[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] I'm going to call this meeting to order the water transition and evaluation committee dated July 29, 2020. Welcome, everyone, to 7.30 p.m. I need to read this blurb. This meeting is being held remotely via Zoom as an alternative means a public access pursuant to an order issued by the governor of Massachusetts, dated March 12, 2020, so spending certain provisions of the open meeting law.
[0:25] You're hereby advised that this meeting in all communications during this meeting may
[0:29] be recorded and actually is by the town of Hang-Up and Accordance for the Open Meeting
[0:34] Law.
[0:34] If any participant wishes to record this meeting, please notify the chair at the start of
[0:41] the meeting, which is now in accordance with Master and Law 3820F so that the chair may
[0:47] inform all other participants of said recording.
[0:50] So, if you are recording, please raise the wave your hand as indicated on the zone.
[0:58] And I'll assume if you are not indicating that, then there's no other recording taking place.
[1:06] Great, well thank you.
[1:07] So, let me walk through what our agenda is for this evening.
[1:10] We've got, it's an exciting time for the water transition.
[1:14] We're on the five-yard line.
[1:17] Maybe the three-yard line.
[1:20] So tonight, here's what we're going to do.
[1:22] We're going to just quickly review two meetings minutes.
[1:26] I'll provide an update on the transition status.
[1:29] We're going to review the 10-year financial assumptions.
[1:32] Mary Power will be joining us in 11 minutes or so.
[1:37] And she's in the middle of doing interviews, talent bank interviews, actually, from the town.
[1:44] So she's going to step away from them for half an hour and provide us and walk through the 10 year financial projections, which I've shared with the committee.
[1:53] And I'll post online so people can see it.
[1:57] Then we're going to talk about kind of next steps, which is our committee is going to interact with the town on two important studies.
[2:05] The capital asset study and the cost of service study which is also referred to as a rate
[2:12] in rate structure studies and I'll walk through how we think how I think today that's
[2:16] going to work and may change but and then we'll assign folks and the committee to participate
[2:20] in each one of those two studies.
[2:23] We're going to just touch briefly on and I think it's more of a putting this in your head
[2:28] which is discuss evaluation methodology.
[2:31] at some point we're going to drop the transition name
[2:34] from our committee and we will become the water
[2:36] evaluation committee, which effectively will pursue
[2:40] and look at the governance structure.
[2:43] We'll look at to see if things are working internally
[2:45] within the various towns and we'll look to see also
[2:50] how the third party operator is doing
[2:53] and as to a certain extent.
[2:56] And then we will suggest back to the town
[2:59] in some format, which is yet to be decided.
[3:02] If we feel the structure is appropriate today,
[3:04] or if we think the changes should be made.
[3:07] So I think there's going to be some metrics
[3:08] we want to apply, and we'll get to that.
[3:10] Certainly we will take comments from the public
[3:12] as they arise, and then we'll talk about next steps
[3:16] and meeting dates.
[3:17] Sound good, everybody?
[3:19] Great, perfect.
[3:20] So let's briefly go to the minutes, if you don't mind.
[3:24] So let's start with the 7-7 meeting minutes,
[3:27] and thank you for your patience,
[3:28] and I just got them to you not too long ago so I apologize for the for the last minute submission of them to you.
[3:37] So I'm happy to give you a moment or so to review them unless you already have.
[3:42] And then I
[3:46] have I'm willing to make a motion to accept the 7 7 20 minutes.
[3:55] I'm going to do a roll call of acceptance, so David, how do you vote on these minutes?
[4:01] I move to accept.
[4:03] Dick.
[4:04] To accept.
[4:06] Right.
[4:07] I accept as well.
[4:08] So they pass.
[4:09] Since we do have a quorum tonight.
[4:11] Okay.
[4:12] I'm going to move to the 713 minute.
[4:14] Minute.
[4:15] Meeting drafts.
[4:16] Please.
[4:18] Give you a moment to review and then make a motion as appropriate.
[4:38] Is there a motion to accept these minutes?
[4:41] Oh,
[4:44] I'll move to accept.
[4:46] Right.
[4:47] Second.
[4:48] I'll second.
[4:49] David, how do you vote?
[4:51] I vote to accept.
[4:53] Dick.
[4:54] To accept.
[4:55] I vote to accept as well.
[4:57] Great, thanks.
[4:57] So both those minutes have been accepted.
[5:01] So let me give you a status on the transition.
[5:06] Where do I start?
[5:07] A lot has gone on.
[5:08] So, the exciting news is that on 7-31, which is on Friday, the purchase will be moving
[5:17] forward.
[5:18] We accept the property and the transfer of the water license staying in the curse.
[5:25] And we send out a large payment back to ever source for the purchase of the water system.
[5:31] The municipal bonds were funded at a very attractive rate of 2.14%, which was significantly
[5:39] below the anticipated and the plan for rate and all the financial miles, which was 3.3
[5:45] and 3.4%.
[5:46] So, it's a significant savings on a long-term basis to the rate payer, and I think you'll
[5:51] see that reflected in the 10-year projections that Mary will walk through for us.
[5:55] So, that's really great news, that's a 30-year walk-in rate.
[5:59] The town has the ability to call those bonds early, should rates even go lower.
[6:04] I believe the call provision is in eight years from now.
[6:08] So it's probably unlikely they will go much lower.
[6:10] This is historically low rates.
[6:11] And again, the town was the beneficiary of an extremely low rate environment.
[6:17] And also the beneficiary of, as I read it last meeting, the AAA, AAA, AAA confirmation from the three rainy agencies,
[6:26] is certainly helped facilitate the bond issuance and certainly helped us achieve the low interest rate that we got.
[6:35] So it's great news. Other than that, so there's continual calls going on internally between Suez, who's the third party operator with the town and also with aquarium in terms of making sure that the transition goes smoothly on the 31st.
[6:55] So, what's occurring kind of behind the scenes is that
[6:59] Suez is on premise. They've got a couple of trucks there.
[7:02] It's outside the water treatment plan, which is for staging purposes, personnel are on hand.
[7:08] They are all very much following COVID-related restrictions and ensuring that only certain numbers are in the plan any time.
[7:16] Workstations are in.
[7:17] So, we, in fact, brought in our own SCADA work, so a Suez brought in their own SCADA work
[7:22] stations, that data is being transferred, and the license is being transferred over to,
[7:28] to, to Suez, GIS data, which effectively is a map of the entire system.
[7:34] It is a converted, it's, I believe, already converted onto Suez, so they will be up and
[7:41] running on minute one of ownership.
[7:43] As we reported last time, all the employees that were hired
[7:48] and worked in the facility, other than one administrative
[7:53] assistant have chosen to accept positions with Suez,
[7:57] Darren Dirt, who was a senior operator
[8:01] at the Water Treatment Plan previously for Aquarian.
[8:05] Actually, it was promoted, and he's
[8:07] becomes the assistant project manager for Suez,
[8:10] which is for Darren of promotion, which is a great thing.
[8:14] So he's part of the really the management team.
[8:16] He's really a key cog to the operation of the system.
[8:19] So there's going to be a lot of personnel continuity
[8:22] on the system, which is great.
[8:24] Suez has already brought in one of quality people,
[8:28] looking at the treatment plan, how things are currently treated,
[8:33] looking at the operation.
[8:35] So they're going to hit the ground running again
[8:39] not min-in-one, they are well positioned to take over the operation, so there shouldn't
[8:44] be a hiccup from any perspective at all.
[8:47] We've worked a lot of communication.
[8:50] You probably have received in the mail a customer letter in the last day or two, which details
[8:57] and announces the transition and announces some of the key information relative to customer
[9:03] service.
[9:04] So for those folks that may be watching this independently, there's a couple of key points
[9:08] to understand about this transition. One is that, again, the town takes ownership and
[9:14] is responsible for supervising Suez as a contract operator.
[9:20] Because of the timing
[9:21] involved in transferring billing, which frankly is a pretty complicated thing now that I really
[9:26] understand what goes on in the mechanics of billing, Aquarium will continue to provide
[9:31] a billing service is for the next six months.
