regs go so I I don't think I straight away too too far away from my point here no you you didn't but I I would the reason first of all it's a treatment plant it is a T2 it's not and it has nothing to do with my background um but you're you have a higher understanding than Jess and I correct um of water but but the but but the problem being is the reason why they have the licenses they do and are required to have them you cannot run a plant without a licensed operator none you can't right is to make those decisions that they they are the ones that are trained to repair the equipment they are the ones that trained to calculate the dosage and stuff like that we and to be honest with you a lot of the operation was calculated into those rate increases that we did that's why we did the um water rate study so that they looked at the general operation of this plant will it operate differently than other plants similarly a little bit but they're probably within the ballpark in fact they're more conservative than they are um so we may not we may find the plant May operate cheaper than what they expect it all depends on the water quality and what happens but I still think decisions about the plant stays with the staff they need to update us now if they need to add something to the plant like another treatment system yes that's where we get involved but I you know that a lot of this is dictated by D the regulations um I can get you them if you so wish that's what the operators are there for right agre Todd I was I was um surprised because we had T like for instance chlorination we had talked about chlorination and Dave has an opinion you have an opinion but after opinion it's it's a can I please can I please finish Todd sure if you'd allow um in this meeting with um Dave's boss our previous liaison um this was delineated the chlorination of our water supply was was picked out and I didn't choose it to be picked out but that is something that absolutely is a commission decision now Dave absolutely not okay Dave stop stop can I please finish let him finish let him what we what we were advised to do is Dave is would was rightfully so vocalize say hey I have a license this is what we are required to do and he would advise the board this is the way it always has been um things have changed a little bit and I've watched this um I'd like to see it get back to the way it was so specifically I have this this this warrant on here because there was a few things that we came across and it it it just feels like I'm just there to sign warrants that's not the case this board is here to make decisions for the water department in the op not necessarily the operations but the general direction and how things are going to take place and I have not seen that we're going to get back back to that I think we had a great conversation and I think we're going to be working a lot better with this understanding um so specific I need to I want to stop you for a second I want to go back can I just go specifically what I was trying to get out of having this put on the agenda sure so I came into the water department and I was looking at warrants I saw one for $3,000 and change which was a bunch of acoustic paneling and I saidwell that's odd I mean of course you're not going to Dave saidwell yeah you you can't even hear yourself talk because of the Echoes rightfully so there's no acoustic tiling in there's no carpets there's no furniture something like this I would like to see you know the the project compl I would have liked to see that you know we've signed and paid for these it is what it is okay um I would have liked to see the building complete um Furniture added and then say hey Board of Water Commissioners you know me being the superintendent saying okay Board of Water Commissioners hey we need to we we I really feel like we should um acquire some sound dampening to counteract the Echo and as appropriate and I'm sure with a project like this there probably has been some sort of acoustical engineering I'm not saying that we need to or we should go out and supplement that but I think you know in construction buildings are always echoey before they're complete and getting sound dampening for it's complete I I just would not agree I don't agree with I did sign the warrant because this is stuff that was already paid for and it was it just like what are you going to do you gonna me as one commissioner am I going to not sign this and say hey we need to return all this no it probably is going to be needed and I hope that anything that isn't going to be needed can be returned I'm trying to save this department money we have customers that are paying water bills in the quadruple digits and I was asked to make sure that this board squeezes every penny the second thing goes for and I did ask Dave about this was the stream gauge was the this and I believe there was another warrant the previous week which it it was close to like 9 ,000 in cellular was it cell service or a battery I'm trying to find the exact I can direct you to the page bab is that for the MS there's some for the string gaug but there's and so there's a whole bunch of things for the stream R which is required when we put them well in it's part it's part of the permit and so I added a couple little things because of the what happened in Ashby so we we also have a turbidity meter on the stream gauge which will get you know how that um that fire and the illegal dumping and Ashby that with the EPA came down on yeah and visited us