by Neil Richard
The Service Authority Board of Directors began their short, but productive, meeting at 6:31pm in the newly upgraded Board Room.
There were no amendments to the Agenda.
There was no Public Comment.
Christopher Werle began his report with information from his meeting on August 5th with Schnabel Engineering to get an update on their progress on the Environmental Assessment (EA) report for the Fairview Beach Riverbank Stabilization Project. Werle said that consultations are still being held with various authorities, primarily regarding the potential impact to the Shortnose Sturgeon, the Northern Long-Eared Bat, and the Joint Vetch, a plant frequently consumed by deer. Earlier in August, Werle said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined there would be no impact to the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). Werle said that because no trees were due to be removed in the project area, there should be no impact to the Northern Long-Eared Bat. He was hopeful the same would be true with the Joint Vetch. Werle said an additional concern was the impact to the floodplain but said Schnabel is already working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since floodplains fall under their jurisdiction. Werle said that Schnabel has already coordinated with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to determine there are no historic sites within the project area. He ended his report by saying that there was one Wetlands area noted within the project area and that Schnabel is working on the appropriate permits.
Richard Granger had no report.
Cathy Binder said that she felt the restructuring of the Service Authority debt and the line of credit was being done right. On July 24th, she met with Wiley Wilson to discuss the decommissioning of the Purkins Corner Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). She said the Courthouse and much of the impacted area is in her district and felt it was important to look at the impact to determine what was best. She said King George is in a heavily regulated area because of the Chesapeake Bay and the two rivers. She also said she recently spent two days at a conference where she was able to learn more about the potential impact.
Ruby Brabo had no report.
Mike Bennett attended the same meeting on July 24th with Wiley Wilson and added that they also discussed building a new WWTP at Purkins Corner instead of decommissioning it. He said they would meet with Wiley Wilson again in the future to continue to review potential solutions. He said that waste sent to Hopyard results in a discharge into the Rappahannock River while waste sent to Purkins Corner results in a discharge on the Potomac River and that the Potomac seems like the better place at the moment. On July 31st, Bennett had a conference call with Davenport to discuss the restructured debt and the line of credit. Regarding the contamination issue at Fairview Beach, Bennett said the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) took samples the same day the Hampton Roads Sanitation District took their samples. He said the VDH tests resulted in a swimming advisory while the Hampton Roads samples found no evidence of human waste. He said they did take a sample from one of the sewage manholes and it tested positive for human waste so the tests were working appropriately. Bennett said it has been dry lately and because there is a theory the contamination is related to wet weather, Hampton Roads would wait for a wet weather event before testing again. He ended his report by saying that there are no trees on the cliffs that need to be stabilized in Fairview Beach so there should be no impact to bats. He also said there shouldn't be any deer impacted because they've been busy eating his hostas.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.
Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, then presented a summary of the debt restructuring plan. He said the final numbers had changed from what was in the Agenda. Weakley said the amount of debt being restructured was $15.6 million out of the total $25 million debt. He said the current debt service payments were $2.2 million and that would be reduced starting in October. From FY2020 to FY2025 there would be $4.2 million in cash freed up. Bennett said this was about two-thirds of the total debt and that about $8 million of the total debt had a really good interest rate so they decided not to mess with it. Weakley said the freed up cash was a real game changer. He said the Board could put it all in reserves or decide to cash fund other projects like the Nindes Well house. He said it was "immediately putting breath into the Service Authority." He thanked the Board of Directors, the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator, the County Attorney, Davenport, Sands Anderson, VRA, and others for all of the hard work. Bennett said he appreciated everyone getting it done so quickly. He said it allowed them to get into the summer pool of money and would have otherwise had to wait six months.
Weakley then presented a summary of the Line of Credit (LOC). He said that several banks presented proposals but Atlantic Union had the best offer. The LOC would be for funds up to $15 million at an interest rate of 2.399% that would be fixed through the maturity date in June of 2025. Weakley said the Service Authority could draw down on the amount as needed and that it could be prepaid at any time without a penalty. He said the plan would be to convert it to a term loan in 2025. Weakley said they would still continue to look for alternative funding methods, such as the Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) grants, and again thanked those involved in making the LOC happen.
