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Commission Meeting Minutes – August 17, 2017

For your consideration, please read the minutes from the Commission Meeting held on Thursday, August 17, 2017 at 2:00 pm.

Commission Minutes 8-17-17 with Attachments

To read the minutes, please open or download the pdf from the link above, or you may see more below:

Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission

1703 Gloucester Street, Brunswick, GA 31520

Thursday, August 17, 2017 at 2:00 PM 

COMMISSION MINUTES 

PRESENT:                             

Donald M. Elliott, Chairman

Clifford Adams, Vice-Chairman

Cornell L. Harvey, Commissioner

Steve Copeland, Commissioner

David H. Ford, Commissioner

Robert Bowen, Commissioner 

ALSO PRESENT:                 

Jimmy Junkin, Executive Director

Charlie Dorminy, Legal Counsel HBS

Thomas A. Boland, Sr., Deputy Director

John D. Donaghy, Director of Administration & Finance

Harry Patel, Assistant Engineer

Pam Crosby, Director of Purchasing

Jay Sellers, Public Information Officer 

ABSENT:                               

Michael Browning, Commissioner                                               

Chairman Elliott called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.  Commissioner Elliott provided the invocation and also led the pledge.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

Chairman Elliott opened the public comment period.  There being no citizens for public comment, Chairman Elliott closed the public comment period.

Chairman Elliott requested a motion to adjourn into Executive Session before the Regular Session due to persons needing to leave the meeting early.  No vote to be taken.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Commissioner Copeland made a motion seconded by Commissioner Adams to adjourn into Executive Session to discuss litigation and personnel issues.  Motion carried 6-0-1.  (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.)

Return to Regular Session

Commissioner Adams made a motion seconded by Commissioner Harvey to return to Regular Session.  Motion carried 6-0-1.  (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.)

Commissioner Adams made a motion seconded by Commissioner Ford to excuse Commissioner Browning from the Commission Meeting.  Motion carried 6-0-1 (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.) 

COMMITTEE UPDATES

Compliance & Legislative Committee – Chairman Elliott for Commissioner Browning

The proposed compliance and legislative changes will be discussed between BGJWSC legal counsel and the City and County legal counsel prior to bringing to full Commission for discussion.

Facilities Committee – Commissioner Adams

Commissioner Adams noted that the surplus property discussed at the Facilities Committee is to be brought before the full Commission.

Finance Committee – Chairman Elliott

Chairman Elliott noted that the Finance Committee did meet and the issues covered would be discussed by John Donaghy later in the full Commission.

Human Resources & Safety Committee – Commissioner Harvey

There was no update at this time.

Public Information & Customer Relations Committee – Commissioner Copeland

Commissioner Copeland updated that the Public Information & Customer Relations Committee did meet the previous day on August 16 at 10:00 am. Items discussed included the Customer Service Portal on the website and the various methods customers have for making payments on their bills, of which a work product from that discussion will be a summary table of a customer’s bill payment options, the associated costs and to whom that fee is paid and by whom from.  Then there was a presentation on the results of the preliminary customer relations survey, which contained 37 questions and 245 responses out of a sample population of about 300 persons. Also discussed was the Everbridge Test Notification program, of which there are 360 subscribers at the time.  This discussion included the subject of Boil Water Advisories.   

APPROVAL

  1. Minutes from the August 3, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting

Commissioner Ford made a motion seconded by Commissioner Harvey to approve the minutes from August 3, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.)

  1. Minutes from the August 3, 2017 Executive Session

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Ford to approve the minutes from August 3, 2017 Executive Session.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.)

  1. Job Corps Agreement – P. Crosby

Pam Crosby advised that previously Jonathan Watkins from Job Corps had made a presentation to the Commission regarding the work-Based Learning Program.  She presented to the Commission that MTC, Management & Training Corporation was the company operating the Job Corps Center.  The approval request for this meeting was regarding a Memorandum of Understanding between MTS and BGJWSC for an agreement to establish the Work-Based Learning Program for the current year.  It was noted that there are no changes from the agreement as to those from previous years.

Commissioner Adams made a motion seconded by Commissioner Harvey to approve and enter into the contract with MTC.  Motion carried 6-0-1.  (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.) 

  1. Surplus Property – P. Crosby

Pam Crosby presented to the Commission that there is a piece of surplus property located at 101 Hampton River Club Marina Drive on St. Simons Island.  The property includes a 6” fire well and pump enclosure building.  She noted that the property is in a developed residential area and that in order to sell it, the well will have to be abandoned by filling it with grout and sealed off, and then remove the building structure.  There is some work that Georgia Power will be required to do by removing a transformer and placing it back into the right of way or elsewhere.  Today, the Commission is being asked to approve the surplus of the property in order to move forward with the process. Mrs. Crosby added that included in the package were 2 quotes received for the abandonment of the well along with some pictures and information on the property, and she noted that the expenses for preparing the property for sale will come out of the proceeds from the sale.

Commissioner Adams made a motion seconded by Commissioner Ford to approve this property as surplus so that BGJWSC staff can begin the processes necessary for placing the property up for sealed bid.  Motion carried 6-0-1.  (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.)     

  1. SPLOST 2016 N. Mainland Project Phase 1 – Pump Pre-Purchase – P. Crosby

Pam Crosby reminded that the Commission had previously approved the purchase of 3 Xylem pumps.  She then presented a recommendation to the Commission to pre-purchase the electrical panels, controls, and also the diesel pumps for PS 4005, 4006 and 4028.  She noted that these components will also be purchased from Xylem, and when added to the original amount of $268,599.00, the total of $963,471.78 for the pumps and components, which is lower than the projected $1.1M for the pumps.

