[0:38] Good evening, all in one, I just want to begin by mic, from the 7th, the 6th, as well,

[0:46] to begin, we have a very strong comment, on the 6th, the beginning, the 1th, the end of the

[0:51] talk.

[0:55] Dr. Anybody about anything that's not on the agenda, if it's on the agenda, we'll bring

[1:01] that up with the agenda. And so I will proceed with opening the meeting, and we start with

[1:09] the Pledge of Allegiance and then a small moment of silence.

[1:15] First, evil?

[1:19] Like Pledge of Allegiance to the Black Flag of the United States of America, and to the

[1:25] Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, end of the soul, with liberty and

[1:31] justice for the honor of all.

[1:35] And

[1:48] ask for the roll call from the clerk, please.

[1:51] Chris Skontold representing Cape Elizabeth and South Portland.

[1:55] Will we Douglas representing Wyndham and Vaman?

[1:59] Daniel, will that representative go on?

[2:01] Yeah.

[2:02] Malice, Jonathan C, representing Westbrook.

[2:05] Present.

[2:06] John Volto, representing Cape Elizabeth, South Portland.

[2:09] Here.

[2:10] Gary, will you represent Portland?

[2:13] William Lent, representing Cumberland, Thalmyth.

[2:15] Present.

[2:17] Will you go to the clock, representing Scabron?

[2:19] Here.

[2:19] Will you use representing Portland?

[2:22] Here.

[2:22] Patrick McKinley.

[2:24] Rabbi's in Portland.

[2:24] President.

[2:25] Charles Saddach-Cardin.

[2:26] Rabbi's in Portland.

[2:32] Thank you.

[2:34] We'll have Item 3A is acceptance of the minutes of the regular meeting of June 29th,

[2:41] 2026.

[2:43] May I have any motion?

[2:45] One more.

[2:46] Second.

[2:47] We've moved in second, and are there any errors or emissions?

[2:52] Seeing none.

[2:53] I don't need to, no, okay, so seeing no errors or omissions, I'll call vote all those in favor.

[3:07] Opposed?

[3:09] Seeing none, it's exact.

[3:11] Item 3B is acceptance of the minutes of the workshop meeting of July 13th, 2026.

[3:17] I have a motion.

[3:18] In fact, it moved in seconded, are there any errors or omissions, any additions at all?

[3:25] Seeing none, all those in favor?

[3:30] Opposed?

[3:32] So moved.

[3:35] Item 4 is an invitation for public comment on something that's not on the agenda.

[3:41] We have anybody from the public.

[3:44] I don't see anybody from the public.

[3:50] Okay?

[3:51] All right.

[3:53] We will move on to the reports.

[3:55] the Operations Committee report, Trustee Crockett.

[4:01] Thank you.

[4:04] The meeting of the Operations Committee of the Portland Water District Board of Trustees took place on Monday, July 13th, 2026 at 5.30pm in the EOC conference room of the Douglas Street facility, 225 Douglas Street, Portland, Maine, considered with the following items of business.

[4:20] I forgot to mention, President was myself, Trustee Vultz, Trustee Charles Chattacquaydon, Trustee McCann,

[4:27] and staff with Charlene Pullen and James Wallace.

[4:31] Number one, operational update, plant and field activities, wastewater staff reviewed

[4:36] the recent violations at the Peaks Island treatment facility.

[4:39] They reviewed treatment, plant operations and explained total suspended solids, TSS and

[4:45] biological oxygen demand, BOD staff explained that a broken check valve caused violations.

[4:52] They also reviewed previous troubleshooting efforts and

[4:54] discussed approval, approved fecal, coliform testing methods.

[4:59] Noting that the IDECs call it,

[5:04] my screen just went blank.

[5:05] I apologize.

[5:18] 18 coliform method may have been produced

[5:20] false positive results as a result staff returned to using

[5:24] the previously used and DEP approved membrane filtration methods

[5:28] at all plants.

[5:29] Water staff informed the committee that an expected delivery

[5:32] of fluoride did not arrive resulting in the shutdown

[5:34] of fluoride addition on June 24.

