The Service Authority Board of Directors began their meeting at 6:31pm with a relatively large audience of citizens. Despite the large turnout, nobody spoke during public comment.
Michael Bennett was absent as expected so the Board reports moved to Richard Granger who had nothing to report. Ruby Brabo began her report by talking about the outages and issues in the Canterbury subdivision. She said that the Service Authority employees have worked hard after hours and over the holidays to fix issues and, in hearing directly from residents, they were always professional. Brabo said residents have been dealing with issues in this neighborhood for seven months and "with each fix, we are assured this time we are good to go." She said with new infrastructure there is more certainty and confidence. She continued by saying money can be spent a little here and a little there to fix the small issues or it can be spent all at once to fix the issue permanently, implying that the Canterbury system could be connected to the Courthouse system. Brabo said the ongoing disruptions continue to undermine resident's faith in the Service Authority infrastructure, but not the Service Authority employees. She concluded that while some would rather wait to get a Master Plan, sometimes common sense dictates immediate change.
Cathy Binder had a short report and said she spent a lot of time over the last few weeks catching up on the issues in Canterbury and learning about the Service Authority. She asked those residents in her district to reach out to her with any issues they may have but gave a warning that she does not do Facebook or social media and to instead contact her via email. She also said she is working on setting up a Town Hall meeting in the near future.
Christopher Werle then ran through his update beginning with his attending a meeting on January 10, 2018 with Annie Cupka to discuss a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) grant that would fund a sanitary survey and educational program for trailer park residents in Fairview Beach. He said it would only require the Service Authority Board to support it and the Service Authority staff to oversee the execution. On January 19, 2018, Werle toured the Canterbury treatment plants with Chris Thomas, Service Authority General Manager. Werle said the facilities are clearly showing their age and the water storage tanks and pump house exterior need improvements. He said operational issues must be immediately addressed and has asked the General Manager to detail what the issues were, what has been done to fix the issues, and what actions are planned for the future to prevent more issues. He concluded his report by apologizing for the interruptions of service.
The Consent Agenda was passed without comment and the County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report. The Citizen Budget Advisory Committee Charter was approved as presented in the Agenda and a few citizens were appointed to the Committee. Richard Granger and Cathy Binder asked anyone living in their district (James Madison and Shiloh respectively) to please contact them via email if they were interested in serving on the committee. Granger further clarified that this committee would only work on the Service Authority budget and meetings would start at 6:30pm on Tuesday or Wednesday and hopefully only last an hour or two. He also said they would hopefully only need about four meetings. Ruby Brabo nominated Stephen Dawes who was approved. Michael Bennett was absent but previously sent an email to Christopher Werle with his nomination for Rob Harling who was approved. Christopher Werle nominated Howard Yarus who was approved.
Ruby Brabo then recommended the first committee meeting be more of an orientation for the appointees and newly elected Supervisors to give everyone a better idea of the inventory, age, and operation of the system.
From there, the Board of Directors then began their discussion of the Utilities Master Plan. Chris Thomas said the Service Authority is creating a Master Plan in conjunction with the King George County Comprehensive Plan and the Economic Development Plan. He said they did not do a Request For Proposal (RFP) publicly because they used the on-hand, contracted engineers. The idea of the plan is to focus on efficiencies in the Service Authority as well as look at potentially consolidating systems. Thomas gave an example of adding Canterbury to the Courthouse system or even the Circle system. He said before making those types of consolidating connections, the changes need to be reviewed to see what the impact of the increased demand would be. He then concluded by saying he felt it was important to let the Master Plan take its due course before just making the jump to connecting the two systems. He felt there was sufficient time to allow the Master Plan to work.
Brabo then said waiting for the Master Plan would be ideal but questioned Thomas on when it would be up for approval by the Board. Thomas said it should be ready by March 2018 and that the Master Plan itself would take nine months to a year to complete because it requires a lot of data to be processed. In the end, Thomas agreed with Brabo that the Master Plan process would take at least a year to complete.
