2020-02-04 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The Service Authority Board of Directors began their meeting a few minutes later than normal as they waited for Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, and Eric Gregory, County Attorney pro tempore, to arrive. The meeting began at 5:36pm. Dr. Young would arrive about five minutes later.

There were no amendments to the Agenda.

There was no Public Comment.

Jim Morris reported that he met with Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, and other Service Authority staff on the 27th.

Allen Parker had no report.

Annie Cupka said she was still looking for a citizen to serve on the Service Authority Budget Advisory Committee.

2019-02-19 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The Service Authority Board of Directors began their meeting at 6:30pm on February 19, 2019.

There were no amendments to the Agenda.

There was no Public Comment.

Chris Werle began his report by stating he attended the budget meeting on February 11th. On the 13th, he met with Mike Bennett, Jonathon Weakley, Dr. Neiman Young, Travis Quesenberry, Dean Hoagland, and Draper Aden to discuss and review their comments on the draft feasibility study to decommission the Purkins Corner and Oakland Park Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs). Werle said their comments were resolved and would be incorporated into the final report.

Richard Granger said he also attended the budget work session on the 11th and noted that budget work session for the 20th was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Cathy Binder noted that she attended the budget work session on the 11th as well as her first Agenda meeting on the 15th.

Ruby Brabo reported that she attended the budget work session on the 11th and appreciated the citizens that volunteered their time.

Mike Bennett also attended the budget session on the 11th and echoed Brabo's comments thanking the citizens for their hard work. He also clarified that the budget deficit noted during the work session, roughly $200,000, was a little too preliminary. He said the shortfall was relevant to the repairs and maintenance side of the budget, not the overall operation of the Service Authority. Bennett said there may be some other accounts that could make up for the shortfall. He also said that the Board of Supervisors had agreed to waive the cost allocation for the next fiscal year and that it would help the Service Authority a great deal. He thanked all of the Supervisors for their assistance. Bennett also attended the the Draper Aden meeting on the 13th as well as the Agenda meeting on the 15th. He noted that Binder would be joining them at future meetings.

The Consent Agenda was approved.

The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.

Mike Bennett then gave an update of Phase I of the Utility Master Plan. He said he thought it would be a good idea to get a presentation from Wiley Wilson and that previous discussions were around having it be part of the budget work session cycle. Bennett said that maybe it would be better instead to have them present in a regular work session, along with Draper Aden, to allow more time for questions and answers.

Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, gave his report next. Highlights of his report include discussion about the Hopyard Farm water system. As Weakley was describing the issues, Brabo asked if it was something to be concerned about because it was the newest system in the County. Weakley said yes but they feel they have narrowed it down to an electrical issue, they just haven't pinpointed the exact cause. He said he thought it might be an issue of "dirty power" from being at the end of the line but he wanted to be careful and not blame the power company without knowing all the details. He said he was going to look into getting a power recorder to chart data and then, if it was the power supply, work with the power company to find a solution.

Also of note was the Fairview Beach water system. Weakley said that the upcoming flow testing was because of an ISO survey that was due soon. Bennett said they've had really good water in Fairview Beach for awhile now and "I don't think anyone in Fairview Beach has said that."

Weakley then noted, sadly, that the Ninde water system storage tank was in danger of failing. He said the 6,000 gallon storage tank is leaking and that a previous survey noted it may not pass the next inspection in November. There was some discussion over rehabilitating the well house and storage tanks versus replacing them. Brabo said that even with a band aid fix, it may not give much more life. Werle said that Draper Aden said it may not be salvageable.

On the sewer side of the Service Authority, Weakley's report highlighted a new hire at the Dahlgren WWTP and their early initiative to become trained and licensed. Weakley said other open positions will be interviewing soon. Weakley did share some positive news, saying that Tim Maciejewski, Oakland Park WWTP Operator, reached out to a chemical supplier directly and ended up saving the Service Authority about $3,000 per month. Bennett said that he wasn't an engineer but getting chemicals from an engineering firm didn't seem like the best deal and thanked him for finding the savings. Brabo said it was amazing what a fresh set of eyes can do.

Weakley added a little more positive news, saying that future Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) grants could be used for the bulk storage of chemicals which would in turn save more money in the future. He said he had to do more research to see if it was an option in the future.

Next was an update on where each WWTP stood regarding the Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) limits. Weakley noted that he researched a previous question about better aligning the Dahlgren WWTP permit, with a TN limit of 4.0mg/L, and the WQIF grant, with a TN limit of 3.0mg/L. He said they wouldn't be able to change either but warned that new permits typically use the grant limit as a starting point. There was then some discussion as to previous work done in 2017 where samples showed much lower numbers but suddenly they rose in 2018. Brabo said she remembered there being something done by the previous General Manager and staff that was supervised and reviewed by Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and even the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Brabo asked if Weakley could look into that to see what happened. Werle agreed, saying he saw the lab reports and the lower numbers. Weakley said he would be happy to do so.

Regarding the nutrient tracking, Weakley shared that all WWTPs were operating within limits except for Dahlgren, which had TN of 0.7mg/L over the grant limit but 0.3mg/L under the permit limit, and Oakland Park which was right at the TN limit of 15.0mg/L. Bennett noted that the Total Nitrogen limits at Purkins Corner, 10.0mg/L, and Oakland Park, 15.0mg/L, were larger than the other WWTPs and that was likely the reason DEQ asked for a feasibility study on closing them down.

Speaking of the feasibility study, Weakley said the final report from Draper Aden would be coming soon along with first phase of the utility master plan from Wiley Wilson. Weakley also brought back an answer to Brabo's earlier question about projected connections and actual connections. Weakley said that the projection last year for connections was 62, with 53 being residential water and sewer, six for residential water only, and three commercial connections. He said to date, there have been 42 connections, with 37 being residential water and sewer, three for residential water only, and two commercial connections. Werle said that was roughly one third left to go to meet the projection with one third of the year left.

The Board then went into Closed Session at 7:22pm and invited Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, Eric Gregory, County Attorney, and Jonathon Weakley, General Manager.

The Board returned from Closed Session at 7:40pm.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40pm.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Board of Directors)
Jonathon Weakley (General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Michael Bennett (Chairman, Citizen)
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on February 25, 2019 at 6:30 pm at Company 1.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.

2019-02-05 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The Service Authority Board of Directors opened their February 5th meeting at 6:30pm.

There were no amendments to the Agenda.

Yvonne Richard was the only one to speak during Public Comment. She began by saying thank you to everyone for serving on the Board. Her suggestion was to give customers more than twenty minutes notice when performing maintenance on water lines. She said some people may be negatively impacted if they set a dishwasher to run during the day and service is interrupted [EDITOR'S NOTE - Neil Richard, a co-founder of Project94, is the spouse of Yvonne Richard.].

Chris Werle began his Board Report by saying he had reviewed and made comments on the draft feasibility study that was being created on the decommissioning of the Purkins Corner and Oakland Park Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs). He said his comments were mostly focused on the upgrades, the costs, and the new ammonia regulations coming in the future. He said the County Engineer, Travis Quesenberry, also gave his comments as well. He reminded the Board that at a previous meeting, they said an update from Draper Aden would be done at an upcoming budget work session but he felt a meeting was necessary before that to wade through the technical comments first. Werle said Jonathan Weakley, General Manager, would schedule that meeting soon. On January 25th, Werle said he met with Weakley to discuss the upcoming budget work sessions.

Richard Granger apologized in his Board Report that he still had not found anyone to serve as his representative on the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee. Granger said Mrs. Richard, who was still in the audience, volunteered even though she did not live in his district. With that, the Board approved Mrs. Richard to serve on the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee for the Service Authority.