and you had a concern and for cheap money we put a tan meter in so if there's something going Upstream we can we can know immediately if something's happening on the Stream So for that for instance yes you're saying that it's required for the lure um I'm not going to disagree and say Hey you know like oh you know no it's not required but it is still a conversation that should be had with this board now I'm not I remember our conversation about this uh aformentioned place in Ashby where there was some dumping and fires and we had talked about that and I remember Todd having great concern certainly I think it would be uh it's a I wouldn't be opposed to early detection of contaminants uh flowing in an open body of water towards our town and our wellsite that that's a no-brainer um but I'd like to know about it before I go to sign for payment you know um talk about this for four months right so section section section 3.1 is meeting business that that section is for you to add things to keep us surprised to get our opinions to get our Direction so that section has been consistently empty um you are absolutely Dave able to take and add things to our agenda with the approval of our chairman or or I I mean typically the chairman has been the uh agenda setting Authority so I mean really in the past many many years we've had an open Agenda and I've been fine with that okay I have no anybody wants to put anything on the agenda I have no problem with that the more the better so let me stop I need to get back to chlorination because I have a huge issue with you bringing this up in the it's my turn my turn I'm the commissioner uh chairman it's my turn I have a large problem with that there is a consent order from boiling or for boil orders and bacteria it is a common practice there was no choice we were either going to chlorinate or they would not allow us to pump water that is the D's prerogative backed up by both the E by the EPA and the multiple laws I have a large issue with you questioning that there are thousands of water operators that do this for a living we do it safely we deliver Safe Water you do not as a commissioner have the ability to say yay or nay to a consent order from d and to bring this up really when we've had this out time and time again really really bothers me I don't want to hear about chlorinating towns and's water that is a foregone conclusion and it is by law you either do that or we do not pump any water to the town that means Sterilite doesn't exist we can't bring any business in the community the schools so there's a lot more writing on this than your personal belief about chlorination and that my personal I am speaking that really bothers me now you talk about my profession I am a chemist a microbiologist have been for as long as I grad since I graduated high school I've got 18 years as an operator I'm extremely proud of the profession so I don't like the idea of people suggesting that using chlorination to disinfectant water that is M time and time again over a period of time to be bacteriologically unstable and at risk to the community in general so you don't have the right as a commissioner to say yay or nay on chlorination that is a lot that is it is I understand what you're saying and I I tried to avoid this conversation I understand you have a background in water this is a political board okay now all I'm saying is I'm recalling a conversation between Dave's boss okay myself and our previous lison so if you disagree with that that's fine but you shouldn't be giving this to me okay well I'm just passing forward what's expected through us in a de Democratic process Democratic process in law and regulation are two different things we're not going to this tonight we're not going always align they don't always align and that's okay I understand your frustration Todd you're totally entitled to that it's not necessar appr it's not an opinion it is fact now I'm I'm not going to I'm not going to go on with this argument we've gone way off track I I do not want the subject in this board of chlorination brought up again I I do not because it is it is by regulation we're proven the system is unsafe bacteriologically you've got people with rare diseases so you either choose to chlorinate at a minimal at a minimal amount the dosage is calculated it's analyzed it's monitored it'll be monitored by the annualize 247 it's reported to the state on a monthly basis so I I really and truly do not want to hear the word chlorine ever again unless it's about the cost of chlorine you're you're making it out to be like I just said that we shouldn't do this all I'm saying is that this board should operate as it was intended not because you feel a certain way about it or the law says so between an operator and the lenser like I said this is to be discussed if if the board the board not my personal opinion has nothing to do with it if the board were to make a decision to the contrary of your belief Dave would then say excuse me Board of Water Commissioners this goes against this this this it conflicts with my licensure and I would have to shut it down that is the conversation to be had that is the process can I make a quick I'm sorry you disagree can I make a quick comment we already chlorinate we chlorinate the T tanks once a month and it's not healthy or safe to dose the tanks we're do we're going to do it in a much safer manner than we are now but we've been chlorinating for years how many years I believe here before I think I think they even