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Commission Meeting Minutes – July 20, 2017

For your consideration, please read the minutes from the Commission Meeting held on Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 2:00 pm in the Commission Meeting Room.

Commission Meeting Minutes 7-20-2017 with Attachments – Posted 8/7/17.

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, July 20, 2017 at 2:00 PM 

COMMISSION MINUTES 

PRESENT:                             

Donald M. Elliott, Chairman

Clifford Adams, Vice-Chairman

Michael Browning, Commissioner

Cornell L. Harvey, Commissioner

Steve Copeland, Commissioner

David H. Ford, 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

Todd Kline, Senior Engineer

Pam Crosby, Director of Purchasing

Jay Sellers, Public Information Officer

Cindy Barnhart, T.S.I. 

ABSENT:                               

Robert Bowen, Commissioner                                               

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

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

Chairman Elliott opened the public comment period.

Brian Ehlin – Sewer Bill

Brian Ehlin spoke to the Commission regarding his current sewer bill of over $200.00.  He began with an explanation that he has a pool at his home, of which gets very hot due to no shade, and he has to run water into the pool daily.  He drains the water from the pool using a hose and circulates that water to use on his lawn. Mr. Ehlin continued to note that he has had monthly sewer bills up to $400.00, due to the high usage on the water side. He spoke to Customer Service about options, and was advised that he could install an irrigation meter at a cost of $4,500.00. He also noted that he was advised that the sewer usage is based on an assumed use.  He explained that he understands paying for the high usage of water, but not for sewer that he is not using.  Mr. Junkin did respond that the only way to monitor the usage was through the use of a meter, and also asked Mr. Ehlin to leave his name and contact number with the receptionist up front and he would contact him to discuss the matter further.

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

PRESENTATION

Employee Recognition – Commissioner Harvey / Cindy Barnhart, TSI / Kirk Young

Andrew Keith Sessions was presented with his Waste Water Collection System Operator Certificate by Commissioner Harvey.  Commissioner Harvey congratulated him and expressed the importance of this accomplishment and the Commission’s appreciation and best wishes for Mr. Sessions’ successful efforts and his future.

COMMITTEE UPDATES

Compliance & Legislative Committee – Commissioner Browning

There was no update at this time.

Facilities Committee – Commissioner Adams

Commissioner Adams update the Commission that the Facilities Committee did meet on Thursday, July 13, 2017 and forwarded the surplus vehicles to the full Commission for approval, and also discussed the U.S.G.S. Salt Water Intrusion Study of which more information will be gathered for future discussion.  The next meeting for this Committee will be on Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 3:00 pm.

Finance Committee – Chairman Elliott

Chairman Elliott updated the Commission that the Finance Committee did meet on Wednesday, July 19 and also approved to surplus vehicles and the Banking Resolution to be forwarded to the full Commission for approval.  The accounts receivable status was discussed.  Chairman Elliott also noted that the Finance Division has been working improve collections on past due accounts, and that they expect to collect on up to 100 accounts per week.  Of the accounts that are over 60 days past due, since May over $201,000.00 has been collected, and 78 payment arrangements have been made. A review of the collections will become a standard report for the Finance Committee.  There was also an update given on Innoprise. The CIS person has been hired.  The round Up Program is still being researched to initiate during the 2019 period.  Also working on ARCO Sewer Grants.  The next meeting of this Committee will be on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 2:00 pm.

Human Resources & Safety Committee – Commissioner Harvey

Commissioner Harvey updated the Commission that the Human Resources & Safety Committee did meet on Thursday, July 20 and discussed and approved the revisions to the Human Resources Policy to be forwarded to the full Commission for approval.  Also discussed at the Committee meeting was the employee benefit package, of which some issues with the network were discovered, but those issues have been corrected.  He further advised that the education assistance and incentive benefit was also discussed and there will be some revisions made to that with regard to budgeting, etc.  Recruiting, hiring, safety and accident statistics were updated as well. Also on the agenda was the positions of Director of Operations, Deputy Director, and Superintendents for discussion to see if possible to combine some of those duties.  This discussion will be brought back to the Committee. The next meeting of this Committee will be on August 3, 2017 at 10:00 am.

