SC Minutes
Burrillville Sewer Commission
Regular Meeting of July 11, 2023
Board Room of the BWWTF
Members Present: William Andrews – Chairman
Richard Nolan – Vice Chairman
Gary Rouleau – Commission Member
Daniel Joubert – Commission Member
Also Present: Nichole Carroll Barnes – Attorney with Kane Law Offices
James Dyment – Consulting Engineer
Dennis Anderson – Town Council Liaison
Michael Emond – Superintendent
Jacqueline Batalon – Financial Aide
Agenda Item – The question of accepting the Minutes of the Public Hearing of June 13, 2023 and the Regular Meeting of June 13, 2023, and the question of dispensing with the reading of said Minutes.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to accept the Minutes of the Public Hearing of June 13, 2023 and the Regular Meeting of June 13, 2023 and to dispense with the reading of said Minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr. Joubert. All in favor, so voted.
Public Comment – None
Correspondence: 24-01-01 – Letter from Mike Hodge, Synagro, regarding Notice of Breakdown of Equipment at the Woonsocket Incineration/Wastewater Treatment Facility and action of government.
There was some discussion on this matter. Mr. Emond stated that it is his opinion that it would be best to wait on word from Synagro before taking action to begin any other dewatering process.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to receive and file the letter from Synagro. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rouleau. All in favor, so voted.
New Business: Discuss and take possible action regarding Mobile sludge dewatering pricing from Rain for Rent.
Mr. Emond stated that Mr. Dyment contacted Denali regarding Mobile sludge dewatering pricing and their price is $40k to $50k per month, as opposed to approximately $90k per month from Rain for Rent. The representative from Denali stated that the dewatering equipment could be set up within a day and a half. There was some discussion on this matter.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to give the Chairman, Mr. Andrews, the authority to work with the Superintendent, Mr. Emond, to procure the equipment necessary in the case of an emergency, in the event that Synagro suspends services. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rouleau. All in favor, so voted.
Old Business: (continued from the June 13, 2023 Regular Meeting)
23-11-01 – Email from Linda Bebe, 265 Sayles Ave, Unit 14, Historic Pascoag Grammar School, regarding changing the billing from the Association to the individual condominium owners.
-Email from Tim Kane – Attorney for the Commission regarding changing the sewer use billing for the condominiums.
-Email from Andrew Akers – President & Secretary, HPGSCA, regarding a resolution changing the sewer use billing.
-Resolution #106-004 Sewer Billing Responsibilities from the Historic Pascoag Grammar School Condominium Association.
Mr. Andrews asked Ms. Carroll Barnes about the legalities concerning billing the unit owners versus the condominium association. Ms. Carroll Barnes stated that she discussed this matter with Attorney Tim Kane and they agree that it is better business practice to bill the unit owners versus the condominium association, due to the fact that the only recourse the Burrillville Sewer Commission has for unpaid sewer bills is a tax sale. Mr. Akers had submitted a resolution from the condominium association stating that it was voted by the association that the unit owners will pay their own sewer use fees moving forward. There was some discussion on this matter.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to approve the request by Mr. Akers to change the sewer use billing from the condominium association to the individual unit owners. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rouleau. All in favor, so voted.
Invoices – None
Engineer’s Report: RIIB (Account CW # - BURR-CW-FY22)
RI Infrastructure Bank – Pay Request #17 in the amount of $8,105.00
Exhibit A – Project Payment Requisition Form
Exhibit F – Wage Rate Requirement Certification Form
Exhibit G – Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility Matters
Voted – Mr. Joubert made a motion to authorize the Chairman to sign and pay RI Infrastructure Bank Pay Request #17 in the amount of $8,105.00, including Exhibits A, F and G. The motion was seconded by Mr. Nolan. All in favor, so voted.
Contract 20 Recommendation to Award Bid
Mr. Dyment stated that Hart Engineering submitted the low base bid of $3.3 million. Walsh Construction was second with a bid of $4.3 million. There were also three Add/Alternates. Add/Alt 1, an electric hoist, was included in case Add/Alt 2 was too high. Add/Alt 2 is a vertical conveyor and discharge platform, which Mr. Dyment highly recommends. Add/Alt 3 is a pump room piping replacement in the dry well. The existing piping is corroding and Mr. Dyment also recommends proceeding with the purchase. The total, including Add/Alts 2 and 3 is $3,916,000.00.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to award the bid to Hart Engineering in the amount of $3,300,000.00. The motion was seconded by Mr. Joubert. All in favor, so voted.
