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Dighton Water District 192 Williams St. No. Dighton, Ma 02764 Paul Pacheco Sue Medeiros Edward Swartz COMMISSIONERS Carol A. Stevens TREASURER April
13, 2010 A
meeting of the Dighton Water District Commissioners was held at the District office
at 6:00 P.M. Chairman of the Board,
Paul Pacheco called the meeting to order.
First
order of business was New Business Bid Opening; Truck Bids were first. There were three bidders. Bristol County Auto bid $378.00 for the
utility truck, Advanced Automotive bid $201.00, and Conlon bid $126.51. Commissioner, Edward Swartz said, “I make a
motion to accept the bid of Bristol County Auto for the disposal of the
utility truck.” Clerk of the Board of
Commissioners, Sue Medeiros said, “Second.”
Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have it.” The next bid opening was for the dump
truck. There were three bidders,
Bristol County Auto bid $678.00, Advanced Automotive bid $401.00, and Conlon
bid $251.51. Edward Swartz said, “I
make a motion to accept the bid of Bristol County Auto for disposal of the
dump truck.” Sue Medeiros said,
“Second.” Paul Pacheco said, “All in
favor, ayes have it.” Asphalt and
Paving bids were opened next. Edward
Swartz said, “I make a motion to refer to the Superintendent for his
recommendation at the next meeting.”
Sue Medeiros said, “Second.”
Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have it.” Equipment and labor were the next bids
open. Edward Swartz said, “I make a
motion to refer equipment and labor to the Superintendent for his
recommendation.” Sue Medeiros said, “Second.”
Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have it.” Pipe and Supplies were opened next. Edward Swartz said, “I make a motion to
refer them all to the Superintendent to make his recommendation what we will
buy and where.” Sue Medeiros said,
“Second.” Paul Pacheco said, “All in
favor, ayes have it.” Propane was
opened next. Sue Medeiros said, “I
make a motion to refer it to the Superintendent for his recommendation.” Paul Pacheco said, “I’ll step down and
second. All in favor, ayes have
it.” Chemical bids were next. Sue Medeiros said, “I make a motion any
bids opened be referred to Chuck for his recommendation.” Paul Pacheco said, “I’ll step down and
second. All in favor, ayes have it.” The
next order of business was to review a bill sent from the Town Hall. Edward Swartz said, “I make a motion to
refer to the Town Hall for Assessor, Carol Beauregard and Sue Medeiros to
figure out why the numbers on the break out for the billing of the taxes from
each District gets billed a percentage, and to get an explanation from the
Collector on the break out of this.”
Sue Medeiros said, “Second.”
Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have it.” A
letter from Jay Zola was reviewed. Next
on the agenda was Carol Harris from Woodard & Curran. Carol Harris handed out proposals for
review. Edward Swartz said, “I make a
motion to take this under advisement refer to our agenda at our next meeting
prior to that meeting any of us that have any specific questions e-mail them
to Chuck so he can provide them to Carol Harris, fresh set of eyes to look at
it. Chuck do we have funding available
or do we have to look for an alternative source to fund the $8,500, see if we
have that available in our current budget or not.” Superintendent, Charles Cestodio
said, “I’ll let you know before the end of the week.” Next
on the agenda were Stephen DeFrancesco and Andrew
Reid from Aecom.
Stephen DeFrancesco handed out a
Disinfection Byproducts Reduction Update for review. Edward Swartz said, “I make a motion we
accept the contract with Aecom for the Drawdown
Interference Evaluation and Production Well Installation at Cedar St. Well
#3.” Sue Medeiros said, “Second.” Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have
it.” Next
order of business was Tony Roderick.
Tony Roderick said, “Trying to resolve water main in the Reserve off
Elm St.” Tony Roderick reviewed a
drawing he made with everyone. Paul
Pacheco said, “A letter was sent saying they had a demand from the Fire Chief
regarding hydrant location.” Edward
Swartz said, “The Fire Chief looks at it from safety point of view actually
he has no problem with it being in either spot we look at it from a flushing
aspect.” Paul Pacheco said, “He wants
to put an additional one fine we’re not going to get in the way of safety,
not telling him he can’t put a fire hydrant there but he shouldn’t be telling
us where we’re not going to put them.”
