by Neil Richard
The Service Authority Board of Directors got off to a later start than normal and opened their meeting at 6:32 pm.
There were amendments to the Agenda to add the action item to approve the five year rate plan advertisement during June.
There was no Public Comment.
Christopher Werle began his board report by saying he fielded a call from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) regarding the Fairview Beach riverbank stabilization project. Werle said the May 13th phone call was an update from Debbie Messmer at VDEM related to the status of the project as it was currently being reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA has had the final design since December 2018 and as of last week was still reviewing it. Werle said that it is unlikely FEMA will give any substantive comments on the design, there will need to be an Environmental Assessment (EA) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Because FEMA is funding the project, they are required to pay for the EA. Werle said there was hope that the stabilization project would qualify for a categorical exclusion under NEPA but the County Engineer and he had determined that the EA was required under the law. Werle read from a long, but not all inclusive, list of topics the EA looks at before saying it could take three to six months to complete. Once completed, the EA will tell FEMA if the project will need an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or if it gets the thumbs-up with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). Werle said the bottom line was that it looked like FEMA approval for the project wouldn't come until next year. Werle also stated that VDEM can contract out the EA but there was no additional funding for that.
Ruby Brabo added during his report that the Federal representatives should get involved as we were approaching hurricane season. Werle said he didn't think that would have much impact on FEMA moving any faster. Werle said FEMA is well aware of the situation. During the discussion of funding for the EA, Brabo asked what the cost would be to the County. Werle said we don't know yet but it would still take six months to complete. Brabo asked why the County couldn't do the EA and Werle said he asked that question and was told that the County would not be reimbursed for the expense. Mike Bennett added that contacting our Federal representatives may not hurt but as a former Federal employee it may not help. Bennett said that at various points he was charged with responding to Congressional inquiries on stuff he was working on and that the squeaky wheel may get the grease but it doesn't always move things along faster.
Werle added that there were several plants and animals that may be impacted in the area such as a relative of the pea plant, the northern long eared bat, and various species of fish. He said even if they are present in the project site, they may not stop the project from moving forward. Bennett said he was a fan of bats since they eat mosquitoes. He said they shouldn't be impacted because no trees would be removed. He also commented that Jeff Bueche said a larger environmental impact may occur if a sewer line breaks and spills into the Potomac River. Bennett also noted that in the report it mentioned "surgeons" being impacted instead of "sturgeons." The audience gave a chuckle when he said he doubted they cared about the impact to doctors. Werle said they ran into the sturgeon issue in Hopyard and were told work had to be delayed until after July 1 to avoid their spawning season. Brabo commented that government just takes way too long.
Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, asked Werle if he had a ballpark idea how much the cost would be to the County. Werle said he did but couldn't disclose it as it may be a proprietary figure. Bennett said if the project didn't start quickly it would be winter before the project began and that was only if the riverbank survived another hurricane season. Werle ended his report by saying he attended the COMREL meeting on the 21st.
Richard Granger, Cathy Binder, and Ruby Brabo had no report.
Mike Bennett apologized and said he did have a report. He participated in a conference call on the 13th related to the stabilization project. On the 16th he met with Hertenstein and others to discuss the Service Authority requirements related to the phasing of the proposed development in the Route 3 and Route 301 area. The question was related to the capacity of the existing Purkins Corner Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) and if it could be expanded or replaced. Bennett said in his opinion it was better to have a new plant that appealed to potential developers instead of decommissioning the plant and sending everything to Hopyard WWTP. Bennett also attended a meeting with Davenport in Richmond to discuss the debt restructuring with Virginia Resources Authority (VRA). Bennett said that they made their case and that Davenport gave a great presentation and answered questions. He said the VRA's requirement was to have the five year rate plan approved via a public hearing and that Eric Gregory, County Attorney, worked on the language to make it legal. While the VRA wanted the rates set in stone, the current Board cannot force a future Board to take action.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report. Bennett again thanked Gregory for all of his hard work.
Next was a presentation by Ryan Gandy, Director of Economic Development. Gandy quickly reviewed the new incentive program that he has been working on with the Economic Development Authority (EDA). In summary, the company requesting funds must be registered and have a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), must be located within King George, must not be delinquent on their tax payments, and must submit a budget. The business must also not relocate outside of the County within the agreed upon time frame. Gandy said the funds cannot be awarded retroactively nor can they be given to an individual.