[9:36] However, so if with any billing
[9:39] questions you call Aquarian, with any start or stop questions, if you want to
[9:44] stop service or transfer service or start service, you call Aquarian. But if
[9:50] you have water quality issues, if you have a one or a quarter break, any of those
[9:58] kinds of issues or emergencies you call Suez and the number is listed there and that's
[10:04] a 24-7 number and you'll know that it's a local number. So that number goes directly
[10:09] in the water treatment plan. So it's going to be folks that have local knowledge and certainly
[10:14] there's kind of emergency backup services associated with that number. So it's going to be a really
[10:20] important phone number for folks to have access to and it's written in the letter.
[10:26] Moving forward, Suez has plans to open up a local office somewhere in Hingham.
[10:32] They've identified a couple of different spots and they will be fully staffed with three customer
[10:36] service people. We expect that office to be open within the next six months. Also within the
[10:42] next six months, Suez will take over that billing process and they'll be fully responsible for
[10:47] billing at that point forward. So as a repair, which all of us are and we write the checks,
[10:53] Here's what's going to happen.
[10:54] So on the final day, 731, a query will effectively do an analysis to see how much water people
[11:04] use up to that date.
[11:06] Then about five days later, they'll send out a final bill to all of us, and that bill
[11:11] will indicate effectively the revenue that's been generated for the water usage during
[11:16] the query and ownership period.
[11:20] Now, moving forward, you'll receive during your regular billing cycle, a next bill.
[11:29] So that could be as early as a week after the 31st.
[11:33] Bill's are not all sent out at the same time.
[11:35] What I also learned is that bills are staggered.
[11:38] So actually, bills are sent out almost every day of every data, you know, 200 people effectively
[11:45] over the course of the three-month billing cycle.
[11:48] So bills aren't all set out at once.
[11:50] They're sent out staggered on a daily basis.
[11:53] So beginning about three or four days later,
[11:55] after the end of the month, those folks
[11:57] that would normally have received a bill for three months
[11:59] worth of water billing will receive a bill for five days
[12:04] worth of water billing.
[12:06] So it's going to be a little bit confusing for folks
[12:09] and we hope to put a lot of information on the bill
[12:14] and it inserts another web to help educate folks it will be that bill will be rebranded
[12:20] where river water so it'll look like a new bill from us as opposed to from aquarium and
[12:26] the account number will change so if you're like me and you have the electronic bill pay
[12:31] or even in fact they've set up the bill to be paid automatically that service will stop
[12:35] and when you re-enter your bill you'll have to re-enter a new account number the mailing
[12:40] address will remain the same but it's going to be an adjustment for customers for that first
[12:47] wherever water bill they receive so for everyone out there make sure you read what it was sent
[12:54] and make sure you follow the directions and you include your new account and run those bills.
[12:58] Now we have in place a system that if revenue is inadvertently sent to a query in we have a
[13:04] reconciliation process with a query in place so that if somebody sent it incorrectly to a query
[13:09] and we have the ability to reconcile and pull that revenue back.
[13:14] Advice for us if somebody may send a payment to wherever that was really entitled to
[13:19] aquarium.
[13:20] So there's some reconciliation services built in to ensure that everyone gets a revenue
[13:28] when the payments is necessary.
[13:31] But for the purposes of rate pairs, it's important to look at your bill, which you may not have
[13:35] looked at before.
[13:37] should be again, rates haven't changed, the building structure hasn't changed, the bills
[13:42] will look a little bit different, but it's primarily with our logo and some different
[13:46] Burby engine in the bill.
[13:49] But effectively, everyone needs to be aware that that's probably the biggest change to
[13:54] this whole thing that they need to be aware of.
[13:57] We also set it up.
[13:58] So a folks call acquiring with the service issue, acquiring will notify immediately Suez,
[14:02] and Suez will send to acquiring any building inquiry.
[14:07] So know that there's a handoff already planned
[14:09] between the two entities.
[14:12] A query will also continue to let folks know
[14:15] of any service, major service issues that have occurred
[14:19] over the next six months or so,
[14:21] because we want to build in our own sort of communication
[14:23] process for customers, but we don't want anything to fall off.
[14:28] So over the next six months we'll build our own email
[14:31] and reverse 911 to tell customers about water issues.
[14:37] But in the meantime, they can still expect
[14:40] to receive those notices.
[14:41] They'll just be still from aquarium.
[14:43] So there's a lot of coordination going on
[14:45] between all the parties.
[14:47] Everyone's working very collaboratively.
[14:49] It's a good team effort to be appreciated.
[14:51] Everything Aquarium is doing.
[14:53] I think Suiz is gonna be a great long-term partner.
[14:57] Actually, so here's Mary.
[15:00] So I'll fill in on some other details, but she's been nice enough to step out of the other meeting that she's in and to spend some time with the committee to review the 10-year financial projections of Mary. Welcome, and thank you for taking time to join us. Right, nice to see everybody tonight.
[15:23] So, Jim, could I just, I have a question about the bills, but would it be better for me to ask that question after Mary?
[15:30] If you don't mind, David, because we just have Mary for a short period of time.
[15:34] Sure.
[15:36] Billing is an ongoing discussion to make sure it's absolutely done right and communicated properly to folks.
[15:42] So happy to answer any questions afterwards.
[15:45] Hey Mary, if you'd like, I'm going to throw on the screen the 10-year projections.
[15:51] That'd be great. It's small fun so that'll save me from having this piece of paper
[15:55] right up at my nose. Yeah, hopefully you'll be able to read it online
[16:00] too. We'll see if how successful we are. So just give me a moment while I pick the right
[16:06] file. Yeah. Thanks very much for adjusting. We're doing talent bank interviews. We started
[16:12] about 630, we're going until 9. So I appreciate your flexibility.
[16:21] Well, we appreciate you coming on.
[16:25] You know, maybe Jim, while you're loading that, but I'll just give a couple of headlines because
[16:33] you know, and you know, Dick, you and I have talked about this a little bit. I think David,
[16:38] We have also, the town essentially made the decision that because of the interest rate
[16:48] environment that we were in, that we decided to forego the one-year short-term borrowing
[16:54] that had been part of the consideration all the way along.
[17:00] And as part of that process, we actually went out to the credit rating agencies and we asked
[17:07] to be rated by all three credit rating agencies, and each of the three rating agencies affirmed
[17:14] the town's triple A bond rating. And, you know, those reports are available, and, you know,
[17:22] it's really the result of just really strong financial stewardship in the town.
[17:28] When we actually went out to borrow, which was a couple of weeks ago, our financial advisors told us
[17:35] that that week, they had never seen the market as good as it was, and the 30-year interest
[17:43] rate that the town realized on the financing of this water system acquisition was 2.145 percent.
[17:53] And you know, we are just so delighted about that interest rate. It helps all the rate payers.
[18:00] and the good news is that this water system is now financed.
[18:04] It's financed for the entire 30 years.
[18:08] What you see in front of you is a document that actually we put together
[18:14] really both to help the town as it was making the financing decisions,
[18:19] but also we wanted to demonstrate to the rating agencies
[18:23] the self-supporting nature of this operation.
[18:25] And so essentially what we've done here is we've built a 10-year projection that includes,
[18:35] you know, from a revenue standpoint, it assumes the current water rates and, you know,
[18:42] Dick, you may remember this, but during the acquisition, we talked about 10% rate increases
[18:48] every three years.
[18:50] So, you know, you see that reflected in, you see that reflected in the model.
[18:55] The last rate increase was in fiscal year 19.
[18:59] So we have a 10% rate increase built in for FY22.
[19:06] From a cost perspective, the really the two biggest costs in this water system profit statement
[19:14] is the operator contract with Suez, which for FY21 is going to be about $4.2 million.
[19:25] And the debt service on the borrowing.
[19:30] What you'll notice is that in fiscal year 21, our debt service payment is about $1.8 million.
[19:37] That pretty much represents one interest payment.
[19:40] When we borrow money in the town, we typically make semi-annual payments of both principal
[19:46] and interest, but the typical thing is, in the first year, there's one interest payment
[19:51] only.
[19:53] But if you look in the second year, the long-term debt is, it's about $5.5 million each year.