[5:37] with. There is currently a fluoride supply chain challenge. The main drinking water program

[5:42] was notified and they mentioned this is also affecting other water utilities. A partial

[5:47] delivery was received on July 8 and fluoride addition was restored later in the day. Fluoride

[5:53] addition can be stopped for up to 30 days without public notification. PWD has done this in the

[5:58] past for equipment maintenance and for an inspection of the storage tank. Fluoride is a byproduct

[6:03] of phosphate fertilizer production and political impacts such as tariff, state bans, market conditions,

[6:09] and an RFK junior position to stop Florida addition to drinking water kept production low.

[6:14] In addition, water staff shared information on water plant equipment that was recently replaced

[6:19] using CIP funds, allowing along with a detailed presentation of an unplanned project on Foden Road

[6:26] initiated by a leak on private. With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6.20 pm.

[6:31] Thank you.

[6:47] Good. Yeah.

[6:53] I've volunteered. Thank you Gary. And you know that that was meant

[7:02] at least sarcastically. However, we held our meeting on Monday, July 13th here in the Nixon Room.

[7:14] The trustees present were me, trustee Hughes and trustee Lunt, the staff people present

[7:21] were Scott Furman, Laurel Jackson, Helen Newman, and Katie Munson from the Cumberland County

[7:28] soil and water conservation district.

[7:32] The first item that we discussed was surplus land declaration for the property at school

[7:40] global road in windom, which had been the site of a treatment plant, the committee unanimously

[7:47] recommended declaring that property surplus, and that's going to be on the agenda tonight.

[7:57] The second item was the hydraulic model project, Helen Newman, the project engineer, provided

[8:05] into the project update of the district's efforts to update its hydraulic model as part

[8:10] of the master planning process, an interesting discussion.

[8:15] The third item was the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District program.

[8:25] Katie Munson, the project educator, provided an update on the education program.

[8:32] Again, something very interesting.

[8:35] The meeting adjourned at 6.25 pm.

[8:40] Any questions?

[8:42] Comments?

[8:44] Seen none.

[8:46] Administration Finance Committee.

[8:48] Trustee Willett.

[8:49] Thank you.

[8:51] Administrative Finance Committee amounted on July 13, 2026.

[8:56] President was trustee, Sean O'See, trustees.

[8:59] Scrantors, staff, Cain, Archibald, and Dorian.

[9:03] The Administration Finance Committee meeting was held on Monday, July 13, 2026 at 5.30 p.m.

[9:13] in the PWD third floor training room 225 Douglas Street, Portland, considered with the following

[9:21] items item 1 safety program Mr. Archimbal provided an update on the safety program on the status

[9:28] of the 2026 initiatives, and there is an attachment on that.

[9:34] In order of the following, confined space updated and provided training, provide training

[9:41] the revised policy and procedures to safety driving, refresher, update policy and procedures

[9:48] three, safety grant, obtain grant to focus on installing safety hatches.

[9:54] 4. Emergency eyewash slash shower audit. Review the locations of eyewash and shower stations,

[10:04] including at the North Wyndham Playa. 5. Hearing assessment. Purchase a decibel reader

[10:11] and contact at the main municipal association to assist in conducting noise audits. 6.

[10:17] safety program, begin their process to review and update the program.

[10:23] The second item, the pension plan update, the item was postponed to a further

[10:29] meaning due to time constraints. Three, other business, customer comment.

[10:36] The committee reviewed a comment reviewed by Pam Hale, see attached.

[10:40] She asked the district to review the default paperless setting on the district's

[10:44] payment processing site.

[10:46] Ms. Ryan demonstrated how a customer sets up their account for the

[10:52] papalist and electronic payment.

[10:54] She noted at the time of converting to invoice cloud staff recommended the

[10:59] default setting to be set to papalist.

[11:02] For customers making a one-time payment need to reset the default each time they make a

[11:08] one-time payment.

[11:09] Other payment types, auto pay and tax.

[11:12] the customer would need to change the setting once.

[11:16] After discussion, it was decided to leave the current setting in the place, but requested

[11:23] additional information for further consideration, with no further business to meeting adjourned

[11:28] at 525.

[11:30] How's 625?

[11:31] Excuse me.

[11:32] Any comments?

[11:34] Any questions?

