VILLAGE DISTRICT OF EIDELWEISS
Commissioners Meeting
November 2nd, 2019
The Board of Commissioners met at 9:00 am on Saturday November 2nd,2019. In attendance were Commissioners Adam Leiser, Jay Buckley. In attendance Mike Smith, Gloria Aspinall, Dorothy Wondalowski, Larry Leonard, Dinah Reiss and Mark Graffam. The meeting was filmed for Madison TV by Tim Hughes
At 9:17am Commissioner Adam Leiser calls the meeting to order.
Adam motion: Call Kathy – second Jay
Kathy joins the meeting at 9:18am
1. Agenda – No agenda
2. Highway Department Report -
DPW report – Kelly is restricted to light duty as a result of the accident last week. 10lb maximum lift.
Leaf blowing continues. Gravel still to be spread. Cost coming from warrant article. Warrant article doesn’t state specific roads.
550 sander is being repaired.
Rafts to be pulled this week.
5500 to get studded snow tires put on this week. Cost is unknown.
Jay completed the primex claim for Kelly. Jay also notified Memorial Hospital.
Eversource – wants to replace a wooden pole with a steel pole behind DPW 1.
Adam motion: To allow Eversource to replace the wooden pole with a steel pole behind DPW 1. Jay second. 3-0 yes. Jay to take pictures of current conditions at that location.
Advertisement was posted for part-time administrator. Other job wasn’t placed.
Adam motion: Allocate $60 for placement of employment advertisement for DPW job. Jay second. 3-0 yes
Furnace in DPW 1 garage is not working.
Motion on Upper Lakeview Culvert from last meeting discussed. Adam to replace Jay as contact person with property owner but Jay to get Adam that contact information.
Dan Whitelaw to check DPW1. Kathy to call him.
Adam motion: Kathy to ensure that DPW1 furnace gets evaluated for repair. Jay second. 3-0 yes
Adam motion: The repair for DPW1 furnace approved up to $300. Kathy second. 3-0 yes
3. Water –
Water fees have been coming in.
A few residents have contacted us regarding water shutoffs.
Adam motion: Adam contact Ian and remind him not to accept any phone calls from any property owners in regards to seasonal water turn on/offs. Kathy second – 3-0 yes
A few residents contacted Ian for water shutoffs.
$24,800+ still outstanding on water bills and late fees.
Note from 8/26/2019 came in regarding late fees on the water system. Jay to scan and email the note and the Board will discuss it next week.
Three people have asked for forgiveness on the $100 late fee. Dinah to get the Board the information about the date of check.
One address change is needed for water billing purposes.
List of requests to be compiled for waivers.
4. Administration –
5. Accounts Payable –
6. Minutes –
7. Commissioners Reports
Adam asks Jay for the Farnese letter
Jay to contact Chris Albert about emergency drainage overflow at Reinach.
10 Lucerne and 34 Interlaken letters still need to be signed. Jay to put on letterhead for signing out of session.
Adam motion: Invite Nuno Pais to join the environmental committee. Kathy second. 3-0 yes
Outhouses deconstruction to be discussed Thursday.
Jay to give Adam contact information for Green Mtn and Tin Mtn to get information regarding ponds.
Emerald Lakes has a problematic water system. Kathy suggests contacting Ian. Adam to contact Rick Skarinka for more information.
Jay motion: Invite Rick Skarinka on 12/7. Adam second. Table motion until next meeting.
Adam to try and finalize presentation by 11/6 for distribution.
Adam highlights finance situation to be discussed on 12/7.
On call situation discussed. Adam suggests per call only. Jay says we don’t need one at all. Jay to finalize and have a phone list as well.
Jay outlines an emergency call that came in yesterday. Instead of calling 911 the property owner called the power company. 911 calls will have Kelly, Jeff, Jay, Adam, Kathy to be the order for contact when 911 is called.
Adam working on the employee handbook. Framework to be from Conway’s handbook.
Jay to start working on getting a price for DPW1 fix so it doesn’t flood.
Fire chief never responded in writing to the dam management policy.
Adam motion: to have the Dam Management plan submitted to DES. Jay second. Tabled until Thursday
Discussion ensues about water system fix protocol
8. Signature Items
9. Correspondence
10. Scheduled Appearances
11. Public Comment
Mike Smith questions – Has Rick Skarinka been notified of new drawings for the Reinach Tank? Answer is yes, he has them but no he hasn’t signed off on them. There was a question about the height of the tank exceeding the capacity of the Jungfrau pumps. Larry Leonard believes the pump has no issue. Larry is surprised the tank hasn’t been approved yet by DES.
Mike Smith’s second question – Question about Muddy Beach pumphouse exterior. Adam outlines the 295k grant could help us make a determination about what to do with the pump house. We should know in the next 45 days if we received money. Jay outlines that the floor in Muddy Beach also needs a repair.
Mike Smith’s third question – Is concerned about non-public discussion happening that should be done in public. Adam states that the only error was in regards to the employee handbook where NHMA clarified for the Board.
Larry Leonard – highlights that groups and committees have been formed. Larry is upset that a release is required and that it could be a deterrent to volunteers. Jay voted against the policy and explains why.
Dorothy – asks about minutes being taken and how difficult it must be to take the minutes and participate at the same time. Adam outlines that this isn’t the long term solution but a new administrator will help solve this problem.
