[0:14] calendar.
[0:39] That's about
[1:36] again.
[2:21] Instruction.
[3:55] Make sure
[5:31] First order,
[5:45] here.
[6:25] changes
[6:35] motion.
[6:38] So move
[6:50] Any
[7:00] comments?
[7:30] So, I'll move that we wave the actual
reading accept.
[7:42] Any
discussion?
[8:03] » Okay. So, I don't have a whole lot to go
over.
[8:10] Apologize.
interviews or something. But I guess the
[8:15] biggest thing
has
[8:20] got a notice of violation
for
[8:26] industrial sampling.
[8:33] I'll let Lonnie kind of talk about that
a little.
[8:38] Also,
I The right way to say it is
[8:43] [clears throat] I give out a little old
information at the last board meeting
[8:49] about chronic manholes.
We were working off of some old data.
[8:54] We didn't
[9:05] bring what I wrote back to her, but you
guys will be able to see all of that.
[9:12] And a lot of this so that we kind of
understand, right? This isn't a finger
[9:16] point.
We're doing things very differently.
[9:21] Water and sewer department has been
done.
[9:24] in the past. Uh there's a there's a lot
of data missing. There's a lot of things
[9:29] that are happening and and you know,
we're doing what we can to make sure
[9:35] that when we report things, we do that
accurately.
[9:40] So, so I just want to kind of get that
out there, let everybody know that we
[9:45] did put out a little little mis data.
probably
[9:52] I don't want to say a number today until
we get done with the review
[9:56] and our engineering on exactly what that
is. Okay, I did send in uh to the state
[10:05] I think it was six or seven tap
applications.
[10:10] Uh
those are you know pertorium.
[10:15] I got a note back this morning that
is reviewing them and they will let me
[10:20] know what they
res
[10:31] into the system.
Uh so as we do taps now we take the
[10:36] application
map it out show how it goes from there
[10:41] to the plant and if there's any manual
problems it send
[10:48] We did
six or seven.
[11:03] The other part of the report was
you guys let us start the bond process.
[11:13] Passed it.
first
[11:17] resolution. So, we are going to apply
for
[11:22] bonds going to borrow $10 million.
We probably have that in the bank
[11:28] somewhere around the first of August
and what I sent to finance
[11:37] as I stated
all projects through this committee.
[11:44] We just want the money so that the
project not
[11:50] so way we broke it down to finance so
that you guys have understand wastewater
[11:58] treatment plant we put 10% or$2 million
funding water distribution system we
[12:04] felt like it would be about 20% or$4
million of the funding
[12:09] and then mitigation of
we put 60%
[12:14] which is about $12 million and then we
had a kind of a contingency buffer fund
[12:19] of 10% as things go up. So that's $2
million. Okay,
[12:26] there again all projects come through
this board to approve it go to Bulma and
[12:33] that's how we get the money. We just
didn't get the money, we're going to
[12:36] start, which is what everybody seems to
think that we now
[12:41] spend. That's not how this works. But
St. John engineering is working on
[12:46] several projects.
Stack them up, pull them out, come here,
[12:51] give us money, go to
[12:57] update, be clear about that.
Um, in the debt side of it, uh, we had
[13:03] our financial advisor come to the board
meeting this week. The highest peak of
[13:09] this board's debt was $1.8 million as a
payment. Okay. We're going to be below
[13:17] that at the $10 million mark.
And then part of it drop off
[13:24] the second $10 million. It's all
[13:40] we're going to borrow 10 this year. As
soon as we get it spent,
[13:45] we're not going to take all we're going
to aggregate it. So that and look, while
[13:50] we're doing some of that, I mean, part
of it, you get to gain a little as we're
[13:55] getting this done and it'll offset some
of our payment. But but that's how we we
[14:01] talk the board the resolution and stuff
was written so that we can fun project.
[14:07] There was some questions brought up by
[14:12] others about interest rates and borrow
money from the state for projects
[14:17] which you can get a better interest rate
but you have to turn the project in.
