The Board meets on the first and third Monday of each month. Meetings begin at 1:00 p.m. and are held in the department conference room at 65 Lafayette Ave, Littleton. Board meetings are open to the public and time is allotted for public comments at each meeting.
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The regularly scheduled Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting began at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, May 20, 2019 in the Littleton Water and Light (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Schuyler Sweet, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Financial Director Cheryl Wilkins, and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the May 6, 2019 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Ross made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Sweet.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
1. The BOC discussed and agreed that the letter sent to Mr. Stanley Fistick following his request that a portion of his charges be abated was fair to Mr. Fistick and LWL. The BOC was advised that Mr. Fistick recently settled his debt with the LWL following his receipt of the letter.
2. LWL has received several complaints in regard to the construction activities along Union Street mostly from the abutting business owners. LWL is advising the callers that this in not an LWL project and that they need to direct their frustration toward the Town of Littleton. Most callers stated that they are aware that this is a town project though they have tried to address this with the town without success as no one there wants to discuss or address their concerns. LWL has advised the callers to speak directly to the construction company.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
1. The BOC was advised that LWL management submitted the Management and Discussion Analysis for the fiscal year ended 2018 to the auditor for final review and comment. The full auditors report is expected within the next few weeks. LWL will not release the auditor’s opinion/financial report until reviewed and accepted by the BOC.
2. Commissioner Cooper asked if any additional progress was made with regard to the 115kV interconnection project.
Mr. Considine stated that LWL is meeting with a representative of the Vermont Electric Company this week to discuss the construction of an access road along the existing easement. They have been improving their access into remote locations for some time and have construction and cost data of building roads through the easements.
The BOC discussed other possible less costly options such as: 1) bring the 34.5 line out to NH 118 2) LWL owning its own 115kV/34.5Kv stepdown substation and 3) the easement access option as these may be more economical alternatives. In addition LWL will need to determine what National Grid will charge LWL for backup capacity. Daymark Energy was going to check into this on behalf of LWL.
3. Mr. Considine reviewed and discussed a letter from the NHDES with the BOC that notified LWL that no further raw water treatment would be required based on the results of the Long Term 2 source water monitoring. LWL in accordance with the Safe Water Drinking Act collected raw water samples at Gale River every fifteen (15) days through 2018. The samples were analyzed for the fecal bacteria and Cryptosporidium. LWL annual average was 7.8 fecal colonies and no Cryptosporidium was detected. As the MCL for fecal bacteria is set a 100 Colonies, LWL is well below any required action level by the USEPA and shows that LWL source water still remains of the highest quality.
4. LWL is currently working with Doug Frizzell who owns property on the north side of Mill Street that is proposing to install balconies on the first and second floor out towards the street. The proposed balconies present a ROW issue due to encroachment with the public way and a variance is required from the town. More of an immediate concern to LWL is that the upper most balconies proposed (Main Street level) appears to be within the allowable safety clearance in accordance with the National Safety Code for electric power lines operating at a nominal voltage between 750 and 22000. LWL has presented the owner with the actual offsets to the overhead lines so that they can incorporate the overhead lines into their plans before any further determinations can be made. There are limitations to what can be done economically to increase or mitigate the safety clearances as usable ground space in the immediate area is minimal.
5. LWL personnel recently completed disconnecting and removing the old lantern style (4 posts) decorative light post near Centennial Park along the River District Project. Final preparations are being completed by the contractor to install the new LED tear drop lighting foundations and decorative posts.
GENERAL/ OTHER BUSINESS:
The BOC reviewed and discussed a proposal submitted by Vital Leak Detection in the amount of $5,900 to conduct a leak detection survey on about 43 miles of distribution water main.
Mr. Considine stated that LWL water personnel are aware that there appears to be a leak somewhere in the gravity system as daily flows have not dropped and remain at about 700,000 gallons per day (GPD). Typically during the winter months daily flows are higher generally as a result of customers running water and LWL increasing operational flow to prevent the transmission main from freezing. Generally when the weather warms and the risk of frost is low flows usually drop back to about 550,000 GPD this has not happened this year. Payback is expected to be quick as operating and treatment costs make up the majority of LWL retail water rate.
Following a brief discussion Commissioner Sweet made a motion to accept the proposal submitted by Vital Leak Detection services in the amount of $5,900 to conduct the proposed leak detection survey, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Sweet.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 1:56 p.m.
The regularly scheduled Commissioner’s meeting is held twice monthly on the first and third Monday, at 1:00 p.m., in the Department’s conference room.