Cathy Binder had no Board Report.

Ruby Brabo's Board Report began with an update from a meeting she held on January 29th with Cliff Parker from AQUA. She said he presented some interesting charts and data on the average water and sewer rates across Virginia that may help when the Board looks at rates in the future. Brabo said that, with apologies to Werle and Mike Bennett, Chairman, that going forward Binder, Vice-Chair, should be in as many meetings as possible as this was her training year. Brabo said she understood Werle's role on the Board but felt Binder should be included whenever practically possible.

Bennett said he had a brief discussion before the meeting about that and said they would do everything possible to keep Binder in mind and trained for her to assume the role of Chair next year. Bennett said the Draper Aden report had a fair amount of engineering content so Werle and the County Engineer would understand it better.

Werle said that Binder should be at that meeting but Brabo said that three Board members can't be present as that would constitute a meeting. Brabo said she was just looking to include Binder in meetings when feasible. Bennett said they definitely wanted to get Binder up to speed.

Mike Bennett began his Board Report by thanking Werle for his two years serving as Chairman. He said there was obviously a rocky period of time in the past but thanked him for the incredible amount of time he put into the organization. Bennett said the only person that probably understands how much time Werle has put into this is Mrs. Werle. Bennett again thanked him and said he looked forward to working with Werle in the coming years.

Bennett continued his report by saying he met with Weakley about a variety of issues including staffing, Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) compliance, pump stations, and more. Bennett said he is aware of how a lengthy Service Authority meeting impacts his fellow Board members that serve on the Board of Supervisors as well as those members in the audience waiting for that meeting. Bennett said that he still wants to remain transparent and get the job done but felt that if some things could be accomplished in budget work sessions, they should try to do that. He cautioned that he didn't want to do anything inappropriate but there were certain discussions that were directly tied to the budget that could be handled. His big example was the feasibility of decommissioning the Purkins Corner and Oakland Park WWTP as well as pump stations. He said both issues are complicated and very expensive but he felt it could help save time in future meetings by discussing them in work sessions. The rest of the Board seemed to agree.

Bennett concluded his report by thanking everyone that volunteered for the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee and that Weakley needed their contact info to ensure they were available on the scheduled dates and to be able to share material before the meeting.

The Consent Agenda was approved.

The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.

Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, then began his report by thanking Mrs. Richard for volunteering to serve as well. He also said the KGALERT system was something they're becoming accustomed to and that more advanced notice is certainly best. He gave the recent example of the Walnut Hill connection that went out the night before scheduled work was to begin.

Weakley continued with an update on the water system. He had a meeting with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) on January 24th, repairs were made at the Arnold's Corner well house, and switches were replaced in Cleydael. He also added that in making their repairs in Cleydael, they tested the Peppermill well to ensure it could maintain pressure in the system. Weakley also said required survey letters were submitted to VDH and that the Walnut Hill water tie-in between St. Paul's/Owens and Dahlgren would be made February 6th.

Deviating from his written report, Weakley said they have scheduled meetings with administration and maintenance at King George High School to investigate reports of intermittent discoloration in the water. He said this was also an ideal time to build rapport with all interested parties as well as ensure there is a owner/agent document in place so all parties know their responsibilities.

Weakley then began to give an update on the sewer system. He said that Fairview Beach and Dahlgren WWTPs have nutrient requirements for the permit as well as the Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) grant each facility received. He said that while Fairview Beach WWTP has the same requirements in both the permit and the grant, Dahlgren has a stricter requirement for the grant than the permit. Weakley said the Total Nitrogen (TN) was limited to 4 mg/l by permit but the WQIF grant required 3 mg/l. He said within the grant language, if limits are exceeded, DEQ can assess a fee but he isn't sure what that fee amount would be.

For historical context, DEQ issued a letter in March 2018 stating that the Dahlgren WWTP exceeded allowed limits for Total Phosphorus (TP). The limit in the grant was 0.30 mg/l and the annual average was 0.44 mg/l. DEQ assessed a rate of $8,500 per 0.1 mg/l overage for a total fee of $11,900. That same month, Fairview Beach WWTP has a similar fee assessed for $3,976.

Bennett asked if he had any thoughts about which took a priority, the grant or the permit. Eric Gregory, County Attorney, said the permit is the legal authority while the grant will only govern funds for a project. Bennett wondered if there was a way to make the limits the same and asked Weakley if he had seen this before. Weakley said he hasn't really seen this much before. Gregory added that often the grant is to fund equipment upgrades to get a certain level or reading above the permit and when it falls below, then the funds could be impacted. Gregory said that has happened before. Werle added the regulations and guidelines say they can collect funds. Weakley said he was happy to see if there's any wiggle room or if they can get them to match. Gregory agreed that it was certainly worth a try.

Weakley continued his report stating new operating procedures and manuals were being completed, a sampler was installed at Purkins Corner WWTP, and an algae evaluation was being completed. He also said pump stations were continuing to be an issue noting that there were two sanitary sewer overflows recently. He said both were reported as required to DEQ but the pump failures and lack of redundancy were an issue. Weakley said he didn't like coming to the Board with reports like this but he was being honest and transparent. He did give more positive news with revenue coming in with connections in Hopyard. Werle added that Ryan Homes built 41 homes last year and were on track to build more than that this year. Werle also said that Hazel Homes is working on the infrastructure in the final three sections for the remaining 450 homes. Weakley said it helps the bottom line.

Weakley also thanked Dr. Young, County Administrator, and Travis Quesenberry for their help with the decommissioning proposal and the utility plan submission. Weakley said two tampering fee letters were sent, hiring wastewater operations staff is ongoing, and meetings on the feasibility study for decommissioning are planned. The meeting for the feasibility study was discussed at length to determine who could and who should attend the meeting. With only two Board of Director members being allowed to attend, the timing of the meeting, and the technical knowledge needed, the Board agreed that Werle would attend the first meeting and that Binder would attend meetings after that. Also invited were Dr. Young and Travis Quesenberry.

Weakley also said that a billing issue related to the encryption codes for water meters was discovered and resolved. He said about 70 meters were not billing correctly and those customers would be put on a payment plan. Weakley said he has already reached out to the Finance Department to develop a new quality control process to ensure this doesn't occur again.

Brabo asked about the water systems being combined and what the benefit would be for combining them under one permit. Weakley explained that it would save money in the end because of the reduction in sampling, lab analysis, and correspondence. Brabo also said that in the past, the General Manager would provide the Board monthly updates on the current revenue and where it tracked with the projected revenue to see if the Service Authority would meet it's budget. Weakley said he would gather the information for a future meeting.

Bennett then discussed the pump issues at some length. He said the issue was complicated and that most pump stations should have two pumps. Weakley agreed that most larger stations have two. Bennett said the problem with ours was that we only had one working pump. Similar to the earlier, and still on-going, issues with having the correct number of wells working or available for use, the pump stations need redundancy. He said DEQ took special notice of this lack of redundancy and may continue to focus on it in the future. Bennett said we don't know what DEQ will require but wanted to give the Board and customers a preview of coming attractions but said "it may be a horror movie." He continued by saying it would cost a lot of money to get them up and running but they're hopeful DEQ will let them phase it in over time so there wouldn't be such a blow to the bottom line.

Bennett said he talked to Weakley over the phone a few weeks ago and asked him how it was going being the General Manager. Bennett said Weakley told him he loved a challenge "but man, this has a lot of challenges." Bennett said that was dead honest and we're here to help. Bennett then spoke to Mrs. Richard, who was still in the audience, that he didn't respond to her public comment because he felt like, with all due respect, it was a no-brainer that more notice should be given.