[11:35] Any additions?

[11:37] Seeing none.

[11:38] Thank you.

[11:39] Have the General Manager report?

[11:41] I did submit a written report. I want to highlight that the workshop in August will be held up at the Sevegel Lake Ecology Center across from the treatment facility at two white rock road in standish.

[11:56] We like to offer a tour that demonstrates the security efforts in around our intake.

[12:06] we have a sign-in sheet and we'll have it over there logistics it takes about an

[12:12] hour to complete the tour so we are considering a 430 option and a 630 option

[12:19] that would allow us to have two tours depending on what the demand is and we

[12:24] will figure out workshop I'm sorry committee meetings and then the workshop will

[12:30] begin at 6.30 and that will be a facilitated workshop. Are there any questions? Oh and if there's

[12:40] interest in we've rented a vehicle in the past to assist with transportation up there. If there's

[12:47] interest in that there's also an option on that piece of paper put your name down and if there's

[12:53] interest in that will provide a write-up there.

[12:58] Any questions for the General Manager?

[13:01] Here we go.

[13:02] Yeah, I've got a question.

[13:05] In the Portland Wagewater Project section of your written report.

[13:13] It says conversations regarding MOPO.

[13:18] First off, I have no idea what that is, and I'd like to know.

[13:22] But related to dewatering are ongoing, the contractors compiling a budgetary cost estimate for a potential new dewatering building due to the exorbitant temporary dewatering figures and operational complexity of the system.

[13:38] First, I heard about building a new building.

[13:42] I'd like to know more about that.

[13:44] And then the PWD will review and determine the value

[13:49] of the new building versus installing the system

[13:52] in the existing building and dealing with the temporary

[13:55] dewatering system for about a year.

[13:57] So all of that is kind of interesting to me,

[14:02] but lots of stuff I don't know about.

[14:04] So if someone could explain it to me, I'd appreciate it.

[14:11] So that is the process of handling a complicated plant process when it's down for construction.

[14:20] And, you know, at that facility, I was trying to address some of this.

[14:24] We produce about a third of the state's biosolids there.

[14:28] So when we take that system down, it's going to be very complicated to put out a temporary piece of equipment and handle that.

[14:34] So that's one of the, you know, alternatives that the contractor is looking at,

[14:39] that side builder is, should we construct a new building,

[14:42] build a new equipment in that, and then start?

[14:51] And then what you can do is transition to the new equipment,

[14:56] and then you can decommission the old equipment afterwards.

[15:00] There's no question. But the reality is that there's a lot of risk associated with handling this process with temporary equipment handled by a contractor. And it's also very expensive. The first quote that we got was $7 million. Just to handle the temporary processing of our biosolids over the course of about 12 months. I was surprised to hear that too. I was not expecting this to be the direction that we're heading. And so I'm working with the team right now to

[15:29] flesh this out so that we can really understand it because I think that there's a little more

[15:34] of this story, but I am beginning to think that the new building option may actually,

[15:41] it's been a struggle for me to wrap my head around, may actually be a good alternative.

[15:46] It provides us with much improved future operability of the new systems, the existing

[15:55] location is going to be a very tight squeeze for these new

[15:58] biosols dewatering equipment and so lifting the pieces that need to be

[16:03] removed for maintenance, for example, is something that we're concerned about.

[16:08] So these are the things that we're looking at now. At this point in time, that is

[16:12] a future phase of the project, the actual installation of this dewatering

[16:17] equipment. The project that we are approving with the $22 million is return

[16:23] an activated sludge, a rasp litter box, it is HVAC, it's headworks, and it's the procurement

[16:32] of the de-watering equipment, which is expensive, but it's the installation of that equipment

[16:38] we've delayed, particularly because we need to be able to answer all these questions

[16:42] before we enter into contracts, so that's kind of where we're at right now.

[16:47] Okay, if there's a new building, where would it be located?

[16:50] right now it's being proposed down by the primary settling tanks, which is, you know,

[16:58] just to the sort of south, let me think. I guess that's actually the north of the process control

[17:04] building.

[17:07] And there's not a lot of extra space on that site, as you know. So it is a challenge,

[17:11] for sure. And we're really in the early stages of sorting this all out.

