WEST
HANOVER TOWNSHIP WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
7901
JONESTOWN ROAD, HARRISBURG, PA 17112
TUESDAY,
JANUARY 16, 2001, 7 P.M.
REORGANIZATIONAL
MEETING
Chairman
Henry Young called the reorganizational meeting of the West Hanover Township Water
and Sewer Authority to order at 7 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Henry H.
Young, Chairman
David W.
Wingeard, Vice Chairman
Kenneth W.
Keaven, Secretary
Stephen L.
Millard
Mr. Young
turned the meeting over to Solicitor Robert Long to conduct the election of the
Chairman of the Authority. Mr. Long
asked for nominations for Chairman.
Election
of Chairman. Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by
Mr. Deaven, to elect Henry Young as Chairman of the Authority. At the solicitor’s request, Mrs. Martin
called the roll. Mr. Deaven voted
aye; Mr. Wingeard voted aye; Mr. Millard voted nay; and Mr. Young voted
aye.
Mr. Long
turned the meeting back to the Chairman to conduct the other elections.
Election
of Vice Chairman. Mr.
Young moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to elect David Wingeard as Vice Chairman. Mr. Young declared Mr. Wingeard Vice
Chairman by unanimous vote.
Election
of Secretary. Mr. Young moved, seconded by Mr.
Wingeard, to elect Kenneth Deaven as Secretary.
Mr. Millard
said he believed that a vote should be called for each position.
Mr. Young called for a roll call vote. Mr. Young voted aye; Mr. Wingeard voted aye; Mr. Millard voted aye; and Mr. Deaven voted aye.
Election
of Treasurer. Mr. Deaven moved to elect Gloria
Zimmerman as Treasurer. Mr. Young
called for a roll call vote. Mr. Young
voted aye; Mr. Wingeard voted aye; Mr. Millard voted aye; and Mr. Deaven
voted aye.
Election
of Assistant Secretary. Mr.
Young moved to elect Mark Salisbury as Assistant Secretary. Mr. Young called for a roll call vote. Mr. Young voted aye; Mr. Wingeard voted
aye; Mr. Millard voted aye; and Mr. Deaven voted aye.
Election
of Assistant Treasurer. Mr.
Wingeard moved to elect Gail Martin as Assistant Treasurer. Mr. Young called for a roll call vote. Mr. Young voted aye; Mr. Wingeard voted aye;
Mr. Millard voted aye; and Mr. Deaven voted aye.
Set
Compensation for Authority Members.
Mr. Young said that historically the compensation had been $20 per
meeting.
Mr. Young moved, seconded by Mr. Wingeard, to set $20 as the compensation for Authority members. Mr. Young asked if there was any opposition to the motion. Hearing none, he declared the vote as unanimous.
Appointment
of Accountant. Mr. Deaven moved to appoint
Wooten, Reed, and Associates [formerly Grace, Reed, and Kreider] as the
Authority Accountant. Mr. Young asked
if there was any opposition to the motion.
Hearing none, he delcared the vote to be unanimous.
Appointment of Authority Engineer. Mr. Wingeard moved to appoint CET Engineering Services as the Authority Engineer. Mr. Young asked if there was any opposition to the motion. Hearing none, he declared the vote to be unanimous.
Appointment
of Authority Solicitor. Mr.
Young moved to appoint Robert Long as the Authority Solicitor.
Mr. Millard
asked if any other proposals were solicited.
Mr. Young responded in the negative.
Mr. Young asked if there was opposition to the motion. Mr. Millard said he would vote nay. Mr. Young called for a roll call vote. Mr. Young voted aye; Mr. Wingeard voted aye; and Mr. Deaven voted aye.
Appointment
of Depository. Mr. Deaven moved to appoint
Fulton Bank as the depository. Mr.
Young asked if there was any opposition to the motion. Hearing none, he declared the vote to be
unanimous.