Bennett made two final points. First, he felt that Weakley should give a State of the Union of sorts for the Service Authority. Bennett said Weakley would have a fresh look on things and it may help. Bennett said he's been impressed so far with Weakley's performance, noting that he recently caught an issue where a vendor had over billed them. Bennett's second point was surrounding Weakley's power to change job descriptions and pay. Bennett wanted to know how much the Board was involved with that. Brabo said the only employee the Board oversees is Weakley. She said it was up to Weakley to run his shop how he saw fit. Regarding pay, Brabo said Weakley would need to put it in his budget and bring it before the Board for approval.

There was no Closed Session.

With that, the meeting adjourned at 7:20pm.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Board of Directors)
Jonathon Weakley (General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Michael Bennett (Chairman, Citizen)
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on February 11, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.

2019-01-22 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The King George County Service Authority started their second meeting of the new year at 6:30pm.

There were no amendments to the Agenda and no Public Comment.

Chris Werle stated that on January 14th, he met with Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, and the senior staff of the Service Authority to work on an initial budget.

Richard Granger, Ruby Brabo, and Cathy Binder had no report.

Mike Bennett was absent.

The Consent Agenda was approved.

The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.

The meeting then heard from Andrew Grossnickle, CPA, CFE regarding the 2018 Annual Audit that was performed. After a few minutes of technical issues, Grossnickle went through his presentation stating that there were no major issues found. He said there were two types of reports presented, the Independent Auditors Report and the Yellow Book Report. He said they were unmodified or clean and showed no material weaknesses or deficiencies.

Werle asked about the lack of policy on interest rate risk that was noted on Page 20 of the Audit. He asked Grossnickle if that was something the Service Authority should have to which Grossnickle said many government agencies do not have one but that it was never a bad thing. Werle asked if the County had such a policy but nobody on the Board knew for sure. Grossnickle said he could certainly look at that and see if it was something the Directors wanted to adopt.

Weakley then began his General Manager's report by thanking the staff working outside in the cold weather due to power surges that happened over the weekend. He said Hopyard's water pressure was impacted and they were looking into why auxiliary power didn't kick in as needed. He also said they were working to thaw out valves and creating a list of things that were impacted, specifically the heat trace concerns.

He continued with an update of the water side of the Service Authority saying there would be a meeting with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) this week to begin working on the business operations plan. Weakley said a new distribution pipe was installed at Sealston and it should go online this week. He also said repairs to the Arnold's Corner Well #2 were ongoing. Weakley also gave additional information regarding the air imbalance that occurred in Cleydael. He said it was repaired by a new mercury switch and electrode controller.

Continuing with the sewer side of the Service Authority, Weakley said he has submitted the required Standard Operating Procedure to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). He also created schedules for sludge hauling and wastewater sampling. Weakley said he visited pump stations to observe locations and operations and found that some locations may not have enough room for a generator. He informed the Directors he would set up usernames and passwords for them for the new alarm system that was installed at Potomac Landing. Weakley then reviewed the nutrient reports for the last year noting that it was obvious that the amounts were over the limits in early 2018. He said because of these overages, it was difficult to get back into compliance. Weakley also said he planned to include these nutrient reports online.

Weakley said he continues to hold management meetings weekly and has finalized the lease on a vehicle. He also said that he was working with customers impacted by the government furlough to see if they could develop a payment plan. Brabo said she would report on it more during the Supervisors meeting, but she had participated in a conference call where the President said the shutdown would "last as long as it needs to." Weakley added that the Service Authority would ask those impacted customers for some sort of proof that they are impacted.

Weakley then asked the Directors what dates and times worked for them for the upcoming Budget Work Sessions. After some discussion, it was decided that February 11th, 20th, and 25th would work and they would meet at 6:30 pm.

Ruby Brabo then moved to appoint Neil Richard as the At-Large representative on the Service Authority Citizen Budget Advisory Committee. Richard Granger said he did not have a candidate yet. Chris Werle appointed Rob Gates. Mike Bennett, via email, appointed Jim Lynch. Cathy Binder appointed Harry Pendleton [EDITOR'S NOTE: Neil Richard is a co-founder of Project94. Sean Gates, a co-founder of Project94, is the son of Rob Gates].

Weakley also said that they would be hiring wastewater treatment staff soon and that they were looking for energetic folks that could be trained. He then said he emailed the Directors a feasibility study regarding the potential closure of the Oakland Park and Purkins Corner Waste Water Treatment Plants by pumping their waste to Hopyard. Brabo asked how much detail they needed because that would determine if it would be a regular meeting or a work session. Werle said they would be looking at the recommended solution, the financial cost of it, and the economic feasibility. Brabo suggested a work session may be best to better engage with them and ask questions. Weakley said Dr. Young suggested using an upcoming work session and Werle agreed.

The meeting adjourned at 7:01 pm.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Board of Directors)
Jonathon Weakley (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 (Chairman, Citizen)

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on February 5, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.

OPINION - Planning Commission Open House

by Neil Richard

The King George County Planning Commission hosted an Open House on Thursday, January 17, 2019 in an effort to gather more feedback on the proposed changes to the County's Comprehensive Plan. No specific details were given on the entirety of the changes proposed for the new Comprehensive Plan, however it was clear at the Open House that the main focus was on the proposed changes to the Primary Settlement Areas in the County.

The current Comprehensive Plan was created and approved in 2013. It included seven Primary Settlement Areas where development was "...encouraged to be in the form of traditional compact form of development with connected neighborhoods and pedestrian-oriented local streets." These areas were:

• Courthouse
• Dahlgren
• Route 3 West
• Fairview Beach
• Hopyard
• Cleydael
• Oakland Park

With the proposed updates, only two Primary Settlement Areas were impacted; Dahlgren and Courthouse. With the Dahlgren Primary Settlement Area, the original map shows that it extends to the Highway 301 Bridge and ends at Route 218 (Windsor Drive). The updated map, which is still a proposed version, shows the area ends at roughly the truck scales on Highway 301, extends to include the property on the south side of Owens Drive, and extends beyond Windsor Drive to include the area of the Hillcrest Motel.

PROPOSED Dahlgren Primary Settlement Area

The Courthouse Primary Settlement Area showed the most radical change by being split into two sections and a much different selection of properties. The original map for the Courthouse Primary Settlement Area included a massive area along Route 3 (Kings Highway) from Comorn Road to Highway 301. It also included everything north of Route 3 along Route 206 (Dahlgren Road) all the way to Route 611 (Eden Drive). The new proposal splits this into two pieces that is currently being dubbed "Courthouse East" and "Courthouse West."

Courthouse East, also called the "Route 3 and 301" area, includes the areas directly north and south of Route 3 from Colbys Lane (across from Uncle Dave's restaurant) to Canterbury Loop. It extends along Highway 301 south to the current School Bus Garage and north to State Road, just past Ralph Bunche High School. It also includes the property north west of Route 205 (Ridge Road). Essentially, the newly proposed Courthouse East Primary Settlement Area is everything in and around the triangle formed by Routes 3, 205, and 301.

PROPOSED Courthouse East Primary Settlement Area

The proposed Courthouse West Primary Settlement Area includes everything along Route 3 from Millbank Road west to Comorn Road. Much of this area is already developed by Presidential Lakes and the area of the old lumber mill where the current Post Office stands.