After his presentation, Brabo said that the sticker shock for small businesses was due to the Service Authority connection fees, especially as they relate to the other costs of starting a new business. She said it is a conversation to have. Brabo said a review was being done on economic incentives and recommended Gandy should look at the findings when they're released. Gandy said the results are already out and the study only looked at state level incentives, not local incentives. He said that generally speaking, the results said that grants worked better than tax breaks because a grant would be towards a specific project where a tax break would be towards an entire industry.
Dr. Young added that he and Gandy had several discussions about the policy and felt it was a little muddy because it dealt with three different groups, the Board of Supervisors, the EDA, and the Service Authority. Young said so far the discussion on the impact has only been internal to the interested parties and felt it should be a combined conversation with all three groups. To that end, Young asked if they could schedule a special joint meeting between the three. Brabo agreed.
Bennett said that connection fees are high but he wasn't too concerned with residential connection fees as the cost would be spread out over 30 years and be a part of the mortgage. He said the same wasn't really true for a business and the Service Authority didn't want to stand in the way of a small business. However, he cautioned, he didn't want to see a big chain like Wendy's qualify as a small business. Bennett also mentioned that low income residential customers can apply to be on a payment plan whereas small businesses cannot. He felt that it would be fair to apply the same logic to a small business. Bennett said he wasn't quite clear on how the connection fees were calculated and Werle said it was based on the meter size and throughput of water. Werle also added that the new Tractor Supply paid the same price as a residential customer because they had a smaller meter put in and use less water. Consensus was then reached on a joint meeting date for June 20th.
The Board then "affirmed and ratified" the public notices and hearings for June 4th along with the five year rate plan. There was some discussion as to ensuring that even though the rates are set for the next five years, they still require Public Hearings and a Board vote to approve them each year. It was also cautioned that the Board only voted to approve advertising the Public Hearing, not the rates themselves. Bennett said the point was to give the public the chance to come and comment on the five year plan and that the future rates are still subject to public hearings every year.
Next was the General Manager's report by Jonathon Weakley. He started by thanking Gregory for his hard work reviewing everything and keeping Davenport informed about the VRA vote tonight. Weakley said he met with water tank maintenance contractors and met with the contractor for the Walnut Hill booster station. He said the booster station is not complete yet and he will be meeting with them to review the design. Weakley said they are working to address comments from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) regarding the Consumer Confidence Reports and that he toured the Port Royal well system to see if it would be a reasonable design for the Nindes water system. He said it looked very nice but cautioned that it was a different system and may not be applicable here. Weakley said the Fairview Beach water system flush had been completed. Bennett added that one of the joys of serving on the Board is taking Weakley water samples when the water is brown. Weakley said he "got that mason jar sir, thank you" which caused the audience to laugh. There was also some discussion about the use of orthophosphate to combat the discolored water and they agreed that it would not impact the WWTPs because it would be such a small amount.
Weakley also said that repairs had been made to a water line in Presidential Lakes. Weakley noted that a utility contractor had damaged the line even though they were properly marked and they would be receiving a bill for the time and material used to make repairs. He also said that one customer had to be left without water for the night before repairs could be made and that they supplied them with several cases of water and that they were very understanding.
On the wastewater side of things, Weakley said that they continue to review testing at all five WWTPs and that the pump station Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) meeting would begin soon. Weakley said they were continuing to troubleshoot sewer pressure issues in the industrial park and that new pressure gauges were installed. He said that they have yet to see the high pressure that customers are complaining about but data will continue to be collected. Weakley also said he met with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on the 14th and then went through each WWTP and their latest Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus amounts. At the Oakland Park WWTP, he said they were working to locate the source of abnormal influent at the plant and that once located, they would have a nice conversation with the source about their lack of pre-treatment.
In other news, Weakley said that the budget would need to be appropriated in June since the Board does not meet in July. He also said they were working with the County's Finance Department regarding billing issues and that he had an upcoming meeting with a developer looking at a potential project on Indiantown Road. Weakley said he was also in talks with a land owner about a potential interconnect of the Circle water system.
There was no Closed Session.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm.