Set
Meeting Schedule. Mr. Millard
pointed out that the Board of Supervisors had already set the meeting schedule
for the Authority and asked whether the Authority would take precedence over
the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Young
said that the Authority could set its own schedule. He said that for the past several years, the meetings had been
held the third Tuesday of each month.
Mr. Young asked if there was any opposition to setting the meeting date as the third Tuesday of each month. Hearing none, he declared the vote to be unanimous.
Donald
Steinmeier, 11 North Fairville Avenue.
Mr. Steinmeier asked why the December meeting had been held the same
evening as the Board of Supervisors’ meeting.
Mr. Young said the date of the meeting was moved for several reasons,
one of them being the fact that Mrs. Zimmerman had advised him that she
probably would not be able to attend the regularly-scheduled meeting in
December. Mr. Young said the agenda was
light and that by having the meeting early in the month, residents and
Authority members would be able to go about their holiday plans without having
to worry about a meeting just before Christmas.
Mr.
Steinmeier asked how often the Authority notified residents that they were in
arrears on their sewer bills. Mr. Young
said that the arrears amount appeared on the bill mailed out each month.
Mr.
Steinmeier asked whether or not anyone had been taken before the District
Justice recently. Mr. Young said that
complaints were filed against two people and that one person paid the arrears
immediately upon receipt of the complaint, and he asked Mrs. Martin to update
Mr. Steinmeier on the other. Mrs.
Martin said that the other person had not paid and that the solicitor would be
filing a judgment, as well as a lien, against the property owner in the near
future.
Mr. Wingeard
said that at the last meeting the solicitor had been asked to give an opinion
on the legality of publishing the arrears list. Mr. Wingeard said he had spoken with a gentleman from another
Authority and was told that the amount of money collected as a result of its
advertisement did not offset the cost of running it. He said he would like to see the list advertised in The Paxton Herald or The Patriot one time.
Mr. Steinmeier said it was his understanding that the Township was working to develop an Intermunicipal Agreement between West Hanover and Lower Paxton in order to take sewage from one of Mr. Yingst’s developments. Mr. Steinmeier said he made a point to the Board that if and when the sewage was taken from Lower Paxton that those residents should be paying the same rate as the West Hanover Township residents. Mr. Young said a recent law would prohibit the Township from charging those residents any more than the current rate being charged. Mr. Young said there would be no way they would pay less than those residents residing in West Hanover Township. Mr. Wingeard said he would not vote for an arrangement like that.
Mr.
Steinmeier said he had several questions on the Authority’s 2001 budget. One of those questions pertained to the cost
of the phone service. Mr. Salisbury
explained that currently the Authority Office had three phone lines, including
a fax number, as well as three cell phones.
Additionally, he said there were nine other phone lines, one for each of
the pump stations. He pointed out that
if there were a problem at the pump stations, the cell phones were notified of
the problem.
Mr.
Steinmeier also asked about the $15,000 retainer for the solicitor and whether
or not there would be additional bills from 2000 that would be paid in
2001. Mr. Young said there would be no
additional bills. He said the $15,000
had not been exceeded in the past two years and he saw no reason why that would
change in 2001. Mr. Young went on to
say that prior to Mr. Long serving as solicitor, the legal fees averaged
between $35,000 and $55,000 annually.
Mr. Millard said that during the past two years there had not been any
eminent domain cases, which drove up the legal costs in earlier years. Mr. Young said that when he came to the
Authority there were still pending eminent domain cases, and he was able to
resolve them.
Mr. Young
said that the Authority finished the year with a profit of approximately $411,000. He pointed out that the income in December
2000 was approximately $195,000, with expenditures totaling $77,000, for a net
profit of $118,000. He said the
Authority came a long way in maximizing profits and reducing expenses.
Mr.
Steinmeier encouraged the members of the Authority to set up a Capital
Reserve Fund that could be used in the future to offset the cost of expanding
the facility.
Mr. Young
said that in December 2000, a Certificate of Deposit was purchased in the
amount of $1.4 million at 6.4 percent interest, which would earn slightly less
than $90,000 annually in interest. He
said the interest would be paid monthly, which would allow for a cushion if it
were needed to offset operational costs.