[17:16] Thanks.

[17:17] Of course.

[17:18] Before you sit down, please.

[17:19] Yes.

[17:21] The energy and the cost that we go into this, if you do it this way, is that going to be

[17:27] something that's going to be compatible with what we're planning on doing regionally?

[17:33] Yeah.

[17:34] Either way we do this, we are setting this process up to be compatible with the forthcoming

[17:42] regional biosolids facility and the intention is to improve the processing capability so that we

[17:50] are as efficient as we can be on that site at the east end, whether or not we have a future biosolids

[17:57] handling facility down the road to further process the sludge. You have an idea of what size building

[18:04] it would be?

[18:08] I'm sorry, Kyle would know that off the top of his head. Do you have any recollection

[18:12] Charlie was like it's significant. It's it's good size. It's two stories and the first

[18:19] floor would I think have a cake receiving thing? I'm sorry. I'd have to get back to you.

[18:25] Okay, that's no problem. I'm sure we'll get more involved into it anyway. There's some question.

[18:29] Yeah, go ahead. So I just wanted to see if I understood what you said. Yes. So it sounds like

[18:36] this is something that came up in the process of proceeding with our approved process

[18:41] to replace the dewatering equipment and some of this has to do with managing that process

[18:48] while still operating and so conflicts and challenges came up in the process of specifying

[18:56] that with the contractor. So it sounds like that resulted in potential either additional

[19:04] or higher costs. And within that, we plan for some of that when we sort of thumbnail in the cost.

[19:13] Are we still within ranger? Is this looking like an overall cost increase? Because if it is,

[19:19] that's the sort of thing that I would actually hope is flagged as this is what came up. This is how

[19:24] it came up. It might be a cost increase overall to this project. And then view it as part of that

[19:30] overall project cost because the overall project cost is a big project. So this is a big project. And

[19:37] to answer your question, you know, we went into this like we do many of our other projects where we

[19:41] look at a process and we think of, you know, we assume we're going to be able to use the existing space

[19:47] and replace. And when we started to discuss how our operations staff are actually going to be able to

[19:54] to manage a temporary dewatering alternative,

[20:01] it got really complicated really quick

[20:03] and it got really risky really quick

[20:05] because most of these alternatives

[20:08] would include one unit.

[20:10] And if that one unit were to fail,

[20:12] suddenly we're trucking,

[20:14] I don't even know what we would do

[20:15] with the amount of volume that we produced at that site.

[20:18] It's really, it would be a bad situation.

[20:20] And so for that reason, among others, the design builder and the project team started to think about the idea of another building, which for me personally was a struggle at first because I'm always looking to make sure that I can stand in front of you guys and let you know that we're making the most cost effective choice.

[20:43] So at first I'm you know I'm asking my staff is this this really makes sense it seems like a huge expense and as everybody starts to explain this to me and we start to look at the actual life cycle cost evaluations and the risk as well it's starting to become clear.

[20:59] But in fairness, we're still early in the planning process on this specific item. This is something that we're going to be clarifying over the next couple of months.

[21:07] At which point, we need to get back to you guys to educate you on where we land and make

[21:12] a decision as a group.

[21:14] This is a huge project as you pointed out.

[21:17] We're dealing with long standing deferred maintenance at this site.

[21:21] We've really changed our approach to rather than just doing a process upgrade, looking at holistic

[21:27] improvements to improve long-term performance and reliability at the site so that we don't

[21:32] continually walk around the plant and think, why didn't we do that when we had a contractor

[21:36] right here, right? So it's affecting the cost. And so I think that is just as a perhaps a preview,

[21:44] you know, you will see that this project is going to be significantly expensive. And I think we're

[21:49] going to get a ton of value out of it. And we're going to get the facility that we need, which is

[21:54] something that we can be proud of and rely on and, you know, carry us in the future.

[21:58] Yeah,

[22:02] one thing I think I heard you mentioned at the beginning of your comments was that

[22:08] To put in the temporary we cost up to seven million dollars to put in just for temporary

[22:14] Yeah, that seven million dollars if you put it into that building

[22:19] I would hope that would be pretty good chunk of the cost of that building

[22:23] It's a pretty good chunk of the cost of the building and that was the very first thought we had when we saw that quote

[22:28] was, wow, that gets you a long way toward a new building.