did when Paul was here I know I know that they did because I saw and signed receipts for it and it was done it was done when there were breaks when there was additions when there was work being done I understand that and I didn't say anything to the contrary I am specifically saying that this Board needs to do its job we need to be brought this information the board is to make decisions this is Dave um I'm going to say right now y if it comes down to treatment that has been mandated by D this board has no ability prerogative or status to make a claim otherwise um if that is the board's prerogative going forward um then I don't think I could be part of this board that oversteps our Authority and our ability um and I don't think I could be party to it I also don't think I could be party to endangering the public so I'll be very specific if the board entertains that direction I will resign immediately because I will not endanger this community the reason why I want to be a water commissioner is I I can bring what I believe to be um expertise and get this water department to where it should be can be and and and plan for the future you're focusing on the wrong thing here this is not about chlorination speaking please if the board's prerogative is to move to review and approve decisions that are based on regulations then I cannot I could not be a party to that now it's the board's decision but I'm telling you that I could not be a party to that and I would step down because I would be uh extending meetings arguing and I I just don't want to waste my time um it's it's right now for me and my family it's very very it's time is a priority for us right now for my own reason um so I I only want to do things that I know are going to have a positive effect if I understand I understand I and I want to Echo what you're saying but if this board does not operate in the way that it should then I will be the one that's resigning but it is within the regulation you cannot not talking about a specific D issue Todd that's what you're not seeing here this is not about chlorination this is not about one thing this is about all of it all right I think we've beaten this to the ground and we're pretty we're pretty positive on on our stances um do you have anything else to add on it on your um agenda item Nathan uh not more than what I've said I would like to not be learning of this stuff on upon receipt of payment and just being expected to sign these warrants so I think we need to add an agenda item for next month um where we talk about delineating a uh a procedure that lists out a dollar value um I think before we are we talked about $5,000 being kind of knowing what parts are via we have variable speed drives now we have generators so the prices of what we're talking about are not going to be cheap so um Jess and Nate if you would think about um what you would deem reasonable so that uh Dave and the staff can respond to things um one second brand I'll let you speak in two seconds um we put that on for an agenda item for next so we can hash this out I do think big expenditures should be notified we can even do that in the protocol if to simplify things if Dave wanted to uh notify us through an email this broke I need to expend this um the watermain broke we have to bring in uh hydrotech or excuse me um if he um or if he could notify the chair and the chair could notify the other Commissioners however you guys want it to work let's put that on the agenda and we can talk about it next month Brenda go ahead water office you have I just wanted to say that like our unial bills are $10,000 a month so when you just have to factor that in when given the dollar amount because no I think Nate's more talking about things that we're ordering one time offer one time orders yeah one time orders go ahead Nate yeah basically non I don't want to say normal encumbrances I mean utilities no that's that's that's that's a good term Nate well I don't know well that what what's I mean Dave's definition of a normal encumbrance is him doing his job and I understand that but as a commissioner trying to make sure that everything is is transparent I would rather discuss the meat and potatoes be informed in a meeting um certainly we would want to have more meetings than less and not and try to you know be here um uh and try to be here I think the way the warrants where we review them weekly works really really well I would um and I I you know like being notified let I'll get to you in a second being notified finish my thought all right finish your thought I don't want to drone on and on um but yeah keeping is much of this in a meeting first I I really don't feel good about commissioner to commissioner correspondence email of what should be discussed and how we should do that that is stuff for meetings that is not something in my opinion to be done through email I I feel really uncomfortable about it open meeting law violation if it is yeah well we're not discussing if Dave was notifying us of an emergency or a needed part um if it was something that needed a vote we could have it at a meeting if it was some if it's an emergency he has the right right to go and get it if it's something that he's planning on getting he could let us know where I was saying about notifying us is in case of emergency um and I'm superstitious so I'm going to not name anything specific so if it breaks tomorrow I don't get held of accountable for it um but if there was something like um like take example when hydrotech