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Bowen to move that approval be granted to pre-purchase Xylem Flyght control panels and pumps to be installed at Pump Stations 4005, 4006, and 4028 as a part of BGJWSC SPLOST North Mainland Sewer Improvements Phase 1 Project No. 702, in the amount of $694,872.05.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Browning was absent for the vote.)

DISCUSSION

  1. SPLOST 2016 N. Mainland Project – Phase 1 – 30% Design/Build Presentation – Constantine Constructors / J. Kizer

Jim Kizer from Constantine Constructors presented the 30% Design Build Project for the SPLOST 2016 N. Mainland – Phase 1 to upgrade the 6 lift stations on the North Mainland sewer system.  The agenda for the presentation included the background of existing and proposed conveyance system improvements, Constantine’s conceptual improvements plan, over all schedule and the project costs.  First he displayed and explained the existing system design along with the bottlenecks affecting the current system capacity.  Then Mr. Kizer displayed the current planned future system improvements and the details of that plan, which would take up to 24 months for completion.  His discussion then continued to explain the proposed system improvements by Constantine Constructors, and gave the specific details of the proposal along with the advantages of these proposed system improvements.  Mr. Kizer also displayed a location map of the affected pump stations in the North Mainland.  For each of pump stations 4110, 4039, 4048, 4028, 4006, and 4005 a summary of proposed improvements was detailed and explained, along with a milestone schedule and project costs estimate.  Finally, Mr. Kizer presented and discussed with the Commissioners a Gantt chart providing the Project Overall Schedule and the Project Summary of Constantine Constructors Costs as estimated at the time.

  1. Grand Jury Process – C. Dorminy

Charlie Dorminy advised the Commissioners that there will be 2 Commission positions to be filled by Grand Jury appointment in 2017.  He reviewed the proposed breakdown of the dates required for each part of the process to be completed.  He noted that the hearings coincide with dates that the Grand Jury is tentatively scheduled to meet (November 15 and November 29) and will be submitted for approval by the District Attorney.  The 2 Commission seats to be filled by this appointment are that of Citizen Commissioner #1 (Bowen) for a four year term, and that of Commissioner #3 (Ford) for a two year term.

 Customer Service – J. Junkin

Mr. Junkin discussed the recent issues with Customer Service during the past few weeks.  He gave some background as to the situation, and advised that it was an unexpected surge in demand for customer service needs primarily driving back to the new billing software being brought online on July 1. There were problems incurred with the data that was being printed onto the bills, of which these problems were caught and bills were held until issues were resolved.  This extra time caused delays in customers receiving their bills, making it appear that the bills were late by the time they were received by the customers.  A result of this was many customers calling to find out about their bills and their concern that they were late for payment.  In response to the concerns to customer service issues revised staff schedules have been made and attempts are to be made to respond to every customer call each day.  Additional resources are also being provided.  Commissioner Harvey requested that a report be provided on customer response time.  The response time for customers waiting on phones will be either a monthly or a quarterly report in the future. 

  1. July 2017 Month End Financial Comparative – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented the financial statement for July 2017 month end to the Commission, which included the balance sheet, supplemental schedule of cash balances, and the revenue and expenditure statement.  He mentioned that the auditors were still to do their reporting. Mr. Donaghy pointed out that the revenue and expenditure statement was revised and condensed in order to be more able to determine the bottom line numbers.  The YTD budgeted revenue was at just short of $2.6M, with the YTD actual at almost $3.3M.  He noted that the income for the Plan Review fees is at zero as there has been no income as of yet from that source.  Any reviews done or customers served were from before July 1st.  Mr. Donaghy continued to note various reported values from the report, such as the bad debt expense and explained how that number of the budget compared to actual works as past due accounts are collected on. He also mentioned that the implementation of the Capital Project Tracking module from Innoprise is in the works to help better track the ongoing projects.  Mr. Donaghy continued to add that the Finance Committee had requested an overtime report to be included in the financial reports. He provided the overtime report as requested and discussed various details shown.  Mr. Donaghy noted that with Open Gov, reports such as this can be presented in a stacked bar chart visual form. 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Mr. Junkin updated the Commission that there was progress being made in Customer Service. He also mentioned the aged accounts reports and reminded that the payment and delinquent policies had been recently updated.  Of the 4,500 accounts that are 60 days or over and the $2M that were outstanding at the time of the start of initiating the program, it was decided to address 100 accounts per week starting with the highest dollar ones and working down. The first 100 accounts totaled $568,330.00 which letters were sent to, and those account holders had 10 days to come in and make payment arrangements.  At the time of this discussion over $250,000 has been collected. Progress is being made and the program is working, but will take some time to work through all 4,500 past due accounts.  Mr. Junkin added that with the Open Gov reports being developed to look at financials and operating costs, he has asked the supervisory staff for a minimum of 10 measurables from each to look at cost, quality, compliance and other various efficiency issues in their divisions and departments.  This is a good first step in looking at what we are doing and analyzing what the things are that can be done to impact the cost and the quality of the work that JWSC provides and the efficiency and productivity in the organization. This is a big step in working towards continuous improvement and using the data to help direct JWSC.  

CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE

There was no update from the Chairman.

There being no additional business to bring before the Commission, Chairman Elliott adjourned the open meeting at 3:52 pm.