Bennett added that there is a lot of debt but there's also a lot of needs. Bennett said these are not wants or desires but instead needs that are mandated by Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). He said there is no choice to decommission the WWTPs and that it's just a question of when it will happen. Bennett said they wanted to do it on their terms and reiterated that DEQ is making the Service Authority do what the law requires. With that, the Board approved the Line of Credit Resolution.
Next, there was a discussion about scheduling joint work sessions. Bennett said that it will cost a lot of money to decommission the Oakland Park and Purkins Corner WWTPs and pipe the sewage to Hopyard WWTP but it would likely be even more money to build a new plant at Purkins Corner. Despite this, Bennet said the Board will need to consider how best to move forward and needed the Supervisors at the table to give their input since it would impact the County. Bennett said there wasn't necessarily a rush to meet but that development seemed to be in a rush to happen in the County. He said about 1,400 housing units are proposed to be built and that was a lot of WWTP capacity to consider. He said they also needed to be cautious with the water capacity. Brabo added that there's already 1,200 homes that are approved but have yet to be built. Bennett said if we could build them all, then that's a lot of connection fees but there's a need to make sure they actually build what is planned so the Service Authority doesn't build for a capacity that never materializes.
Weakley gave one of his shortest General Manager's reports next with a brief update on some pump blower issues and pump station repairs that are scheduled to be completed by September. Weakley also said that the Purkins Corner water tank has been painted and is curing right now. He said once it has cured, it can be placed back in service but until then, water would be supplied from Arnold's Corner. He expected it to be online within a week or so. Weakley said he had a great meeting with Dr. Benson, Superintendent of Schools, and they were continuing to work on an owner/agent agreement. Bennett said the water tank painting has been talked about forever so it was good to finally cross something off the list.
The meeting adjourned at 7:04pm.
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 August 20, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE
You can subscribe via email here. You can make a charitable donation here.
The Service Authority Board of Directors began their short, but productive, meeting at 6:31pm in the newly upgraded Board Room.
There were no amendments to the Agenda.
There was no Public Comment.
Christopher Werle began his report with information from his meeting on August 5th with Schnabel Engineering to get an update on their progress on the Environmental Assessment (EA) report for the Fairview Beach Riverbank Stabilization Project. Werle said that consultations are still being held with various authorities, primarily regarding the potential impact to the Shortnose Sturgeon, the Northern Long-Eared Bat, and the Joint Vetch, a plant frequently consumed by deer. Earlier in August, Werle said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined there would be no impact to the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). Werle said that because no trees were due to be removed in the project area, there should be no impact to the Northern Long-Eared Bat. He was hopeful the same would be true with the Joint Vetch. Werle said an additional concern was the impact to the floodplain but said Schnabel is already working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since floodplains fall under their jurisdiction. Werle said that Schnabel has already coordinated with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to determine there are no historic sites within the project area. He ended his report by saying that there was one Wetlands area noted within the project area and that Schnabel is working on the appropriate permits.
Richard Granger had no report.
Cathy Binder said that she felt the restructuring of the Service Authority debt and the line of credit was being done right. On July 24th, she met with Wiley Wilson to discuss the decommissioning of the Purkins Corner Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). She said the Courthouse and much of the impacted area is in her district and felt it was important to look at the impact to determine what was best. She said King George is in a heavily regulated area because of the Chesapeake Bay and the two rivers. She also said she recently spent two days at a conference where she was able to learn more about the potential impact.
Ruby Brabo had no report.