[20:04] You know, the other costs, the water superintendent, some administrative support, we've budgeted
[20:11] for seasonal construction inspectors, which were told as a more cost-effective way of paying
[20:19] for inspectors when water main projects are going on.
[20:26] I'd also mention that if you look under operating expenses, we actually, in the enterprise
[20:33] fund budget, added a quarter of a million dollars for what we call cash capital.
[20:40] And I just do want to talk about capital for a second, because I think the last time
[20:45] I was with you, we were having some discussion.
[20:50] In the Suez contract, so in the $4.2 million contract with Suez, based on the scope
[20:59] of services, Suez, that contract includes about $645,000 of maintenance and capital expenses.
[21:11] is basically what we said to Suez is if there's some sort of a repair that's needed and
[21:19] it costs less than $10,000, you Suez will pay for that.
[21:26] And if there's anything that is over $10,000, Suez pays for the first $10,000 and the town
[21:33] pays for the balance.
[21:34] And so the maintenance fund that is contained within the Suez fee is about $645,000.
[21:44] And so that includes things like the fire hydrants that Suez will replace every year
[21:51] or, you know, valves and stuff that breaks.
[21:55] In the enterprise fund budget, we've also got $250,000, which represents kind of the town's
[22:03] share of that. So that would be for the items, you know, if a if a water main breaks and the repair is $15,000, Sue has pays 10, the town pays five.
[22:16] So combined, you've got about $900,000 in cash capital for the year.
[22:22] and that that that seems to track pretty well with what we've seen in the last year as the town has you know during the good husbandry period.
[22:34] We also do this this statement also assumes that the town will be financing $2.7 million of capital improvements each year with debt.
[22:48] And so, again, what you see in the debt service in the debt service area of the statement
[22:55] is the debt service on those capital improvements, the debt service for typically that lags by
[23:03] one year. I'd make two final points before, you know,
[23:11] Before any questions, the first point I would make is that the annual billings in this water system right now with the current rates are about $12.9 million.
[23:22] And if you look at the expenses, the water system expenses are less than $12.9 million up until FY 24.
[23:34] So, again, this was us demonstrating to the rating agencies the self-sufficiency.
[23:41] One thing that did come up with the rating agencies is they asked us to calculate something
[23:47] called a debt service coverage ratio, which is basically the revenue budgeted surplus plus
[23:55] the debt service, the debt services divided into the sum of those numbers, and basically
[24:04] what the rating agencies have told us is if our debt service coverage ratio, they're
[24:10] saying at a minimum, we like it at 1.1, we like it even better if it's at 1.2. So that's
[24:18] going to be a ratio that we're going to watch quite a bit as we think about the timing and
[24:23] amount of future rate increases.
[24:27] You know, again, if you look at that tenure projection right now, the debt service coverage
[24:31] ratio is above what we've been asked to target in each of those 10 years.
[24:41] And then the last point I would just make is that we do have revenue budget at surplus in
[24:47] In this projection and you know based on enterprise fund accounting, if the water system has a surplus at the end of the year, that money has to stay in the enterprise fund, it can only be used for water.
[25:02] I think it would be great if we could have conversations about what to do with that surplus.
[25:06] us. You know, and we've talked about things like establishing a fund balance, increasing
[25:13] capital investment, maybe financing more of the capital with cash. I think there are
[25:21] a lot of possibilities, but the bottom line is that now that we have the cost of the operator
[25:27] and we have the cost of the debt service, the financial projections, and Dick, you may remember
[25:35] this from a year ago, the projections at that time were $48 million savings in town ownership,
[25:44] those have gone up by another $21 million. That was kind of a John Asher back to the envelope,
[25:52] but essentially the financials look even stronger than the decision a year ago,
[26:00] And the good news is that is that these big numbers are, you know, are all pretty well locked in.
[26:09] I'll maybe pause now to answer any specific questions. I know there's a lot of information here.
[26:18] So Mary, you're saying that the surplus is here could be used.
[26:22] Offset the borrowing requirements of the 2.7 million.
[26:26] You need initial years that we expect to be spending on the CAPEX.
[26:30] We could, we could, you know, David, I guess one of the things that we've been advised to do is to maybe establish some policies and some benchmarks that might guide current and future water commissioners.
[26:47] I think the first thing that I probably want to do just based on what I know right now is to establish a water enterprise fund fund balance or a rainy day fund.
[26:58] And I just kind of like the idea of having some cash available for a variety of purposes.
[27:06] And if I look and say, and again, I'm just looking at the town, we have a target in
[27:14] town government that our fund balance is 16 to 20% of our expenses.
[27:19] This is a more acid intensive business.
[27:22] So, if you just said, you know, you want 25% cash, that would be $3 million.
[27:29] So, you know, I probably looked to do that first, just to maintain the financial stability
[27:37] of the Center Prize Fund, but certainly financing more capital with cash or increasing
[27:45] the capital investment would be two very, I think, very smart things to look at.
[27:54] I agree, and I assume that the capital improvements line item here under debt service is borrowing
[28:02] the full amount, not subsidizing any of it from the surplus.
[28:06] Right.
[28:07] It's borrowing that service associated with $2.7 million every year.
[28:13] And again, remember two that in the operating expenses, there is between Suez and the town,
[28:21] about $900,000 in cash capital.
[28:25] I think as we, particularly over the next year, as we learn more about this water system,
[28:34] I think that that will give us some insight as to how to finance the necessary capital
[28:42] investment. I think we're going to have a much better picture of that.
[28:47] As usual, I'll have a different opinion in terms of using it for capital. I had mentioned
[28:53] the gym that most of this is going to go for long-term assets seven years ago. And this is probably
[29:01] given your time constraint, Mary. I know that there's going to be an opportunity to talk about it later.
[29:06] I would really say that I think it I would rather see it used in a different way. I think rainy day fund makes a lot of sense.
[29:16] But in terms of reducing the amount of borrowing for capital, basically what you're going to be doing is charging current day payers on a disproportionate sum for asset investments that are going to be 50 or 70 years in length.
[29:32] Yeah, you know, I will say that we've we've given a lot of thought and you know, did you help this on the financing the level payment versus level principle?
[29:42] One of the things as we were looking at the death structuring and things was the idea that we didn't want to necessarily overburden overburden rate payers within a certain period of time.
[29:56] So, you know, we...
[30:00] I think what the water commissioners would be looking to do, supported by the superintendent, is to establish some financial policies in this first year that might guide some of those decisions.
[30:15] So I did have one specific Mr. Mary. I think in the initial financing, there was a $2.7
[30:24] billion allowance to take care of the first year's capital. And given the fact that you're starting
[30:31] with 11 months in the year, and I have an utter chance to read the source contract.
[30:37] I don't or committee is not at any discussion about how you're going to proceed with capital
[30:43] programs.
[30:44] I know a query and follow a PUC reviewed or a P process, but I guess the question which
[30:51] I have is if in fact there was $1.7 million that was freed up as a part of the initial financing.
[30:59] And by the way, congratulations on doing it that way.
[31:03] Thank you.
[31:04] Mark, but we'll realistically, we'll,
[31:10] we'll reward our system, have to keep the ability to really spend $2.7 million during
[31:16] the first year.
[31:17] Yeah.
[31:18] Or is there really some surplus that is going to be left over because of the time frame,
[31:24] the RFP process and whatever.
[31:27] Sure.
[31:28] So two things on that. First of all, in terms of the initial borrowing and remember town meeting authorized $114 million.
[31:37] There was $2.7 million of capital in that, which actually the town has spent that plus a little more during good husbandry.
[31:47] Remember that the day after the town meeting vote, any capital expenditures became the responsibility of the town.
[31:54] So in the last year during the good husbandry period, we've invested a little bit
[32:00] over $3 million in capital spending, mostly water main projects, but also some
[32:07] of the kind of recurring capital. As we look to FY21, it is possible, Dick, that we
[32:15] We may not necessarily be able to invest the 2.7 because a lot of that money is for water
[32:27] mains which we can't do during the winter time.
