by Neil Richard
The Service Authority Board of Directors opened their meeting promptly at 6:30pm as a few audience members took their seats.
There were no amendments to the Agenda.
Mike Bennett, Chairman, gave the audience a brief reminder that there would be two Public Comment sections tonight. The first was for general comments to the Service Authority Board while the second comment period would be for the Public Hearing on the new rates later in the evening. With that, he opened the floor for comment.
There was no Public Comment.
Christopher Werle began his report with an update on the April 26 meeting he attended with Bennett, Jonathan Weakley, General Manager, and Dan Sweeney, Vice President of Hazel Land Company [Editor's Note: Dan Sweeney is not related to former Service Authority employee Scott Sweeney]. Werle said the meeting was to get information on the Hopyard Farm water and sewer needs for the planned residential and commercial developments. Werle said the current permitted capacity of Hopyard Farm Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) is 375,000 gallons per day but could be increased to 500,000 gallons without any plant modifications. He said the plant could handle 1 million gallons per day but would need a physical expansion to do so. Werle ended his report by saying he attended the April 30 budget work session.
Cathy Binder opened her report stating she had also attended the budget work session as well as numerous other agenda meetings. Binder said she had also met with several citizens about their concerns with the Service Authority. She also thanked County employees Kim and LaWanda who found several scrap books that documented much of the history of the Service Authority from the mid 1970s to the 1990s. She aid they were really big books so they can't be scanned easily but was surprised to see that many of the same problems we have now were present back then. Binder said the Board wants to fix the problems as best as they can but it's hard to right a ship that's been tilting for awhile.
Ruby Brabo echoed Binder's comments and said that a lot of people expect the Board to fix things overnight. She said the problems happened over several decades of mismanagement. Brabo said she also spoke on April 18 at the Hopyard Farm Homeowners Association and attended the same April 30 budget work session.
Mike Bennett reported that he attended the April 26 meeting as Werle had already stated and felt it was a productive discussion on current and future needs. He also echoed Binder in attending several other agenda meetings. Bennett said that the scrapbooks Binder mentioned were a great find but he couldn't decide "if it's comforting or horrifying that we face the same issues." Bennett ended his report saying he also attended the April 30 budget work session and again wanted to thank the citizens for all their help.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.
The Public Hearing on the proposed rates was next. Weakley gave a solid overview of the changes prior to the floor opening for Public Comment. Weakley said his presentation was similar to the April 30 budget work session but included a few extra details for the public. He said the total expenses would be $6,528,884 which was a $632,944 increase over last year. He said the increase was larger due to water and sewer maintenance needs. Water maintenance increases $175,728 and sewer maintenance increased $356,142. Out of $6.5 million in expenses, $2,270,851 was just for debt payments. With debt fees for water and sewer totaling $1,863,980 in revenue, there is a shortfall of over $400,000.
Weakley said the proposed ten percent increase would be across the board except for bulk water charges, unusual waste water charge, and septic disposal fees. He also said that deposits and tampering fees would remain the same. When Weakley said that the unmetered customers would also see a ten percent increase, Bennett asked about a letter that was sent to all unmetered customers. Weakley said the Service Authority was unable to locate any records of a letter being sent but the Finance Department may have done so. Either way, he said they'll work with the roughly 75 unmetered customers to develop plans to install meters.
Weakley continued his presentation by saying the minimum bill, based on 3,000 gallons per month, would increase by $6.67 per month or $13.33 per bill. He said the average rate increase, based on the average bill of 10,000 gallons per month, would go up by $11.95 per month or $23.90 per bill. Weakley said the rate increase would address the water and sewer maintenance backlog as well as the current Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Consent Order. Additionally, he said it should reduce or remove the need for payouts, or fees, for under-performing WWTPs. He said lyear, the Service Authority paid over $140,000 in these payouts. Weakley said the rate increase "won't fix everything at once but would give us solid footing moving forward."
The floor then opened for Public Comment. There was none.
Bennett said the plan was to vote on the budget and the rate increase at the next meeting so their was no vote tonight.