came in to fixed the main break when the kid took out the poll uh on um on 119 it was beyond the ability of the department to to undertake so they called in hydr Tech and I believe Gary Shepard now that would be what I would consider where he would notify Us by by an email where Nate is correct is if Dave is planning on buying a new piece of equipment um and it exceeds an amount that we have said that that would be in the meeting section of the agenda of the meeting that we would discuss before it's purchased um but like if a pump breaks and they need it for the chemical delivery system then and it's more than $5,000 that's an emergency and the plant's not running yet so it can't break yet um um but what I would say is that it is um that is something that would fit within um Nate's idea of the business business thing is um we want to order um a hoist for the truck it's uh $6,800 that would be something that he would bring to us and put in the be business section say look this is why I want to do it it'll make it safer for our crew lifting things people won't blow out backs we can lower things down we can even use it as the Hoist if we're going down into a um uh a manhole or or whatever so that part I would agree with with Nate um if it exceeds whatever dollar amount we come to um but I just want this group prepared that when the plant comes online um there are going to be things that need to be fixed they need to be fixed without review and they need to be ordered a lot of times we're finding with equipment the delay on delivery is fairly significant um for me um I just ordered vfds which are variable speed drivve now mine are huge but they're 80 weeks out so the sooner I order them the better off the sooner I'll get them so I I agree with Nate's part in that like you know things like if we're going to buy a piece of property before that's even discussed that should become before the board if we're building a brand new facility that's something that should be discussed um the the acoustic stuff um that I kind of just you know I thought that was part of the project um and the the part of the project of building the plant and the problem is is srf changes their mind of what is allowable to be srf you could have it already in your plan um and I don't know what happened if Dave was this um refundable by srf the acustic equipment we can get money for it in the if there's right now we're we're looking like we're going to be about 400,000 on the budget and okay so we're going to take and we be we reimbursed for it right but it wasn't sure right now but it wasn't it wasn't part of the original project correct it wasn't it wasn't bid in the project okay but the contract told me I needed them okay um in the future if it's not part of the original project and it exceeds amount that we will come up with at a later time that's something uh you let us know about so we can if we need to schedule a special meeting for it we we can do that but that should be something that probably should have been on our meeting but if it was was it $33,000 you said yeah or all right it was like 2800 okay so we will come up with a number I don't know if that would have exceeded or not but say it was say it was the $6,800 then something like that would should come before the board so we can have our input on on it because the fiscal responsibility of the of the department is is on us um that that sort of thing I I I would agree with Nate that that needs to be reviewed discussed you need to be able to present to us why you think it's important you know it you know like I said if it was a hoist it would save uh potential injury and all that other stuff um but I I you know so that definitely brender if you're list definitely make that an agenda item um to be discussed and I I would rather it be an open meeting so that everyone can see what each of our viewpoints are um I think we've beaten not just about to death um does any Jessica do you have anything to add on any of that no okay good um let me see let me put my glasses back on um let's see incident response plan um that cannot with that will be vacated because the aison is not here um it won't be um seven uh 6.1 Dave you have no updates for us or do you have an update for us oh no yeah I got them all right go okay please the building is GNA be completed in about a month we're look looking uh we're way ahead of schedule it was originally supposed to be the 24th in November and it's going to be sometime in October Dave in that regard do are we going to wait until the plant is operational or do we want to start considering having like a ribbon cutting of opening the plant you wanna what what is your get what you would want and then we can discuss so what's not going to happen is the generator is not going to be put in because it doesn't come till December okay I I'm proposing uh April or May okay you know it would be good I think we've discussed this before and excuse me for my lack of memory but um what week is water week or is that may hold on do you know what I'm talking about Dave I do there's one week that most schools and it's set aside for water I think it's either May or April I think it's May they will probably prove me wrong and it's April but it would not be bad to highlight to the 13th say again April 7th to the 13th which is it is April I was wrong which is also the um the week of the meeting What annual what the meeting oh crud well but but I'm thinking more of May because once the generator comes in it's it's