[14:22] They have to approve the project and a
long period of time. Now, I'm not saying
[14:26] there won't be projects coming up that
we don't use that system. That's another
[14:30] debt to take right now. We need the
flexibility to work in those areas as we
[14:37] find these problems.
[14:46] » You have to turn a project in. They rank
the project and and what our financial
[14:51] guy says, the projects that are more
maintenance related aren't funded as
[14:56] much as new projects and some of those
things get on the list because there's
[15:00] only x amount of dollars that they
[15:05] all agreed those are avenues we can
continue to look at as we do these
[15:09] things to rebuild our system and fix it.
But for what we're trying to get
[15:14] accomplished to keep the momentum going
forward
[15:18] felt like this was the right path and it
did pass believe it or not unanimously.
[15:26] So that that was a good show that we all
believe we're moving in the right
[15:32] direction.
[15:37] » 4.25
is what we project. We won't know till
[15:41] they sell the bonds in July
and we will have a buffer to say no if
[15:48] we don't like the rate and wait
that was part of it I think in the
[15:53] actual paper it's set up to% but I think
as a board I heard loud and clear
[16:02] will pass on things we
[16:31] I've talked to our engineer. He's here
tonight. We're pushing pretty hard on on
[16:34] grant projects that we're working on,
but we already know one project that we
[16:39] want to tackle that we'll start is the
pumping of the wastewater collection
[16:45] tank where we know we're losing 10% of
the volume because of the sludge that's
[16:50] at the bottom. That's probably going to
be top on the list. The next one is
[16:55] working on the quote
electronic monitoring of the meters in
[17:01] the ground that we were discussing in
here. That will be another project and
[17:05] then we'll go into the bigger build
projects and that's going to be based on
[17:10] a series of things that we've been
doing.
[17:15] But I would say those two projects will
be one of the first that we roll out.
[17:24] Yes. I mean, listen, we're not going to
let grass grow under our feet, so to
[17:27] speak, because I want the next 10
million because that means we've done
[17:31] that much work. And and it shows
everybody that we're committed to
[17:35] getting this right in a short period of
time.
[17:41] Yes, sir.
[18:08] And to be honest with you,
that $2 million toward the end and we
[18:13] absolutely probably will. But anything
that you do with building
[18:21] You just got to have a number to start
the project. And so that's how we broke
[18:25] it down. I mean, but that wouldn't be in
the first $10 million. I guarantee you
[18:28] that.
>> No, that would
[18:41] probably take off pretty quick, too.
We're probably going to bring to you a
[18:46] new water tower for 4
We we've identified 15 acres that we
[18:51] believe will be donated to us and I
think that would be a 750,000 gallon
[18:56] tank. Is that what we were looking at?
[19:03] » It's one of the two either half million
or 750 which raises all the pressures in
[19:07] that area and gets everybody good water
pressure all the way out through those
[19:11] lines. But we do have a donor that's
willing to give us some land so we don't
[19:16] have to purchase it. And we think that
uh tank based on some information Hills
[19:22] give us on the tank they just put up
saying we're using the same tank but
[19:26] it's probably around 2 to2.2 million. So
so you know we've identified
[19:33] roughly $5 million that we intend to
really get busy with as engineering
[19:40] continues to build projects that we
do.
[19:58] So
[clears throat]
[20:06] » yeah, I mean if you remember the first
thing we wanted to do which we did get
[20:12] passed was the half million dollars
for the head
[20:16] Once we get that done, you know, there's
still probably some amount of money that
[20:22] we will be bringing to you in that that
is maintenance items that we haven't
[20:27] been able to repair. A lot of it is not
necessarily upgrading the plant because
[20:33] we have a lot of capacity left there.
It's just getting caught up on the
[20:36] things we've let go.
[20:41] » We've signed the paperwork and stuff. I
think
[20:45] Everything's being built right now
[20:55] to kind of see where
[21:00] » not yet.
[21:05] » Yeah, we've already funded that out of
this year's budget. Yes, sir.
[21:12] » And and once we get that in place,
right, we start catching all the trash.
