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Dighton Water District 192 Williams St. No. Dighton, Ma 02764 Paul Pacheco Edward Swartz Sue Medeiros Commissioners Carol A. Stevens Treasurer/Clerk July
14, 2009 A
meeting of the Dighton Water District Commissioners was held at the District office
at 6:00 PM. Chairman of the Board, Paul Pacheco, called the meeting to order. Commissioner
Ed Swartz made a “motion to go into executive session with Attorney Gay for
possible litigation issues”.
Commissioner Sue Medeiros second.
Paul Pacheco called for a roll call vote, all three commissioners said
yes. At
6:45 PM Ed Swartz made a motion to rejoin, Paul Pacheco seconded the motion,
Ed Swartz all in favor, ayes have it.
Ed Swartz “in regards to the Water District boundaries I would ask and
make a motion that the Board of Commissioners continue forward in accordance
with the vote of November 13, 2007 and
instruct Attorney Gay to continue with the process voted on in November of
2007”. Sue Medeiros seconded, Paul
Pacheco stepped down to second also.
All in favor, ayes have it. Ed
Swartz stated that copies of the minutes are available and explained that “we
were just continuing with the process of the District boundaries that we had
started a year and half ago that needs some home rule petition”. Ed Swartz continued “Attorney Gay will be
responding to the letter that was submitted by the attorney in reference to
the questions that were asked regarding the boundaries”. Attorney
Gay explained “in 2007 the Water District voted to expand the boundaries and
to seek the special act of the legislature to confirm their vote which for
some reason was never done, so we are going to pursue that and I will explain
that in the letter I am sending out to Attorney Cramer and anyone else who
wants one. Ed Swartz explained we are
going to clean up the boundaries that have been done over the years because
if you read the original district there are a lot of people outside the
district that actual have water running by their house that are not in the
District. Attorney Gay explained that
the district presently has customers that receive water outside the District
boundaries which they should have gotten a special act of the legislature to
approve. They have the votes on record
and they have the authority to obtain water outside the boundaries but they
don’t have authority to distribute water outside the boundaries. So they need to do that and then that’s
going to expand the boundaries if the legislature is approved to include
everything except the North Dighton Fire District which is a separate
entity. As far as paying a tax while
you’re not getting the water, that’s a different issue. They voted that anyone within 2000 feet of
a hydrant gets a benefit and therefore should be paying the tax. That applies both inside the District and
outside the District. David refers to
the District map hanging on the wall and points out were the original
District boundaries were in 1950. In
that particular District you might not have water in front of your house but
if you’re within 2000 feet it’s my opinion that the boards decision is valid
in that they don’t need to get special act of the legislature for that. David Gay continued the board in 2007 made
the correct motions to expand the Water District,
they didn’t however follow through on them.
They delineated the boundaries and John Delano prepared that plan
which is very accurate. And then a
year later they published in the newspaper a legal description of the
proposed District area. It should have
covered the whole thing. They have a
problem because the legislature needs to approve what they have done. Attorney Gay explained even though they
expand to that whole area doesn’t mean they have to distribute water to that
whole area. People up on Maple Swamp
Road who have petitioned to make sure they don’t get taxed because they don’t
have water have a different issue that I will address in my letter to their
Attorney. This issue that we discussed this evening was simply what do we do to correct what’s been done for a number of years
without proper authority. Attorney Gay
stated the Water District can get water anywhere in the District. They have every right to get water from
where they get it now which is outside the District. They can lay pipes and everything by eminent
domain. But distributing the water
there is only two ways they can do that and that is by petition of the people
that want to join. The only other way
they can actually expand the boundary to distribute is by special act of
legislature. They have the votes on
record to do that they just didn’t follow through. They were suppose
to contact Pat Haddad and for some reason that just didn’t happen. Ed Swartz added “and that goes back to when
a lot of developments started back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s”. Ed Swartz explained the District needs to
file with legislature. Bob Adams
wanted to know if the letter to Attorney Cramer will be part of public
record. David Gay replied “once I
send it, it will, so if you want one let me know and I will send you a
copy”. Ed Swartz and Paul Pacheco
called a two minute recess. At
6:57 meeting resumed. Paul Pacheco
“next order of business is paying the Amstar invoice for the tanks and the
divers reports, seem to be okay.”
Chuck recommends that we hold back a retainage of $30,000.00 because
of some bolts that we need to get them back on”. Ed Swartz moved to authorize a payment of
$309,082.00. Paul Pacheco stepped down
to second. All three commissioners
signed. Next
order of business was the lagoons.