not going to get installed to probably March or April I don't want construction going on until it's we have time to think so we have time to think about it and stuff but I would I would think that a um this is something the community should celebrate this is something the community um the neighbors have definitely uh sacrificed for um the community itself bought in and for the most part has supported it wholeheartedly so um I wouldn't think it a bad thing to as long as we keep cost down um nothing extravagant but I wouldn't think it would be a bad idea to have a an initial opening house or Ribbon cutting or whatever you want to call it so the people actually can see what the money paid for and if we could safely do tours through it and stuff like that um you know you have what do you have in your Outreach budget Dave none that's going to be that's going to be the next budget okay all right Nate did you have a question did you raise your hand I I well you covered some of what I wanted to say so I want to Echo what you said I don't want it extravagant I think the uh groundbreaking we spent a few thousand dollars too many uh too much while it was nice and a nice idea um uh I wish we had more put on how it was planned I expect to have more input as a board for any ideas as far as a ribbon cutting uh ribbon cutting and uh I don't want to spend a lot of money it was I've had some comments made to me about the um about this project and about the Optics of it um a lot of other communities trying to do what we're doing and they're not necessarily getting what we're getting um you know maybe maybe better to just kind of have a humble Gathering instead of something that's extravagant I want to Echo what you said there Todd not extravagant no I would I would agree with that I just um I just so you know this plant's a big deal this plant is going to have a lot of political people wanting to come to the ribbon cutting including our state congressman which is lorri Tran she made it known that she wants to be in with it and so well it's up to us to who we invite but they did they did go to B uh I would so the srfs the srf is more of a state controlled thing so for me if we were to and we have a long time to discuss this but for me the prime that would be there if they're still in office would be Scarsdale and and then secondly Cronin um Scarsdale really went to B for us um um in on this um it I would say it is a big deal we were of the smaller communities that were affected we were probably first in line um I would say that my experience with Town residents has been the opposite of uh NES people have been to me very outspoken about what this board has done about how it prioritized water safety how we were out in front and and if I misinterpret what you said Nate then I apologize and I'll get to you when I'm finished can we can we get back point of order point of order if we're gonna this is We're not gonna be discussing this this is just like an update type of thing right because this is GNA be a separate agenda item I need to get back good enough good enough Nate did you want to add something or was that your comment as well thank you Jess no I I just I I just wanted to for a point of clarity uh residents were not saying that to me specifically as the way it was presented in what you had said so okay going back back on track yeah let's all right finish the generator gets delivered in December it will not be installed to at least January or February and it won't be completed till probably March maybe early April all right harbit Trace W upgrades are complete so it's all been brand new brand new Motors brand new pump brand new vfd everything in in there is now brand new Dave did they changed the um the screen and the gravel the screen's the same we C we cleaned it remember the picture I S you that is it stainless yes so seven seven years ago whatever reason they pulled the pump and they decide someone decided to put it back in place without cleaning it and you saw the pictures that I I they were horrifying so that's why we that's why I asked you to spend the 10 grand to clean it um harbit Trace will upgr witches Brook 2 is now being upgraded and is in progress as soon as that's done which is one will be the next one to be done all completely rebuilt um water main product Paving will be completed tomorrow and then is that the final Cod is that the final or all Paving all Paving will be completed sou streets paved Hobbit Trac is paved the treatment plants paved sou row and memy a a one lane all the way all paved to completion Dave did the town follow through on cdge I I haven't got into that that's not no you shouldn't I I was just curious I'm staying out of that nope there you should I just was I was curious because we'll probably get feedback on it if it hasn't been so right so we have we have a little more testing of um so some of the center areas of the waterm for for eoli but will be we that should be done by next week we we're gonna put it on but then we're going to have to do a heavy flush on Emory because for 50 years the water's been flowing into it and we're it's going to be a mess when we put it in Dave you might Dave if you're putting a flushing plan together I would also consider um 13 because you're going to push whatever is on Emy if you if if you're on if you're going from South Row to Emery with the flush because you're changing the flow you're going to push it all the way out to 13 you might want to go on either side of Emer in open do you know