[21:15] Then we can move into phase two, which
is empty. So we get the full capacity of
[21:48] As you know, my report is attached if I
have a question, but just kind of piggy
[21:54] back on what the mayor said, but the
t I'm going to accept full
[22:00] responsibility for that. It was a
sampling issue. We did collect the
[22:05] sample. We just did not collect it
within a lot of time that required. We
[22:11] have a new pre-treatment coordinator as
well as a new uh chief plant wastewater
[22:16] plant operator and going on with they
took the sample a little bit later. We
[22:23] recognized it immediately had the sample
taken
[22:28] trying to hide it in that instant but
I'll accept responsibility for that.
[22:34] We since talked with G everything is
straightened out. Now we're on the list.
[22:39] We know exactly what dates are and
moving forward everything will be done
[22:44] on time.
[22:58] » And the same thing with the manual he
was speaking on that I'm [snorts] going
[23:02] take responsibility for that one as
well. We were going on old data off of a
[23:07] old spreadsheet that my staff nor myself
could manipulate. So we were basing it
[23:14] on data that was on the spreadsheet that
shouldn't have been on there and vice
[23:19] versa. Some that should have been on
there that wasn't on there. But
[23:22] everything is getting updated now. Like
I said, I don't want to give a a good
[23:26] number yet because we're still in
coordination with TK right now. We're
[23:30] still counting. I'll have probably an
official number next week and I'll send
[23:36] it off to you all immed. But we're going
in the right direction. Not an
[23:40] astronomical number. We have been doing
work. But I I just want to make sure
[23:46] that we're reporting accurate numbers
and what I give to the mayor reports to
[23:50] the public is accurate. So I'll take the
hit for that one as well. It's not like
[23:55] I said, we're not trying to hide or do
anything underhanded. We want to keep it
[23:59] everybody. always trying to be
transparent as possible.
[24:03] on those two fronts. That's all
[24:08] that goes back to June.
[24:15] We do have some missing stuff and so
trying to recreate some of that as
[24:24] we
didn't actually label manholes correctly
[24:29] and some of that. So now as we
the street and the manhole number
[24:36] so that there's no more confusion about
which
[24:41] we may have several on that street. And
so we named ourselves for some
[24:50] » Right. Right. What we appreciate is that
when manholes are overflowing and seeing
[24:57] that the public is now reporting to the
department so we can put our eyes on it
[25:02] and report it as well, not just know
about it and post it on social media
[25:06] where it goes because there are certain
parameters that make manhole.
[25:12] You know, just because you overflow, you
know, five or six times in the same day.
[25:17] There are certain parameters that go by
to judge how many overflows that is. And
[25:22] a lot of that data was wrong. It was
backwards.
[25:26] people calling in saying, "Oh, it
overflowed 15 times, but the way that
[25:32] recognizes overflow, it may have only
been
[25:35] due to the timeline that overflows
happen. So when we started recognizing
[25:40] that, that's when we realized that our
working.
[25:45] So we just get everybody to continue
reporting to us. You see overflow, let
[25:50] us know so we can prop
it
[25:56] as it needs to be.
[26:09] » Yeah, we had we had quite a bit of rain.
We we we have mitigated a lot of those
[26:13] overflows. We had now when I say that
some of the same manholes are
[26:17] overflowing. We had 14 uh overflows
during that heavy heavy rain. But again,
[26:24] some of them are the same manholes over
and over and over again.
[26:29] And some of that within the 24hour
period, it may overflow six times, but
[26:34] it's on account because it's within 24
hours. So, we we we had quite a few
[26:39] overflow, but not not nearly as bad as
you would with the amount of rain that
[26:44] we had.
>> 14
[26:49] overflows.
[26:57] Five times in
the
[27:08] » right
there's a difference between a release
[27:11] but if it comes out it's considered
I believe a release is if it gets into
[27:16] the stream I don't know I don't have
If it comes out of the pipe,
[27:28] » it could be it just depends on which
man. For example, we have one in the
[27:32] park that overflows all the time. Every
rainy get ready for it to overflow. It
[27:36] might be overflowing now. We come back
three hours from now and it stops and
[27:41] then we can go back two hours after that
and it's overflowing again, but it's
[27:45] still
[27:49] Also,
[27:54] I think it's worth
[28:01] measure.