Edward Swartz said, “Policy of the Dighton Water District as long as
subdivisions have been put in I can only speak for the three years I was
here.” Tony Roderick said, “I just
want to put one hydrant in I don’t care where I put it I’m not going to put a
hydrant where somebody is not going to sign off on the road.” Edward Swartz said, “If the Highway
Superintendent, and the Fire Chief have something different they want than
what we have been doing the two of them need to come to the Water
District.” Paul Pacheco asked, “Why
don’t we have a special meeting with the Highway Superintendent and the Fire
Chief.” Edward Swartz said, “If the
Highway Superintendent and the Fire Chief want us to start looking at the
plans differently they really need to come to the Dighton Water District and
say I want you to look at these differently it shouldn’t be you having to
come to us to pit us against the Highway Superintendent and the Fire
Chief. The Town wants something
differently they need to come to the Water District and say we want this
differently because our policy and regulations aren’t governed by what the
Town does they have to come and request it if they’re going to change
things. The Water District is
responsible for the waterlines, fire hydrants, and anything in regards to
water, if they want it handled differently they need to come and ask the Water
District. We will after this meeting
tonight request within the next seven days to have a meeting with the Highway
Superintendent, Fire Chief and Chairman of the Planning Board and if they
want something different then we’ll look at the policy of the Water
District.” Charles Cestodio
said, “I’d like to include the Planning Board Engineer also.” Paul Pacheco said, “Contact the Fire Chief
and Tom to see if they’re available, Planning Board also.” Charles Cestodio
said, “I can find out about that when I go down Thursday.” Next
order of business was Jay Zola regarding Dighton Woods. Jay Zola said, “Zoning Board approved
increasing lots from 52 to 65 lots, 3 of which are affordable, we want to pay
the fees when pulling building permits rather than paying up front.” A discussion was held. Edward Swartz said, “We as a Board are not
going to decide tonight, we’ll sit down and address the concern, look at the
big picture, look at our rules and regulations next meeting. Chuck have a spreadsheet one for residential,
rentals, etc…list Raynham, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton, Norton comparison
section by section assign one of the guys, residential, rentals, application
fees, etc… I make that in the form of
a motion.” Sue Medeiros said,
“Second.” Paul Pacheco said, “All in
favor, ayes have it.” Next
order of business was American Auto Auction.
Paul Pacheco said, “There is a problem with the sprinkler system
possibly coming from us I think it’s in their building Chuck and I went over
there their system pressure over there is exactly what it is over here, today
we were at 88 lbs. here they had 150 lbs.
I’ll step down make a motion somebody check the gage over there at
7:30 A.M., 11:30 A.M., and 2:30 P.M. every day Monday through Friday motion
our guys do the same thing log in what system pressure is here three times
during the day so we can compare so we can start figuring out what is going
on.” Sue Medeiros said, “Second.” Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have
it.” Prime Operator, Dorian Jefferson
said, “Here the pumps are running it’s going to be one pressure if it’s not
running it will be another.” Paul
Pacheco said, “Have them just note what the pressure is and whether the pumps
are on or off. Second thing I have I
talked to my neighbor about getting a water service I want to do what we did
before, Arnie is our contractor we’re not letting
another contractor come in and do it let the homeowner hire our contractor go
right from the house right to the street we’ll bill them for the line our
guys same way we did still bill the cop.
I’ll step down and make that motion.”
Edward Swartz said, “Second.”
Paul Pacheco said, “All in favor, ayes have it. I’ve been getting phone calls about the
minimum charge. A discussion was held
on the rates. Sue Medeiros said,
“Maybe they should come to the Water District.” Edward Swartz said, “Have them send a
letter.” Sue Medeiros agreed. Edward Swartz said, “I’ll fix it right now
I make a motion under the Dighton Water District rates we eliminate the
minimum yearly charge for the first forty thousand gallons equals’ $120.00
leave the second line the minimum bill will be $60.00 in January and $60.00
July excess charge beginning at 20,001.”
Paul Pacheco said, “Let me go on record saying that if this all blows
up I’m not agreeing with it.” Sue
Medeiros said, “Have the person come in and see us.” Edward Swartz said, “You can’t read one
line and interrupt that as the whole policy you have to read the whole
policy.” Edward
Swartz said, “On our Accountant Services in discussion with the Town
Accountant and another Town Accountant I know that process we had set up here
really not truly the way checks and balances should be, the warrant should be
the Accountant should come in here once a month to review the warrant after
the Treasurer prepares the warrant the Accountant reviews it then it’s
submitted to the Board because there needs to be a process to it not just us
coming in reviewing the warrant the Accountant should have a list of all our
vendors he should have a list of who we do business with he
checks that against what is submitted to him by the Treasurer and then we
approve it. So I would like to propose
that we request that our Accountant come in on whatever day he agrees with
the Treasurer a day or two days before our meeting schedule or the afternoon
of our Board meeting that he meets and he gets the warrants to review that
day, work with the Accountant.” Carol
Beauregard asked, “Accountant just your Auditor Accountant?” Edward Swartz said, “No our District
Accountant.” Carol Beauregard asked,
“So how come I cannot get papers from him.”