PROPOSED Courthouse West Primary Settlement Area

Standing out as a specific area that is missing from the proposed split are two large sections of the County. First, the roughly half mile section of Route 3 (Kings Highway) that is two lanes through, dare I say, Downtown King George. Second, the area along Route 206 (Dahlgren Road) that extends three miles to Route 611 (Eden Drive) and includes the currently growing Oakwood Estates development.

Below are the remaining proposed Primary Settlement Area.

PROPOSED Cleydael Primary Settlement Area

PROPOSED Fairview Beach Primary Settlement Area

PROPOSED Hopyard Primary Settlement Area

PROPOSED Oakland Park Primary Settlement Area

PROPOSED Route 3 West Primary Settlement Area

Residents were given two documents and a survey when they entered the Open House. There were also several large format maps on display showing the proposed changes to the Primary Settlement Areas. Tables were set to the side where residents could complete the survey along with copies of the current Comprehensive Plan. Water and cookies were also on hand for those looking for a light snack.

While the Planning Commission was the official host, other County staffers and various officials were present. Over the span of about two hours, roughly twenty or so residents filtered in and out asking numerous questions and giving feedback on the proposed changes. Several individuals were also on hand to collect signatures for their upcoming campaign to be elected in November.

Another Open House will be held on February 13, 2019 from 4pm to 6pm at Fire Company 1. You can see the County Alert here as well as take the survey online.

2018-10-02 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The King George County Service Authority Board of Directors began their meeting at 6:32pm. There were no amendments to the Agenda and no Public Comments.

Mike Bennett began his report by saying he would allow Chris Werle to expand on many of the meetings they attended together. Bennett said he met with Werle, Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, and others on September 19th to discuss issues with the GIS (Geographic Interface System) system as it relates to the Service Authority. Bennett said he appreciated the efforts of Kyle Conboy, GIS Manager. The same day, Bennett toured the Purkins Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) and the Oakland Park WWTP. He said while touring the Oakland Park facility, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was there for an unannounced inspection. He commended Tim Maciejewski for his hard work to clean, scrape, and paint everything and noted that it may look nice now but said that it is also preventative maintenance. Bennett also said Tim Maciejewski has made the plant work better and wanted to give Maciejewski special thanks. On the 20th, Bennett attended the State Water Control Board meeting where the DEQ Consent Order was approved. On the 21st, Bennett said the Service Authority turned off water to much of Fairview Beach and Potomac Landing to repair a section of pipe. He said he walked down to watch some of the work being done and noted the employee in the trench soaked and covered with mud working to repair the pipe while water was gushing out like a fire hose. He said that even though water had been turned off, the pressure was still high enough to make repairs problematic. He said he felt like a bit of a jerk for being upset about not being able to take a shower when the Service Employee was in a hole and covered in mud. Bennett went on to say that if more shut off valves were present, the repair could have been done much faster. He said it would probably be expensive to install shut offs for every street in Fairview Beach but he would still like to know what the cost is because it may save money in the long term, especially if repairs like this go long into the night.

On the 24th, Bennett coordinated a meeting with various government agencies, local leaders, and residents to discuss the water contamination issue in the Potomac River. He said he was able to convey that the contamination is a serious issue and that the source needs to be found. He said that out of 22 tests, ten resulted in a swimming advisory. Those advisories covered 30 days, roughly one-third of the summer. He said in prior years, it has been worse with advisories impacting half of the days in a summer. He said a previous suspect, the trailer park upriver, has a septic tank near the river but there seems to be no proof that it is the source. He said the Service Authority also has sewer pipes near the river and after leak testing, nothing was found. He said he wasn't a scientist but he can prove there is a health issue and the source needs to be found.

Richard Granger had no report.

Ruby Brabo said that, with the Board's consensus, she would like Dr. Young to investigate the engineering behind the water pipes and why there were no shut off valves installed. The Board agreed. Brabo continued her report saying she toured the Purkins WWTP and Oakland Park WWTP on the 19th. She said that Purkins was the shining star of the Service Authority in the past with no issues but it wasn't the prettiest place. She said Oakland Park was a stark contrast with everything in its place. In the past, Brabo said Oakland Park likely failed to work as designed due to tools being left out, or even left in the system, thus clogging it. She noted that John Pruitt at the Purkins facility was very transparent and was willing to show the good, bad, and ugly. Brabo shared a couple photos showing everyone an old refrigerator that was used to store samples and then showed the proper container for samples that was currently in use. Brabo said staff has taken it upon themselves to begin cleaning up the facility and she feels that the change in leadership has made a huge difference. She felt that everyone was ready to move to the next chapter and appreciated everyone's hard work. Brabo also attended a local government meeting on the 26th where there was a lot of discussion about how localities could work together to combine smaller projects into a larger one to get a better price from vendors. On the 28th she attended the meeting for the selection of the new General Manager and five people have been selected for interviews.

Brabo then asked Hingley if he knew what the procedure was for employees leaving early for appointments. Hingley said a time off request was submitted to the supervisor and they would ensure coverage was available, especially for positions that are required by permit. Brabo asked if that information was tracked and Hingley said it was. Dr. Young added that not only does the supervisor track the information, the Payroll Department tracks the leave available for each employee.

Cathy Binder had no report.

Chris Werle reported that he met with Dean Hougland, Senior Maintenance Manager, on the 19th regarding the online GIS system and the need to restrict access to some of the information for security reasons. Werle said Kyle Conboy will work with a third party GIS Manager to protect the information. On the 20th, Werle attended the State Water Control Board meeting in Richmond and noted that DEQ presented an overview of the Consent Order and it was approved without further questions or comments. He noted that the DEQ staff said they were pleased with the recent responsiveness from the Service Authority and that some deficiencies had already been corrected. Werle said DEQ was please with the improved posture and felt confident that progress will continue. Werle reviewed the current contract with Dan Hingley, Interim General Manager on the 28th and said it was rapidly nearing the end of the agreement on November 5th. He said he also sent the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) the first three section of the the previously mentioned water plan. He said the next sections will include the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and budget information but would need to wait until the Master Plan is complete near the end of the year.

The Consent Agenda was approved.

The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.

Dan Hingley, Interim General Manager, began his report by saying it would mirror those of the past. Items of note included the Dahlgren WWTP tracking for a reduced Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) repayment thanks to improved numbers for Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP). Hingley said that because the TN and TP numbers were down, the WQIF repayment would be about $39,000 instead of about $75,000. Hopyard WWTP was also showing improved numbers primarily because of improved timing of chemical usage. Brabo noted that it was stunning that only an adjustment to timing was needed to get better results and even use fewer chemicals. She asked if people should have known this in the past and Hingley said they should have known but he didn't know why it was done wrong in the past.

Hingley continued by sharing that the Fairview Beach WWTP had improved TP numbers and that the parts left in a building for over a year had finally been installed. The Purkins Corner WWTP had a DEQ inspection and deficiencies were noted but they were items that staff was already aware of and working on. Hingley said his primary focus was troubleshooting the performance issues at this plant versus the more cosmetic issues. He went on in some detail about how sewage flows through the processing facility and how changes were made to hopefully improve the end result numbers. Hingley said he would have more information at the next meeting.

Regarding the Oakland Park WWTP, Hingley said DEQ also inspected it and Tim Maciejewski was already working on a response based on their notes.

On the water side of the Service Authority, Hingley said the customer contact database is being populated with data from prior years. He said DEQ issued warning letters about missing information from 2017 audits for some of the water systems. Bennett noted that these were warning letters, not Notices of Violations. He also asked if the audits were due every year and Hingley said they were. Bennett noted that there seemed to be a trend where regular reports were missed in the past and these led to warnings or violations from the state. Bennett asked if there was a way to create a master list so they could stay on top of these items when Hingley is gone. Hingley said they should be able to do that. Werle added that it should be simple because a lot of the information sent to DEQ in the audits is the same as what VDH requires.