[32:32] We will be this summer poll is doing some road projects where we will have to raise the
[32:41] eight boxes and do some necessary water work to support those projects, but it's possible
[32:51] that given the timing of the acquisition, we are authorized to borrow up to $2.7 million
[33:00] this year. But we may, to your point, that may not happen. I think it's our hope that
[33:11] But while we have not been able to replace water mains, you know, over the last few months
[33:18] and it may be difficult to get anything completed by November or December, I think it's our
[33:25] hope that we might be able to really hit the ground running in March and potentially start
[33:36] more projects in March than we normally would.
[33:39] So there is some possibility that there might be a further, further amount of surplus or you basically would just borrow less money in the first year.
[33:50] Right, and so again, just what I would point out is if you look at FY21 under the debt service and the capital improvements, we will not start paying the debt service on FY21.
[34:06] capital that we financed with debt until FY22. So if there's any sort of a, if we do
[34:15] not invest 2.7 million in capital, that will actually affect FY22, not FY21.
[34:23] Okay. Thank you.
[34:30] Any other, David, or Dick, any other questions on this?
[34:34] Well, Mary, you mentioned we spent over 2.7 million, we spent over 3 million, I think,
[34:40] the capital during a good husbandry period, but that's not, that's part of what you call
[34:47] a year one in your spreadsheet here.
[34:50] No, actually, actually, David, that was, that would be in, that is the year preceding year
[34:56] one.
[34:57] Year one is FY21, which began July 1st.
[35:00] That, actually, the good husbandry capital that was spent was part of the, you know, the
[35:08] borrowing to purchase—basically, when the town is purchasing the water system and
[35:13] tomorrow, I got to sign these documents and I think sign a check to Aquarian.
[35:19] We are basically paying them about $108 million for the water system, plus we are reimbursing
[35:28] them $3 million for the capital that they spent on our behalf during Good Husband
[35:33] Dream. Okay, thank you. And again, you know, when we, we asked Tom meeting for
[35:38] authorization for $114 million, we're actually borrowing less than that, but
[35:45] instead of us directly investing the capital, we're reimbursing Aquarian. Okay, thank
[35:51] you. I got it now. Yeah, I'd also mentioned that in the last year, you know, during
[35:57] this good husbandry period. The town has held weekly capital calls with Aquarian. And we've also
[36:04] gotten detailed financials to track capital spending to track where the capital was spent, what it
[36:10] was spent on. And I think we're going to, I think that's going to help us as we move forward. I think
[36:18] we've learned a lot about the capital investment, the nature of investments. And I think the records
[36:26] that we've kept will be very helpful to our water superintendent and I think
[36:33] actually the fact that $3 million was spent it was substantially more than
[36:40] would normally have been spent so the time was not lost and I think there was
[36:44] at least more important project over in Hull that got done during that time yeah
[36:49] you know the biggest project was was a water main on Atlantic Avenue in Hull
[36:56] And actually last year, last year, the number of feet of water mains replaced was very
[37:06] high, higher than the average, and understandably, when it came to the springtime, Aquarian essentially
[37:17] said to us that as part of good husbandry, it's really kind of taking care of the system,
[37:23] But they didn't think, you know, they said, listen, we don't want to like start a water main project and turn it over to the towntap way.
[37:32] And if you look at the good husbandry statute, it pretty much says, you know, you, you, you fix anything that's broken.
[37:41] But, but you don't typically embark on new projects during good husbandry and, you know, aquarium suggested that to the town.
[37:49] And that also made sense to us.
[37:55] I would just also just tell you in closing that, you know, whether it relates to capital or aspects of the transition.
[38:05] The town is very grateful to the professionalism that Aquarian has and ever source have shown in the last year.
[38:14] They're not just in terms of following through on their good husbandry obligation, but working with the town and Sue as on this transition.
[38:25] We really appreciate the very, the cooperation that we've received at the ever source corporate level, at the aquarium corporate level.
[38:34] and here in Hangum, and you know we are delighted at the fact that every
[38:42] Aquarian, every Aquarian employee except for one who is relocating out of the
[38:50] area has accepted a job offer, so we think that that will provide important
[38:57] continuity, and as Sue has pointed out to us last night during the Selecman's meeting
[39:02] actually two of the Aquarian operators actually received promotions as part of this transition.
[39:13] So we think that's really going to be good for the ratepayers and we think it's just going to help with continuity.
[39:24] Great. Thank you.
[39:34] last eight years. It's been amazing to watch you. It's been really a pleasure to be involved
[39:42] with this with you and your leadership, your diligence, your perseverance, your analytical
[39:50] perspective, your good judgment has really fully carried this project forward. So I think all
[40:00] of us owe you a very, very big thank you for everything you've done to to bring this project
[40:07] as far and it's really been an amazing amount of work and I know we all very, very much appreciate
[40:14] all you've done. So thank you. Well thank you and everybody on this call and many more people
[40:22] you know an undertaking like this happens as a result of a lot of very committed people those
[40:28] that started with the idea and all the way through and I'm really excited about what's
[40:35] ahead for the town and I think what I'm most pleased about is in the year since town
[40:43] meeting overwhelmingly supported this purchase as we've gotten into the transition and what's
[40:51] involved, the reality and the numbers you see here are very consistent with the work
[40:59] that was done by the Acquisition Study Committee.
[41:03] As we've gone through and gotten all this information, it has, for me at least, affirmed
[41:10] the decision by town meeting, and I think as I said last night, both the town and Sue
[41:19] as understand the responsibility that we're going to be undertaking come Friday and we are prepared.
[41:28] And, you know, really appreciate this committee. There's going to be important work with respect
[41:34] to cost of service and capital studies and, you know, where do we put these surpluses?
[41:42] And I think that it's going to be very helpful to have all of your expertise and your perspective.
[41:50] And, you know, also appreciate your committee taking a look down the road
[41:54] at whether the governance structure that's in place right now is appropriate in the long term.
[42:02] That's going to be really important work.
[42:05] and I'm personally grateful to each of you for being involved in it, and I speak for the board and the town administrator as well on that.
[42:19] Okay.
[42:20] Good.
[42:20] Thank you very much.
[42:22] Thank you very much.
[42:22] All right.
[42:23] Thank you very much.
[42:25] Thanks again.
[42:25] Appreciate it.
[42:26] Thank you, Mary.
[42:30] Great. Well, we appreciate Mary coming and walking us through this.
[42:32] Any other questions you want to talk about the tenure projections? Any questions, any concerns as you look at this?
[42:47] As I mentioned, I think the discussion, which is one that is going to take some time, is the question of what happens to the surplus or so even that there is surplus.
[42:59] And I think there'll probably be some, you know, obviously different ideas from different
[43:05] people in terms of doing that.
[43:07] Personally, as far as the cost of service study, this thing is simple compared to a typical
[43:12] utility cost of service study.
[43:14] I mean, we're dealing with no cost.
[43:17] And I think it's going to, I mean, you're going to look at the actual results of the operations.
[43:23] There are a lot of variables.
[43:24] And you're absolutely talking in my mind about rate structure and what are not there ought to be some appropriate changes to her mind.
[43:35] So anyway, you know, did you read my notes beforehand, because that's effectively what I was going to say about the rate study because when it comes right down to it, there's not a lot of variable expenses here that we don't already know about.
[43:51] right? So we already have the operator expenses, you know them. We know the debt
[43:58] service. Between those two of them they represent I think 90% of the costs just
[44:06] between those two line items. So you're right. You're right about that. I think we'll
[44:10] be focusing a lot on rate structure versus cost of service because that's
[44:21] had a little bit. David, yes? Well, cost of service will obviously be impacted by the future cost
[44:27] of amortization or debt service on capital. I think capital will factor significantly in
[44:34] future planning and how it would impact future rates. I mean, some capital projects will
[44:41] hopefully result with some cost reduction, but a lot of capital projects are just replacement
[44:46] of assets and kind and won't have any impact.
[44:49] So, as I look at, if I'm involved in the cost
[44:53] of service study, I'll obviously be tied to the asset plan
[44:57] and the CAF X that we...
[45:00] I look forward to over the 10-year horizon. I think that's where the rover will meet the road. Now, you're absolutely right. I think we're the capital assets study, and let's call it a master plan for planning for capital needs. We'll certainly influence the cluster service and rate structure. So, you know, when we think about sequencing of those two events, we'll have to keep that in mind.