[28:12] There is no mechanism for that.
[28:17] I think
Sometimes we
[28:22] estimate
sometimes we may best we can based on
[28:28] standards that we have.
[28:32] I think it's worth noting
[28:44] all that help us maintain and understand
[29:03] We don't treat sewage.
There's gray water.
[29:09] That's one of the applications that I
sent in
[29:14] water.
>> No, last year Uh
[29:19] it's been
got cancelled but we did issue permit
[29:24] last year
[29:31] but we have applied
[29:41] » absolutely
every bit of that goes water is treated.
[29:47] There's some provisions in there that
says event.
[30:02] » No, they don't have any sewer taps on
the property.
[30:21] That's about monthly since I've been
here.
[30:34] » They read the
[30:44] I meanbody
[30:57] [snorts]
[31:03] else.
[31:16] Right.
[31:40] They all have
[31:56] That's where
people
[32:11] started.
[32:14] Right.
Call it straight to it. And we confirmed
[32:18] though that
if [clears throat] a citizen calls or
[32:22] anybody outside of Manchester
uh city employee, it's not. So even if
[32:30] you have that speed and you're trying to
get us in trouble and call, they're
[32:34] going to refer you back to the utility
utility formally reported. Now they may
[32:39] make a mental note. you don't call, hey,
we just got this call, but
[32:45] they don't they don't
call
[32:50] and that's why we encourage everybody to
call.
[32:56] It's not like we don't want to go make
sure that it's happening or not. You
[33:00] know, you think you're doing good by
day, but actually not.
[33:09] They're not coming out. I mean, call us.
Let us go out and
[33:15] our goal is to get
[33:49] Well, I mean, exactly. Because just
imagine you have a pipe with holes in it
[33:55] and you got the river when it rains, the
river builds up, pipe fills.
[34:01] So until we can correct the holes in the
pipe which would cause the ping all the
[34:05] hole anytime the water raises the water
level raises and you being there close
[34:10] to the river
[34:17] » as as the river over the bank gets over
our pipes are it makes the bigger as the
[34:25] water sits on ground it goes into our
pipe versus back into the river so
[34:30] you're saying is exactly true. It's not
that the river, it's when the river gets
[34:34] outside.
[34:41] So as the rain goes and river expands
and we run along river
[34:50] it's easing
[35:06] in
[35:19] And that's what we're working on with
trying to clean.
[35:30] So we've got them on. cleaning machine
is not as big or as we're inst
[36:07] Another question.
[36:34] We're finishing up
[36:42] slow down
expenditures so that we can finish.
[36:55] » We actually stopped ours
[37:00] or something. We well ahead because I
knew we needed to to catch up. a lot of
[37:07] still a lot of old outstanding bills
before me that were paying. So kind of
[37:13] stopped it early
starting
[37:25] and kill us like it did this year,
[37:32] » right?
[37:35] That was kind
[37:41] » we had a small line item to line
that just passed and take a second but
[37:48] yes they're him stopping his spending.
It's letting us catch up as he stated
[37:58] bills and stuff that have come in from
a year ago and so trying to get
[38:06] everything cleaned up. Give us 30 45
days. Let everything system start off
[38:13] July.
[38:23] » Yes.
>> Yeah. We've just moved things around
[38:27] inside. I mean, you know, we had$100,000
vehicles and stuff that we didn't
[38:33] bought. So, we used that in some other
areas that kind of
[38:37] So it was just
[38:47] » Yes. And a lot of
[38:56] work is being there's no ch
[39:06] people
direct.
[39:22] They didn't want to negotiate. They
didn't want to talk. They didn't
[39:24] understand about the email. They said
it's due. We're coming,
[39:32] » right? Everything is
[39:38] It's is actually we have a double check
system on there's a threshold for
[39:44] getting the bill from purchasing but we
also have an inhouse system that I match
[39:49] up invoices to
go through that list every days at the
[39:54] end of
[39:59] it we actually use it because lots of
people put it in their pocket I don't
[40:06] never married
us. It's just walking around.