Continuing with the water portion of the report, Hingley said a boil water notice was issued for customers on the Ninde system due to a burst pipe in the well house. He said because water pressure was lower than 20 psi (pounds per square inch) for more than four hours, VDH requires a notice be issued. Hingley was careful to note that the notice was not because of any contamination and that all samples that were tested came back negative for contaminants.

In the Fairview Beach water system, Hingley said a second well is available for service and a third well is being worked on. The Courthouse system has four of the five wells working and the interconnect between the east and west halves should begin in the middle of October.

Hingley then shared a breakdown of water loss across all the systems noting that the industry average is about twenty percent. His slide showed that every system except Hopyard showed twenty four percent or more loss. Two systems, Canterbury and Ninde, did not have data available due to broken well meters. The overall average for all water systems was 29%. The percentage of water loss for the systems were:

• Courthouse - 24%
• Circle - 36%
• Fairview Beach - 34%
• Dahlgren - 34%
• Hopyard - 16%
• Oakland Park - 32%
• St. Paul's/Owens - 29%

Cathy Binder asked if the Service Authority was fined because of this and Hingley said no. Werle said the repercussions would be that the water isn't being delivered to customers and therefore is a loss of potential revenue. Hingley added that there will likely be a timetable given by VDH to investigate the cause of the high rate of loss but the bigger risk is the systems are limited in how much water can be withdrawn from the wells and therefore it may reach a point where there's a shortage because of the permit limits.

Brabo asked if the leaks in Dahlgren contributed to this and Werle said yes, along with periodic flushing. There was some discussion as to if the industry standard of twenty percent included flushing or not and Hingley said it likely did include flushing lines. Werle added that the most likely cause behind the loss was leaks.

Hingley added that he felt in the past, the Service Authority didn't have a good relationship with a contractor that could be called to repair leaks and that there now seems to be a good relationship with a contractor. Werle said that was important for pipes that had asbestos. He also noted that there had been reports of unmarked tankers at hydrants taking water.

Brabo added a closing remark that she knew there were issues and concerns in the past but it wasn't until touring Purkins Corner and Oakland Park WWTPs that she realized employees were working in sub-par conditions for years. She said those conditions were unacceptable and appreciated those that had stuck with it and said the employees have no idea how appreciated they are.

Bennett echoed much of Brabo's praise saying that every week he tries not to get frustrated but wants employees to know that he isn't frustrated with them. He said it's "amazing what obstacles were in your way" and appreciates their efforts. Bennett said he hopes that going forward the Board can get them the tools they need to do their job.

Werle's final comment was that all of those things need to be in play next year during the budget discussions.

There was no Closed Session.

The meeting adjourned at 7:37pm.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Chairman, Board of Directors)
Dan Hingley (Interim General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Michael Bennett (Citizen)
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on October 16, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.

2018-09-18 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The King George County Service Authority Board of Directors started their meeting just a couple minutes late on September 18, 2018.

There were no amendments to the Agenda.

Public Comment began with a statement from Yvonne Richard [EDITOR'S NOTE - Neil Richard, a co-founder of Project94, is the spouse of Yvonne Richard.]. She wanted to publicly thank Dan Hingley for his hard work and that of the Service Authority employees and to thank him for bringing all of the issues to light. She said she wasn't happy that there were issues but was glad to see that her complaints and that of other customers were valid. She then reminded everyone that one of the individuals that hid these issues from the rest of the Directors and the customers still sits on the Board and that their attempts to take credit for Hingley's hard work and success was "an affront to the hard work put in by the Service Authority staff." She closed by expressing her concern over the Chairman's negative comments at the last Service Authority meeting about the applicants for the General Manager position. She hoped that future discussions about applicants and employees were held in Closed Session as normally required by a public body. She also felt it wasn't acceptable to have "someone who helped to cover up the issues plaguing  the Service Authority" partake in the interview process.

Next to speak was Eric Kessler of Potomac Landing. He brought some show-and-tell items for the Board to see, including photos of water at his house along with the filter from his whole-house filter system and some water from that system. The filter looked dark brown and black, and the water clearly had visible discoloration and large solids. Kessler said he had only lived in his home for three years and thanked the Service Authority for their improvements but that there were still issues with water quality. He said on the 13th, he took a shower in gross water and brushed his teeth in nasty water in the morning, only to come home to a Free Lance-Star article noting the "amazing" progress on the water system. He and his wife were upset by the article because they felt the progress was less than amazing. He said the shirt he was wearing today was damaged by the water, Kessler said he had to replace the whole-house filter once a month and that several neighbors in Potomac Landing have similar issues with water quality. He said his neighbors also had complaints about the noise coming from the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) and had numerous testimonials from neighbors about the poor water. He closed by saying that their concerns had been blown off for years but he appreciated the work that has been done.

Mike Bennett began his Board report by stating that on the 6th, he got an update from Chris Werle about the Service Authority need for an electronic database to track customer issues. Bennett said the good news was that there was already a database. The bad news was it had only been used up until 2014 then neglected for some unknown reason. Bennett said that there was data for all the issues from 2017 and 2018 and that they have been entered into the database.

Bennett then addressed Kessler's comments by saying that he lives in Fairview Beach and knows what brown water looks like. He said the Service Authority has been getting their house in order on the WWTP side and it's taken a large effort to do so. He did say that water quality is still an issue though. Bennett said he's taken a cursory look at the data, specifically looking to see if issues with his neighbors in Fairview Beach are matched with similar issues in Potomac Landing. He said at first glance, there's a correlation.

Bennett continued his report by saying that Werle had asked him to take the lead on researching the potential for the Service Authority to participate in the Virginia Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (VA WARN). Bennett said this program is a mutual aid program where different agencies help each other with their water and wastewater needs during emergencies and disasters. He said it was still in the early stages of being researched but he felt that Chief Lynd of the Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services Department should be involved as well as Eric Gregory, County Attorney, Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, and the Service Authority's General Manager.

The final part of Bennett's Board report was regarding the future meeting with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) Water Control Board. He said numerous actions have been taken on the WWTP side and there has been great improvement. He felt they've done everything they humanly can to this point to rectify the issues and felt it was obvious that the Service Authority was in a better place. He also hoped that Water Control Board would see the fine as sufficient punishment.

Richard Granger's Board report was brief as he thanked those that spoke during Public Comment. He appreciated the concerns of Mr. Kessler and said he was sorry he had to deal with that.

Ruby Brabo began her report by briefly going back to Bennett's VA WARN topic. She said there may not be an answer right now but wanted to know if there was a way to limit or choose who the mutual aid agreement is with. Werle answered and said yes, it's all voluntary. Brabo then stated she wanted to make sure the Service Authority could handle any request for mutual aid before signing up. She said if they were unable to reciprocate, it may foster sour feelings with other agencies and localities. Werle said that's why they would look at it carefully before committing.

Brabo continued her report saying that she would tour the Oakland Park and Purkins Corner WWTPs. Addressing Mrs. Richard and Mr. Kessler, Brabo said she's been just as frustrated as them, especially when citizens have been told in the past that everything was fine when in fact it wasn't. She was really happy to have Dan Hingley as General Manager now, listening to customers and delving into issues along with a staff that was addressing problems.

Cathy Binder thanked Kessler and Richard for their comments and said she had recently toured two WWTPs and would tour more in the future. She said she knows it doesn't help them now but they are working on the issues.