what I'm saying yeah we're g we're gonna go to the tank the gate at the tank okay what it's your call it's your it's your system I'm just right it's we're gonna play it by year because we don't know how far we're gonna have to go the other thing is is make sure we get like um Mrs dagel said earlier let's make sure we're notifying people well in advance because this is something that would be planned and we would know about so let's get that out make sure that that the community knows that's what we're doing why we're doing it because it's changing the flow and that so next one lawsuits they've been they've been delayed about a month because there's so many of them the one big big thing that happened is I put in for a supplemental special pay out to pay for the plant and it went forward which one wait a minute so which one for $21 million it went forward and we have a shot at getting the whole plant paid for to completion hold on Nate has a question well yeah we we had people uh we had our accountant and um our Treasurer scheduled for a meeting and I believe that meeting was cancelled um are we going to have them back or well that was that was like we can do that we need to discuss the vehicle and what we're gonna do with the money I thought that was pressing so no the only thing we were that meeting was for is to where to put the money yeah correct and how to how to legally invest it right right so there's an account currently that we can put it in and then you can Nate's not Dave D Nate's not wrong we need to re we're getting off topic well no that you would discuss well yes and no all right finish please so we have a a good chance besides the payout of the $4 million to have the entire treatment plant paid in its entirety that move forward who was it with Dave 3M or 3M and ton I've already said they came back and and um asked me to check it off because I applied for it so it was um Napoli chaplick asked you to do that yep okay I did an under speci like that Dave if when you apply for something like that I don't have a problem with you doing that especially if the the environmental lawyers are telling you to do so um but that's something that we probably should should know about soon so something like that have Brenda send an email to us that you've applied for additional and then put it in your report but just just so we can be more communicative with the public when we talk to them right so I do that I apply for Grants all the time some every once in a while one go comes through and so but if they don't come through there's nothing to talk about this one this one moved forward and so now now I'm bringing it Forward are we gonna get money more than likely are we going to get all of it who knows if we're going to get part of it could be so it would all I'm telling you is to move forward so Dave the only thing I would say about grants is if there is a monetary match we need to know about it before you apply okay because we would have to account for that in a budget so if you can do a match with staff time because you can in a lot of those that's fine but if there's a like a 25% 30% match that you have to do that needs to be voted on by the board before you absolutely I don't want I don't want that okay all right I just I'm just putting it out there right okay um Main Street cross street we're waiting on the chlorination rack it's all a kit that we're going to install we already have the pumps we already have the tanks we already have the the the um overflow tray they're all in place so we're waiting for that the chlorination rack and the final D permit the treatment plan shut what about the the pumps they're going to run automated they going you have them all hooked or are they plan to be hooked into skada correct okay who's handling that Dave the skada love it love it okay the person we we have okay so currently we do chlorinate this all P of my nose we do chlorinate we Chlor eight high doses in the tank once both tanks once a month I don't like it but the by doing it as a system it's going to be a more gentle and safer way you're doing it yeah you'll you'll have a lower um have they calculated out your dose yet Dave based on your flow yeah well B basically we where it comes down to they have a number but what we're going to do is we're going to put her on the lower setting and see what it does and I want to have the lowest possible setting that we could possibly have and then get the residuals and it's going to be like once a week put on the lower setting if we don't get anything go up a notch and wait a week and because you don't know and you don't want to no I know um it's going to be TR it's not like you're going to turn it on dose it and then shut it off it's going to be running all the time at that lowest setting right correct and we're going to have to wait wait because it's what it's going to do is all that sediment is going going to eat up the chlorine for a while and so you need to wait at least a week or two to let it do its do its stuff but yep I'm trying to keep as low as possibly can Dave what did they give you for your sample points we we haven't got him yet okay because that's going to determine how long it get takes to react right but it's probably going to be the high school because that's at the end of the line what about the tanks one of them what what about the tanks themselves the tanks are going to be one those are end of the line and right so we're going to work those out all right uh me meter change though we're