Mr. Young
said the 25 percent decrease in sewer rates effective January 1, 2001 was
unique considering that UGI raised its rates 28 percent and PP&L rates also
went up. Mr. Young said he
believed that the actions taken to increase revenue, such as raising the
tapping fees, which the Authority is permitted to do each year, have paid
off. He said if tapping fees had been
raised annually from year one, the surplus would have amounted to more than is
currently available. Mr. Young said the
West Hanover sewer rates are no longer the highest in the area. Mr. Steinmeier said that ten years ago it
was predicted that no one would want to move into West Hanover Township because
of the exorbitant sewer rates, but he said he believed the Township would
explode within the next five years.
Mr. Millard
said he would like to comment on the reserve funds. He said that in addition to looking toward increasing capacity at
the plant, expansion into current neighborhoods such as Terrann Drive, Sandy
Hollow Road, etc., should be considered.
Mr. Wingeard said that the Authority would augment developers that came
into West Hanover Township. Mr.
Wingeard said that if a developer wanted to develop close to Terrann Drive, the
Authority would piggyback with them and increase the sewer service area. Mr. Wingeard said those people affected by
the increased sewer service area would be required to “buy in” at today’s
cost. Mr. Stieinmeier gave an example
of some of the residents on Pheasant Road who said ten years ago that they wanted
nothing to do with the sewer now want to know when it’s coming their way.
Mr. Young
said that if the Authority were to sewer Terrann Drive and some of the other
areas, the $1.4 million would be wiped out.
He said he didn’t believe that would be prudent management. He pointed out that the project on Sandy
Hollow Road would have $552,000 worth of work done by the developers and the
current residents would only pay a $1,900 tapping fee as well as a negotiated
price per lateral. Mr. Millard asked
who was proposing to go down Terrann Drive.
Mr. Young said that currently there was no developer for that area. Mr. Millard said that the west end of Sandy
Hollow Road would not be sewered as part of the project Mr. Young alluded to. Mr. Young said that the west end of Sandy
Hollow Road hopefully would be sewered when the Velter property was
developed. Mr. Young went on to
say that if the Central Dauphin High School was built on the Watson property,
that could take care of Terrann Drive.
Mr. Millard said he believed the $1.4 million should be spent to expand
the sewer service areas to those in need.
Mr. Young said he did not see it that way. He said he did not believe that was prudent management and would
only cause the rates to have to be raised again.
Mr.
Steinmeier asked if some of the developers with whom the agreements were being
struck would seek reimbursement at some point.
Mr. Young said that Act 203 provided possible reimbursement under
certain circumstances.
Mr. Young
said that when the S&A project was originally proposed 1-1/2 years ago,
everybody went crazy when he stopped it.
He said that now everybody is happy.
Mr. Young said S&A would make its money and maybe a little bit more
because of the arrangement that the Authority put together. He said it made sense not to add three pumping
stations into the system. Mr. Young
said it was estimated that Mr. Russell’s tract would have 143 homes,
Mr. Yingst’s would have 70 homes, and S&A’s would have 60-70 homes. Mr. Young said he showed the three
developers where it would be economical to get together and do the project and
that was where they would get the surplus to do the $550,000 worth of
work. Mr. Young asked if there was
anything wrong with that. Mr. Steinmeier
responded in the negative.
Mr. Young said the engineer was finalizing the augmentation to the
537 Plan, which then had to come back to the Board of Supervisors, and would
then be forwarded to DEP.
Mr. Young
said he was hoping that he could negotiate with the school district, if and
when it decided to build the high school in West Hanover Township, to run the
line down the middle of the plot over Hollow Drive, make a right turn down
Terrann Drive to the cul-de-sac where there’s a current utility right-of-way,
which he believed could be used, to take the sewer line down to Piketown Road
and up to the pumping station.
Regular
Meeting, December 4, 2000. Mr.
Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to approve the Minutes of the December
4, 2000 regular meeting. The motion was
approved 3-0, with Mr. Millard abstaining as he was not present at the meeting.
Operating
Expenses. Mr. Young said there were
three invoice lists for consideration, one for $12,419.88 dated December 22,
one for $6,649.46 dated December 29, and one for $58,539.79 for January 16, for
a total of $77,609.13. Mr. Millard
asked if the expenses dated January 16 covered the period from December 29,
2000 through January 16, 2001. Mrs.
Martin said that was the case.
Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Millard, to approve the operating expenses. The motion was unanimously approved.
Account
Balances. Mr. Young said that the
Authority finished 2000 with a balance in the operating account of
$210,280.66. He said that a Certificate
of Deposit was purchased from Commerce Bank in the amount of $1.4 million at
6.4 percent interest. He said the
interest would be paid on a monthly basis and would be used to offset operating
expenses, if needed. He said that
otherwise the interest would remain in an interest bearing checking account.
Mr. Millard
asked if there was a penalty for early withdrawal of any of the funds. Mr. Young said there might be a minimal
cost but said that he did not foresee the need for withdrawing any of the funds
before the CD matured in December 2001.
Mr. Millard
asked about the number of tapping fees expected for 2001. Mr. Young said that in 2000, the Authority
had over 100 tapping fees. Mr. Young
went on to say that he thought the Authority would see 30-35 tapping fees from
Brynfield and perhaps 15 from Sagewicke.
Mr. Young said that Mr. Salisbury and Mrs. Martin had recently
reviewed the number of tapping fees paid by commercial properties versus
current water usage and found that some of them had to be billed for additional
tapping fees because of an increase in water usage over the past year or
so. He said it was expected that the
Authority would collect approximately $60,000 through that process.
Mr. Millard
asked if the Certificate of Deposit was through Fulton Bank. Mr. Young responded that the CD was
purchased at Commerce Bank because that was where the best rate of interest was
found. Mr. Young said the best Fulton
offered to do was 6.2 percent.
Fox Mill
Road. Mr. Wingeard asked if anyone
had received copies of the actual package of information submitted to DEP for
Fox Mill Road. Mr. Wingeard said he had
given some comments but had not received anything in response to those
comments. The other members said they
had not received anything. Mr. Wingeard
said that he would contact Mr. Rimer at the Township Office.
Millstone. Mr. Millard asked if any correspondence had
been received relative to the Millstone project. Mrs. Tupper said that the Task Activity Report had been completed
but that there had been no correspondence from DEP.
December
4, 2000 Meeting. Mr. Millard said
he had several questions relative to the December meeting. He said he noted in the Minutes that there
was some discourse between Mr. Young and Axel Walsen regarding public
comment. Mr. Millard said he believed
that what Mr. Young did at the December meeting was a flagrant violation of the
Sunshine Law. Mr. Millard pointed
out that at the meeting on March 15, 1999, there was some discourse with Mr.
Walsen and that, at that time, Mr. Long stated that public comment could be
held at any point in the meeting but that it had to take place before the Board
voted on important business. Mr.
Millard said that Mr. Long had stated that the Sunshine Law had to be followed. Mr. Millard said it was his understanding
that the action to lower the sewer rates and some other business took place
prior to public comment. Mr. Wingeard
said that he took from the comments made by Mr. Walsen that he believed that
public comment was going to be eliminated and that was why Mr. Walsen “went
off.”
Mr. Millard
said he also noted in the Minutes that apparently no deliberation was held
regarding the business items and that it appeared that someone made a motion
and it was approved. Mr. Young said
that was nothing new and that there were times when everyone agreed.
Mr. Millard
asked Mr. Young if he drafted the motion for the meeting. Mr. Young stated that legal counsel makes up
legal motions and pointed out that it was similar to the Board of Supervisors
being handed a motion at the beginning of the meeting to approve plans,
etc. Mr. Millard asked Mr. Long if
he drafted the motion. Mr. Long said
that in his opinion the motion was legal and that the Authority agreed to
ratify all actions that Mr. Young made concerning legal issues. Mr. Young said such a motion was not
indigenous to the West Hanover Sewer Authority and that it happened many
places. Mr. Millard asked if a motion
could be made to ratify all actions.