[40:12] We have a better system in place now to
where we kind of catch that. We have a
[40:17] really good relationship with purchasing
agent. She stays on
[40:22] his own more than anybody. But we have a
really good relationship. So, we're able
[40:27] to have
>> with that agent
[40:32] for the whole city, right?
I don't want everybody
[40:42] to
not her personal email.
[40:48] So that's how
people outend
[40:57] their personal email in the city that
[41:17] Yeah. So, we passed the first reading of
the budget flat. We're not asking for
[41:23] any increases whatsoever from taxpayers.
We were able to give between a six and
[41:29] 8% raise to the city employees.
and also covered their insurance. Uh,
[41:36] their insurance went up 11% this year,
which was about 270,000
[41:41] spend. We covered that as well. So,
financially, we probably have I think
[41:49] Anthony reported 14 or 15 million on
hand and probably 17 million total, but
[41:55] some of it's in funds, but we're very uh
physically resp responsible as a city
[42:04] right now. We have a AA credit rating
which is extremely
[42:11] » farud
[42:18] we balanced our budget last year as
well.
[42:23] Now you know we had an extra million
dollar line item where we sold some
[42:28] property at the industrial park and we
did that on fire.
[43:08] That's the one I sent you up
[43:15] once we had
[43:19] all the large water
that have been gone out for years.
[43:25] We spent the $39,000
that I knew we were going to start
[43:34] to back it up. So now you're seeing the
results.
[44:03] historically been in
the last several years.
[44:18] There's a little bit of state
[44:30] It's a$150.
[44:56] Yeah, I think I'm kind of behind on
I I should have I held it on my desk. I
[45:03] should have presented the first
month,
[45:09] but I had even talked to the mayor about
it, but the mayor got a hold of it
[45:15] fast.
>> You did?
[45:19] Yeah, that's what went to B before it
came here. But I just wanted y'all to
[45:22] see the package, be aware of what what
the plan was for this monitor
[45:30] helping us with overflow. It is mandated
by part of the project that we're doing.
[45:36] We did it last year. We have to show
again what we
[45:41] infiltration by. So all the repairs
we've done, all of that is going to be
[45:46] able to be seen. We put the back in the
same location that they were before, but
[45:51] we were losing thousand gallons. Just
hypothetically, we lost and now we put
[45:56] these back in and we recognize that hey,
now you only lose 800 gallons, for
[46:01] example. Okay, y'all remove 200 gallons
that uh and this will just be it's going
[46:08] to be a longterm thing for us because
we're going to try to keep in there as
[46:13] we do repairs. So, the repairs we do
this year will do the same. We'll try to
[46:17] do it next year following we get it down
to a manageable
[46:22] part of
this
[46:29] jumping
[46:39] system.
[46:43] So it wasn't intentional. I passed it
back and he said no. I said yes.
[46:55] Something I had to do to meet the
date,000.
[47:15] So the project
back in
[47:22] was successful and
we were able to shut down
[47:31] the water all the way down to I still
want to move forward with project as we
[47:36] have originally drawn up to all that
stuff out of that building
[47:42] outside
that building. We can do it now%
[47:48] sure we can shut it down. We test cut it
and we know it worked. So that was a
[47:52] good spin and a good decision to make.
Also we were we were able to replace the
[47:58] hydra in front of Manchester time out of
service for I don't know how long. They
[48:03] have a brand new in there now as well.
So that project we moving forward with
[48:10] probably some of this $10 million try to
get that project
[48:16] get out of that building because it's
just too unsafe for staff to go in
[48:19] there.
Water over your shoe when you walk in
[48:25] right up
[48:30] we have to go in there because we got to
go in there. But if we can avoid it,
[48:34] then we're going to do the best we can.
[48:40] Um, we have a sketch. We have everything
pre-drawn up by by St. John.