Chris Werle said he's been working with staff and Hingley over the last two weeks to continue working on the Waterworks Business Operations Plan form the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). He felt confident that they would be able to complete the first three sections as promised and will provide an update to the Board at the next meeting.

Werle thanked Kessler for coming out and speaking. He said what Kessler presented was quite disturbing and was a powerful message. He was optimistic that Hingley would be able to finally assess and determine the cause of the issues in Fairview Beach and elsewhere.

Bennett added to Mr. Kessler that he wanted to mention there were issues with the water and that the Service Authority needed as many people to call about them. He said he's guilty himself of assuming his neighbors will call but for the database of customer complaints to work, they need to have customers call with their issues. Bennett said the newer pipes in Potomac Landing negated the old argument about old pipes being the cause of poor water.

Kessler responded from the audience that the Potomac Landing Home Owner's Association (HOA) gave out magnets with phone numbers for the Service Authority but when they tried calling, nobody answered. He said the great thing about Chris Thomas was he would always answer his cell phone and fix the issue right away, almost like a hotline.

Bennett responded that ideally, customers shouldn't have to call the General Manager but they did need to call. Brabo added that the county website did have the correct phone number.

Dr. Young interrupted with a point of order, advising the Board that they couldn't have a back and forth conversation.

The Consent Agenda was approved.

Werle then introduced the need to form a committee to hire a new General Manager. He said up to this point, Brabo and Bennett have taken the lead in this effort and would like to suggest they continue to do so. He also suggested that Dr. Young and Amanda Sumiel, Director of Human Resources, also be on the committee. Granger nominated those four individuals. Dr. Young suggested Werle be on the committee due to his higher level of expertise. Brabo said there can't be three Directors on the committee and Werle said he can reserve his input for the next phase. The nominations were approved. Bennett added that he was disappointed Hingley didn't submit an application.

Dan Hingley, Interim General Manager, then gave his report. Though slightly shorter than previous reports, it still had an attention to detail and level of professionalism that was welcomed by those in the audience. Hingley began his report by saying he wanted to echo the sentiments of the Board and thank those that spoke during Public Comment. He thanked Mrs. Richard for her kind words and told Mr. Kessler that his concerns are taken seriously. Hingley said there are issues that were more pressing that had to be addressed first but the issues in Fairview Beach and Potomac Landing are certainly on the radar.

Getting into his presentation, Hingley said the Service Authority has sent letters to DEQ regarding their recent corrective actions. On the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) side of operations, he said the Dahlgren WWTP continues to show improved Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) levels but there won't be enough time left to meet the yearly limits. The Hopyard WWTP may be able to reach the yearly limit for TP but it would be difficult. The Fairview Beach WWTP shows improving TP but also won't be able to meet yearly limits. Hingley also said the installation of Dissolved Oxygen sensors is making progress. The Purkins Corner WWTP may not be able to meet yearly limits for TP and TN but they are within ten percent of goal. Hingley said Oakland Park WWTP had no issues thanks largely to the hard work of Tim Maciejewski.

Bennett added that the letters to DEQ regarding progress at WWTPs were extremely detailed and probably the most chemistry he's ever read. He said it was a great explanation of why things were not operating within permit levels and also gave a great roadmap for the future.

Hingley continued his presentation with the water side of operations. He said by better managing chlorine batches, they've been able to reduce the number of visits by staff from daily to every two weeks, thus freeing them up to complete other tasks. Hingley said they're also looking into the newly populated database of customer complaints to identify trends.

Werle added that the original database had 1,700 records.

Hingley continued that VDH will conduct well inspections in October for the Courthouse, Canterbury, Fairview Beach, and Hopyard systems. The Canterbury system now had both wells operational. The Circle system had a second booster pump installed. The Fairview Beach system had a second well brought online but the filter system still needed to be assessed. The third well was also being worked on to bring it online but the filter backwash controls were not working.

Werle asked if he had an idea how much that repair would cost and Hingley said it would likely be a capital intensive project and that's why they didn't bring the third well online to start with. Bennett asked if the third well was needed and Hingley said yes. He said that the permit states what needs to be used so if a certain number of booster pumps is listed on the permit, then that number needs to be available for use. Same with storage, wells, etc. Hingley said the biggest issue is having the backup available. Essentially, they would get a Notice Of Violation (NOV) for not having a backup well but may not get an NOV for not having the third well available.

Bennett asked if the third well could be removed in the future. Hingley said that VDH wouldn't begin that process, it would be up to the Service Authority to pursue it but that he would not recommend doing that. He felt that would limit the system to just two wells going forward.

Hingley continued his report by saying the Hopyard water system had the second well placed back into service leaving the system with just one well out of service. He said the current capacity was 300,000 gallons per day but demand was only 50,000 gallons per day so there was plenty of capacity available. On the St. Paul/Owens water system, the interconnect was made previously and repairs were made to the air controls. Hingley said he would be meeting with the Walnut Hill developer regarding the future connection to the Dahlgren water system. Hingley said the Courthouse water system, currently split into east and west sections, had two out of three wells working on the west side and two out of two wells working on the east side. The goal to connect both sides was making progress with the underground utilities having been marked but they were currently waiting on proposals.

Brabo then asked about the water leak on Dahlgren Road. She said she's received several complaints from citizens who see it as a waste and the road is beginning to sink. Hingley said it is a waste to produce water and not give it to customers. He said it was one of several leaks that they were not able to handle in-house due to the complexity of the issue and lack of heavy equipment. Hingley also said that the rain has been a challenge in finding some of the more critical leaks but that this leak on Dahlgren road and the one in front of Potomac Elementary School would be fixed in the next week or two.

The Board then went into Closed Session at 7:20pm with Dr. Young, County Administrator, and Eric Gregory, County Attorney being invited along with Kyle Laux and Griffin Moore from Davenport and Associates.

The Board returned from Closed Session at 7:47pm and adjourned one minute later.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Chairman, Board of Directors)
Dan Hingley (Interim General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Michael Bennett (Citizen)
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on October 2, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.

2018-08-21 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

by Neil Richard

The Service Authority Board of Directors held their second meeting after a summer break on August 21, 2018. They opened the meeting at 6:31pm.

There was no public comment and the only report from the Board came from Chairman Chris Werle. He stated he attended a South Potomac Community Relations meeting on August 9th and met with Service Authority staff on the 13th. Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, also attended the staff meeting where Dan Hingley, Interim General Manager, gave the same report to staff that he had given to the Board of Directors the previous week. Werle said the meeting was productive and helped improve communication between staff and the management team. Werle met with Wiley Wilson and Draper Aden on August 14th to review the Utility Master Plan which should be complete by October. On the 15th, Werle created a spreadsheet to track the outstanding debt. He said, assuming there was no new borrowing and payments were made on time, the debt over the next 17 years amounts to $32.7 million dollars. He said about $2.3 million is paid in debt service every year with about $1.4 million going to principal and $900,000 going to interest. Werle closed his report by stating he wrote a Service Authority Customer Corner article for Ruby Brabo's newsletter on the 16th. Although this was his first newsletter published since April 2017, Werle did have a draft article created for June 2018 regarding fire hydrant operations and maintenance.

The Consent Agenda was approved.

The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.

Dan Hingley, Interim General Manager, then began his lengthy and detailed report. Unlike reports of applause after his previous presentation on August 7th, there was no applause from the audience. Despite the lack of applause, there were several Service Authority employees in the audience that would be recognized for their efforts during Hingley's presentation.