Public Information & Customer Relations Committee – Commissioner Copeland

Commissioner Copeland updated the Commission that the Public Information & Customer Relations Committee did meet on Tuesday, June 27 at 2:00 pm and that there were no items for approval other than the previous meeting minutes. The Committee did discuss the Everbridge Program Implementation, which is a texting program for emergency notification.  The rollout for the program has begun and the initial observation is that it is working well. Other items discussed were the social media campaign, website changes, and advertising, but no decisions were made on any of those items. 

APPROVAL

  1. Minutes from the June 15, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting

Commissioner Browning made a motion seconded by Commissioner Harvey to approve the minutes from the June 15, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

  1. Minutes from the June 15, 2017 Executive Session

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Browning to approve the minutes from the June 15, 2017 Executive Session.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

  1. Minutes from the June 29, 2017 Special Called Meeting

Commissioner Copeland made a motion seconded by Commissioner Adams to approve the minutes from the June 29, 2017 Special Called Meeting.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

  1. Pinova – Industrial Pre-Treatment Permit – A. Walker

Angela Walker presented the Pinova Industrial Pre-Treatment Permit to the Commission for approval. She gave the background information noting that the JWSC is required to issue these permits to anyone who is either a significant or a categorical contributor to the waste water plant, meaning that they either treat over 25,000 gallons per day or they discharge something that could be a danger to the plant metals or certain other things.  She continued that currently there are five major contributors that discharge industrial waste water to the Academy Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant which require pre-treatment permits to be issued.  The draft permits were completed by Brown & Caldwell after a review of the local limits for the Academy Creek Plant.  Three of the industrial pre-treatment permits have been renewed as approved by the Commission on June 15, 2017.  The fourth draft permit has been finalized and was included in the documentation for the Commission’s review.

Commissioner Browning made a motion seconded by Commissioner Adams to move that approval be granted to finalize the pre-treatment permit for Pinova with implementation to begin August 1, 2017.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

  1. Surplus Vehicles / Equipment and Disposal – P. Crosby

Pam Crosby presented a memo containing a list of five (5) vehicles for approval to declare as surplus.  There are four (4) pick-up trucks and one (1) dump truck on the list.  There was also an attachment provided that noted the mileage and operational issues of each item. These vehicles have been brought before both the Facilities and Finance Committees for approval to bring forward to the full Commission for approval to be declared as surplus.  Commissioner Harvey questioned as to how they would be disposed of.  Mrs. Crosby advised that the first avenue is to be disposed of through GovDeals.

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Copeland for the Brunswick-Glynn Joint Water and Sewer Commission approve the items to be declared as surplus and disposed of in a manner most beneficial to JWSC.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

  1. Banking Resolutions – SPLOST Account and BB&T Sweep Account – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy Mr. Junkin presented to the Commission the memo and recommendation for approval of the Banking Resolutions and Signature Cards for the SPLOST Account and BB&T Sweep Account.  He provided the background that JWSC went line with the Innoprise Customer Information System as of July 1st.  As part of that entire transition over to the different software, the lockbox services will be changed from KLIK (a subcontractor for United Community Bank) over to BB&T Bank, who is the current bank for JWSC, and with more advantages.  He further explained that as a part of setting this up a daily sweep account needs to be set up for receiving all of the customer checks during each day. Mr. Donaghy then noted that the second account was needed to establish a SPLOST account to physically segregate the SPLOST payments received from Glynn County into a separate account of which authorized expenditures for SPLOST projects will come from. Staff recommends that the JWSC approve the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Executive Director and Director of Finance be authorized to execute the necessary documents to establish a lockbox sweep account and a SPLOST Revenue account with BB&T Bank.

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Copeland to move that the JWSC authorize the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Executive Director and Director of Finance be authorized to execute the necessary documents to establish a lockbox sweep account and a SPLOST Revenue account with BB&T Bank.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

  1. Human Resources Policy Revisions – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented to the Commission the recommended revisions to the Human Resources Policy. He noted that the policy revisions are due to changes made back in April, regarding the evaluations and benchmark of employment from six (6) months to one (1) year, and allowing employees to use 3 days of vacation time and 3 days of sick time during their introductory period.  These changes necessitated some changes in the H.R. Policy.  Mr. Donaghy then reviewed each of the noted policy revisions with the Commission.  He also mentioned that the word “merit” should be changed to “step in paragraph e, and then “merit” was to be removed from 7c.  He then confirmed that legal counsel has had a chance to review the revisions.