[22:32] Now, I will say that the cost of new buildings for process applications right now is extremely

[22:38] high.

[22:39] This site is going to be a real challenge to permit, although we've had really good

[22:42] conversations with the city of Portland to move that process forward.

[22:47] But there's still, you know, there's still a lot of challenges in front of us.

[22:50] But $7 million gets us through a long way.

[22:52] But the building itself, I mean, the stuff that's going to be in the building, you're going

[22:56] to put it somewhere anyways. So that's not part of that cost of that bill. And when you're looking

[23:00] to save the money, I'm just trying to say somebody listened to this, this meeting,

[23:06] when you say, you know, we're going to build a new building. And then, you know, somebody says,

[23:12] well, it was going to cost $7 million at least just to do something temporary. That makes us look

[23:17] a whole lot smarter to do it with a new building. So I just think that's something that should be

[23:23] top priority to change those figures where they need to be so that you can prove it.

[23:28] Yeah, thank you. That's a great point and that's the same way we're looking at it right now.

[23:32] Yeah, thank you.

[23:34] So, yes.

[23:35] Two more, couple more cliffy. This sounds like it's a problem that arose out of a the volume

[23:40] at the site and the lack of real estate at the site because if you were a different site,

[23:46] like other sites where we have a lot more real estate, this would be a different sort

[23:49] of a challenge, and then also the lack of, excuse me, the size of the deferred maintenance.

[23:58] So is this actually going to be a replacement building or a new building?

[24:04] This would be a new structure.

[24:07] New structure?

[24:07] The intent would be to re-utilize the space where the existing dewatering equipment is for

[24:13] some other purpose.

[24:14] I'm not entirely sure what that is now, but given the direction that things are headed in,

[24:18] And I always think about electrical rooms with the needs for additional clearances, different

[24:23] safety protocols.

[24:24] As you address whole power distribution systems at plants, it's nice to have space like

[24:30] that available.

[24:31] Okay.

[24:34] Sorry.

[24:34] Does that answer your question, John?

[24:36] Yeah.

[24:36] Okay.

[24:37] Thank you.

[24:38] Any other questions?

[24:39] Yes.

[24:40] I just want to point out that we had a meeting on this for the first time with the consultant

[24:45] last Tuesday.

[24:47] So once Greg and his team had word, or you know, identified this as a specific concern, he got it into the note so that you saw it.

[24:55] Well, we're working to develop an understanding of the cost and as Greg explained, that will be a discussion with the board in the coming months.

[25:05] Yes.

[25:06] Yes, I noticed that we are having trouble at the scenic overlook up in Standish.

[25:13] We haven't any trouble at either the bulk rent launch or the beach area or does it confine

[25:20] to that scenic overlook.

[25:23] Not to my knowledge.

[25:25] I haven't heard about any issues down there from Rod just, you know, people having fun

[25:31] with their vehicles at that site which is causing some issues and I'm working on right now with

[25:37] standard law enforcement. Thank you.

[25:42] Any other questions? Yes.

[25:45] Well, one more comment on the general manager report. Included in the general manager's report

[25:49] is Scott's excellent op-ed piece that was in the press herald. If you didn't see it,

[25:53] I recommend everyone take a look at that. It was really useful and as I mentioned just

[25:58] Scott earlier, I thought it was great and I would love to see that be part of a strategic

[26:02] communications plan going forward we really need to get the message that was in there out

[26:08] and related messages to that and it's a great start. But please do take a look. It was a fantastic

[26:14] positioning and really solid piece. It's in your materials if you haven't seen it.

[26:19] Thank you. Yes. I just want to second that as well. I saw the article but I think it

[26:24] piggybacks on an earlier discussion we had in our breakout meeting with the consultant.

[26:29] That's a great example of a first step, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we don't take

[26:35] advantages.

[26:35] John said to maybe work with communications department to now have a very timely release

[26:41] of these types of statements moving forward for the benefit of all the stakeholders of

[26:46] the Portland water district.

[26:49] Just a word.