Mike Bennett attended the same meeting on July 24th with Wiley Wilson and added that they also discussed building a new WWTP at Purkins Corner instead of decommissioning it. He said they would meet with Wiley Wilson again in the future to continue to review potential solutions. He said that waste sent to Hopyard results in a discharge into the Rappahannock River while waste sent to Purkins Corner results in a discharge on the Potomac River and that the Potomac seems like the better place at the moment. On July 31st, Bennett had a conference call with Davenport to discuss the restructured debt and the line of credit. Regarding the contamination issue at Fairview Beach, Bennett said the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) took samples the same day the Hampton Roads Sanitation District took their samples. He said the VDH tests resulted in a swimming advisory while the Hampton Roads samples found no evidence of human waste. He said they did take a sample from one of the sewage manholes and it tested positive for human waste so the tests were working appropriately. Bennett said it has been dry lately and because there is a theory the contamination is related to wet weather, Hampton Roads would wait for a wet weather event before testing again. He ended his report by saying that there are no trees on the cliffs that need to be stabilized in Fairview Beach so there should be no impact to bats. He also said there shouldn't be any deer impacted because they've been busy eating his hostas.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The County Attorney, Eric Gregory, had no report.
Jonathon Weakley, General Manager, then presented a summary of the debt restructuring plan. He said the final numbers had changed from what was in the Agenda. Weakley said the amount of debt being restructured was $15.6 million out of the total $25 million debt. He said the current debt service payments were $2.2 million and that would be reduced starting in October. From FY2020 to FY2025 there would be $4.2 million in cash freed up. Bennett said this was about two-thirds of the total debt and that about $8 million of the total debt had a really good interest rate so they decided not to mess with it. Weakley said the freed up cash was a real game changer. He said the Board could put it all in reserves or decide to cash fund other projects like the Nindes Well house. He said it was "immediately putting breath into the Service Authority." He thanked the Board of Directors, the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator, the County Attorney, Davenport, Sands Anderson, VRA, and others for all of the hard work. Bennett said he appreciated everyone getting it done so quickly. He said it allowed them to get into the summer pool of money and would have otherwise had to wait six months.
Weakley then presented a summary of the Line of Credit (LOC). He said that several banks presented proposals but Atlantic Union had the best offer. The LOC would be for funds up to $15 million at an interest rate of 2.399% that would be fixed through the maturity date in June of 2025. Weakley said the Service Authority could draw down on the amount as needed and that it could be prepaid at any time without a penalty. He said the plan would be to convert it to a term loan in 2025. Weakley said they would still continue to look for alternative funding methods, such as the Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) grants, and again thanked those involved in making the LOC happen.
Bennett added that there is a lot of debt but there's also a lot of needs. Bennett said these are not wants or desires but instead needs that are mandated by Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). He said there is no choice to decommission the WWTPs and that it's just a question of when it will happen. Bennett said they wanted to do it on their terms and reiterated that DEQ is making the Service Authority do what the law requires. With that, the Board approved the Line of Credit Resolution.
Next, there was a discussion about scheduling joint work sessions. Bennett said that it will cost a lot of money to decommission the Oakland Park and Purkins Corner WWTPs and pipe the sewage to Hopyard WWTP but it would likely be even more money to build a new plant at Purkins Corner. Despite this, Bennet said the Board will need to consider how best to move forward and needed the Supervisors at the table to give their input since it would impact the County. Bennett said there wasn't necessarily a rush to meet but that development seemed to be in a rush to happen in the County. He said about 1,400 housing units are proposed to be built and that was a lot of WWTP capacity to consider. He said they also needed to be cautious with the water capacity. Brabo added that there's already 1,200 homes that are approved but have yet to be built. Bennett said if we could build them all, then that's a lot of connection fees but there's a need to make sure they actually build what is planned so the Service Authority doesn't build for a capacity that never materializes.
Weakley gave one of his shortest General Manager's reports next with a brief update on some pump blower issues and pump station repairs that are scheduled to be completed by September. Weakley also said that the Purkins Corner water tank has been painted and is curing right now. He said once it has cured, it can be placed back in service but until then, water would be supplied from Arnold's Corner. He expected it to be online within a week or so. Weakley said he had a great meeting with Dr. Benson, Superintendent of Schools, and they were continuing to work on an owner/agent agreement. Bennett said the water tank painting has been talked about forever so it was good to finally cross something off the list.
The meeting adjourned at 7:04pm.
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 August 20, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Revercomb Building.
Previous Meeting:
Read about the previous Service Authority Meeting.
SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE
You can subscribe via email here. You can make a charitable donation here.
No comments:
Post a Comment