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.
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.
Has anyone inquired as to where the $120,000.00 + the has been paid to a local contractor in a no bid contract? Had been budgeted in the 2018-2019 budget? If it came out of contracted service what is the remaining balance of that line item? Was it even budgeted? How was a substantial part of this this money spent after the interim general manager left and prior to the new general manager being hired.
ReplyDelete$120,000.00 is sizeable when spent in four months.
And why has the Service Authority's 2018 - 2019 budget been removed from the county Web Page? Perhaps someone from Project94 who not intimately with board players should start asking questions.
ReplyDeleteMr. Sweeney,
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this $120,000 figure in any of the warrants from October 2018 through this year. As to the rules behind a no-bid contract, as the former Superintendent of Operations at the Service Authority I'll defer to your knowledge on what is allowed.
I can't answer why the County removed last year's Service Authority budget. However, it can be found in their June 5, 2018 Agenda.
Finally, although I am not privy to the private lifestyle choices of my fellow co-founders at Project94, I feel fairly confident that none of them, including myself, are in any way "intimate" with anyone on the Board of Supervisors or the Board of Directors.
Thanks for reading!