[45:29] to you know there's one assumption you can make going into it for the rate structure of the rate
[45:35] the cost of service and assume a 2.7 million cat-backs investment every year but that may change
[45:41] based on you know what the capital assets study shows who knows right so it was the name.
[45:49] I think it was interesting to comment me by, I think it was Bill Walsh, a dwarver headed
[45:56] aquarium in one of the meetings in which he made the point that in terms of capital
[46:03] rich managers and everything, the simple answer of just saying we're going to spend as much
[46:08] money as we can for line replacements is not necessarily the correct answer if in fact the line
[46:15] and replacements are needed, so there's clearly ketchup
[46:19] and whatever, but there's the open questions
[46:22] to be talked about so.
[46:24] Yeah, you get a wonder if you reach a point
[46:26] where the CAP-X requirement is less
[46:29] than what was anticipated or needed.
[46:31] You're absolutely right.
[46:33] Because these things have a long service life
[46:36] where they should have a very long service life
[46:38] because you've indicated.
[46:40] So at some point, it doesn't make sense
[46:42] invest in the system for, if you're not getting incremental improvements, so yeah, I guess
[46:52] an enterprise fund accounting, we don't depreciate assets, I don't see that here, so that you pay
[46:58] for CAPEX and you don't advertise it, other than in your debt service. Right, it's really cash,
[47:05] catch out.
[47:08] You don't really need to do that for this purpose, at least. But I do think
[47:14] it is really interesting. I went back to the Anderson study that was done during the
[47:21] analysis period, leading up to town meeting, and it was pretty close to this. You know,
[47:29] give or take, you know, 10% here and there.
[47:31] The projections were, you know, pretty close, you know,
[47:35] certainly we have lowered that service payments.
[47:38] But some of the operating expenses were,
[47:42] you know, it was not far off at all.
[47:44] And I think we know, we certainly know a lot more today
[47:47] than we did a year and a half ago,
[47:49] or two years ago.
[47:50] When that was created, we know the real numbers now.
[47:54] And I think it came in eerily close
[47:56] to what we're actually realizing in expenses which is I think it's a good
[48:01] thing for the more compounded back then.
[48:06] I mentioned to Jim on if if you take a
[48:10] look at rim the automatic rate adjustment that aquarium would have been
[48:15] eligible for you're going to see already a big difference in terms of the level
[48:22] across as compared to what they would have been entitled to, with what they spent substantial dollars
[48:30] even in this year and the next two years without a file rate increase. So where the town is
[48:37] well ahead of itself at this point.
[48:41] Yeah it's it's hard it's hard to show that to folks but just know
[48:46] that that's reality that under acquiring ownership that it would have been much more expensive for
[48:52] rate pairs, basically. It's hard to show that in detail, but. So yes, there's a lot of
[48:59] work to be done. So I'll leave this up for a second if anyone was interested in continuing
[49:04] to look at these numbers as we continue our conversation because actually, this is where
[49:08] the rubber meets the road. This is the reason we purchased the company to have control over
[49:14] expenses and have control over capital investments. And I know that Suez will be looking closely
[49:20] at some of the practices that were in place
[49:23] and potentially changing them.
[49:25] And I heard a discussion today all around the flushing
[49:30] of the system because I know there's been a lot of concern
[49:32] with folks around Brown and Dirty Water,
[49:36] especially the summer with the increased usage
[49:40] and folks working from home have increased usage.
[49:43] And there's some strategies that there are already talking
[49:45] about to help reduce those issues and to deal with many of the dead ends that our water
[49:56] system has in place which makes flushing a little more challenging and difficult, but
[50:01] there's ways to deal with that.
[50:04] I think over time with the patience of the repair and the perseverance of the system and
[50:11] the water commissioners and the new water superintendent who will mention in a moment.
[50:16] Over time, I think that the folks will see a real improvement in the system, as well
[50:20] as a much more predictable cost and public input over rates.
[50:26] So I think in the long run, this will also look back at this has been a very worthwhile
[50:31] effort.
[50:34] So in any case, that's my hope.
[50:38] So let me take this on down for seconds, we'll go back here.
[50:43] Does anyone...
[50:44] Let me ask this one person on the phone if you have a question we're happy to answer
[50:51] any questions you may have.
[50:58] Okay, I don't hear any from the person on the line, so we'll move forward.
[51:05] Again, thank you for your input on this and thank you for the good suggestions as we move
[51:11] forward.
[51:12] will continue to work on this. So let's talk briefly. We kind of dropped the
[51:19] gun a little bit. We talked about the two studies. So this committee also will
[51:22] be involved in a couple of studies, which are very important. One is a
[51:27] capital asset study, which is looking at the infrastructure in the system,
[51:34] engaging with a professional engineering firm to really take a deep dive and to
[51:41] help us do some planning. Identify where improvements can be made, look at the storage,
[51:48] look at all the various areas within the system, and help prioritize potential investments
[51:56] moving forward in the system. And I like to think of it as a master plan for the system.
[52:03] So we'll have a real roadmap as to where and when to spend our capital dollars into the
[52:10] system. The world will be most effective. Yeah, I've learned with a little bit of pre-work that
[52:17] these firms have really sophisticated modeling abilities. I mean, they can effectively mimic
[52:23] on and a computer. The impact of various projects will have to the system itself that can show
[52:31] how water flow changes. I'm sure you guys have probably seen these things, but these hydraulic
[52:36] like analysis tools that they have can really go a long way in understanding how and most
[52:43] effectively to make investments and improvements in the system on a cost-effective basis.
[52:48] So we'll certainly want to partner with a firm that can bring that to the table.
[52:53] And then also we've got some work to do around on account of for water and to the extent
[53:00] that they can help us analyze again where investments can be made to help with that is
[53:05] helpful.
[53:05] Now, Suez also has some of these capabilities, so as part of their responsibility, there
[53:10] will also be in parallel looking at the system, but I think it's really helpful and will
[53:15] be helpful to have a third party.
[53:17] So to that, we'll work with the town administrator as a chief purchasing agent to go through the
[53:25] process of developing a, whether it's an RFP or an RFQ, but identify the most appropriate
[53:32] we affirm that the township higher to engage with and do the study.
[53:40] And then I've been told these studies can take up to six months or so and then oftentimes
[53:45] they're able to give us an update as to what their findings are before the final report
[53:50] is produced.
[53:50] So we'll want to engage with them on a regular basis and clearly they'll be working very
[53:56] collaboratively with Suez because they'll be looking for some specific data that they'll
[54:01] we need from Suez to do the analysis of.
[54:05] Dick, you seem to know more about these things than I do.
[54:08] So is there anything I missed on that?
[54:10] No, I don't think so.
[54:12] I mean, you've got a whole bunch of material analysis
[54:15] with regard to your lines
[54:16] and the system is made up with so many different ages
[54:21] and different types of things.
[54:23] So, no.
[54:24] Well, other than the fact that the focus
[54:27] when the town reviewed this was on lines
[54:30] And yet, as we all know, having gone through the operating proposals,
[54:36] here's a lot of capital related outside of the line aspect of it,
[54:41] with regard to order treatment plant.
[54:44] A lot of it, I think it can be taken care of in the short term,
[54:48] but we shouldn't forget that aspect of it as well.
[54:52] I know I personally was focused almost totally on lines during the discussion,
[54:57] this little bit, but, but no. And then I think there's also going to be a need to look at storage
[55:05] facilities, look at, we have a tank on Turkey Hill, see what condition that tank is in. I know there's
[55:11] been concerned in hull around pressure at times. And there was a tank that used to be in hull that
[55:17] was taken offline. So, does it make sense to do something there to help improve pressure? I think
[55:23] these are all the analysis. And those are usually pretty big ticket items too. So,
[55:27] Those are the analysis, I think, that we'll be looking for an expert to help us to navigate.
[55:33] I mean, that's an example where you can use storage tank, you can visit the booster pump,
[55:38] where you can increase the diameter of the line. So, right, I think there's a lot of solutions there,
[55:45] and I think that, you know, we'll look to be informed what the best and most cost-effective
[55:50] the solution would be for the improvements
[55:53] on a long-term, for a long-term basis.