[48:47] Originally, we were going to do all the
work in house, but staff we have, we
[48:52] don't have the talent to do it. So, I
would prefer to go outside and make it
[48:58] turn. So now just
going to see I don't know
[49:09] » right and and I even I've even
instructed the guys like unless there's
[49:14] all hell breaking loose and whining and
screaming people out of water you know
[49:18] you can check it from the door you know
look in everything look good don't go in
[49:22] I mean it is that dangerous so it'll be
put up as an e
[49:30] or 10 million. We can make that up
because like everything's grown out. We
[49:34] just need to try to get some contractor
[49:46] » probably oldest city.
[49:56] » Right. [laughter]
[50:02] I think we're trying to peace. Let's
just
[50:20] » Right. And that was my thing. This is
their specialty that do what they
[50:24] specialize in.
>> I mean, We do have some guys that are
[50:27] pretty sharp that could probably do the
work. It would it would take us from our
[50:31] regular everyday operating duties and
that would put the citizens at a
[50:35] disadvantage.
Now we're taking long to respond to
[50:39] backup
concrete
[50:44] build.
[50:58] Where are we on the
[51:02] brackets
[51:08] that us
[51:17] once we get that pipe back installed?
There is some that we don't have to have
[51:22] those pumps except in the case of
[51:27] So that was the backup plan so that we
can get the building out of commission
[51:32] and stuff for a period of time.
Couple things we've been working on.
[51:47] » Believe it or not, I only have two
meter reader and the assistant director.
[51:56] And we have applicants for both. I
haven't pulled the trigger on assistant
[52:00] direct
[52:05] finding a lot of wellqualified people
but not for what city
[52:14] we had one acceptance and of course
[52:22] we're two
[52:30] I'm not looking for a not looking for
anybody with strategic planning all that
[52:35] long. I need somebody that's going to
come in here boots on the ground uh
[52:40] field manager, field general kind of
person that can help us resolve some of
[52:45] these issues that we have, some of this
construction issue that we're having.
[52:49] Everybody get stuck in analysis
paralysis. 10 to 15 years go by and you
[52:54] still have the issue you have now. I
need somebody with construction
[52:58] background that can come in and lead
team that knows waste water that can
[53:03] that can instruct and guide contract
know how to read blueprints that kind of
[53:09] not not really another engineer. We have
St. John right now. That's all I need.
[53:21] and I [clears throat] have the I have
the strategic planning, the vision. I
[53:25] have all that myself. I don't want
another meeting. I need somebody that
[53:28] can help the staff get on board so we
can get projects completed.
[53:34] So that that's kind of
what has been applied has been your
[53:40] really really high civil engineers,
mechanical engineers who want double
[53:45] what I'm making a year.
to be paid and majority of them don't
[53:49] want to they want to work from home.
They don't want to come here. It's like
[53:53] wow I would too. But
>> so but we have we have a few applicants
[53:58] in there now. One of them it looks
really good to me. So I'm going to set
[54:02] up some interviews with with HR probably
next week.
[54:08] » And also this is
gone through this before. We did have a
[54:13] candidate. We made an offer
[54:18] pulled it down for a short period of
time back up to refresh it so
[54:28] I need
[54:33] a lot of things
[54:37] out.
[54:45] » [clears throat]
[54:58] » You just
[55:01] thought
[55:12] I've got one
on street
[55:19] corner
[55:29] semiis come down
[55:36] So
>> well and and just so that everybody kind
[55:41] of understands the process, right? So
Lonnie and them guys do the works.
[55:49] George got a little bit behind
jobs, but we will get there.
[55:54] » Well, they did alleys.
[56:03] I'll bring that to
[56:09] quite a bit now right now.
[56:17] I'll get
a
[56:20] » Well, that's a I'm not trying to pass,
but that's a public works. I mean,
[56:25] Lonnie and them guys made a deal that
we'll buy the material and George does
[56:29] the work. So,
>> well, we're not water department,
[56:34] believe it or not. We're not street
papers. We're the hole diggers and
[56:37] filling it in.
>> I brought that up several years ago.
[56:42] [laughter]
>> So, we quit, right? We quit that.
[57:00] I'll