we're within a we're well over half right now in the next two week we're going to I call it the great countdown which is a th000 and counting down so we're that we're that far Advanced and lunenberg water has asked for a a um tour of the plant to see what they're going to do because they got voted down on a 3 to1 basis and they're and then they're going to possibly talk to you this board about purchasing water from from the board all right but we'll see after they tour the plant on how the reaction is but that one thing at a time yep one thing I want to add to remind you Dave for next month is we did in the last meeting say we wanted to see um a draft projection of what your budget's going to be what your budget for FY 26 is going to going to look like have that in October all right good enough I just wanted have to have a second one in October depending on it all depends on when the date of moving into the plan is no no I understand that but I just want to be a little bit more um in to Nate's point to have a little bit more input we've always because we are so focused on the plan A lot of the times we were getting the budget just before it needed to be approved I think if we see it in October that gives us October November December to have our inputs on it and stuff like that and and then be better prepared for annual Tom meeting next year um Nate you had your hand up yeah Dave uh if I could ask I I saw you guys working uh just south of Dunkin Donuts on Route 13 I don't know if it's Elm Street or Fitchburg Road there but I I thought I saw you guys pushing the GPR around we we did yeah what what's going on over there so they're uh they they tried to build a whole project there back in the early 80s so there's hydrants and everything else there's a there's a hydrant at the river but that they never put water in it and I was tracing the there's no records of it and with the GPR we found all the gates and all the water lines for that project so Kevin Smith has is in the process of building two four unit buildings that will need fire protection that are over 55 housing Dave isn't that in the flood plane though because I remember the the Squan cook went up and over the The Edge on that curve before it goes underneath the road it's like 40 it's like 40 feet in the air okay I just I do remember this going because there's that white house um the river comes up it comes off of Worcester comes behind the white house and then curves and right on that curve on that edge where the Woodline is the water went up there right but you know where Dunkin Donis is yeah is it going to be closer to that side than the river side it's like south of it okay so so Dunkin Jon is buying a 40ft strip on the left hand side of that property for additional parking who knew that they need it and then they're gonna they they just did the um the perk test for the septic system on that lot so there's two four there's eight units going in there what side of what what side of the building they put in the septic system Dave to Dun Don side well we're going to have a p fast treatment plant let's not worry about it but they're but they're gonna reuse those water Ms can you why not what about the gates they've never been you going to replace them it not if they've been closed for for the whole entire time yeah I know how operable are they going to be after that but that's on them they no you're right well no actually it's you get to decide Dave Dave as the superintendent on the distribution system I I I don't mind helping them out like rebuilding the hydrants or or allowing them to use the hydrants if they're workable we won't know until they do I I would I I would have concerns about the gates to be honest besides that we have to test the whole system we have to run water in them we have to Chlor re chlorinate and ressure test and but if they they probably can save a couple $100,000 no I no I I get that that that and I'm all for that I'm all for helping people save money especially if we're building over 55 housing I just want to make sure that anything they're putting in there won't have to be replaced later because all of a sudden we figure out it doesn't work that's why we're gonna pest again so Nate and Jess I'll ask a question do you need to know what when he's talking about pressure testing do you want to know what that means or no don't need Dave has explained that to me before okay Nate I've never I've never had such a conversation okay so what they do is anytime you put in a new water M um or have someone put it in like the ones on Emory and everything else section by section as it's as it's finished the gates are closed and you put water into it up to a certain pressure and I think it's Dave is it 150 or 200 1.5 times operation uh condition in that case it's probably about 90 pounds so it's gonna it's going to be about 145 okay so yeah so rounding up it's 150 so they'll run it for two hours before they filled it up the trenching Nate and make sure it doesn't leak and that's a pressure test once it passes the pressure test they'll actually push chlorine in it and it sits and that's a calculated dose that that one is fairly high and it sits there for 24 to 48 hours and they flush it out and then you take bacteria test to make sure you've disinfected that new section of water M um and then they go on and on so when he's talking about pressure testing the ex existing system down there just to make sure that it hasn't come loose something isn't broken in there there they will um