Edward Swartz said, “Previously he did our Audit after that brought
him in as Accountant he will not do our Audit anymore the District is not
required to do an Audit.” Carol Beauregard
said, “He needs to be set up in the DOR DLS Gateway.” Edward Swartz said, “Ok.” Carol Beauregard said, “He needs to start
doing the District’s paperwork, start doing overlay and other stuff I could
never get him to do.” Edward Swartz
asked, “Is it suppose to come from the
Accountant?” Carol Beauregard said,
“The Accountant is your overlay, definitely your Accountant.” Sue Medeiros said, “Carol can’t be the
Accountant and the Treasurer.” Edward
Swartz said, “Well she can be.” Sue
Medeiros said, “She’s been doing it really not fair to her either because
really it’s not her job she is the Treasurer and it could put her in a spot
if DOR ever came here.” Edward Swartz
said, “That’s the problem with Districts not just here because I talked to
the guys at Wareham too and they go through the same thing those processes at
District’s have never really been set up nor does DOR enforce it. What I’m requesting is that Carol and Carol
meet with Peter tell him what the expectation of the Accountant is to the Assessor
office, to the Treasurer’s office I had a conversation with him and he’s
willing to come in here once a month.”
Paul Pacheco said, “The next Fiscal Year we need to get some prices.” Edward Swartz said, “Until June 30th he’s
still the guy we’re paying as the Accountant use his services.” Paul Pacheco said, “Right now we’re paying
him $245.00 an hour, David Gay is $160.00.”
Sue Medeiros said, “Budgeted the Accountant $10,000 not a lot of money
if he was in here doing what he’s suppose to do bring him in and say listen
this is what you’re supposed to be doing.
Carol will supply information, as Treasurer your job is to get the
sheets together, Carol at the Assessor’s office need to tell him what she
needs.” Edward Swartz said, “Carol give him a time to have him come down and explain to him
the reports you need.” Sue Medeiros
said, “I’ll get him up on Gateway.”
Edward Swartz said, “We need him to look at the warrant prior to it
being submitted to us, overlay is a total separate issue from a pure Accountant
standpoint and checks and balances standpoint we need to have that process in
place.” Sue Medeiros said, “Carol it
will make your job a lot easier it is not your responsibility you shouldn’t
have to be the one responsible for it.”
Treasurer/Clerk, Carol Stevens said, “We’ve used $8,405 already out of
the $10,000.” Sue Medeiros said,
“About $1,600 left between now and the end of the Fiscal Year. Who are we going to use for an
Auditor?” Edward Swartz said, “Don’t
Audit every year.” Sue Medeiros asked,
“How often do you have to Audit the District?” Edward Swartz said, “You don’t they don’t
require it I say we do it every three years.”
Tony Roderick said, “The last time audited through the grape vine you
know how rumors get around District had an excess of two million dollars in
free cash you made a statement to me you need operating money to operate this
place what happened to that two million dollars?” Edward Swartz said, “We still have
substantial free cash we paid off a note to help to lower the tax rate,
$250,000 to develop new wells we have to look at future sources, we spent
$400,000 reducing the tax rate in this current Fiscal Year I agree there was
a lot of money when I got here I was told we had to keep a million dollars on
hand for an emergency that’s what bonding is for I want to get this Treatment
Plant paid off so we can truly reduce the tax rate or eliminate it or get it
to the point it’s close to that.” Tony
Roderick asked, “How much is owed on this Facility?” Edward Swartz said, “Six something million
dollars. Let’s remember there were a
lot of promises when this was built Federal Government was
going to come through a lot of that didn’t materialize.” Sue Medeiros said, “We used a bunch of the
free cash at the last District Meeting you’re going to see that free cash
number be a lot lower this year.” Tony
Roderick asked, “You used half of it?”
Sue Medeiros said, “At least.”