Mr. Long said he supposed it could be but said he didn’t want to discuss
hypothetical questions.
Mr. Millard
said it was his opinion that Mr. Young was trying to abdicate the rest of the
Board and giving all the power to the Chairman. Mr. Long said the Authority members voted on it. Mr. Millard said he was not present at the
meeting. Mr. Long said that it didn’t
make any difference whether Mr. Millard was present or not because there was a
quorum present and they voted on the motion.
Mr. Millard asked Mr. Long if he thought that a quorum could make any
kind of a motion like that and abdicate powers from everyone. Mr. Long said the motion was made and that
it had very specific terms. He said it
had nothing to do with abdication.
Mr. Millard asked Mr. Long what he thought such an action was. Mr. Long said that Mr. Millard was free to
draw his own conclusions, but that the Authority sets policy. Mr. Young said the majority controls the
actions of whatever unit was. Mr.
Millard said he did not agree.
Mr. Young said it was no different that what occurred at the federal
government level, when the majority of the House or the Senate decided votes.
Mr. Wingeard
told Mr. Millard that the action was taken because of the legal action
Mr. Millard had pending against the Chairman. Mr. Wingeard went on to say that the suit was amended to include
the whole Authority and that the action was taken in order to obtain legal
counsel. Mr. Young told Mr. Millard
that he was now suing himself; Mr. Millard said he preferred it that way.
Mr. Young
explained that the law precluded one member of the Authority from taking action
against another member because one member could not control the Board.
Act 537
Augmentation. Mr. Millard asked
about the status of the Act 537 Augmentation.
Mr. Young said CET was still working on it. Mr. Millard asked who was actually doing the augmentation—the
Board of Supervisors or the Sewer Authority.
Mr. Young
said the Board of Supervisors hired CET to be its operational agent to do the
augmentation. Mr. Young said the Board
also had to take the action in order to recover 50 percent of the
engineering costs from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Millard
said that if the Township hired HRG to do some engineering, the Board specified
the scope and what HRG was to do. He
asked who was making those determinations in this instance. Mrs. Tupper said that the Task Activity
Report was the scope of the augmentation module and that it was presented to
DEP.
Mr. Millard
asked who made up the map to show where the service area was going to be. Mrs. Tupper said that CET prepared the
map. Mr. Millard asked where she
obtained her information. Mrs. Tupper
said it represented the drainage basin to the new pumping station.
Mr. Millard
asked the reason why Bolton Drive, Slate Ridge Road, and Wells Drive were not
included. Mrs. Tupper responded saying
that those areas were already in the delineated service area and that the
augmentation module was to extend the service area. Mr. Millard said he did not agree with her comment that Bolton,
Slate Ridge, and Wells were in the service area already. Mrs. Tupper suggested that Mr. Millard study
the mapping done for the original 537 Plan and that it would show those areas
in the delineated service area.
Mr. Wingeard
said that the 20-year service area ends at Manor Drive—everything to the west
of Manor Drive was not in the 537 Plan.
He explained that the augmentation module would the area to the west of
Manor Drive in the service area. Mr.
Millard still contended that the areas he mentioned earlier were not in the service
area. Mr. Wingeard said that all areas
east of Manor Drive were in the original Act 537 Plan, and that Mr. Millard’s
area in question was covered by the ultimate plan. He went on to say that augmentation of the 537 Plan was to
include people outside the ultimate plan.
NEW
BUSINESS
Resolution
2001-A-1. Mr. Young said Resolution
2001-A-1 authorized Authority staff to pay utility bills and any other bills
with specific due dates between meetings in order to avoid penalties and/or
interest.
Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to approve Resolution 2001-A-1. The motion was unanimously approved.