[26:51] Yeah, I did have a comment from a customer and they had their meter replaced recently and

[26:57] They had to call the chains at the time.

[27:00] And they said, how come I get somebody out of state

[27:02] and how come somebody from out of state drives up

[27:05] to put in the meter and drives up in an out of state car.

[27:08] So people don't understand that, you know,

[27:10] this is a contract for these meters

[27:12] they don't understand that we contract for the whole thing.

[27:16] I don't know if there's any way we can get that out of.

[27:19] Maybe this is just an isolated comment,

[27:21] but this person said, you know,

[27:23] how come we're not using main people to take care of this?

[27:28] It sounds to me like we need to have a report on that at the next meeting.

[27:32] Where is it?

[27:33] Where is it?

[27:34] How is it coming?

[27:34] Just an update.

[27:37] Thank you.

[27:39] Any other comments?

[27:42] Seeing none, let's move on to new business.

[27:48] Order 2617, declaring property located on school road in Wyndham as surplus.

[27:57] Just the living.

[27:59] This is a surplus land designation for the property at 10 schools road in

[28:04] Wyndham. The recommended language, the proposed language is presented to the board of

[28:11] trustees for approval, ordered. A district owned property located on school road in Wyndham

[28:17] is hereby declared as surplus and staff is directed to take steps to dispose of the property

[28:24] and compliance with the policy for the sale or other use of district real property

[28:30] with terms and conditions of the sale to be brought back to the board of trustees for

[28:36] their final approval and be it further ordered that the general manager and the treasurer each

[28:42] acting singly are authorized to take such steps as maybe necessary to accomplish the intent of this

[28:49] second. Second. Second. Second. Yes. The background analysis. The district owns a .52 acre

[28:58] parcel of land, acre parcel of land located at 10 school road in Wyndham, which was previously used

[29:07] for an elevated water storage tank. With the construction of the new water storage tank on

[29:14] on Falmouth Road in Wyndham, the old tank was deemed unnecessary to the water system and

[29:20] was demolished in the spring of 2026.

[29:24] There are currently no structures on the property.

[29:27] Staff does not see any potential future use for the property, therefore staff recommends

[29:33] that the Board of Trustees vote to declare it surplus land.

[29:38] Once declared surplus and appraisal will be obtained and it will be offered to the town

[29:45] of Wyndham first as required by the policy for sale or other use of district real property.

[29:53] If the town opts to move forward with the purchase, the district will give them an

[30:00] Equate time to take the necessary steps to get approval and raise funds to purchase the property. If it is not acquired by the town, staff will come back to the committee to determine the best method of disposal to the public. Final sale will be brought back to the board for their final approval. The proposed purchase price will be determined by a fair market value appraisal. Net proceeds of the sale will be allocated to the

[30:29] water protection fund. The item will be reviewed by legal representation prior to the proposed

[30:38] deed or execution and the committee recommended unanimously to forward this to the board for

[30:46] its consideration. Any questions? Any comments?

[30:55] Seeing none, I'll move the question. All those in

[30:58] favor. Any opposed? Nope. It's smooth. Thank you. Item B.

[31:08] Order 2618, appointing Brandon Naser of Perkins Thompson, the Interim Corporation Council

[31:16] of the Portland, Wyoming District. Vice President McCann.

[31:20] Thank you. The following proposed language is presented for Board of Trustee Approval.

[31:24] Ordered, Brandon J. Naser, through the law firm of Perkins Thompson, is hereby appointed

[31:29] as the interim corporation council of the Portland Water District. Be it further ordered,

[31:34] that the general manager and the treasurer each acting singly are authorized to take such steps as

[31:39] may be necessary to accomplish the intent of the vote. Second. Thank you.

[31:45] The District's Corporation Council resigned her position effective July 17, 2026,

[31:50] and the board is engaged in a service for a permits successor. The District needs interim

[31:55] Council until a permanent replacement is found. The outgoing Corporation Council advised the

[31:59] board to make this appointment so the district would continue to be well represented during the

[32:04] search. Brandon J. Mauser of the law firm Perkins Thompson, who currently provides outside legal

[32:09] services to the district, has agreed to act as the district's interim Corporation Council until a

[32:14] permanent replacement is found. The near-term costs this arrangement are expected to be offset

[32:19] by the currently vacant position, and in conclusion, I recommend the appointment of

[32:25] Brandon J. Measier is in term council, and Corporation Council has approved the order as to form,

[32:32] and I'm happy. Brandon Measier is unfortunately unable to attend tonight. He had a conflict,

[32:37] but I'm happy to take any questions to the best of my ability, if anyone has any.