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 June 4, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
The Service Authority Board of Directors got off to a later start than normal and opened their meeting at 6:32 pm.
There were amendments to the Agenda to add the action item to approve the five year rate plan advertisement during June.
There was no Public Comment.
Christopher Werle began his board report by saying he fielded a call from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) regarding the Fairview Beach riverbank stabilization project. Werle said the May 13th phone call was an update from Debbie Messmer at VDEM related to the status of the project as it was currently being reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA has had the final design since December 2018 and as of last week was still reviewing it. Werle said that it is unlikely FEMA will give any substantive comments on the design, there will need to be an Environmental Assessment (EA) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Because FEMA is funding the project, they are required to pay for the EA. Werle said there was hope that the stabilization project would qualify for a categorical exclusion under NEPA but the County Engineer and he had determined that the EA was required under the law. Werle read from a long, but not all inclusive, list of topics the EA looks at before saying it could take three to six months to complete. Once completed, the EA will tell FEMA if the project will need an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or if it gets the thumbs-up with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). Werle said the bottom line was that it looked like FEMA approval for the project wouldn't come until next year. Werle also stated that VDEM can contract out the EA but there was no additional funding for that.
Ruby Brabo added during his report that the Federal representatives should get involved as we were approaching hurricane season. Werle said he didn't think that would have much impact on FEMA moving any faster. Werle said FEMA is well aware of the situation. During the discussion of funding for the EA, Brabo asked what the cost would be to the County. Werle said we don't know yet but it would still take six months to complete. Brabo asked why the County couldn't do the EA and Werle said he asked that question and was told that the County would not be reimbursed for the expense. Mike Bennett added that contacting our Federal representatives may not hurt but as a former Federal employee it may not help. Bennett said that at various points he was charged with responding to Congressional inquiries on stuff he was working on and that the squeaky wheel may get the grease but it doesn't always move things along faster.
Werle added that there were several plants and animals that may be impacted in the area such as a relative of the pea plant, the northern long eared bat, and various species of fish. He said even if they are present in the project site, they may not stop the project from moving forward. Bennett said he was a fan of bats since they eat mosquitoes. He said they shouldn't be impacted because no trees would be removed. He also commented that Jeff Bueche said a larger environmental impact may occur if a sewer line breaks and spills into the Potomac River. Bennett also noted that in the report it mentioned "surgeons" being impacted instead of "sturgeons." The audience gave a chuckle when he said he doubted they cared about the impact to doctors. Werle said they ran into the sturgeon issue in Hopyard and were told work had to be delayed until after July 1 to avoid their spawning season. Brabo commented that government just takes way too long.
Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, asked Werle if he had a ballpark idea how much the cost would be to the County. Werle said he did but couldn't disclose it as it may be a proprietary figure. Bennett said if the project didn't start quickly it would be winter before the project began and that was only if the riverbank survived another hurricane season. Werle ended his report by saying he attended the COMREL meeting on the 21st.
Richard Granger, Cathy Binder, and Ruby Brabo had no report.
Mike Bennett apologized and said he did have a report. He participated in a conference call on the 13th related to the stabilization project. On the 16th he met with Hertenstein and others to discuss the Service Authority requirements related to the phasing of the proposed development in the Route 3 and Route 301 area. The question was related to the capacity of the existing Purkins Corner Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) and if it could be expanded or replaced. Bennett said in his opinion it was better to have a new plant that appealed to potential developers instead of decommissioning the plant and sending everything to Hopyard WWTP. Bennett also attended a meeting with Davenport in Richmond to discuss the debt restructuring with Virginia Resources Authority (VRA). Bennett said that they made their case and that Davenport gave a great presentation and answered questions. He said the VRA's requirement was to have the five year rate plan approved via a public hearing and that Eric Gregory, County Attorney, worked on the language to make it legal. While the VRA wanted the rates set in stone, the current Board cannot force a future Board to take action.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report. Bennett again thanked Gregory for all of his hard work.
Next was a presentation by Ryan Gandy, Director of Economic Development. Gandy quickly reviewed the new incentive program that he has been working on with the Economic Development Authority (EDA). In summary, the company requesting funds must be registered and have a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), must be located within King George, must not be delinquent on their tax payments, and must submit a budget. The business must also not relocate outside of the County within the agreed upon time frame. Gandy said the funds cannot be awarded retroactively nor can they be given to an individual.