[55:55] So, in any case, so we'll need to engage in end.
[55:59] So that's one responsibility we'll have.
[56:01] And the second one is we've already discussed this
[56:03] around the cost of service and rate and rate structure,
[56:07] which will help inform the water commissioners
[56:10] to an extent when they're considering
[56:14] whether or not to raise rates or consider the rates.
[56:20] which will be next year.
[56:23] So again, the dovetails I think very closely and very neatly with the capital asset study
[56:30] because again, it will help inform where investments will need to be made.
[56:34] So again, we'll need to partner with the town on understanding kind of the process.
[56:39] There is a water superintendent now on hired.
[56:42] His name is Russell Turney and he was, he almost joined us tonight.
[56:47] He just joined this town this week as an official employee.
[56:52] David, maybe you can just give a little bit of background on him.
[56:55] We were, he was in stealth mode when the selection was made.
[57:02] Now that he's on board, can you recall, can you give us a little bit of background on Russ' career?
[57:08] Sure. Russ' background is largely in the operation
[57:13] through a contract-arrangement of municipal water systems.
[57:18] Chelsea, I think, being the most recent.
[57:21] So you could say he's sort of a background similar to having worked for Suez.
[57:27] But in that role, he understands how municipal water systems,
[57:33] and for that matter of water treatment, waste water treatment systems work,
[57:37] work and would often be involved in town meetings for the allocation of budgets and caps.
[57:46] The only shortfall in his experience would be not having worked directly for a town.
[57:54] You know, he's got all the experience as a contractor dealing with town affairs.
[57:59] So that was, you know, the fact that he had all that operating experience with various municipal
[58:08] systems was actually quite good. He's not wed to one particular perspective on one system.
[58:15] High energy individual knows this stuff. I think we'll work very well with Suez. There won't be any
[58:29] the interaction between the contract and the town that was sort of like, so once again
[58:34] on, he was the first choice and we were able to attract him.
[58:43] Yeah, he'll join us in a future meeting.
[58:45] He was very eager to just had a commitment with one of his children tonight, but otherwise
[58:51] he really wanted to be here, then he passed us along, his whole house, all of us is looking
[58:56] He'll be a real effective partner on both of these studies.
[59:02] Internally, he'll be very interested in helping guide the process of doing the studies.
[59:08] So we'll figure out kind of logistics around them and who's doing what and who's leading
[59:12] what.
[59:13] But certainly, we're here to help guide the process and help analyze the results of the
[59:22] studies.
[59:22] So to that end, what I was hoping to do was assign you or four of you to one of these two studies, and I received, and I asked for independently and we see back some preferences.
[59:39] So I'm going to ask a Dick and Scott to work on the capital asset study, seems to align with both of your experiences very well, your background very well.
[59:49] and David and Joe will be working on the process service race structure study so just
[59:58] spare with me a little bit is.
[1:00:00] Let's get through the next week or so, because there's a lot of movie parts. And in fact, I want to finish that conversation about the transition, because I think I stopped a little bit sooner than this more things to talk about.
[1:00:15] So I'd love for you guys to be involved in that. Again, I'll circle back as to how that will work. I think the cost of service study, David, will be one, don't be too eager to start, because I think again, that will dovetail.
[1:00:30] that will fit in nicely with the capital assets study.
[1:00:34] But I don't think that's as urgently to start.
[1:00:36] I think the capital asset is the first priority.
[1:00:40] There's a lot of information around the condition today,
[1:00:43] but I think we'll really want to have that up
[1:00:46] and running as soon as possible
[1:00:49] to help inform everybody on the plan
[1:00:52] for the system moving forward.
[1:00:54] So, Dick, I'll circle back.
[1:00:56] I'll consider the two of you kind of the leader
[1:00:59] of the two if you don't mind and just communicate with you and then you can collectively communicate
[1:01:04] with your peers on those projects. So thank you. Thanks for stepping up and offering to help
[1:01:11] with those. I really appreciate it. Now going back to the transition, David, you had a question
[1:01:17] about billing. Yes, the question is, will a querian's final bill be based on an actual water meter read
[1:01:25] will it be estimated, which case has it back in stock later?
[1:01:30] No, they're going to read the meters as fast as, and you know, most of them are electronic,
[1:01:36] I believe, I think it's a flick of a switch or a drive-by, I'm not sure what it is.
[1:01:41] I think it's a drive-by, but yeah, they will be actively reading meters on the 31st.
[1:01:47] Okay, good, because I think that would be a whole whole...
[1:01:52] Yeah, we did not want to get into estimations.
[1:01:54] We and they didn't either they want you want to cut it and get paid what they're entitled to and then you know
[1:02:02] The in the town certainly wants to do the same, so yeah again, so the interesting part to me was not realizing that
[1:02:10] I thought everyone got the bill at the same time and it doesn't work that way
[1:02:14] So you know some folks we are gonna receive a bill for only three or four days of service
[1:02:21] That's just the way it has to be
[1:02:24] They're just going to get billed for the rest of their quarter, and again, maybe a short
[1:02:29] or three or four days.
[1:02:30] So, if any of the general public are involved in that, I apologize, but it will just be
[1:02:37] short-term pain and long-term gain on this one.
[1:02:41] And so, be on the lookout.
[1:02:43] Now, what's the other implications I'm billing is, as I mentioned, if you get statements
[1:02:52] electronically today, that will be stopped after August 1st, because we want everyone to get a
[1:03:00] hard copy statement for their first statement. Then you can reassign up for eDelivery of their
[1:03:07] statement, because again, you're going to have a new account number that we really need everyone
[1:03:12] to utilize. So we hope this is an extra reminder to folks. When they send their payment in, it goes
[1:03:19] So wear river water system and you write down your new account number, use the coupon or whatever you pay.
[1:03:26] You can go online and pay it electronically still.
[1:03:28] We just want to remind everybody this is the new system, new account number.
[1:03:33] So we looked at maintaining the account numbers.
[1:03:37] We looked at every possible iteration to make it as easy as possible.
[1:03:42] But for us to ensure that aquarium received their revenue and we received our revenue without any co-mingling,
[1:03:49] the two account numbers was really the only solution that made any sort of sense at all.
[1:03:54] So sorry to folks is 13,000 households out there and going to be a little bit of painful
[1:04:02] and in fact if there's any friction on this whole thing, it's around billing.
[1:04:07] So you'll see a lot of communication about it but I'm sure this is going to be mistakes
[1:04:10] made but we do have a reconciliation process in place to fix anything but you know we hope
[1:04:16] So folks are understanding as we go through this first quarter of billing because that's really where the problems are going to be.
[1:04:25] So yeah, so customers got their letters on as soon as the closing is done, you're going to start seeing signage change.
[1:04:33] So it's going to be some temporary signage on mainstream at the water treatment plant.
[1:04:38] You'll see a sign put up where they're you're going to guys you're going to start seeing our new logo everywhere.
[1:04:43] So be prepared.
[1:04:46] I think it looks great. I've seen it now. I thought it looked great in the letterhead. I've
[1:04:51] seen sample mockups for the trucks and everything and I think it looks great. So I think that was a
[1:04:56] good selection by us. And I'll be going to start seeing it all over the place. They have stickers. They're
[1:05:01] going to put stickers over the name Aquarian that's going to say Wear River. All temporary until we have
[1:05:07] the permanent signage, which just takes a little bit of time to produce everything. Nobody wanted to
[1:05:12] go through the effort of producing it now, just in case something were to happen.
[1:05:17] So it's all temporary, but everything will be made permanent in the next week or, I'm
[1:05:22] sorry, the next month after the temporary signage is up.
[1:05:26] If you'll start seeing that around 10 as of this weekend, again, phone numbers will be
[1:05:32] active.
[1:05:33] We have a website where riverwater.com, up and running, up and running since Monday, that will
[1:05:40] be the central repository for a lot of information about the water company and the water system.
[1:05:46] My Suez has their own MySuez.com.
[1:05:49] They'll be a link to it on our webpage.