[32:42] Yes, I have a couple questions. What's the term of the engagement that we've been signing?

[32:49] Um, so the, the interim appointment would be either until, uh, brand of resigns of the

[32:56] board takes action to replace them.

[32:58] So it's an open basis month month, open basis.

[33:01] Yes.

[33:01] Up until we, we decided to change the agreement or we hire someone new.

[33:06] Um, and you mentioned the cost.

[33:08] Yep.

[33:08] So we'll, um, one of the, yeah, well, he'd be time tracking.

[33:13] Well, they'd be time tracking so we can see exactly where the time, you know, how much

[33:17] there's spending time on what functions won that aspect of that position. So Scott, I think

[33:21] we already have an arrangement with them is that how it's currently working? That's a guess.

[33:26] Yes, and then, for instance, David Kane right now was reviewing last month's end voices for various

[33:31] district work. This would follow that same process. And lastly, did we put down any KPIs or metrics

[33:38] on relative to the performance under this agreement? It's relative to the performance of the agreement.

[33:44] We've already had an existing agreement with Berkins Thompson's for for outside support with regard to the corporation gas deployment. I would say no, but Scott is anything with the current arrangement being tracked along those lines.

[33:55] We're tracking the level of effort. We're tracking specifically what's being worked on and we did clarify the responsiveness and we've been assured that within 24 hours of contact.

[34:10] We will get a response and most matters are addressed within a few days.

[34:15] That's what we've addressed so far.

[34:17] All right, the reason for the question is because we have a lack of any metrics right

[34:21] now on the previous position and person, it's critical that we start to develop those metrics

[34:26] now in order to get a real handle on exactly what we need going forward.

[34:31] So I want to make sure that there are specifics in there and that we can start to see that those

[34:35] metrics as I come up.

[34:36] Yep, that's fair.

[34:41] Just a little bit.

[34:42] A lot of that information on what matters are being addressed and what the cost is be shared with the board.

[34:49] Sure.

[34:53] There's a whole bunch of different areas that the Corporation Council covers for us.

[34:58] Does the firm and Mr. Maeser in particular have those full range of capabilities or are there others within the firm that would be pulled in if it's an area that where they don't have expertise?

[35:07] Thank you.

[35:07] Sure.

[35:08] So I spoke with Mr. Mazers for this, and our former Corporation Council, Donna Katz,

[35:13] Ficus, made sure we got the language right on this.

[35:15] Technically, the language is we're pointing Brandon through the firm, if it's Tom's.

[35:19] So if he's unavailable, or if he needs to refer to someone else in the firm, we're covered by that language.

[35:24] The only thing I would bring up is, again, this is just a arrangement we would have with any outside council.

[35:30] If they have an existing relationship with someone else, they'd have to do a conflict check, and they'd have to send us somewhere else.

[35:35] But honestly, I don't know how we could avoid that with outside counsel.

[35:41] To make additions to that, perhaps a little bit, we've done business with this law firm

[35:47] for years.

[35:49] So there's a lot of expertise in that law firm.

[35:52] So if he can't do a particular item, it'll get done by somebody in there, I'm sure.

[35:58] Any other questions or comments?

[36:01] Seeing none, all those in favor?

[36:04] Opposed? So moved.

[36:10] Item number seven, I don't think we have any other business before us.

[36:16] So we'd move on to item number eight. It's a second invitation for public comment.

[36:29] Nobody here from the comments. So we'll move on. Item number nine is trustee comments.

[36:37] This is a time when the trustees have a chance to make comment.

[36:40] Yes. Everyone got in their packet today, the agenda for next month's workshop.

[36:48] I think any good group, whether it's a board or anything else,

[36:51] takes some time to reflect on how they're doing, what their process is,

[36:54] places they can improve. So the point of this session,

[36:58] and we have Craig Fletcher, who moderated our last conversation like this.