The Board then discussed the water problems in the Canterbury subdivision. Thomas said he appreciated Brabo's earlier comments. He said the system was installed in the 1980s by a private company and the Service Authority began operating the system around 1994. He said operations went smoothly in the 1990s and 2000s. Thomas said over time that well pumps and pump controls have been replaced but the issues over the past year were numerous and varied. He said a traffic accident in July 2017 caused a power surge which ruined a well pump. Thomas said the most recent incident has shown the Service Authority that there was a leak that didn't present itself earlier during the cold weather. The leak caused the booster pump, well pump, and storage tank to fail. He said there was no one single cause for the recent issue but it does show that there are fixes needed. He said the booster pump and pressure switch have been replaced but the biggest problem was communication between the two wells, "one being located by the stable and the other by the court" [presumably the well on Canterbury Court]. Thomas said they should communicate via radio wave. There was an intermittent outage in October and November 2017 and they suspected a radio issue then but it wasn't until the current situation that they were able to confirm it. The radios have been replaced. An auto-dialer will also be installed to monitor the pressure tank and it will call staff when an issue arises, as well as before a customer experiences an issue, to give the Service Authority staff time to makes repairs. After repairs are completed this week, the auto-dialer is the only equipment left to install and that will need to wait for Verizon to complete their work and that he was working with them to make it happen as soon as possible. Thomas also noted that new wiring and conduit was installed in the pump house and, due to the harsh environment inside caused by the chlorine, they planned to move the chlorine tank and mixing tank outside to prevent future corrosion.
Werle then added that pretty much the entire well house has been gutted and replaced with new equipment. Granger commented that he assumed there was a high level of confidence that the issues are now solved. Brabo asked why an auto-dialer would be needed to warn of low pressure if the problem has been fixed. Thomas said that hardware does fail but the auto-dialer would give the Service Authority early warnings of potential issues and call if there was a high level in the storage tank, low level in the storage tank, or low pressure in the pumps. Brabo asked what guarantee customers have that there won't be more issues before the next meeting. Thomas said he was confident things were fixed. Brabo asked about any long term guarantees, but noted that she didn't expect a 100% guarantee. Thomas said the alarms will help prevent issues and speed up KGAlerts if they are needed. He also said that Canterbury does not have an elevated storage tank while the Courthouse system does. By connecting the two or providing Canterbury with its own elevated storage tank, it would help with pressure if the well or the pumps fail. Brabo asked how long Canterbury customers were without water during this last outage but Thomas wasn't sure. He did say that a KGAlert notifying customers that the water was back in service was created but doesn't appear to have been sent. Binder asked about the response time of Service Authority employees if the auto-dialer calls. Thomas said it would vary on the technicians location and what they were currently working on but the average response time was about 30 minutes.
The crux of the Canterbury water issue discussion came when Brabo asked, and Thomas confirmed, that any vote tonight to connect the Canterbury and Courthouse systems would take just as long to execute as the Master Plan would take. Brabo noted that she trusts the Service Authority employees and Thomas as the General Manager but does not want customers to be without water again and asked Werle to make sure this issue would be on the agenda for the next meeting. Werle assured her it would be. Thomas said he would provide a ball-park figure of the amounts invested in the Canterbury issue but did state that contingencies like this were part of the budget. Thomas then said some customers may experience discolored water and they may need to flush their lines. He said customers can always contact the Service Authority with issues and if they do need to flush their lines extensively, they should call to get their bills adjusted. Brabo did ask Thomas if the Service Authority kept cases of water on hand in case of outages and Thomas said no, not typically but was willing to provide them if needed. Brabo then suggested citizens contact Binder to work with Thomas to get a tour of the facility if they were interested. Binder then reminded everyone that she was working on organizing a Town Hall meeting. Brabo then reminded everyone of the upcoming Town Hall hosted by Jeff Bueche on February 3rd at 10am at the Fairview Beach Company 3 fire station.
When it came time for the General Manager's report, Thomas said he had pretty much covered everything in the previous discussions. There was no closed session so the meeting adjourned at 7:12pm.