Paul Pacheco explained that Steve DeFrancesco, the Districts
engineer, recommends for the chemicals to breakdown they need to be
frozen. So his recommendation to us is
to let the pond freeze for winter, in the spring time then scoop it out. And between now and then we can make a
decision of whether we are going to make a facility here to stock pile it to
let it dry out further or truck it away.
Right now if we truck it away we are paying mostly for water. Some of the things that are in there that
might be high like the aluminum, once that breaks down and it drains, that
will go out with the water. Ed Swartz
asked “what is the process we have to go through to get approval to stock
pile it here and let it dry out”?
Charles Cestodio answered “you can’t, you can’t put it on the premises
to dry it. The only way you can is you
actually have to set up a containing area and anything that drained off it
would have to leach back into the lagoon bed. This is the way DEP told me it
could be done.” Ed Swartz asked
“do we have room by the lagoons that we can do that”? Donnie Jefferson said “we have plenty of room, you would have to make a channel or a pipe to
channel it back to the lagoon”. Ed
Swartz said “Since we’re going to wait for it to freeze what I think we
should do is look at both options, which is going to be more cost beneficial
to us”. Paul
Pacheco went on to old business which was a sign at the street. “We want to get prices on having stone
columns built to hold it.” Paul Pacheco continued “last meeting Ed suggested
that we fill cement columns and have a sign put so we can have replaceable
letters on one section and a regular sign on top so meeting and information
can be posted”. Ed Swartz said “We
need to get quotes. I don’t think we
have money in the budget for it so we’d have to put it on the special in
October after free cash is certified”.
Paul Pacheco suggested we ask the finance committee. Paul Pacheco questioned “We need to get
masons in do we want to wait that long to start”? Ed Swartz continued “By the time we get
quotes in and we make a decision we are in September as is. And I believe it’s probably going to have
to go on a special anyway it’s not something we’re going to be able to fund”. Sue Medeiros asked “Do we want to make a motion
to start getting quotes and then we will put it on the special meeting in
October, November”. Paul Pacheco “All
in favor”? Ayes have it. Paul
Pacheco “Next on agenda, payroll service”.
Ed Swartz asked if there were any updates. Tina Bragga replied that Carol hadn’t
heard back from ADP. Ed Swartz said “Make a motion that we put this on next
month’s meeting and that Carol invite a representative of ADP to make a
presentation of payroll services to the Board of Commissioners, so we can
make a decision”. Sue Medeiros
seconds. Paul Pacheco “All in
favor”. Ayes have it. Paul
Pacheco stepped down “I’d like to make a motion that we have Chuck hand out
to all employees request to come up with a to do
list of anything they can possible think of this department needs, this
District. Things that need to be done,
give them a month to write it down so we can review things that they think
need to be done. We’ll decide if they
need to be done or not”. Sue Medeiros
second the motion. Paul Pacheco “All in
favor”. Ayes have it. Paul
Pacheco “Next is Jason Jefferson to update District website”. Ed Swartz explained that the District
would like to post the minutes of the meetings, post the agenda for the
upcoming meeting, meeting dates and times, annual and special meetings. Ed Swartz asked can someone here post and
cancel meetings on the website? Jason Jefferson said
he would work with Carol and Tina so they can cancel meetings and post
agendas on the site. Jason Jefferson
requested anything we wanted put on the site to send it to him in electronic form, word document would probably be the best. He will clean it up to make it look
consistent throughout the website. Jason Jefferson said he charges $75.00 per
hour. All 3 commissioners
agreed. Paul
Pacheco continued “Next on the agenda is a question about the water meter
that is not working at the Aggie School.”
Chuck Cestodio explained that there are other issues he could not
discuss but he would send the Aggie School a letter to have the meter
fixed. Chuck Cestodio explained that
the Water District fixed residential meters but commercial meters are to be
fixed by the customer. Chuck Cestodio
further explained that the Aggie school has a compound meter. It’s a large
size and a small, the small isn’t picking up any flow and has been receiving
an estimated bill. Ed Swartz stated if
they refuse to fix the meter we can have access to go in there and repair
that meter. That’s the right of the
District. Paul
Pacheco “Next on the agenda is the accountant”. Ed Swartz had asked Carol last month to do
some research into how other water departments handle their accounting
services. It was more explain to me
how they do it so we can follow something similar. Tina explained that most Districts do the
same as we are doing. The treasurer
does in house. Ed Swartz “You don’t
necessarily have to have an accountant.