Hingley began his report by saying there continues to be improvements in both water and wastewater systems. He said they are also continuing to address the corrective actions given by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in their Consent Order dated July 11, 2018. The Consent Order has over one hundred actions to be taken and is open for public comment until September 5, 2018. Hingley said training will occur at the end of the month for staff and that overall, the numbers from the wastewater treatment plants have improved since July when compared to the numbers from January through July. He also said they are working to increase in-house testing capabilities, specifically for phosphorus.

Mike Bennett interrupted, stating Hingley knew he would and was okay with it, and asked how often the testing should be done. Hingley said ideally it should be done daily at some facilities but generally speaking it should be done when the facility discharges. He continued by stating that the annual average limit for Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) can't be met for the Dahlgren Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) but recent numbers are well below the limits.

Bennett asked how the limits were set and if they were higher or lower than normal. Hingley said the limit is set by the permit issued from DEQ and it was a reasonable limit but about as low as possible. When asked why they were so low, he said that the Dahlgren WWTP was subject to more strict limits because of a Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) Grant. Werle added that Hingley was correct and that the limits are for about 20 years. Hingley also said that if the limits were exceeded, grant funding had to be repaid. Fairview Beach WWTP also has WQIF limits imposed and has exceeded those limits as recently as March of 2017.

Hingley continued his update by saying that they are working to control algae growth, which was one of the DEQ corrective actions required. He said the Hopyard WWTP will need to work hard to meet the annual average limit for TP. The Fairview Beach WWTP won't be able to meet the annual average limit for TP but it served as a good example of how Service Authority staff voiced ideas that resulted in improvements. Hingley said this was a positive sign that the culture is changing for the better. He said the Purkins Corner WWTP TN and TP measurements are slightly above the limits but they are working to bring them into compliance. The Oakland Park WWTP has seen a big turn around thanks to Tim Maciejewski and his maintenance staff. Hingley said Tim, one of the staff members present in the audience, has worked to make repairs and improvements, resulting in reduced chemical usage.

Hingley then proceeded to report on the water supply system. He said the chief water operator was also present in the audience and has also worked to make improvements on that side of the Service Authority. Hingley said the Oakland Park system is operating at adequate capacity and has no significant operational issues. The Canterbury system has one well functioning and a second well that will be repaired shortly.

Bennett asked why there was a second well to which Hingley responded that it was required by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). He said that VDH requires a second well to be available for use, but not necessarily in use, when there are more than 49 user connections. He also said that permits may stipulate how many wells need to be available.

Hingley continued with the Circle system, stating that it is at the maximum number of connections allowed per the grandfathered permit, however the usage is currently "in excess of existing assets." He said that if it were to be permitted now, it would need additional wells to meet the needed capacity.

The Dahlgren system had a large failure at the Saft well recently and was the source of numerous King George Alerts. He said the well pump failed and they've identified the root cause and made emergency repairs for the short term. He also said that several other wells on the system are running at about half of their capacity due to age.

The Fairview Beach system has one well in service but to meet permit requirements needs two more wells. Hingley said there are two more wells but they have been out of service for over a year. He said bringing them online may prove difficult because they are located in areas with high iron and manganese. Bennett asked if all three wells need to be functioning even though the single well meets capacity needs. Hingley said yes, all the wells need to be functional but not necessarily in use to comply with the permit. He said the sand filters may be seized due to the length of time they've sat idle.

Hingley continued that the Hopyard system has one well in service and it meets capacity. Two other wells are offline and one should be able to be fixed quickly.

Hingley made another positive impression by giving an update on the Ninde's Store system. Not because he said the system was operating at capacity to meet the needs of the 36 connections, but rather because he pronounced the name Ninde correctly. He did caution that a failure of the single well for that system could result in an outage for those customers and that the aged infrastructure needs to be rehabilitated.

He then proceeded to discuss the St. Paul's and Owens systems. He said both systems are small and directly adjacent to each other. Hingley said that in years past, they had been interconnected however, for reasons unknown to him, the isolation valve was closed, therefore separating both systems. He said they flushed the connection line, tested for bacteria, and when the test results came back clear, they opened the valve. He said it has been in operation like that since Friday, August 17th. He said the outage that occurred in June would have had a minimal impact had this interconnection been functional.

Werle chimed in that the Walnut Hill subdivision would also connect the St. Paul's, Owens, and Dahlgren systems when it was complete.

Bennett added a pertinent point about the St. Paul's and Owens systems by saying that the complaints they received recently needed explaining. He said customers complaining about a lot of Service Authority management being present in the area and lots of spraying water led customers to believe this was behind the water issues in Dahlgren. He wanted to "put that rumor to bed" by saying it had nothing to do with the Dahlgren system or recent issues, but was rather the staff working on the connecting line between the Owens and St. Paul's systems.

Hingley continued his update by discussing the Courthouse system. He said it was permitted as a single water system but has been unofficially operating as two separate systems. He said about ten years ago, a three inch section of pipe was abandoned in place and never replaced, thus creating two distinct systems. He said the "western" half had three wells and the "eastern" half had two wells. In the west side, he said two of the three wells are operating while only one of the two wells in the east side were working. Hingley said he is working to bring the backup wells into service and that despite there being two halves, bacteria samples have been taken from both halves to ensure the water is safe for consumption. He also said VDH is aware of the split system and the Service Authority will work to install the 650 feet of pipe necessary to reconnect the two halves.

Richard Granger asked if all five wells needed to be online to which Hingley responded that all five need to be capable of going online but may not necessarily need to be in use all at the same time.

Hingley concluded his report by saying that they are continuing to make operational improvements, continuing staff training and staff workload adjustments. He said progress has been made and that he intends to continue to operate with full transparency. He closed by saying while he may be making some changes, it's been thanks to the employees helping that the improvements have been made and that they have been eager to do so.

Werle also echoed Hingley's praise thanking the staff present in the audience.

Bennett clarified an earlier point that the staff training at the end of the month is being conducted by DEQ at no cost and here in King George. He said this was part of their negotiation with DEQ and they were willing to make it easier for the County due to the limited Service Authority staff.

There being no Closed Session, the meeting adjourned at 7:10pm.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Chairman, Board of Directors)
Dan Hingley (Interim General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Michael Bennett (Citizen)
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)

Absent:
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on September 4, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.

2018-05-15 - Service Authority Meeting Notes

The King George County Service Authority Board of Directors began their meeting at 6:31 pm. There were no amendments to the Agenda.

When the floor opened for Public Comment, one gentleman approached the podium. Chris Werle, Chairman of the Board, clarified for the gentleman that this was the public comment period for the Service Authority and that if he had a comment about the upcoming Public Hearing on the changes to Service Authority Regulations, he would have time later. So the gentleman sat down and waited.

Werle asked Neil Richard [EDITOR'S NOTE: That's me.] if the letter from Yvonne Richard was to be read into the public record [EDITOR'S NOTE - Neil Richard, a co-founder of Project94, is the spouse of Yvonne Richard.]. Mr. Richard advised Mr. Werle that no, the Board could read it at their leisure. As I was informed later, it was supposed to be read into the record so a copy of the letter is below.

There being no further public comment, the Board began with their reports. Mike Bennett, Richard Granger, and Ruby Brabo had no report. Cathy Binder was absent at the time, although she would arrive later during the meeting.

Chris Werle reported that on May 7, 2018 he visited the Hopyard Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). He noted the Ultra Violet (UV) Systems were in operation and that he read the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Manuals. He said these O&M Manuals included a cover letter from Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that said they had been reviewed and approved. Werle said the DEQ approval letters were also present at all other plants in the county.

