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.
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.
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