The treasurer can do some accounting functions but you have an auditor
in place. We don’t have an
auditor. If you have the treasurer doing
accounting functions then you have an auditor. If you have an accountant doing the
auditing functions and the treasurer they work separately on it. Because the accountant has to check the
work of the treasurer to make sure the free cash is correct, that’s how they
certify it.” Paul Pacheco asked “Even
though these other department don’t have their in
house accountants doesn’t mean we can’t have a part time accountant”. Sue Medeiros “Maybe we’ll have to talk to
Carol, maybe they do have an accountant on the outside.” Ed Swartz “I just wanted to see how other
Districts do it, is it similar to having someone that comes in once a month
and closes the books at the end of the month.
Or is it someone who only does something at the end of the year? More of an auditing functions.” Paul Pacheco “So we’re going to get more
information”. Ed Swartz “I think what
we need to do right now is have Carol continue with the process of using
Donellon to help to close the books this year so we can get our submissions
in. We can’t wait to do this next
month, but we can make changes as we go forward. I make a motion that we continue to use
Donellon, Orcutt, Patch to close our books so we can
have the state filings in on time in September.” Sue Medeiros “I second that”. Paul Pacheco asked “All in favor”? Sue “Aye”. Paul
Pacheco “Now the approval of the warrants”.
Ed Swartz asked “We are officially closed of last year’s bills,
everything is closed out”? Tina
answered yes. Ed Swartz “I make a
motion to accept the minutes of June the 22nd”. Paul Pacheco stepped down “Second”. Ed Swartz “All in favor”? Ayes have it. Paul
Pacheco continued “Next I’d like to take 15 minutes for public input.” Dan Carpenter stated he would like “The
chairman of the committee to be whichever commissioner is in their second
term.” Ed Swartz stated “To do that
it would actually have to be a bylaw change to make it officially that
way. It has never been a rotating position, it’s always been an elected position by the
members of the Board of Commissioners.”
Bob Adams said “You mentioned something about in the bylaw of the charter, does it in fact say that the chairman should be
the senior member”? Ed Swartz replied
“No, what it says is if the chairman is not there the senior member becomes
the acting chairman of the committee.”
Bob Adams said “It should be the commissioner with the most experience
should be the chairman.” Ed Swartz
“But in a lot of cases you run into people who don’t want to be the chairman
of the board they’re on.” Tony
Roderick asked next “The beginning of the meeting I missed and I noticed you
had an Attorney here. Why did he
refrain from answering the question about taxing people by this Water
District?” Sue Medeiros answered “I
don’t think he refrained, he’s going to answer but he’s going to answer it
directly to the Attorney. Tony
Roderick asked “Is this under litigation”?
Ed Swartz answered “Yes there are a group of residents who have hired
an Attorney and sent a letter to our Attorney”. Sue Medeiros stated “Attorney Gay said that
anyone is entitled to a copy of his response letter once he has sent it to
us”. Ed Swartz “No law suit has been
filed but legal representation has been retained.” Tony Roderick asked “Is it public
record”. Ed Swartz said “Their letter
no, the response letter from David will be public record and provided.” Paul Pacheco said “He hasn’t given us the
answer yet”. Ed Swartz said to Tony “I
don’t know if you were here when we talked about it. What we talked about is, a lot of what’s
gone on the 500 feet, 1000 feet, the 2000 is technical outside the
District. And legislature over the
years needed to be filed to expand it that way from a legal stand point in
home rule petition. There are people
outside the District that have been getting water that are outside the
District.” Donnie Jefferson stated
“There are people that petitioned for water”.
Tony Roderick asked “So what is he
petitioning legislature for”? Sue
Medeiros “To accept the rest”. Ed
Swartz continued “Which should have been done over the years”. Tony Roderick asked “Is he trying to
incorporate the entire town”? Ed
Swartz answered “Yes he is trying to clean up the boundaries”. Tony “The boundaries are going to be the
way you people wanted it”? Ed Swartz
“That’s what the proposal is, if it’s passed by the legislation the proposal
will be that the District will be what you see highlighted in yellow and
green on the map.” Tony Roderick asked
“What about past performance”? Tony
Roderick added “I don’t agree with the Attorney not answering the
question. He should have answered the
question while the public was here.”
Ed Swartz said “He will address it.”
It was questioned “If we were never part of the Water District how
does this affect all the votes that went on over the years”? Bob Adams states “These guys are going to
correct that”. Paul Pacheco “We’re
going to try and correct some of this”.
Bob Adams suggested “Maybe research how they did it in the
beginning”. Ed Swartz explained “It
was a home rule petition filed by the Water District to create the Water
District in 1950”. Bob Adams said “I’m
sure there were people in that District that didn’t want the water, they had
their own wells”. Ed Swartz stated
“The acts of 1950 established the Dighton Water District and by establishing
the Dighton Water District now the board of commissioners has the right to
establish and propose home rule petition.