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Browning to move that the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission approve the changes, and also the changes noted, to the Human Resources policies of the JWSC, subject to the policy language being reviewed by legal counsel.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

DISCUSSION

  1. June End of Month Financial Comparative – J. Donaghy

John Donaghy presented the June end of Month Financial Comparative Report for the period ending June 2017 to the Commission. He noted that this is representing the budgetary numbers from June 30, 2017, but that final numbers may change after the final audit report for year end.  He then began with discussion on the Cash and Cash Equivalents of $1.74M, and noted that on the last day of the Fiscal Year, June 30, $939K was received in Capital Improvement Fees, which were deposited to the general revenue account. Of that $1.4M, $939K will be transferred leaving about $135K of Operating Cash at year end.  The Bond Sinking fund was noted having decreased down to $320K, due to the first deposit to the trustee for the bond including principal paid and interest paid. Mr. Donaghy continued to add that the first SPLOST payment of $268K was received from Glynn County. Also mentioned was the payables for the year and that they may increase due to closing of books.  On the Supplemental Schedule of Cash Balances, at year end shows a $1.35M deposit in the revenue account. The SPLOST account of $368K was noted. There was brief discussion regarding some accounts of which will not be updated until the final numbers for the Fiscal Year end have been calculated and confirmed.  Chairman Elliott requested for the number of customers and number of meters to be included in the monthly financial report beginning in August, and gave the example of June 2017 versus July 2017 for comparison.  Mr. Donaghy noted that it would be the number of billable service addresses, not number of customers, since some customers have more than one billable service address. There was additional discussion regarding revenues and expenditures by division.  Mr. Donaghy continued to provide additional details from the report such as capital revenues which include tap fees and SPLOST revenues with the net revenue for the year to equal $4.2M this year, and various operating expenditures.  Commissioner Copeland asked if the numbers could be provided to compare between the plants and see how the plants are operating in relationship to one another.  There were notations made that the plants are different from one another in the technicality and operations wise, but that the efficiencies could be compared. There will be a meeting set up to discuss this subject further. Commissioner Ford asked about noting the new P&C positions and the money that those salaries are coming out of on the monthly financial report.  Mr. Junkin also noted that those salaries will be split between the jobs those persons are on, and added that through the upcoming Prism timeclock tracking, the time will be able to be tracked and back billed to the specific projects and right funding sources. Chairman Elliott added comment that there will be more financial data detail required on future financial reports.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Mr. Junkin advised on two updates. The SPLOST update was provided at the project meeting.  There are 2 major projects.  One for the North Mainland Sewer Basin which will be done in 4 Phases.  There is also a Pre-SPLOST phase project that will set-up Phase 1 of the North Mainland project.  A force main will be set in place that will by-pass Lift Station 4005, and take the flows from Lift Station 4048 and feed directly to the plant, which will relieve some upgrades to 4005.  This project is to commence construction on August 15, and take 120 days for completion, making the completion in November 2017.  Phase 1 of the main project which is the Design/Build Project being done to free up capacity from the North Mainland down the eastern corridor of the current flow, and release a significant number of taps. At the time there are analysis and geo-technical planning being done for the routing of Phase II and Phase III aspects of the project. He also noted that he has reviewed the applicants for the Deputy Director position and has selected the individual he believes is the most qualified and will discuss that decision in more detail in the Executive Session.

 CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE

Chairman Elliott updated the Commission regarding the Georgia Association of Water Professionals Conference that was held in Savannah. He noted some of the positives regarding attending a conference such as this one, for example the larger utilities that are present, the vendors, and the technology.  He provided packets containing information he gathered at the conference which may be useful for the staff, and briefly discussed the various contents of the packets.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

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

The Chairman stated that there will not be a vote after the Executive Session.

Return to Regular Session.

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

Commissioner Harvey made a motion seconded by Commissioner Browning to adjourn the Meeting.  Motion carried 6-0-1. (Commissioner Bowen was absent for the vote.)

There being no additional business to bring before the Commission, Chairman Elliott adjourned the open meeting at 4:31 pm.