[37:04] We're going to come out. It's an opportunity for everyone to talk about

[37:07] what things they think work well as the board,

[37:10] what things we could improve as a board,

[37:12] and it's an opportunity for the board to reflect

[37:14] and figure out what things that may or may not want

[37:16] to address.

[37:17] And we're just flagging it now,

[37:18] so everyone knows it's coming, you got the agenda.

[37:21] And this way, if there's anything that anyone wants

[37:23] to bring up, get plenty of time to plan

[37:25] and come with things to talk about.

[37:28] So I just want to highlight that.

[37:32] Anybody else?

[37:35] Yes, just to go.

[37:36] Just I wanted to give my thanks to David Cain who had a chance to sit down with me earlier

[37:44] since the last meeting to go through some of the financial aspects of the district and

[37:49] just explain some things in a little more detail than I previously understood them.

[37:54] I think I've got a really good handle now on exactly how the financials are put together,

[37:59] what range things move in, how rates are constructed, what levels of authority,

[38:05] how we function. And as a result of that, I may try and write up something that sort of

[38:10] explains it by my own sort of simplified point of view. That was something that might be

[38:15] of interest. Other folks sort of just capture my learning. And the other thing I wanted to flag was

[38:21] in that process of discussions, we also discussed with him something that we may see in the next

[38:27] budget to just let you know. We talked a little bit about how our water rates right now are split

[38:34] amongst different water customers in the upcoming water study and how that may be a lever we also

[38:39] think about adjusting as we move forward in the budget to determine how the burden falls on our

[38:48] customers and as we're still trying to get into more compliance with what the rate survey said

[38:56] the fairness survey said before we it's time to do a new one. So

[39:01] So those are the kinds of really sort of granular details

[39:08] through which we discussed things we also sort of talked about,

[39:12] things like what metrics make sense and why those things make sense

[39:16] in terms of what we track and how we proceed.

[39:21] So I just wanted to, again, thank you, David Cain.

[39:23] And if people do have an interest in seeing what I ended up producing

[39:27] I'm happy to share that.

[39:29] And then there's a we may see something on the on the rate edge of under flagbed for people coming up

[39:34] So that was some of the outcome of that meeting. Thank you

[39:37] In the other comments maybe the other trustees which yes question on the workshop it'll be at the regular time

[39:44] But it'll be at the

[39:46] Sviggley-Gwater treatment facility and will the subcommittees be meeting prior to at the regular time?

[39:52] Well, what we've done in the past is we've tried to set up the boat tours so that

[39:57] But the committees, at least one of the committees, can meet while they're on the boat tour.

[40:03] So that's what, try to make that a range of, that's why we need to know how many people

[40:07] are going, and how many people are going to be, want to go on the tour, so that we can do

[40:12] that sort of work ahead of time, so that we don't waste time, you know.

[40:16] I would recommend that if you've never done the tour, you absolutely should do it.

[40:21] But even if you have done it, it's kind of nice to go back and see what's going on because

[40:26] is it really, it shows you what is up there that we're protecting and how we're, you know,

[40:32] what we're doing to protect it. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it can be an eye opener.

[40:39] Yes.

[40:40] If I could be, is that the watershed protection building?

[40:49] That's the little building, which

[40:51] is across the street from the big building. Okay, anybody else?

[40:56] Nothing. All right. Then

[40:59] And we believe we are talking about an executive session and turn it over to the BP.

[41:06] This time would like to make a motion to go into executive session pursuant to 1 MRS section

[41:12] 4056A personnel evaluation.

[41:16] Yes.

[41:18] I'm going to vote.

[41:20] All those in favor?

[41:23] Opposed?

[41:24] We're in.

[41:26] We take five minutes before we start operations.

[41:28] And if anybody wants to sign up on the sheet right now or you forget it, that'd be great.

[41:33] It's worth a tool sign up for it.

[41:35] That's been out of the lot.

[41:36] Yeah.

[41:37] Okay.

[41:38] Yeah.

[41:38] Then I will like my understanding for the show or so.

[41:42] Yeah.

[41:42] So, is it like evaluation after...

July Business Meeting

Transcript