After his presentation, Brabo said that the sticker shock for small businesses was due to the Service Authority connection fees, especially as they relate to the other costs of starting a new business. She said it is a conversation to have. Brabo said a review was being done on economic incentives and recommended Gandy should look at the findings when they're released. Gandy said the results are already out and the study only looked at state level incentives, not local incentives. He said that generally speaking, the results said that grants worked better than tax breaks because a grant would be towards a specific project where a tax break would be towards an entire industry.
Dr. Young added that he and Gandy had several discussions about the policy and felt it was a little muddy because it dealt with three different groups, the Board of Supervisors, the EDA, and the Service Authority. Young said so far the discussion on the impact has only been internal to the interested parties and felt it should be a combined conversation with all three groups. To that end, Young asked if they could schedule a special joint meeting between the three. Brabo agreed.
Bennett said that connection fees are high but he wasn't too concerned with residential connection fees as the cost would be spread out over 30 years and be a part of the mortgage. He said the same wasn't really true for a business and the Service Authority didn't want to stand in the way of a small business. However, he cautioned, he didn't want to see a big chain like Wendy's qualify as a small business. Bennett also mentioned that low income residential customers can apply to be on a payment plan whereas small businesses cannot. He felt that it would be fair to apply the same logic to a small business. Bennett said he wasn't quite clear on how the connection fees were calculated and Werle said it was based on the meter size and throughput of water. Werle also added that the new Tractor Supply paid the same price as a residential customer because they had a smaller meter put in and use less water. Consensus was then reached on a joint meeting date for June 20th.
The Board then "affirmed and ratified" the public notices and hearings for June 4th along with the five year rate plan. There was some discussion as to ensuring that even though the rates are set for the next five years, they still require Public Hearings and a Board vote to approve them each year. It was also cautioned that the Board only voted to approve advertising the Public Hearing, not the rates themselves. Bennett said the point was to give the public the chance to come and comment on the five year plan and that the future rates are still subject to public hearings every year.
 |
| 5 Year Rate Plan Public Notice |
Next was the General Manager's report by Jonathon Weakley. He started by thanking Gregory for his hard work reviewing everything and keeping Davenport informed about the VRA vote tonight. Weakley said he met with water tank maintenance contractors and met with the contractor for the Walnut Hill booster station. He said the booster station is not complete yet and he will be meeting with them to review the design. Weakley said they are working to address comments from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) regarding the Consumer Confidence Reports and that he toured the Port Royal well system to see if it would be a reasonable design for the Nindes water system. He said it looked very nice but cautioned that it was a different system and may not be applicable here. Weakley said the Fairview Beach water system flush had been completed. Bennett added that one of the joys of serving on the Board is taking Weakley water samples when the water is brown. Weakley said he "got that mason jar sir, thank you" which caused the audience to laugh. There was also some discussion about the use of orthophosphate to combat the discolored water and they agreed that it would not impact the WWTPs because it would be such a small amount.
Weakley also said that repairs had been made to a water line in Presidential Lakes. Weakley noted that a utility contractor had damaged the line even though they were properly marked and they would be receiving a bill for the time and material used to make repairs. He also said that one customer had to be left without water for the night before repairs could be made and that they supplied them with several cases of water and that they were very understanding.
On the wastewater side of things, Weakley said that they continue to review testing at all five WWTPs and that the pump station Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) meeting would begin soon. Weakley said they were continuing to troubleshoot sewer pressure issues in the industrial park and that new pressure gauges were installed. He said that they have yet to see the high pressure that customers are complaining about but data will continue to be collected. Weakley also said he met with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on the 14th and then went through each WWTP and their latest Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus amounts. At the Oakland Park WWTP, he said they were working to locate the source of abnormal influent at the plant and that once located, they would have a nice conversation with the source about their lack of pre-treatment.
In other news, Weakley said that the budget would need to be appropriated in June since the Board does not meet in July. He also said they were working with the County's Finance Department regarding billing issues and that he had an upcoming meeting with a developer looking at a potential project on Indiantown Road. Weakley said he was also in talks with a land owner about a potential interconnect of the Circle water system.
There was no Closed Session.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm.
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 June 4, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
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