Edward Swartz said, “Schedule a meeting Carol, Carol and Peter. Approve the past due bill for the Auditor.” Paul Pacheco asked, “Are we over the
$10,000 yet?” Edward Swartz said,
“No.” Carol Stevens said, “He’s at
$8405.00.” Edward Swartz said, “I make
a motion to approve the warrants.” Sue
Medeiros said, “Second.” Paul Pacheco
said, “All in favor, ayes have it.” Edward
Swartz said, “I make a motion to approve the minutes of March 9th.” Sue Medeiros said, “Second.” Paul Pacheco said, “All in Favor, ayes have
it.” Paul
Pacheco said, “Election is May 17th noon to seven, Annual Meeting is May 27th
at 7.” Edward Swartz said, “Moderator,
call William McKeon first then John Blake if Bill can’t make it.” Public
Input- Carol Beauregard said,
“Clarification on some wording for Water District Abatements when you verify
go through and make a decision on the back denial or approval just check one
of the reasons denied or approved sign off on them then we can do our
denials.” Edward Swartz asked, “Who
signs these, the Board, Superintendent, Treasurer whose required to sign so
we do it right?” Carol Beauregard
said, “I honestly don’t know about Districts.” Edward Swartz said, “So that’s my question
based on our by-law the Assessors for the Town are the Assessors for the
District.” Carol Beauregard said,
“Assessing is values we set your values, tax rate I don’t decide who’s in the
District whose not, an assessor is to assess values.” Edward Swartz said, “Ok, so we’ll figure it
out, when do we have till.” Carol
Beauregard said, “It’s open until May 1st then
ninety days.” Edward Swartz said,
“Place it on the agenda for the next meeting wait until after May 1st then
take them as an agenda item on May 11th.”
Paul Pacheco asked Sue Medeiros to take over the meeting because he
had to leave. Carol Beauregard said,
“Minutes from September 5, 1951 here is where we’re getting radius 1000 feet
of a hydrant.” Edward Swartz said,
“Measuring them as radius correct Chuck. Certain situation I agree with it as a
radius we need to look at it.” Tony
Roderick asked, “Where did 500ft. come in for years it was 500ft. then it went
to 1000.” Edward Swartz said, “It was
1,000 ft. in 1951.” Carol Beauregard
said, “I’ve never seen anything with 500 ft. on it.” Finance Committee member James Ready said,
“Electric is 500 ft.” Edward Swartz
said, “We promised you a spreadsheet by the 23rd you will have it by the 23rd
, FY 09, FY10, request for FY11, FY09 actual, FY10 actual to date, FY11
request.” James Ready asked, “Money
from rental tower space isn’t it revenue general fund?” Edward Swartz said, “Yes general
fund.” James Ready asked, “Voted out
by District Meeting?” Edward Swartz
said, “No in revenues same as revenue for water fees, usage fees into the
general fund.” James Ready asked, “How
many employees?” Edward Swartz said,
“Eight full time, one temporary employee.” James Ready said, “We had a meeting we
elected Charlie as a member, Ron Smith resigned.” Edward
Swartz said, “Metro PCS I make a motion 4/13/2010 Board continues to follow
the process with all tank antennas and that the contract proposal that we had
sent back to Metro is what the Board voted and is our final contract
proposal.” Sue Medeiros said, “Second,
all in favor, ayes have it.” Edward
Swartz said, “Chuck look into sending lagoon sludge to Bourne find out the
cost.” CCR
Report-Edward Swartz said, “I make a motion to approve CCR as submitted by
the Superintendent.” Sue Medeiros
said, “Second, all in favor, ayes have it.” Edward
Swartz said, “Water Week I make a motion to refer Chuck and Carol to work
with the school if they’re still interested in participating in water week
the Water District will partner with them on that.” Carol Stevens asked, “Are we willing to pay
for the buses as we always do?” Edward
Swartz and Sue Medeiros said, “Yes.”
Sue Medeiros said, “Second, all in favor, ayes have it.” Edward
Swartz said, “Chuck we put a lot of work on your desk tonight use Donnie, use
some of those guys because we have plenty of guys here so push them to do
some of those things give them a project to do, have them put all the data
together.” Sue Medeiros said,
“Delegate.” Edward
Swartz said, “Appraiser put a special article on the warrant one time raise
and appropriate $1,500 line item.
Bring the dumpster up here.
Warrant article for new truck out of free cash. Try to get us a free cash balance.” Edward
Swartz said, “I make a motion to adjourn.”
Sue Medeiros said, “Second, all in favor, the ayes have it.” Respectfully
Submitted, Carol
A. Stevens District
Clerk Those
in Attendance: Paul
Pacheco Sue
Medeiros Edward
Swartz Charles
Roderigues Danny
Carpenter Carol
Harris Jim
Rivard Stephen
DeFrancesco Andrew
Reid Tony
Roderick Jay
Zola James
Ready Charles
Cestodio Jr. Carol A. Stevens Dorian Jefferson ______________________ _____________________ _____________________ |