Resolution
2001-A-2. Mr. Young said Resolution
2001-A-2 set the holiday scheduled for Authority employees.
Mr. Deaven moved, seconded by Mr. Wingeard, to approve Resolution 2001-A-2.
Mr. Millard
said that the Board of Supervisors, at its meeting on January 15, approved the
addition of Martin Luther King’s Birthday to the Township’s list of holidays.
Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to approve Resolution 2001-A-2 as amended to add Martin Luther King’s Birthday to the holiday list. The motion was unanimously approved.
Administrative
Services Agreement (ASA). Mr. Young
said that the ASA provided for the termination of the Management Agreement and
set in place an agreement whereby benefits, such as medical insurance and
pension, would be provided to the Authority employees through the
Township. Mr. Young said the Board of
Supervisors already approved the ASA.
Mr. Millard
asked Mr. Young if the Authority had taken action previously regarding the
Management Agreement. Mr. Young said
that the ASA provided for the dissolution of the Management Agreement on the
signature page, paragraph 7.
Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Millard, to adopt the Administrative Services Agreement. The motion was unanimously approved.
Mark
Salisbury, Wastewater Treatment Superintendent. Mr. Salisbury submitted a written report (a copy of which is
attached to the Minutes).
Mr. Young
pointed out that Mr. Salisbury’s report showed a total of 1,414 EDUs at
the end of 2000. There were no major
mechanical problems with the pumping stations during 2000.
Mr. Millard
asked where Morrison’s Crest was located.
Mr. Salisbury said that a dog grooming business was located on the
property that would become Morrison’s Crest off Hershey Road. Mr. Young said that the Authority is taking
a look to determine if negotiations with the developer could result in hooking
up properties in the area where the development would be located.
Mr. Millard
asked about the sewer route for Chestnut Ridge. Mrs. Tupper said the plans currently did not show a destination
for the sewage. Mr. Young said that Mr.
Russell still needed to obtain a right-of-way from Jay Watson. Mr. Young said that everything seems to be
held in abeyance until Central Dauphin makes a decision whether or not its
going to purchase the Watson property.
If that happens, then there would be whole different agreement than if
the land stayed vacant. Mr. Young said
it was his understanding that the school district had an option on the property
and that the option had not yet run out.
He went on to say that perhaps Mr. Watson had a secondary purchaser in
mind if the option for the school district ran out.
Mr. Millard
asked if it would be possible to run the line down Manor to Wells Drive. Mr. Salisbury said that would require a
deep cut.
Karen
Tupper, Authority Engineer. Mrs.
Tupper submitted a written report (a copy of which is attached to the Minutes).
Robert
Long, Authority Solicitor.
Discussion took place regarding advertisement of the sewer arrears and
the parameters that should be set. Mr.
Young pointed out that the arrears total over $41,000, which could make or
break a year relative to meeting expenses.
Mr. Wingeard
moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to give the Authority staff authorization to
advertise the names of those delinquent ratepayers of $500 or more up to and
including January 2001 in a local newspaper.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Mr. Young
said the Authority has offered in many instances to work with those people in
arrears to allow them to pay what they could in order to bring their sewer
bills current. He said that if the
matter was turned over to the District Justice, it cost money to do that. Then, if the Authority wins at the DJ level
and the resident still does not pay, the matter then has to be turned over to
the solicitor to file liens, judgment, etc., which again costs money.
Mr. Millard
said it was his understanding that Mr. Wingeard went into the Township Office
and had copies made. Mr. Millard asked
Mr. Wingeard if he had to pay for those copies. Mr. Wingeard said he didn’t know if he was charged or not as
his daughter picked up the copies. Mr.
Millard said he did not believe there was any charge, and he went on to say
that the Township did not charge members of Township boards and committees for
copies. He said he thought the 18 cents
charged by the Authority was “tacky.”
Mr. Wingeard reiterated that he told Mr. Rimer that he would pay the
costs for copying.
Mr. Millard moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m.
Gail A.
Martin,
Recording
Secretary