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, November 05, 2012 in the Littleton Water and Light Department (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Eddy Moore, Financial Services Director Cheryl Wilkins and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of October 15, 2012 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Moore made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORS REPORT:
1. Mrs. Wilkins reviewed the financial statements for the month ended September 2012 with the Commissioners. Several discrepancies as compared to budget were discussed and explained by Mrs. Wilkins.
2. Superintendent Considine stated that the preliminary 2013 operating and maintenance budget is starting to take shape.
The BOC were in agreement that the department send to the town of Littleton an anticipated rate increase on water rates and hydrant rentals.
3. Mrs. Wilkins stated that the New England Workers Benefits Fund (Group Health Insurance) advised the department that their health insurance rate will increase by 6.49% starting on January 1, 2013. The increase in rates will affect all participating group members.
SUPERINTENDENT/ MANAGERS REPORT:
1. The BOC was advised that the departments Operations Manager has returned to a full time work status effective today and is getting back up to speed.
2. Superintendent Considine stated that he approved a donation of about forty (40) feet of chain link fence to the Mt. Eustis Cross non-profit organization. Maxine Hadlock approached the department in regard to installing a security fence around the Mt. Eustis Cross. Apparently there has been some vandalism and people have climbed the cross.
To deter this mischievous activity and to protect the non-profit from litigation their property insurance company recommended that a barrier be erected around the cross. She noticed that LWL had a surplus of fencing that has been stored at the Mt. Eustis reservoir for some time and asked if the department would be willing to donate the fencing toward the project.
3. The Department had a busy couple of days dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. There were several outages caused by the high wind gusts that kept line crews busy throughout the night of the storm and several days thereafter. The headwater plugged on several different occasions causing a drop in chlorine residual that the department had to deal with through the remainder of the week.
4. The department responded to two (2) water main leaks on West Elm Street near the intersection of Fairview Street that was initially reported by a customer experiencing an issue with their bathroom toilet flushing. Upon investigation by the department and the Littleton DPW it was discovered that the leaking water (that did not surface) was draining directly into the six (6) inch clay sewer pipe at the joints as they were not sealed. Both repairs were made quickly by LWL personnel and service restored. It is not known how long the water has been leaking at this location as the water main was actually worn away at one of the locations at the bottom of the pipe. The department is optimistic that this is a large portion of the departments total unaccounted for water though time will tell if this area has been leaking for any appreciable amount of time.
5. The majority of the work has been completed in regard to the new water storage tank at the top of School Street and final grades and landscaping are being completed. The water main to the control building passed the hydrostatic pressure test and pending a successful bacteriological test. Upon satisfactory completion tank tests will begin with regard to disinfection and leakage. We expect to begin filling the storage tank and begin tank tests over the next week.
6. LWL personnel completed a successful pre-paint inspection on the new line truck, no major deviations from the bid documents were annotated by the LWL inspectors. The truck is expected to be delivered sometime prior to Thanksgiving though unfortunately the contractor has missed the original delivery date of September 1st.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
1. A department vehicle was involved in a minor motor vehicle accident while backing-up on Friday, November 2, 2012 on South Grove Street in Littleton. There was no injury as the vehicle damaged was unoccupied at the time of the incident; no damage or injury to the LWL personnel or property was reported. An insurance claim was filed and the incident was classified as “preventable” by the insurance company.
2. White Mountain Hydro Electric Corporation (WMH) is in the process of registering with ISO-NE and the State of NH as a green energy generator. Part of the application packet required that the generator provide an Interconnection Study/Report to insure the power is able to be consumed through the grid. WMH submitted their draft report (dated October 25, 2012) to the department for comment and review. The report contained technical detail about their equipment that is connected to the grid via the department’s infrastructure. When WMH is finally approved as a green energy generator they will be authorized to sell “green energy” credits equivalent to their maximum output of 425 KW.
Superintendent Considine stated that WMH represents less than two (2) percent of the total system load and operates at a capacity factor of less than forty (40) percent. The report was basically a technically review of the connected equipment at their point of attachment and does not reflect any of LWL operations. Additionally, WMH is in the process of securing a new step up transformer in preparation for the department’s pending voltage conversion to a nominal 15KV system.
Following a brief discussion the BOC authorized Superintendent Considine to sign the document affirming that the department reviewed the report.
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
1. The BOC briefly discussed several letters addressed to them by some concerned citizens/ customers.
A) One letter was recently submitted to the department was on the eve of Hurricane Sandy and in regard to trees around his service lines. The customer felt that it is the responsibility of the department to remove the trees though they are on his property as they could potentially take his lines down.
B) Another letter was received from a customer the lives in close proximity of the new storage tank construction site on School Street. The customer expressed some displeasure with the noise produced by the equipment back up alarms. Superintendent Considine stated that he has had continuous conversations with this customer and some of the actual abutters throughout the course of the project. Everyone appears content with the progress and the noise and traffic level has diminished significantly at the site. The majority of the residents that abut the site have stated that they have been minimally inconvenienced throughout the project. There is very little equipment remaining on site at this time and the back up alarm are required for the safety of personnel working in the vicinity of heavy equipment moving near them.
C) School Administrative Unit 84 sent a letter (date October 31, 2012) to the department thanking the BOC for donating the old Avaya phone system to the Littleton Schools Academy.
D) One of the people involved in the vandalism to the Goss Pump House wrote a letter to the department apologizing for his involvement and the damage that he caused to the building. The letter was sent through the NH Health and Human Services Division of Juvenile Justice.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Moore made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:15 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.