Voted – Mr. Joubert made a motion to award the A-2 Add/Alternate bid of $208,000.00 for the vertical conveyor and discharge platform and the A-3 Add/Alternate bid of $408,000.00 for pump room piping replacement to Hart Engineering. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rouleau. All in favor, so voted.
Discuss and take possible action on request to Increase Engineering Rates from Beta Engineering
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to adjust Beta’s rates to the proposed rate schedule for future contracts. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rouleau. All in favor, so voted.
Contract 20 Construction Services Task Order
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to approve Task Order No. 18 for Construction Services, not to exceed $487,890.00. The motion was seconded by Mr. Joubert. All in favor, so voted.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to accept the Engineer’s Report. The motion was seconded by Mr. Joubert. All in favor, so voted.
Attorney’s Report:
Ms. Carroll Barnes stated that there is no Attorney’s Report this month.
Superintendent’s Report:
Report for the month of June, 2023
1. WWTF OPERATIONS
Influent to Treatment Facility – MGD
Average Daily Flow = 0.6511
Maximum Daily Flow = 0.7350 on 19-June
Minimum Daily Flow = 0.5810 on 24-June
Percent Average
Removal Concentration
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
EPA / DEM Permit Requirement = 85.0% min 10.0 mg/L
June achieved = 99.3% 1.8 mg/L
Total Suspended Solids
EPA / DEM Permit Requirement = 85.0% 15.0 mg/L
June achieved = 98.5% 5.3 mg/L
Total Phosphorus
EPA / DEM Permit Requirement = N/A 0.1 mg/L
June achieved = 98.7% 0.07 mg/L
Total Ammonia
EPA / DEM Permit Requirement = N/A 5.1 mg/L
June achieved = 99.6% 0.1 mg/L
Total Copper
EPA / DEM Permit Requirement = N/A 8.0 ug/L
June achieved = 98.7% *4.4 ug/L
Disposed Sludge
Dry Tons Disposed of = 24.825
Number of Loads Removed = 26
Average Dry Tons / Load = 0.95
*The copper results for the third and fourth week of June have not been reported by the contract lab at the time this report was submitted.
Permit Excursions
There were no permit excursions to report for June 2022.
The most recent permit excursions were two permit excursions reported in the month of October 2022, both for daily maximum Copper. The first excursion was on October 6th and the second on October 13th with the results reported as 16.1 ug/L and 11.4 ug/L respectively. The daily maximum Copper limit is 10.6 ug/L.
Callout Alarms
There were three (3) callout alarms at the wastewater treatment facility for June 2023.
6/14/23 – Transfer Switch – power glitch in area caused equipment at plant to trip off. Crew reset equipment and cleared alarms.
6/23/23 – Low Chlorine Residual – Hypochlorite pump ball check had debris causing ball not to lift and allow flow. Back flushed pumps.
6/27/23 – Phos Alarms – Power outage caused by thunderstorms in the area. Headloss alarms at filters. Power restored before crew arrived. Reset alarms and cleared faults. Checked the rest of facility. All normal.
2. COLLECTION SYSTEM OPERATIONS
There were three (3) after hour collection systems call-in responses for the month of June 2023. Find the call-in table below:
Date
Location
Nature of Call / Alarm Condition
Issue Found
6/8/23
Beach Road ES
High Wet Well
Rags in clapper. Back-flushed and pumped down wet well.
6/9/23
Maplehill Mobile Home Park PS
Generator Running
Normal when crew arrived. Checked generator, pumps and transfer switch. Back to normal.
6/26/23
Beach Road ES
High Wet Well
Rags in clapper. Cleared rags, back-flushed and pumped down wet well.
3. OTHER ACTIVITIES & CURRENT ISSUES
6/1/23 – Opened and read the Process Chemical bids at 10 AM.
6/14/23 – Ordered the new RAS pumps from Hayes Pump. Thirty-two to thirty-five weeks out.
6/21/23 – Received call from Pat Rimkoski notifying that a letter of force majeure from Synagro is forthcoming either this evening or tomorrow morning.
6/22/23 – Received call from Jack Segal of RIDEM regarding plant condition and letter of force majeure from Synagro coming our way.
6/27/23 – Emailed Pat Rimkoski of Synagro asking about the force majeure letter I was supposed to receive last Thursday. Received email reply from Pat Rimkoski of Synagro with letter after business hours.