Michael Bennett was absent as expected so the Board reports moved to Richard Granger who had nothing to report. Ruby Brabo began her report by talking about the outages and issues in the Canterbury subdivision. She said that the Service Authority employees have worked hard after hours and over the holidays to fix issues and, in hearing directly from residents, they were always professional. Brabo said residents have been dealing with issues in this neighborhood for seven months and "with each fix, we are assured this time we are good to go." She said with new infrastructure there is more certainty and confidence. She continued by saying money can be spent a little here and a little there to fix the small issues or it can be spent all at once to fix the issue permanently, implying that the Canterbury system could be connected to the Courthouse system. Brabo said the ongoing disruptions continue to undermine resident's faith in the Service Authority infrastructure, but not the Service Authority employees. She concluded that while some would rather wait to get a Master Plan, sometimes common sense dictates immediate change.
Cathy Binder had a short report and said she spent a lot of time over the last few weeks catching up on the issues in Canterbury and learning about the Service Authority. She asked those residents in her district to reach out to her with any issues they may have but gave a warning that she does not do Facebook or social media and to instead contact her via email. She also said she is working on setting up a Town Hall meeting in the near future.
Christopher Werle then ran through his update beginning with his attending a meeting on January 10, 2018 with Annie Cupka to discuss a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) grant that would fund a sanitary survey and educational program for trailer park residents in Fairview Beach. He said it would only require the Service Authority Board to support it and the Service Authority staff to oversee the execution. On January 19, 2018, Werle toured the Canterbury treatment plants with Chris Thomas, Service Authority General Manager. Werle said the facilities are clearly showing their age and the water storage tanks and pump house exterior need improvements. He said operational issues must be immediately addressed and has asked the General Manager to detail what the issues were, what has been done to fix the issues, and what actions are planned for the future to prevent more issues. He concluded his report by apologizing for the interruptions of service.
The Consent Agenda was passed without comment and the County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report. The Citizen Budget Advisory Committee Charter was approved as presented in the Agenda and a few citizens were appointed to the Committee. Richard Granger and Cathy Binder asked anyone living in their district (James Madison and Shiloh respectively) to please contact them via email if they were interested in serving on the committee. Granger further clarified that this committee would only work on the Service Authority budget and meetings would start at 6:30pm on Tuesday or Wednesday and hopefully only last an hour or two. He also said they would hopefully only need about four meetings. Ruby Brabo nominated Stephen Dawes who was approved. Michael Bennett was absent but previously sent an email to Christopher Werle with his nomination for Rob Harling who was approved. Christopher Werle nominated Howard Yarus who was approved.
Ruby Brabo then recommended the first committee meeting be more of an orientation for the appointees and newly elected Supervisors to give everyone a better idea of the inventory, age, and operation of the system.
From there, the Board of Directors then began their discussion of the Utilities Master Plan. Chris Thomas said the Service Authority is creating a Master Plan in conjunction with the King George County Comprehensive Plan and the Economic Development Plan. He said they did not do a Request For Proposal (RFP) publicly because they used the on-hand, contracted engineers. The idea of the plan is to focus on efficiencies in the Service Authority as well as look at potentially consolidating systems. Thomas gave an example of adding Canterbury to the Courthouse system or even the Circle system. He said before making those types of consolidating connections, the changes need to be reviewed to see what the impact of the increased demand would be. He then concluded by saying he felt it was important to let the Master Plan take its due course before just making the jump to connecting the two systems. He felt there was sufficient time to allow the Master Plan to work.
Brabo then said waiting for the Master Plan would be ideal but questioned Thomas on when it would be up for approval by the Board. Thomas said it should be ready by March 2018 and that the Master Plan itself would take nine months to a year to complete because it requires a lot of data to be processed. In the end, Thomas agreed with Brabo that the Master Plan process would take at least a year to complete.