[1:05:52] And that's where you can do electronic bill payment, and you can find out information
[1:05:55] about historical bills from the Suez running going forward.
[1:06:03] Again, acquiring will continue to communicate water issues.
[1:06:07] will also have that on the wherever water system site.
[1:06:11] So we're really looking to improve communication.
[1:06:13] It's going to be a work in progress.
[1:06:15] There's going to be some hiccups at times.
[1:06:17] We're going to do the best we can to move forward.
[1:06:20] And then make it as an efficient process as possible for everybody.
[1:06:25] But I can assure you the system itself is going to go seamlessly.
[1:06:29] It's maybe some of the communication hiccups,
[1:06:31] but we'll learn if we make mistakes.
[1:06:34] It's full of the behind-the-scenes work on communication and a letter that was prepared
[1:06:40] sending out.
[1:06:41] Is it somebody in the town doing that or is that Suez or you?
[1:06:45] There's been a few of us.
[1:06:47] So you guys have these two studies.
[1:06:49] I've been working as Guides helped as well on a lot of hands involved.
[1:06:57] There's myself as Michelle Montsegger, the system town manager, and Suez has internal
[1:07:05] communication people.
[1:07:06] So we've been working diligently on the communication.
[1:07:10] What about in the longer term, where there's a budget item for Edmund, will there be half
[1:07:16] of a person's time or a quarter of a person's time to support the water superintendent?
[1:07:23] Yeah, so there's a, he'll have, Russ will have a support person helping him and that person will be doing a lot of reporting and will most likely it's really up to Russ as to how he sees fit that this person will be utilized, but he anticipates communication will be a big part of that person's responsibility.
[1:07:46] And, you know, the town owns that website, we create content for it, we run it, so there
[1:07:55] will probably be some sort of a cost allocation at some point, not a lot, but a little bit
[1:07:59] of a cost allocation of the venture link for the website that's in the projections.
[1:08:07] But yeah, and Suez has full-time communications people, so that's sort of full-time job.
[1:08:12] So you may have remembered we had Madeline Wyatt joined us she's the branding and communications
[1:08:21] person at Suez and then a woman named G is very involved too there and their customer
[1:08:28] service manager Maria has been helping to educate the aquarium folks and fill them in on.
[1:08:35] We just produced for them FAQ's which will be on our website the wherever ever water
[1:08:40] website, again, to help everybody understand exactly what this means and communicate to the public.
[1:08:47] So yeah, there's those are some of the details of Dick around who does what that is we have
[1:08:56] things in place on a temporary basis, but we'll look to Russ to make some of those decisions on
[1:09:02] on a permanent long-term basis.
[1:09:05] There's a very special information
[1:09:06] for developing an anthem for a wearable water system.
[1:09:11] An anthem?
[1:09:12] Yes.
[1:09:14] A song?
[1:09:16] That's an attempt at you.
[1:09:18] I'm, you know what?
[1:09:20] Maybe we'll have a meeting, and you can sample
[1:09:22] some songs with us, Dick.
[1:09:23] You want to hear me sing?
[1:09:26] Maybe pull your ukulele or whatever you play.
[1:09:29] And we'd love to hear what you have to say.
[1:09:32] So yeah, so, so like going on, a lot of, you know, the town had hoped to have some sort of an opening ceremony,
[1:09:41] but clearly that's not happening in the age of COVID.
[1:09:45] There is a, there is a, on Monday, in fact, I just made me think of something.
[1:09:52] There's a welcome to the Suez employees, the water treatment plant employees
[1:09:59] who are hired by Suez, so this is Zoom. Welcome. You may have seen it. Circulating
[1:10:07] limitation was circulated a few of us. Our committee was invited to this. I
[1:10:13] don't know if you're able to attend. I may need to post that actually if enough of
[1:10:17] us if a quorum. Are you two going to attend that Zoom call, do you think? Monday the
[1:10:23] 13th. Monday the third.
[1:10:28] Yes, I accepted the invitation. Great. Dick, do you know? I'm around.
[1:10:34] I have not accepted looking at the long list of people. I'm happy to attend. If you think it's
[1:10:40] appropriate, but I was sort of put off by the multitude of people who are in this room call, so.
[1:10:47] Yeah. You know, I tell you what it's about. It's really about recognizing that the employees
[1:10:53] That the Suez is hired. It's it's about it's more for them welcoming them to Suez and
[1:11:00] The town thanking the employees because again, it's been eight years of uncertainty for these people and
[1:11:08] You know, we and they're the ones who and that's where the rubber meets the road. I mean these folks are dedicated
[1:11:14] You know helping out and making sure that we get high quality water and they are
[1:11:19] are committed to their jobs, but they've lived under a cloud for a year, so I appreciate
[1:11:28] their commitment.
[1:11:29] I'm happy to be able to participate if it's appropriate.
[1:11:32] Yeah, please do.
[1:11:33] It's really, it's, you know, none of us will say anything.
[1:11:38] The minister, the town of ministers says something, the Northeast Regional Manager of Suez
[1:11:44] will say something.
[1:11:45] I mean, actually, I think the CEO and president of
[1:11:49] Sue, not acquiring the president of the CEO of Sue Ed
[1:11:54] are going to be on site at the treatment plant
[1:11:56] welcoming and thanking their new employees.
[1:12:01] So I think that's a really nice gesture for them.
[1:12:06] So this is really a Sue Ed's thing,
[1:12:08] but we're invited to participate.
[1:12:10] And I think it will be a short and sweet.
[1:12:16] The town will send out some sort of pressure released announcing the closing of it.
[1:12:21] And we hope to have some sort of a celebration at some point when the sole COVID thing ends.
[1:12:27] But we didn't think it was appropriate today to do that.
[1:12:32] So that's it. We're in the five yard line, maybe the three yard line.
[1:12:35] and we just, you know, we don't anticipate a Malcolm Butler type of an
[1:12:41] interception. So we're excited and it's two days away and then it's our baby.
[1:12:48] You know, as Murphy's Law has it, there will probably be a major water man break
[1:12:51] around 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. But, you know, I think folks are ready to handle that.
[1:12:58] Should that occur? So
[1:13:02] good. So we'll move forward with those studies. We'll circle back.
[1:13:06] I'll circle back with you guys individually on kind of what the next steps are.
[1:13:09] I've got a couple of open-ended questions for the town.
[1:13:12] The towns have their hands full on a couple of issues lately, so I'll have more attention
[1:13:17] from them early next week to talk about these studies and we'll figure out how best to proceed.
[1:13:24] And then something just to think about, I don't want to keep you folks too long here tonight,
[1:13:28] but the other part of our responsibility is, again, we'll drop off the transition name
[1:13:35] at some point and will just be the water system evaluation committee and that's really all about
[1:13:42] governance and you know is what is what's in place working and is there a way to improve upon
[1:13:51] what we have I will most likely and I haven't done it yet you know Karen Johnson did a lot of work
[1:13:59] in terms of collecting what other peer towns
[1:14:02] that have done, and I'm going to ask her
[1:14:05] for that information to the extent
[1:14:07] that she's willing to share with me.
[1:14:09] It would be really helpful to know
[1:14:11] kind of what our peer communities are doing
[1:14:13] without having to recreate the wheel.
[1:14:16] And then I think we need to figure out as a committee,
[1:14:20] and what's her methodology
[1:14:21] and what kind of metrics will we use
[1:14:22] to figure out if it's a working or not working?
[1:14:26] I don't have any answers,
[1:14:27] And I'll be open to whatever you folks suggest in terms of how we think through this.
[1:14:34] But the system needs time to mature and to get in place and things need to run.
[1:14:40] And, you know, we'll probably need to go through one rate signing cycle and see how that works
[1:14:44] and, you know, take the pulse of the customers and talk to haul and talk to go has it and make
[1:14:50] sure folks feel, you know, just get in some input and, you know, so this is going to be
[1:14:55] longer term, but I just want to put it in the back of your heads to, you know, just take
[1:15:00] What would be helpful for us to make these decisions, and just think about some of those metrics you may want to see down the road. That's why I wanted to have that as an agenda item today, just so we don't forget about it. I think the existence of another committee, I think it's called a water board.