Weakley then gave a brief General Manager's report. He said they were working to update the lead and copper sampling plans and since the issues in Flint, Michigan, everyone was more concerned about them. He praised Kyle Conboy, GIS Manager, for making his life easier in using the GIS system for their plans. Weakley said that if the Service Authority calls citizens about this sampling, it's not because they feel there is any danger but rather because they need to take samples and send them to the Virginia Department of Health. He said regardless of the test results, they are shared with the residents. As it was explained to me when I volunteered to participate, residents will be given instructions on how to collect samples from inside their home later in the summer, usually August. Once the samples are collected, they're sent to a lab for testing and then the results are sent to VDH, the Service Authority, and the resident. The purpose of the test is to ensure the water supplied by the Service Authority isn't causing a homeowner's pipes to leach lead into their drinking water.
Weakley continued his report saying they did a pre-inspection of the School Board Office building and the old King George Middle School prior to VDH inspecting them. Additionally, they met with Potomac Landing Developers to discuss the utility infrastructure and sent several alerts regarding the upcoming hydrant flushing in Fairview Beach on May 9th. Bennett interrupted and said that if anyone is a Service Authority customer, he recommended signing up for KGALERTS. Bennett said you could sign up just for those alerts related to the Service Authority so you don't necessarily need to be flooded with school or gym class cancellations.
Weakley said they will meet with Wiley Wilson regarding the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for the pump stations and met with DEQ regarding Purkins Corner WWTP improvements. He said he met with a developer to discuss an upcoming rezoning request in the Dahlgren Gateway Plaza and continued to hold weekly management meetings.
Brabo said she wanted to remind everyone that round table discussions regarding developments in Dahlgren should include representatives from the Dahlgren Navy base. She said the base has concerns about rezoning in Dahlgren which is why the Board of Supervisors voted to "undesignate Dahlgren as a Primary Settlement Zone." She said she wanted to make sure a base representative was present. While it remains unclear if the Supervisors did indeed make this vote, it is clear that the Navy supports keeping Dahlgren as a Primary Settlement Area.
Weakley said there was somebody there from the base but he forgot her name. He said there was also representation from Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and other parties. Bennett thanked him for all of his hard work, especially considering this was his first budget cycle.
The meeting adjourned at 7:03pm.
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 May 21, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
The Service Authority Board of Directors opened their meeting promptly at 6:30pm as a few audience members took their seats.
There were no amendments to the Agenda.
Mike Bennett, Chairman, gave the audience a brief reminder that there would be two Public Comment sections tonight. The first was for general comments to the Service Authority Board while the second comment period would be for the Public Hearing on the new rates later in the evening. With that, he opened the floor for comment.
There was no Public Comment.
Christopher Werle began his report with an update on the April 26 meeting he attended with Bennett, Jonathan Weakley, General Manager, and Dan Sweeney, Vice President of Hazel Land Company [Editor's Note: Dan Sweeney is not related to former Service Authority employee Scott Sweeney]. Werle said the meeting was to get information on the Hopyard Farm water and sewer needs for the planned residential and commercial developments. Werle said the current permitted capacity of Hopyard Farm Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) is 375,000 gallons per day but could be increased to 500,000 gallons without any plant modifications. He said the plant could handle 1 million gallons per day but would need a physical expansion to do so. Werle ended his report by saying he attended the April 30 budget work session.
Cathy Binder opened her report stating she had also attended the budget work session as well as numerous other agenda meetings. Binder said she had also met with several citizens about their concerns with the Service Authority. She also thanked County employees Kim and LaWanda who found several scrap books that documented much of the history of the Service Authority from the mid 1970s to the 1990s. She aid they were really big books so they can't be scanned easily but was surprised to see that many of the same problems we have now were present back then. Binder said the Board wants to fix the problems as best as they can but it's hard to right a ship that's been tilting for awhile.
Ruby Brabo echoed Binder's comments and said that a lot of people expect the Board to fix things overnight. She said the problems happened over several decades of mismanagement. Brabo said she also spoke on April 18 at the Hopyard Farm Homeowners Association and attended the same April 30 budget work session.
Mike Bennett reported that he attended the April 26 meeting as Werle had already stated and felt it was a productive discussion on current and future needs. He also echoed Binder in attending several other agenda meetings. Bennett said that the scrapbooks Binder mentioned were a great find but he couldn't decide "if it's comforting or horrifying that we face the same issues." Bennett ended his report saying he also attended the April 30 budget work session and again wanted to thank the citizens for all their help.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.