The Board then discussed the water problems in the Canterbury subdivision. Thomas said he appreciated Brabo's earlier comments. He said the system was installed in the 1980s by a private company and the Service Authority began operating the system around 1994. He said operations went smoothly in the 1990s and 2000s. Thomas said over time that well pumps and pump controls have been replaced but the issues over the past year were numerous and varied. He said a traffic accident in July 2017 caused a power surge which ruined a well pump. Thomas said the most recent incident has shown the Service Authority that there was a leak that didn't present itself earlier during the cold weather. The leak caused the booster pump, well pump, and storage tank to fail. He said there was no one single cause for the recent issue but it does show that there are fixes needed. He said the booster pump and pressure switch have been replaced but the biggest problem was communication between the two wells, "one being located by the stable and the other by the court" [presumably the well on Canterbury Court]. Thomas said they should communicate via radio wave. There was an intermittent outage in October and November 2017 and they suspected a radio issue then but it wasn't until the current situation that they were able to confirm it. The radios have been replaced. An auto-dialer will also be installed to monitor the pressure tank and it will call staff when an issue arises, as well as before a customer experiences an issue, to give the Service Authority staff time to makes repairs. After repairs are completed this week, the auto-dialer is the only equipment left to install and that will need to wait for Verizon to complete their work and that he was working with them to make it happen as soon as possible. Thomas also noted that new wiring and conduit was installed in the pump house and, due to the harsh environment inside caused by the chlorine, they planned to move the chlorine tank and mixing tank outside to prevent future corrosion.
Werle then added that pretty much the entire well house has been gutted and replaced with new equipment. Granger commented that he assumed there was a high level of confidence that the issues are now solved. Brabo asked why an auto-dialer would be needed to warn of low pressure if the problem has been fixed. Thomas said that hardware does fail but the auto-dialer would give the Service Authority early warnings of potential issues and call if there was a high level in the storage tank, low level in the storage tank, or low pressure in the pumps. Brabo asked what guarantee customers have that there won't be more issues before the next meeting. Thomas said he was confident things were fixed. Brabo asked about any long term guarantees, but noted that she didn't expect a 100% guarantee. Thomas said the alarms will help prevent issues and speed up KGAlerts if they are needed. He also said that Canterbury does not have an elevated storage tank while the Courthouse system does. By connecting the two or providing Canterbury with its own elevated storage tank, it would help with pressure if the well or the pumps fail. Brabo asked how long Canterbury customers were without water during this last outage but Thomas wasn't sure. He did say that a KGAlert notifying customers that the water was back in service was created but doesn't appear to have been sent. Binder asked about the response time of Service Authority employees if the auto-dialer calls. Thomas said it would vary on the technicians location and what they were currently working on but the average response time was about 30 minutes.
The crux of the Canterbury water issue discussion came when Brabo asked, and Thomas confirmed, that any vote tonight to connect the Canterbury and Courthouse systems would take just as long to execute as the Master Plan would take. Brabo noted that she trusts the Service Authority employees and Thomas as the General Manager but does not want customers to be without water again and asked Werle to make sure this issue would be on the agenda for the next meeting. Werle assured her it would be. Thomas said he would provide a ball-park figure of the amounts invested in the Canterbury issue but did state that contingencies like this were part of the budget. Thomas then said some customers may experience discolored water and they may need to flush their lines. He said customers can always contact the Service Authority with issues and if they do need to flush their lines extensively, they should call to get their bills adjusted. Brabo did ask Thomas if the Service Authority kept cases of water on hand in case of outages and Thomas said no, not typically but was willing to provide them if needed. Brabo then suggested citizens contact Binder to work with Thomas to get a tour of the facility if they were interested. Binder then reminded everyone that she was working on organizing a Town Hall meeting. Brabo then reminded everyone of the upcoming Town Hall hosted by Jeff Bueche on February 3rd at 10am at the Fairview Beach Company 3 fire station.
When it came time for the General Manager's report, Thomas said he had pretty much covered everything in the previous discussions. There was no closed session so the meeting adjourned at 7:12pm.
Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Chairman, Board of Directors)
Christopher Thomas (General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)
Absent:
Michael Bennett (Citizen)
Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on February 6 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
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