[1:15:20] But I think it's primarily devoted to scrutiny of water rates. If I got my facts correct.
[1:15:29] actually there's a there's a it's the the water supply committee more
[1:15:33] supply and they're actually you know they served previously and I think
[1:15:39] Kirk Schilz is a member of that I think that it needs to be discussions
[1:15:45] around their role moving forward if they they ended up serving as kind of the
[1:15:50] liaison the the town committee liaison for aquarium so aquarium would go to them
[1:15:57] on a really on a quarterly basis and provide an update as to what's happening with the
[1:16:02] system.
[1:16:04] And then they also, they historically became involved like, they were formed like 30
[1:16:09] years ago and there was some significant supply issues going on now.
[1:16:14] So they were monitoring the supply of the system and helping to determine and study whether
[1:16:19] on new wells needed to be found or dog or whatever the right terminology is brought online,
[1:16:28] I guess. And then they morphed into sort of the liaison for requirements. So I think
[1:16:33] there needs to be some discussions around kind of what their future is.
[1:16:38] Yeah, I'd forgotten about that committee, but there is another one. Yes, the rules and regulations.
[1:16:45] There's a customer advisory board.
[1:16:48] That's it.
[1:16:49] Cap.
[1:16:50] Cap.
[1:16:51] So that is, that is going to be, that's six individuals.
[1:16:56] Is that six?
[1:16:56] Let's see.
[1:16:57] Three, two, one.
[1:16:58] Yes.
[1:16:59] Three from Hang-Up, two from Hall, one from Cohesive.
[1:17:03] And their job is to be really the advocate, if you will.
[1:17:10] My understanding is, and now they have not yet been selected.
[1:17:15] and nor has that board formed yet.
[1:17:17] I mean, I'm sure that's kind of on this Electments agenda.
[1:17:21] But they'll be kind of the customer advocate for the system,
[1:17:25] as well as they'll have some input into the rate setting process.
[1:17:30] Now it could be disassembly board.
[1:17:33] So, you know, I don't want this committee to allow.
[1:17:35] I don't want our committee to last forever.
[1:17:37] You know, that's like the last thing any of us need.
[1:17:40] I think that we will have served the purpose at some point
[1:17:42] And we'll take what we have learned and we'll pass it on to somebody.
[1:17:46] And most likely it will be a combination of the cab, maybe around the rate structure
[1:17:53] and the rate setting process.
[1:17:56] So there'll be an informed body to help advocate, whether it's for the rate payer or the process.
[1:18:02] And then, you know, certainly the capital asset study will be, you know, the owner is the
[1:18:10] water superintendent and the water commissioners of that study. So at some point we'll, you know,
[1:18:16] I think once we look at the governance and we've made a recommendation, I think at that point
[1:18:22] we'll have done our duty and served our purpose to the town unless called upon by the selectman to do
[1:18:27] something different. So that's my plan. I wanted to take the camp to be essentially the mechanism
[1:18:35] to collect the voice of the public and present that to the water commissioners, both from a budget development perspective and anything else that was there.
[1:18:49] Yeah, I think that over time, hopefully that's how that's that the committee will evolve.
[1:18:56] And hopefully they'll be holding once we're allowed to be together again.
[1:19:02] You know, I want to, I hope that they will make ratepayers,
[1:19:06] no matter where they live, feel welcomed and heard throughout all these processes.
[1:19:12] So, and really serve as an intermediary between the rate payer and the water commissioners.
[1:19:18] Certainly, go right to the water commissioners, but, you know, this board will be advocating on behalf of the customer.
[1:19:26] And I think we'll see how it evolves.
[1:19:29] I think it's going to be interesting.
[1:19:30] And frankly, that may be part of our charge.
[1:19:35] Is that sort of a board?
[1:19:36] Is that helpful?
[1:19:37] Is it not helpful?
[1:19:38] Is it true that you have more teeth?
[1:19:42] Should it serve in another capacity?
[1:19:45] Is the water commissioner, is selected as water commissioners?
[1:19:49] Should that be an elected position?
[1:19:51] Should that be, is it working as is?
[1:19:54] these are all things we'll need to we'll need to get around.
[1:19:59] So it should be an
[1:20:00] interesting process for us.
[1:20:04] So next meeting dates. I'm sorry are there any comments
[1:20:08] from the public on items not on the agenda?
[1:20:14] You're in none. Okay next step. So again
[1:20:17] we have a potential I'm almost I'm gonna post tomorrow our potential
[1:20:24] participation on Monday. I don't I'm gonna find out if I need to do that or not
[1:20:29] because we're not talking, we're not voting, we're just participating and showing up,
[1:20:35] but I'll double check that from an open meeting law perspective. I don't want to be in any
[1:20:39] sort of violation. This will just be literally on a Zoom call quietly listening to what transpires.
[1:20:46] But I'll find out. So if so, I'll circulate it just so you have a record of it.
[1:20:53] Next meeting date. A little bit unclear on that. I like to bring the water superintendant
[1:20:58] in. I think you'll be really informed by him. It'll be good for us to meet. Hopefully
[1:21:04] I'll have some more teeth around the capital asset and cost of service studies. We'll look
[1:21:10] back to see how things went on this transition. Where could we have done a better job and
[1:21:16] maybe where not that we're going to go through another transition, but you know, is your
[1:21:21] aspects of the service? Because, you know, frankly, I think now we're serving as sort of the
[1:21:26] client advisory board on this stuff. So, you know, where can we improve the communication,
[1:21:32] where can we improve the service, you know, just to see, just to act as a sounding board for the,
[1:21:38] for the select men on these kinds of things. So uncertain when the next meeting is, yeah, I would
[1:21:44] love for, what is it? It's end of July today.
[1:21:50] I don't know if we'll need one before the end of the summer.
[1:21:54] Maybe in September, but I'm happy to meet earlier if you feel as a need for that,
[1:22:00] and if you feel like we're missing something or need to be more actively involved with something,
[1:22:06] just ping me offline. I'm happy to talk about it with you.
[1:22:12] That sounds good to you.
[1:22:16] You know, maybe, you know, I don't know. We'll see. You know, if you feel like there's a need for some sort of a pulse transition debrief sooner than the summer, I'll let you know, and I'll see if you guys are available or not.
[1:22:29] But all is good.
[1:22:31] Unfortunately, I don't think it was there too much to do.
[1:22:35] You know, it doesn't seem like it's summer, but it doesn't kind of seem like it, you know, it's weird.
[1:22:41] But you guys both got away.
[1:22:45] I don't know about vacation anymore, so that's the benefit of my situation.
[1:22:50] Right. I know. I was going to say, David, you're fully retired.
[1:22:53] So, Dick, are you still involved in your in your business?
[1:22:57] Yeah.
[1:22:58] Yeah.
[1:23:00] I discovered some of the semi-retired, but no, I'm still involved.
[1:23:06] Yeah.
[1:23:07] Yeah.
[1:23:07] In fact, it's way more time on a computer now than I do.
[1:23:13] I know, as he said, the personal interaction is very limited these days, so it's a whole
[1:23:20] different environment.
[1:23:21] Well, I'm usually in my basement and I'm in the house in the cave, but I'm usually working
[1:23:24] out of the basement.
[1:23:25] So, if you were in a video call earlier today, you would see the hot water heater behind me
[1:23:31] and the electrical box behind me.
[1:23:33] So I move when I'm on a video call just for that reason.
[1:23:38] Well, thanks, everybody.
[1:23:39] Thanks for your participation tonight and your input
[1:23:43] and your work you've done thus far and the help
[1:23:46] you're going to give us moving forward.
[1:23:49] So with that, I would accept a motion to adjourn.
[1:23:56] I move the motion to be adjourned.
[1:23:59] Thank you.
[1:24:00] So.
[1:24:00] Second.
[1:24:01] Great.
[1:24:02] Dick, how do you vote?
[1:24:04] in favor and my compliments I'm a little bit great on the envelope great thank you David how do
[1:24:12] you vote to adjourn and move to adjourn or accept the motion to as do I well thank you again for
[1:24:19] everything and enjoy the rest of your summer and we'll talk soon