The Public Hearing on the proposed rates was next. Weakley gave a solid overview of the changes prior to the floor opening for Public Comment. Weakley said his presentation was similar to the April 30 budget work session but included a few extra details for the public. He said the total expenses would be $6,528,884 which was a $632,944 increase over last year. He said the increase was larger due to water and sewer maintenance needs. Water maintenance increases $175,728 and sewer maintenance increased $356,142. Out of $6.5 million in expenses, $2,270,851 was just for debt payments. With debt fees for water and sewer totaling $1,863,980 in revenue, there is a shortfall of over $400,000.
Weakley said the proposed ten percent increase would be across the board except for bulk water charges, unusual waste water charge, and septic disposal fees. He also said that deposits and tampering fees would remain the same. When Weakley said that the unmetered customers would also see a ten percent increase, Bennett asked about a letter that was sent to all unmetered customers. Weakley said the Service Authority was unable to locate any records of a letter being sent but the Finance Department may have done so. Either way, he said they'll work with the roughly 75 unmetered customers to develop plans to install meters.
Weakley continued his presentation by saying the minimum bill, based on 3,000 gallons per month, would increase by $6.67 per month or $13.33 per bill. He said the average rate increase, based on the average bill of 10,000 gallons per month, would go up by $11.95 per month or $23.90 per bill. Weakley said the rate increase would address the water and sewer maintenance backlog as well as the current Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Consent Order. Additionally, he said it should reduce or remove the need for payouts, or fees, for under-performing WWTPs. He said lyear, the Service Authority paid over $140,000 in these payouts. Weakley said the rate increase "won't fix everything at once but would give us solid footing moving forward."
The floor then opened for Public Comment. There was none.
Bennett said the plan was to vote on the budget and the rate increase at the next meeting so their was no vote tonight.
Weakley then gave a brief General Manager's report. He said they were working to update the lead and copper sampling plans and since the issues in Flint, Michigan, everyone was more concerned about them. He praised Kyle Conboy, GIS Manager, for making his life easier in using the GIS system for their plans. Weakley said that if the Service Authority calls citizens about this sampling, it's not because they feel there is any danger but rather because they need to take samples and send them to the Virginia Department of Health. He said regardless of the test results, they are shared with the residents. As it was explained to me when I volunteered to participate, residents will be given instructions on how to collect samples from inside their home later in the summer, usually August. Once the samples are collected, they're sent to a lab for testing and then the results are sent to VDH, the Service Authority, and the resident. The purpose of the test is to ensure the water supplied by the Service Authority isn't causing a homeowner's pipes to leach lead into their drinking water.
Weakley continued his report saying they did a pre-inspection of the School Board Office building and the old King George Middle School prior to VDH inspecting them. Additionally, they met with Potomac Landing Developers to discuss the utility infrastructure and sent several alerts regarding the upcoming hydrant flushing in Fairview Beach on May 9th. Bennett interrupted and said that if anyone is a Service Authority customer, he recommended signing up for KGALERTS. Bennett said you could sign up just for those alerts related to the Service Authority so you don't necessarily need to be flooded with school or gym class cancellations.
Weakley said they will meet with Wiley Wilson regarding the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for the pump stations and met with DEQ regarding Purkins Corner WWTP improvements. He said he met with a developer to discuss an upcoming rezoning request in the Dahlgren Gateway Plaza and continued to hold weekly management meetings.
Brabo said she wanted to remind everyone that round table discussions regarding developments in Dahlgren should include representatives from the Dahlgren Navy base. She said the base has concerns about rezoning in Dahlgren which is why the Board of Supervisors voted to "undesignate Dahlgren as a Primary Settlement Zone." She said she wanted to make sure a base representative was present. While it remains unclear if the Supervisors did indeed make this vote, it is clear that the Navy supports keeping Dahlgren as a Primary Settlement Area.
Weakley said there was somebody there from the base but he forgot her name. He said there was also representation from Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and other parties. Bennett thanked him for all of his hard work, especially considering this was his first budget cycle.
The meeting adjourned at 7:03pm.
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 May 21, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
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