Dinah – Is concerned about the basic office functions that are happening now. Dinah says a weeks worth of mail is sitting in the mailbox. Dinah outlines that a bill from Bank of NH was there. The VDOE has a bill due tomorrow. Dinah wants to go to the bank and have an auto payment from our operating budget to pay the note on the Jungfrau loan. Dinah believes the bank will accept an internal transfer. It’s $8058.04 and split between operations and water. We have a lot of bills waiting for us. Donna is coming in Tuesday to do bills and payroll. Kathy believes that the bills shouldn’t take more than a few hours. Kathy wants to meet with Dinah Thursday afternoon. They will meet that day.
Jay reports that Donna has gotten a temporary leave of absence from her other job so she can help us more.
Dinah – has a question about the advertisement in the newspaper. Adam outlines that an advertisement was placed “in case” because we don’t know what’s happening with Nancy Cole.
Mark – Wants to know if the BOC has spoken with legal counsel regarding the administrator position. The answer is yes. Mark asks if a job description was ever made for the full-time administrator. Kathy outlines that a month by month list of work is available. An actual job description does not exist.
Adam outlines that he’s been working on the handbook again.
Adam outlines that the Board just learned that Donna will be able to give the District additional hours. It’s impossible to comment on the future of the administrator position.
Mark asks about the overflow at Reinach. Jay says he’s not written the three work orders because he can’t find the template. Larry has the template and will send it to Jay so that Jay can create the work orders. Jay will have them done by Thursday’s meeting.
Mark says he saw water “gushing” in multiple spots at Reinach. He reports that on 9/7-11/2 the SCADA system has not been working properly. Expected temps are below freezing. SCADA should be fixed first for obvious reasons. Adam and Jay report that alarms happened yesterday morning and this morning. System shut off at 8:10am. The overflow isn’t working properly. The culvert has been blocked for roughly 3 years. Mark outlines that the sump pump is alternating between on and off.
Tom has been in the office this week to fix the SCADA system. Mark outlines that Bartlett used repeaters for better communication. What is wrong with the SCADA system?
Adam wants to know why we don’t have a long term resolution. Jay will contact Ian today for information.
Let’s make sure Ian attends our next meeting.
Further discussion ensues. Kathy wonders if this is a $500 fix or a $5,000 fix.
Jay and Kathy want Ian to turn off the system when SCADA dictates. Adam wants pumps turned off at 4pm.
Jay motion: Have Ian decide whether or not we should proactively turn the pumps off. Adam second – 3-0 yes
Mark reminds the BOC that we need to investigate the causes of the SCADA system and get a resolution. We have approximately 3 weeks to figure this out.
Discussion ensues about the construction of the tank.
Mark wants the estimate from DN Tank that Adam got last year.
Mark wants the website updated. Kathy says we can’t access the website. Paula is the only person who can access the website and is no longer willing to help.
Mark wants a 91a request for all October BOC minutes. Kathy will send Mark the approved and draft minutes for all October meetings. Mark is further requesting unsealed non-public minutes.
Adam motion: Jay contact Tom to get the SCADA system fixed asap. Jay second. 3-0 yes
Adam suggests having the water system turned on/off so the tank doesn’t overflow.
Mark is offering to help the VDOE with the website. Kathy outlines that we reached out to Ron Sandstrom for assistance on the website but Ron chose not to help.
Mark wants to know about asphalt removal. What machine and total cost for asphalt removal on the Upper Lakeview project. Trees were removed by our DPW.
Conversation ensues about length of project time on Upper Lakeview, total cost for labor and materials.
Mark highlights that Bristenstock was partially paved. Adam states he didn’t know this project was done. Adam and Mark wonder the cost.
Adam and Kathy prefer to have Mark send the questions into the office. Mark doesn’t want to do this.
Mark wants an email response to questions.
Dinah states we should know proactively everything that is happening in the district.
Mark suggests we use the “white board” in the office. Adam wonders if we could have DPW write on the board Monday morning or prior Friday afternoon.
Larry outlines the work order project. He states that Ian likes the system but our DPW does not.
Mark outlines that Eidelweiss and Bristenstock were just shimmed. Mark outlines the pothole near the intersection of Appenvell Way. It should be fixed.
Gloria states that Nancy did put together a job description and it’s on the shelf. Jay to look for it.
Mike believes a job description exists.
Mike wants the budget. The VDOE will send it to him. The VDOE has just over $19,000 unallocated from the operations budget for the rest of the year.
Two employees have applied for “buy back” on retirement. This could cost the district $12,220. If this is paid, the district has only $7,265.
Jay has contacted the DRA that the district may overspend the budget. Form 3211 may have to be filed. Adam isn’t comfortable that the DRA was already contacted.
Mike asks further questions about the budget.
Mark outlines the process for overexpending the budget.
Next meeting will be kept as scheduled in the library.
Discussion ensues about trash at DPW2.
Gloria recommends that we double check the annual meeting date. Adam to check.
Adam motion: Enter nonpublic for employment matters 91a:3,2,ii(a). Jay second. 3-0 yes
Adam motion: minutes of non-public sealed. Jay second 3-0 yes
Jay motion to exit non-public at 12:17pm– Kathy seconds
Motion Adam: Adjourn meeting. Second Jay. 3-0 yes
Meeting adjourned at 12:18