push water into that system to a certain pressure um they'll have to ex when Kevin will probably have to expose all those lines so you can see if there's any leaks and believe me at 150 psi if there's a leak you'll see it you'll know and then they'll because it's been dry the whole time they will have to to chlorinate it like it was a brand new section um my concern was so if they did it in the 80s we're looking at 40 of those Gates not being moved um dry like that um they may not be dry there is that but they definitely will have we won't know what shape is they're in so you know that's the only concern I had but anyways Dave you ask can I just ask one more question yes sir please um yeah so is this you're you're saying that you were talking earlier about replacing Gates and whether that would be upon the contract contractor or ourselves who owns the equipment now the contractor priv on on the property they would but we have to agree what goes in there before you can allow anything to connect to your system it's the distribution operator's responsibility and um and it's his liability to make sure that everything after his system is working in working order before he accepts it he doesn't have to allow connection if he beli something endangers the system as a whole so um that's why you know they would expose it they would probably have to work the gates to make sure that they are operable um if you so choose Dave you feel it's comfortable um the gate exerciser if you wanted your guys to go into it so I I get nervous going on the property because of liabilities so but you I would be if the board let me put it this way I would be comfortable but that would be something I would think the board would want to take under consideration of allowing to go on site to to do the test Gates I mean he could probably go and rent the equipment if he so chooses actually in this case there's easement that goes across the prop from the property so we don't we don't need um we can go on there if we needed to all right you know this is me just thinking doing a squirrel moment are we discussing this Todd no I'm shut up I'm shutting up now moment something pops into my head I say it question the Nate is we use the GPR to locate underground all those pipes that on a property that was overgrown and it worked very well because I had one of the operators who I was teaching how to use it do it do all the work so it worked very well awesome I'm glad I asked this is very informative right so getting on to that besides that property 108 Fitchburg road is going to be doing six units also of overage housing I forgot to mention that and put on my not where is that wait a minute where's 108 you know where Maria road is yeah it's by the water tank is back on the same side as em there's a old junky house more down is falling down going towards lunberg they used to sell anes out of it like a long time ago oh that's that's not on emry side that's on that's on em the Emy bitburg road to on the emry side you go you count two houses back there's a house that they remodeled but the Bond's falling down they're going to crush the bond and put acoss street so it is on the EM side right yes the same side as emry right across the street from the island Street tank yeah all right they're gonna put six units in there but they already put six units in 94 so or three units no the number of units it's just the location's kind of Inky but there's a big Bond and everything else so no I know the one you're talking about now so yeah that's interesting all right is that it Dave that is it all right 7.1 schedule next border selectman uh water Commissioners meeting I don't want to schedule any selectman things well I'm not gonna be available um Mondays or Wednesdays not uh yeah Mondays and Wednesdays in October doing some continuing education oh good getting a degree or just a higher certification Nate I'm getting more stuff under my belt I want to do the best I can in all aspects good for you oh yeah it's not required CE but no I know but true just the Curiosity uh above and beyond not not um good question I don't know if it's it's it's probably not I don't think it's like a testing like PSI so okay so I would be available Tuesdays Thursdays Fridays any of those days Fridays will I have some stuff going on so Fridays are tough for me Tuesdays are good dates Tuesday like I was saying Tuesday the 15th would work because the 14th is a holiday anym so that would be the second no that's actually the Third the first is the first Tuesday eth is the second the 15th is the third 15 works for me I'm okay with the but um the the 15th what about I'd rather the eighth to be honest with you yeah I would okay sounds good all right [Music] um 7.2 and and 7.3 if I could have a [Music] motion um 7.4 I guess if I could have a motion that combines those with the normal words we say at the end you want me to make it go for it okay I make a motion that the Board of Water commissioners review monthly abatement and adjustment lists review and approve end of month reports and sign reports and bills payable warrants out of session second motion has been made in seconded can I have a roll call vote Todd malanson I Nathan matala I Jess foli I motion has been made and passed that and ends the meeting can I have a motion to end the meeting please so moved moot motion has been made I second uh roll call vote Todd blanson I Nathan matala I Jessica foli I hey thank you all for your time um good work and we'll see you on October 8th