Taking a short deviation from the meeting notes to provide further details and an opinion, the mention of the O&M Manuals being present at all plants appears to be a reference to an inspection of the Oakland Park WWTP where DEQ noted that they were missing. In a response to the February 13, 2018 inspection visit, Chris Thomas, General Manager, told DEQ in a March 30th letter that "The operator on site during the inspection was unaware of the location of the O&M Manuals. The Manuals were not located in the laboratory area. However, they were in the back control room. These Manuals have been relocated to the laboratory area." Unfortunately, these are the least of the issues found at Hopyard Farm's WWTP. According to a DEQ email, part of a pending Consent Order may include signage at the Hopyard pier warning users of potential E. coli exposure. This warning is based on frequent "UV maintenance issues, the difficulty in obtaining replacement parts for this system, the regularity of high E. coli numbers, and the proximity of the outfall..." While these details are still being drafted, it's clear there are issues at Hopyard Farm's WWTP.

Returning to the meetings notes report, Werle continued his report by stating that on the 11th he received the proposed agreement from KGI Communications and that it included all of the modifications previously discussed. The lease will be for five years at $1,000 per month. After that, the lease would have a three percent escalation factor applied for the next five years. The first 12 months would have lease payments waived and an additional six months would be waived if KGI showed documentation proving it was necessary. There was also a stipulation that if any funds were received from the Economic Development Authority (EDA), it was to be used to pay any waived lease payment first. Werle said on the 14th he met with Chris Thomas, Travis Quesenberry, County Engineer, and Steve Lynd, Emergency Management Coordinator, regarding the engineering contract for the Fairview Beach stabilization project.

The Consent Agenda was approved and the County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.

Next up was the Public Hearing regarding the proposed changes to the Service Authority Regulations, Section 9, Paragraph I. Werle read some highlights from the changes before opening the floor for public comment. The gentlemen from earlier in the evening approached the stand and identified himself as Phil Grimes. Mr. Grimes stated his issue is that there are old pipes in Fairview Beach and if there was an emergency break between the meter and the building, the property owner would be responsible. But since "pipes don't break at 9 am" he would like to see some language that allows citizens, especially customers, to turn off their meter in an emergency. Grimes also said the language about "authorized representatives is unclear" and asked if that meant a plumber or somebody else. He asked if the Board could issue something to those that are considered designated representatives so they could be easily identified.

Werle said he made a good point about the emergencies. He said if a break was on the customer side and the flow were sufficient enough, it would be reasonable for the property owner to turn off the meter and then notify the Service Authority of the situation. He said this has happened in the past and "we have not and would not charge a penalty." Werle suggested maybe adding a preface to the first paragraph about emergency situations but would need to define what an emergency situation is as well as what a designated representative is.

Ruby Brabo asked Eric Gregory, County Attorney, if that would require another call for a public hearing. Gregory said no, that the suggested revisions would not be substantive enough to require another public hearing. He said the Board could adopt it tonight with those revisions in mind or they could direct state to make changes and vote later.

Brabo said she would rather come back and vote later after everything is defined. Gregory advised against trying to craft the new language tonight. Brabo concluded her comments by saying "this is why citizen input is needed." No action was taken by the Board, effectively tabling the discussion and adoption of the changes until a later meeting.

Next on the Agenda was the lease agreement with KGI Communications. Werle again reviewed the tentative agreement citing the five year lease, three percent escalation, and waived payments. He did clarify that the escalation rate of three percent would be for the second five year period, not each year within that period. He said that the loss of income would be minimal and only about $1,500 and he felt that any back and forth negotiations wasn't really worth it. Werle further clarified and corrected that statement in a May 16th email stating that "KGI wants to apply a blanket lease escalation factor of 3% across all 5-years of the second 5-year lease period. I then said we would lose about $1,500 in revenue if we didn't apply the escalation factor each year. That was not correct." He went on to show the math behind the potential loss of income to be $3,828 over the life of the second five year lease.

Brabo chimed in by saying she, Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, and Ryan Gandy, Director of Economic Development, met with KGI Communications regarding the addition of a second tower lease under the same terms. Werle was surprised to not have known about this discussion and said a second tower wasn't in the draft contract. Brabo said the Board can do one now and work on the second one later. The Board approved the first contract.

Chris Thomas, General Manager, began his report by saying he had three items to discuss. The first was the numerous water leaks during the week, saying that there were six leaks total. They were located on Dahlgren Road, Delegate Drive, Roosevelt Drive, Inaugural Drive, and Owens Drive. He said the leaks on Delegate Drive, Inaugural Drive, and Owens Drive were all caused by contractors and that the one on Inaugural Drive would be charged back to the contractor.

Brabo asked if Miss Utility had been called by the contractors before digging. Thomas said yes, but they still hit the lines. Bennett asked why only one contractor was being charged and Thomas said the other contractors remained on site and helped make the repairs. This particular contractor did not help and would therefore be charged.

Thomas' second update was regarding the industrial park sewer pump station. He said Virginia Power has transferred power and that the station was started up today and is in service. He said they were only waiting for the phone service to be installed for the auto-dialers.

The third update from Thomas was regarding the three years of data on commercial connections that Bennett had requested in a previous meeting. He said there was no real way to look at and find what an average would look like. He said it depends on the service being provided, either water, sewer, or both, the size of the meter, as well as the average daily consumption. He said without knowing the particulars of the business, it's hard to know what the average would be.

Brabo said if the meter was the same size, why was sewer larger than water. She said that didn't seem right that connection fees are so different. Werle said that sewer is higher than water. Brabo asked why the connection was more. Thomas said each connection has three pieces; the actual connection, the availability, and the debt service which is higher for sewer. Brabo said this is just the connection, not the service. Werle and Thomas both said yes. Brabo again asked if debt fee is included in connection fee to which Werle and Thomas both said yes. Werle then added that it was described in painful detail in the regulations. Bennett asked Ryan Gandy, who was sitting in the audience, if he got a copy. Gandy said no to which Bennett said he would make sure he got a copy.

Brabo, still looking at the spreadsheet (as seen above), said she didn't expect to see such a difference between all the businesses. Bennett said to the audience, trying to clarify for those that didn't have a handout from Thomas, that the Board was trying to review the connection fees to see if it really is a burden for new businesses, especially small ones, coming to King George.

Brabo again said it was quite a range. Bennett said that was more polite than what he was thinking in his head which drew a few laughs. He said some businesses have a reasonable amount while others are much more. Brabo said when people ask why it's hard for a small business to open, she said Murphy's Express can afford $8,662 for water but it's hard for Blush Salon to afford $11,183 for sewer.

The Board then went into Closed Session at 6:55 pm to discuss, possible litigation, personnel matters, and potential disposition of public property. Invited were John Jenkins, Board of Supervisors, Jeff Bueche, Board of Supervisors, Eric Gregory, County Attorney, and Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator. At 7:25pm, Bueche left to take a phone call and returned about 15 minutes later. At 7:32pm, Cathy Binder arrived and joined the Closed Session. At 8:15pm, Bueche, Jenkins, and Chris Thomas left the meeting. The Board returned from Closed Session at 9:03pm, making it the longest Closed Session of the year at two hours and eight minutes (the Closed Session on April 17, 2018 was a mere two minutes shorter).

The meeting adjourned at 9:03pm.

Meeting Attendees:
Christopher Werle (Chairman, Board of Directors)
Christopher Thomas (General Manager of Service Authority)
Richard Granger (Board of Supervisors)
Michael Bennett (Citizen)
Ruby Brabo (Board of Supervisors)
Neiman Young (County Administrator)
Eric Gregory (County Attorney)

Absent:
Cathy Binder (Board of Supervisors) - arrived at 7:32pm

Meeting Agenda

Next Meeting:
The Service Authority will next meet on June 5, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.

Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.