WEST HANOVER TOWNSHIP WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY

7901 JONESTOWN ROAD, HARRISBURG, PA  17112

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2001, 7 P.M.

REGULAR MEETING

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

        Chairman Henry Young called the regular meeting of June 19, 2001 to order at 7:01 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

ROLL CALL

 

        Henry H. Young, Chairman

        David W. Wingeard, Vice Chairman

        Kenneth W. Deaven, Secretary

        Gloria J. Zimmerman, Treasurer

        Stephen L. Millard

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

        Ruth Shields, 875 Pheasant Road.  Mrs. Shields asked for clarification regarding an issue that Mr. Jones continued to raise at the Board of Supervisors’ meetings regarding the Authority paying for a pension contribution.  Mr. Young said that the matter should not be addressed, as there were facets of the matter pending.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

 

        May 22, 2001.  Mrs. Zimmerman moved, seconded by Mr. Millard to approve the Minutes of the May 22, 2001 meeting.  The motion was approved 4-0, with Mr. Wingeard abstaining as he was not present at the meeting.

 

FINANCIAL REPORTS

 

        Operating Expenses.  Mr. Young said the operating expenses for June totaled $73,094.96.  Mr. Wingeard asked about the bills from Dauphin Electric and Kappe Associates for UV lights.  Mr. Salisbury explained that the UV lights were ordered from Dauphin Electric, but did not arrive in a timely fashion and some of the lights went out causing a violation in the coliform count for the plant.  He said he then called Kappe Associates, they had the lights in stock, and he ordered them even though the bulbs were each $9 higher than Dauphin Electric.

        Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mrs. Zimmerman, to pay the operating expenses in the amount of $73,094.96.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

        No old business was brought before the Authority.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

        Fox Mill Road.  Mr. Millard asked for a status report on the Fox Mill Road project.  Mr. Young said there was not much to report except that the Authority was working on the project to determine what was available in the most cost-effective way.  He said the Authority had investigated several avenues regarding financing, including the possibility of obtaining a grant, but that none had panned out. 

        Mr. Millard asked whether or not the engineering had begun.  Mr. Young responded saying that the engineering had not been started as the Authority had been attempting to get the financing in place.  Mrs. Zimmerman asked whether or not Mr. Young had met with the three residents; Mr. Young said that he and Mr. Salisbury had spent considerable time meeting with them.

        Mr. Young said he was waiting for a cost figure to bore under the road.  A brief discussion followed regarding excavation to cross Manada Creek.  Mr. Wingeard said that the Authority was working on obtaining figures to do a directional bore across Manada Creek rather than do open excavation. 

        Mr. Millard asked if the Authority would give the Board of Supervisors a weekly update on the project.  Mrs. Zimmerman said she believed it would only be necessary to receive reports for the Board meetings, which were the first and third Mondays of each month.

        Mr. Young reiterated that the Authority was very cost conscious about the project.  He went on to say that during conversations he and Mr. Salisbury had with the residents on Fox Mill Road, two of them are not very happy about being forced to connect to the sewer when they have no septic problems.  He said they asked why their area had not been included in the original sewer plan.  He also said the word “sue” had been mentioned several times.

        Mr. Millard asked if the Authority would consider using one grinder pump per household as originally planned.  Mr. Young said that the Authority was hoping to receive the last set of figures during the week of June 25, which would enable them to put the equation together.  Mr. Wingeard pointed out that the Authority’s engineer thought that it would be best to use one grinder pump and have the Authority maintain it.

        Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Millard, to authorize the Authority Engineer to begin designs for the Fox Mill Road project.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

        Lime Silo.  Mr. Wingeard said he had talked with Dale Shope, the former Chairman of the Authority, recently and asked him about the prior Authority’s thoughts on construction of a lime silo.  Mr. Wingeard said Mr. Shope told him that it was the prior Authority’s vision to put a lime silo in when the sludge processing reached a certain point.  Mr. Wingeard said that he believed that point had arrived.