Under the original one the Dighton Water District has the right to go
out anywhere in town and get water and bring it back to this plant. But under the original 1950 they don’t have
the right to distribute it outside the District. But over the years it has grown and grown
and grown so it is definitely outside the District.” Paul
Pacheco “I make a motion to go into executive session”. At
8:23 the meeting continued. Sue
Medeiros made the following motion “I Move to authorize David Gay to petition
that the position of Superintendent be removed from the union contract”. Ed Swartz “Second”. Paul Pacheco “Second”, all in favor, ayes
have it.” Ed
Swartz asked “Chuck do you want to go through your report?” Chuck Cestodio answered “I’ll need to get
prices but I’d like to get the garage doors done.” Chuck also mentioned he is having a problem
with someone trespassing behind the lagoons.
The commissioners discussed how to stop this. Chuck asked if he could have Arnold
Construction block the entrance with some boulders. The commissioners okayed this. Ed Swartz told Chuck to put a list together
of what needs to be done and to have it done.
Utilize Gary, Bob and even Donnie to go work with Barry and knock
something off the list Ed
Swartz asked “For the next meeting can you get us an update on Kevin’s
condition”. Chuck
Cestodio gave each of the commissioners a copy of a proposal for antennas at
the tank to review for the next meeting. The
commissioners discussed dates and times for the next meeting. Scheduled meetings are as follows: August 25th at 6:00 PM, September 14th and October
13th . Ed
Swartz questioned “The altitude valve”?
Paul Pacheco asked “Is that really necessary”? Chuck explained that you would gain 50,000
gallons of storage. Donnie Jefferson
said it would increase the pressure in town.
Paul Pacheco asked if the valve could be fixed for $500.00? Donnie Jefferson’s concern was how bad
the valve was on the inside. Ed Swartz
“For $600.00 I’m going to make a motion that we attempt to fix it with the
spare parts that you need to purchase to do it. So I make a motion that we authorize Chuck
just go ahead and do that.” Paul
Pacheco “I second that, all in favor”?
Ayes have it. Next
on Chuck Cestodio’s report was the reconditioning of Cedar well #1. Donnie Jefferson suggested moving this
well. Chuck Cestodio explained that
you can’t move the well very far without getting new permitting. The small amount that we could move the
well without the permitting would not make much of a difference. Paul Pacheco asked “Is it consistently
dropping still”? Donnie Jefferson answered
“No right now it’s holding, I can’t go more than 107
gallons, 115 tops”. Ed Swartz asked
“What did we get out right after we redeveloped it last year”? Donnie “You might get 150”. Donnie Jefferson said it is best to
recondition while the water table is high. Ed Swartz said “I think that’s a
good idea. How quickly can this be
done, because we know how high the water table is right now?” Chuck continued “They were booked into this
month. I’d have to call them and
check.” Ed Swartz said “I’ll make a
motion that we move forward to do this one as soon as possible while the
water table is high”. Ed Swartz “So
you need a motion from us to approve to do this one as well as the add on.” Paul
Pacheco “Second, all in favor”. Ayes
have it. Paul
Pacheco continued “Somerset samples increased from $6.00 to $10.00 per test.” Paul
Pacheco asked Chuck to send the work orders for the following week to the
commissioners on the Friday before each week. Paul Pacheco also discussed that starting
Monday Barry and Gary will report to and leave from the treatment plant. Chuck
Cestodio explained that he has 5 service installations on the books. Chuck Cestodio asked the commissioners if
he is short handed if you could use Arnie’s men on the installations? Ed Swartz said to use our workers first
then if we have to use Arnie. Chuck
explained that one of the installations is next to Stonegate access
road. The contractor said that Stonegate
provided him with a water tap and sewer tap to his property. I told him the only way I would sign his
permit was he would have to install off the highway. I don’t want the line coming across private
property. I told him, he filed the
application and I approved it with the tap being out on the highway. Ed
Swartz “I make a motion that we reaffirm Chuck’s recommendation and that is
the vote of the board on the permit.”
Sue Medeiros “Second”. Paul
Pacheo “All in favor, Ayes have it”. Sue
Medeiros “I make a motion to adjourn”.
Ed Swartz “I second it”. Meeting
was adjourned at 8:52 PM. Respectfully
submitted, Tina
Bragga Those
in attendance: Paul
Pacheco Ed Swartz Sue
Medeiros Charles
Cestodio Tina
Bragga Donnie
Jefferson David
Gay Jason
Jefferson Dan
Carpenter Carolyn
Carpenter Bob
Adams Linda
Cestodio Tony
Roderick Sr Delores Nunes _____________________
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