Utilities Committee of the Northport Village Corporation

Minutes of June 25, 2004 Meeting

Community Hall

Present: D. Crofoot, R. Brockway, S. Fleming, J. Metcalf, P. Spollett, John Fancy

Also, Denise Abel, Greg Closter, Marge Brockway, Beverly Crofoot, James Fitch

The meeting convened at 3: 30 p.m.

1.      Minutes of the previous Meeting were approved with amendments for spelling.

2.      James Fitch of Woodard & Curran presented the status of the Stage II Facilities Plan to be prepared for the DEP by September 1^st as required under the Consent Agreement.

The Stage I Facilities Report was based on assumed flow rates of 90,000 gallons/day. Since the completion of the Phase I infrastructure project (water, sewerage and storm drainage in core village and new South Road sewer pipe), flows have been monitored in the central village, at the South Shore pump station and at the treatment plant. 

Overall flow through the treatment plant has been significantly decreased from previous years.  This new data indicate a sizeable decrease in I & I in the central area of the village with no noticeable spikes in response to three major rain events in April and May 2004.  Flow at the South Shore Pump station shows high rain-related flows indicative of major infiltration.  This has been traced to outflow from the Kelly Cove Subdivision. Five manholes are improperly sealed and allow heavy infiltration of ground water.  This is the major source of excess I & I to our treatment plant.

At the February meeting of Mr. Fitch and Mr. Fancy with representatives of DEP and Rural Development, the DEP indicated, according to Mr. Fitch, that DEP did not have grant funds available to fund a replacement of NVC's existing primary treatment system with a secondary treatment plant.  Until funds are available, we must operate our existing primary treatment plant in compliance with our license requirements as much as possible. 

Mr. Fancy said that removal of the solids in the chlorination tanks when the collection tanks are pumped had solved problems of high coliform readings.  The DEP in the license application proposal submitted to EPA allows for 63,000 gallons/day discharge on a year round basis. Previously discharge was limited to 10,000 gals/day during the winter--a condition impossible to meet.   Correction of the major infiltration from Kelly Cove on the South Shore may allow us to substantially meet such flow limitations.

Mr. Fitch said any project designed to upgrade our system to meet primary treatment requirements should be part of a long-term plan to convert to secondary treatment.  He expects discharge of effluent to the bay to continue for the foreseeable future.

Lagoon systems operate with low maintenance costs, but the price tag of several million dollars makes it unlikely that the DEP will approve and fund such a plan.  The same is true for connection to Belfast 's treatment plant.  Lesser options which could eventually be integrated into a secondary treatment system include a system of two primary clarifier tanks which could subsequently be attached to secondary treatment by either a sequencing batch reactor, a membrane bioreactor, or biological trickle filter (Septitech).  Mr. Fitch had reservations about the Septitech technology fearing that it might be too slow to adapt to the increased bio-demand of summer use.  Any such system, which is not aerated, will have odor problems.   Acquisition by NVC of land to provide a sufficient buffer zone will need to be pursued.

3.      Further discussion of the Kelly Cove Development I & I problem ensued. The leaking manholes are located on private property held in common by the property owners of the Subdivision. The NVC Sewer Ordinance forbids discharge of runoff water into the sanitary sewer and places the burden of correcting this on the property owner.   Property owners have received two letters detailing the problems and are expected to correct this problem by September 1^st.  Not all property owners have been cooperative to date. The Committee will need to consider sanctions including penalties if the Kelly Cove Owners Association fails to correct the problem.

4.      Utilities Billing. 

There were major problems and inaccuracies with the May billing to water customers.  These were due to glitches in metering, to an improperly calculated base rate, and to printer misalignment resulting in illegibility. There was also a base rate error to seasonal users with their November water billing.  Sewer billing was not sent out with the May bills.

To correct these problems, bills were prepared by hand through the generous effort of Jane Badershall and several hard-working volunteers.  Bills were mailed on June 24.  They will likely engender some confusion, although efforts have been made to explain the circumstances in this billing.

 Discussion of the reasons for this problem identified the shift from semi-annual (seasonal customers) and quarterly (year-round customers) billing to a trimester system for all users.   John Fancy will investigate the metering input problems.  The TRIO software program used to create bills and track payments is DOS-based and very difficult to use and to teach.  We will investigate other Windows-based programs in hopes of finding a more user-friendly system.  John Fancy was asked to present written recommendations for improving the process to allow for timely and accurate billing in the future.

5.      Meeting adjourned at 6 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

David D. Crofoot, Chairman