        Mr. Wingeard said he would like to have the Authority’s engineer look into constructing a lime silo.  Mr. Deaven asked for an approximate cost.  Mr. Wingeard said approximately $190,000.  He also said that that he wanted to be clear that the Fox Mill Road project was the top priority and that the lime silo was second priority.

        Mr. Millard asked for an explanation as to how the lime silo would work.  Mr. Salisbury explained the process to him.

        Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mrs. Zimmerman, to have the Authority Engineer prepare a cost estimate and time schedule for construction of a lime silo.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

        Screen Chamber.  Mr. Wingeard said he believed it was important to have a screening chamber retrofitted at the treatment plant.  Mr. Wingeard said he also discussed this item with Mr. Shope recently.  He said that the screening chamber had been value engineered out in 1994 due to the cost.  He said the Authority opted not to put it into the original contract.  Mr. Wingeard said that currently Mr. Salisbury had rigged up a screen just before the UV chamber to pick up any non-biodegradable items that might be found in the sewer system.  Mrs. Zimmerman asked Mr. Salisbury how good his “rigging” was.  Mr. Salisbury responded saying that recently there had been some problems with the decanters floating and that he believed that plastic was getting caught occasionally because it was not being eliminated.

        Mr. Wingeard said that DEP was constantly coming up with new biosolids requirements and that he believed it was time to start looking at retrofitting a screening chamber device to eliminate the non-biodegradable items from the sludge.  He said that the screening chamber would be third on the priority list.

        Mr. Wingeard moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to authorize the Authority Engineer to give a cost estimate for retrofitting a screening chamber to the treatment plant.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

        Generators.  Mrs. Zimmerman asked whether or not all of the pump stations had back-up generators.  Mr. Salisbury said that there were five without back-up generators.  Mr. Millard asked what happened if electricity was lost.  Mr. Salisbury said that pumps had to be taken out to the pump stations and pump manually.  Mr. Young said that the Authority was insisting that developers put back-up generators on pumping stations that they had to build for their developments.  He said that he also attempted to negotiate with developers to put generators in existing pump stations when their sewage would be increasing the flow.

        Mr. Millard asked for an explanation as to how the stations are pumped manually.  Mr. Salisbury explained the process to him.  Mr. Wingeard said that one of the benefits was that most of the pump stations that had no back-up generators serviced areas where the residents were on wells and therefore would only be able to flush one time before their water supply would stop.  Mrs. Tupper said that was one of the main reasons that back-up generators were not put in every pump station.  However, it was pointed out that as the public water service became available in more and more areas of the Township, not having back-up generators would create additional problems.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

        No further public comment was offered.

 

REPORTS

 

        Mark Salisbury, Wastewater Treatment Superintendent.  Mr. Salisbury submitted a written report (a copy is attached to the Minutes).  Mr. Wingeard asked how many EDUs were for individual hook-ups.  Mr. Salisbury estimated that approximately 900 EDUs were individual hook-ups.  Mr. Millard asked what the average flow was annually.  Mr. Salisbury said that he did not have that information available but that he would furnish it to Mr. Millard.

 

        Karen Tupper, Engineer.  Mrs. Tupper submitted a written report (a copy is attached to the Minutes).  Mr. Millard asked about the status of the Chestnut Ridge project relative to construction of the sewer lines.  Mr. Young said that he was waiting for a report from the developers regarding the legal agreement they had entered into.  He said the developers were trying to get rights-of-way.  Mrs. Zimmerman said that Mr. Yingst was having a meeting at the Township Building on June 25.  Mr. Wingeard asked how long it had been since the 537 Plan Augmentation was submitted to DEP.  Mrs. Zimmerman said it had been several months.  Mrs. Tupper said that she had been checking on it weekly and was told that it was being circulated through DEP for approval.

 

        Robert Long, Solicitor.  Mr. Long had no report.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

        Mrs. Zimmerman moved, seconded by Mr. Wingeard, to adjourn the meeting.  The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m.

 

                                                                                                Gail A. Martin,

                                                                                                Recording Secretary