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:
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.
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.
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