Officers for 2015 were re-elected: Mr. Cole, President; Mr. Landon, Vice-President; Mr. Mosser, Secretary; Mr. Zimmer, Treasurer.
The minutes of the December meeting were approved and the payroll and invoices were approved as presented.
Engineer Dennis Lingenfelter was unable to attend so Mr. Hilfiger presented the Engineer's report.
Additional geotechnical testing was planned for the treatment plant site to field test friction piles to determine requirements to handle the proposed structural load of the Sequencing Batch Reactor complex. However, due to coordination and cost issues, the engineer was unable to schedule a contractor to perform the pile testing at a reasonable price. Quotes were in the range of $300,000 to $400,000. The engineers have revisited the matter and were assured that original testing and safety factor considerations make it highly unlikely the design will be insufficient. If an inadequacy is discovered the most likely scenario would be that additional friction piles will be needed. Therefore, bidders have been requested to enter a unit price for the proposed piles, with the understanding that the final number may be more or less the base bid quantity of 160.
The final design for the plant upgrade was completed and the project was bid on January 5. Bids are scheduled to be received on February 10. The settlement of the PennVEST funding is scheduled for April 21, 2015.
Mr. Hilfiger said that bulk water sales to gas drillers have been "real busy." 6.1 million gallons were sold in December valued at $97,000. By the meeting date (January 13) another 3 million gallons were sold, valued at $60,000. In 2014 a total of 28,5 million gallons was sold to gas drillers ($369,000) and 4.2 million gallons to non-gas drillers ($67,000).
Lee Burguess is working on installing new radio-read meters and materials for the SCADA system are being installed in the booster pump building. Andritz Inc. will program the equipment and integrate it into the existing SCADA system.
RBC #1 has been repaired and is cabled together and is currently running.
The sewer plant upgrade has borrowed $591,672 from the water business to fund sewer design. Another $158,000 has been borrowed from the Sewer Equipment Replacement fund.
In January the Authority received $600 from Bradford County Collections as restitution in the Brenda Mott case. So far a total of $73,792.46 has been returned, leaving a balance of $255,851.44 as per the civil suit agreement.
The Authority also collected $2,085 in storm water surcharges in December for Canton Borough.
The Board discussed the 2015 budget and determined that the Residential and Commercial water rates for 2015 will be reduced by 15 %. This is the result of several years of bulk water sales to gas drilling companies in the area. The monies from these sales were utilized to pay off $3.7 million in long term debt incurred during the 2006 water infrastructure upgrade project, eliminating an annual loan payment of $130,680. The average customer using 4,000 gallons of water per month will see a reduction of approximately $4.40 in their water bill.
Due to the projected additional expenses to be incurred from an upcoming Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgraded, the Residential and Commercial sewer rates for 2015 will be increased by 20 %. The Authority received a $4 million grant from PENNVEST, along with a 1% loan of up to $5.3 million to replace worn out equipment and to meet newly mandated Chesapeake Bay discharge limits. The average customer using 4,000 gallons of water per month will see an increase of approximately $6.50 in their sewer bill.
These rate changes will take place in February and be reflected in the March billing.
Bulk water revenues will continue to be set aside for projects or repayment of loans.