6/28/23 – Sent Synagro letter to Tim Kane, Bill Andrews and James Dyment. James Dyment suggested I send letter to RIDEM. Sent the letter to Alex Pinto, Matt Puglia and Jack Segal. Afterwards, received call from Alex Pinto and we discussed the letter. Alex brought up the O&M Manual section regarding sludge disposal which describes that under conditions of equipment failure (force majeure), the onus of sludge disposal falls on the BSC and we need to run out vacuum filters or find an alternative. Also, the BSC needs to obtain emergency permission from RIDEM to dispose of the sludge at RIRRC. I explained that those filters haven’t run in 30 years, however, I already started looking for a mobile dewatering service. Later discussed mobile dewatering with James Dyment. I was already pursuing pricing from Rain for Rent and James would be contacting a contractor used in the past by Hart Engineering.
6/28/23 – Closing septage receiving until further notice due to the sludge issue. Called each hauler to let them know that septage was closed 4PM today until further notice.
6/30/23 – Tentative pricing for mobile centrifuge for dewatering, plus containers provided by Rain for Rent - $90,000 for one month.
4. PERMIT LIMIT REPORT
Refer to the following pages imported from plant data management system.
Permit Limit Report
Burrillville WWTF
Burrillville Sewer Commission
Limit Summary: (**designates values exceeding limit)
1 value exceeding limit____________________________________________________________
Location/Parameter Units Limit Actual_
INFLUENT – INFLUENT
Flow Mgd – Flow Rate
Average MGD 1.5 0.6511
Minimum, 6/24/2023 MGD 0.5810
Maximum, 6/19/2023 MGD 0.7350
FINAL EFFLUENT – FINAL EFFLUENT COMPOSITE
Bod 5 – Bod 5 Day
Average MG/L 10 1.8
Max Weekly Avg (Wed Rule) MG/L 15 2.0
Maximum, 6/1/2023 MG/L _17 ___2.7_
EFFLUENT BOD – EFFLUENT BOD
Loadings – Loadings in Pounds
Average LB/Day 125.1 9.6
Maximum, 6/1/2023 LB/Day 212.7 ___15.1
RAW INFLUENT – RAW INFLUENT COMPOSITE
Bod 5 – Bod 5 Day
Average MG/L 271
Maximum, 6/6/2023 MG/L ___346
INFLUENT BOD – INFLUENT BOD
Loadings – Loadings in Pounds
Average LB/Day 1452.0
Maximum, 6/6/2023 LB/Day 1933.4
EFFLUENT BOD – EFFLUENT BOD
Percent Removal – Percent Removal
Average (Lower Limit) ____% _85.0 ___99.3
FINAL EFFLUENT – FINAL EFFLUENT COMPOSITE
Solids TSS – Total Suspended Solids
Average MG/L 15 5.3
Avg Weekly Avg (Wed Rule) MG/L 20 5.3
Maximum, 6/24/2023 MG/L _25 ____8.0
EFFLUENT TSS – EFFLUENT TSS
Loadings – Loadings in Pounds
Average LB/Day 187.7 29.1
Maximum, 6/24/2023 LB/Day _625.5 ___38.8
RAW INFLUENT – RAW INFLUENT COMPOSITE
Solids TSS – Total Suspended Solids
Average MG/L 439.6
Maximum, 6/27/2023 MG/L 1024.0
INFLUENT TSS – INFLUENT TSS
Loadings – Loadings in Pounds
Average LB/Day 2375.3
Maximum, 6/27/2023 LB/Day 5790.2
EFFLUENT TSS – EFFLUENT TSS
Percent Removal – Percent Removal
Average (Lower Limit) ___% __85.0 ___98.5
EFFLUENT GRAB – FINAL EFFLUENT GRAB
Solids Settlbl – Settleable Solids
Maximum, 6/1/2023 ML/L ____0.0
EFFLUENT GRAB – FINAL EFFLUENT GRAB
Enterococci – Enterococci
Average #/100 ML 54 2.8
Maximum, 6/15/2023 #/100 ML ___175 ___78.2
EFFLUENT GRAB – FINAL EFFLUENT GRAB
TRC – TRC Daily Average
Average UG/L 22 0
Maximum, 6/1/2023 UG/L ____39 _____0
Mr. Emond gave a brief summary of the Superintendent’s Report.
Voted – Mr. Nolan made a motion to accept the Superintendent’s Report. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rouleau. All in favor, so voted.
Sewer Use/Sewer Assessment Write-Offs – None
Adjournment – Mr. Nolan made a motion to adjourn the Meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Joubert. All in favor, so voted.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jacqueline Batalon
Financial Aide
I have read the Minutes of the previous pages and hereby ratify the same.
___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________
William Andrews Richard Nolan Gary Rouleau
Chairman Vice Chairman Commission Member
___________________________
Daniel Joubert
Commission Member