COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC WORKS
Minutes of January 24, 2008

The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Public Works was held on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 10:00 a.m., in the Boardroom at 121 West Court Avenue.

In attendance:

                                                                                 

           

 

 

A motion was made by Commissioner Hancock authorizing the execution of a grant application; the motion was seconded by Commissioner Monaghan, and unanimously approved.

 

Chairman Watts referred to page 2 showing a large increase in water department sales to the City of Greenwood and inquired about what would account for the increase. Ms. Ogletree responded that she did not know specifically, but the guess would be because of the hot summer season. She added that consumption spiked during the summer months for everyone. Commissioner Monaghan referred to a schedule that was included in their packages showing the number of gallons processed from the water plant, and asked if the number of gallons pumped was matched against the number of gallons that are billed. Ms. Ogletree responded that we bill on the same schedule as with gas. Mr. Chapman interjected that a water accountability study for the efficiency of the water system was done routinely, and there is about 10% of unaccountable water for the year of 2007. He explained how that 10% consists of water leaks and water used that is unaccounted for. Mr. Chapman provided an example of unaccounted for water that might be used for flushing purposes for fire department training and not reported to us. He continued that by AWWA standards, 10% for a system of our size is very good. He stated that they do track that and had found two ponds this year where people were using our water to fill their ponds. Those were disconnected and the people were put on notice that they would be prosecuted if we found that again. Commissioner Monaghan noted that contractors could be using it without putting a meter on. Mr. Chapman agreed and noted that they track it very closely every month and again at year end. Commissioner Monaghan asked if they compare what is pumped against what is billed and if the difference is considered unaccounted. Mr. Chapman explained the various types of information that goes into a formula to arrive at 10% unaccounted water for the entire year. Commissioner Monaghan commented that it seemed 10% was a lot of water. Mr. Chapman responded that the AWWA has a formula based on the number of customers, the size of production, and the amount of distribution. Mr. Chapman noted that with almost 600 miles of line, anywhere in the range of 7% to 12% is considered good. If you get above 10% then you need to start looking for where you are losing water. Commissioner Monaghan recalled a leak study done a few years back. Manager Reeves responded that some of it is from leaks, but the majority would come from flushing, house fires where fire departments use water and we have no way of measuring those types of uses, and similar things. Chairman Watts noted that the fire department had used a lot of water the past summer when the new library was going in to help settle the dust. Manager Reeves added that there was not a meter there; they had water running everywhere, and we ended up putting on a meter. Commissioner Hancock inquired about a meter at the Greenwood County Industrial Park on Highway 25 and noted an area with black plastic line running to where some trees were planted. Mr. Chapman responded that he was not familiar with that particular situation but would check into it. Commissioner Hancock stated that he called every time he saw someone getting on a fire hydrant without a meter. He commented that they might need to prosecute people stealing water like they do with electricity. He noted that tankers and some construction crews do the same thing on road work if you don’t watch them. He recalled a time when a rural fire department had used water for water slides. Mr. Chapman commented on reading in the newspaper where a local fire department was using water to irrigate the lawn at a new construction for a private school. They went back and accounted for that water and then billed the fire department. Commissioner Monaghan referred to the pumping schedule provided that showed over a billion gallons were pumped in one year. Commissioner Monaghan noted that according to the report, 4,023,000,000 gallons of water was pumped from January through February of last year. He commented that 10% of that sounded like a lot of water. Mr. Chapman responded that does not mean that it is water leaking from pipes. He explained that it is not uncommon to lose 100,000 gallons in situations such as if a car hits a fire hydrant and we have not yet repaired the damage to stop the water loss. He recalled another situation at the dog food plant. They called about testing for insurance purposes that required them to run 100,000 gallons during a 30 minutes test. We required them to put a meter on their fire line. He noted that other industries also ran similar tests for ISO ratings on their fire systems and would not necessarily notify us. Commissioner Monaghan noted that 10% of 4 billion gallons would be 400,000,000 gallons, and asked if losing that amount per year was acceptable. Mr. Chapman responded that it was considered acceptable. Mr. Commetto agreed that it was acceptable within industry standards. Commissioner Hancock noted another example of water loss would be when they fluoridate the lines and have to flush that out for days, and also with washing down filters at the water plant. Manager Reeves commented that 400,000,000 gallons would sound like a lot of water to a layperson. Mr. Barnett added that although that amount is still within the acceptable standard, they are constantly looking at ways to mitigate it. Mr. Patrick returned to Commissioner Watts’ earlier question about the increase in the city’s water usage, and pointed out that it appeared that in looking at prior year and actual that the city use went up about 40% and overall above that went up in the neighborhood of 5%. He stated that it did not look like it was just overall consumption that was more. Ms. Ogletree stated that she would need to look at it to know for sure. Commissioner Hancock pointed out that the tank mixing systems would cut down on some of the unaccounted loss. Mr. Patrick referred again to Chairman Watts’ earlier question and clarified whether Chairman Watts was asking if there are a lot of new accounts or new usage. Chairman Watts responded that was what he wanted to know, and noted that it had gone from $15,000 to $27,000. Commissioner Monaghan asked when the Metro rate increase had gone into effect. Ms. Gorham responded that they were effective on January 1. Commissioner Hancock noted that Metro used a lot of water flushing out lines and asked if that was metered. Mr. Chapman stated that when they fill up their vacuum pump or trucks to flush out lines, they have a hydrant meter they put on and that water is billed. Commissioner Hancock stated that they just use a fire line sometimes when they come out to just wash a line out. Mr. Chapman stated that if they do and he sees it, he would make sure that they were stopped. Mr. Auman pointed out that they are not doing that anymore since they got a new high pressure rig for the tanker truck for most things. Mr. Chapman stated that Metro asked for a hydrant meter and they depend on them to put on the hydrant meter and to be honest, and he had no reason to believe that they are not. Chairman Watts joked that they were trying to help get water in the black for Commissioner Hancock. Manager Reeves noted that year-to-date income through December was a positive $44,000, but added that was an unaudited number.

                             

A motion to authorize the purchase of an additional water meter vault as presented was made by Commissioner Monaghan, seconded by Commissioner Hancock, and unanimously approved.

Commissioner Hancock made a motion to approve the transfer of funds.

Commissioner Monaghan inquired as to how this was handled in the monthly financial report. Ms. Ogletree stated that the projects are reflected in the cash balance report as they are paid. The expenses are actually reported and are not incorporated into water, gas, or electric expenses. She added that there are separate spreadsheets showing the bond projects. Commissioner Monaghan asked if it would affect the bottom line of net income shown on page 1. Ms. Ogletree responded that it did not. Commissioner Monaghan asked if there was any effect on any of the numbers shown on page 6. Ms. Ogletree responded that there was not. Mr. Patrick noted that it was not shown on the income statement, but would show up on the balance sheet as less cash in the bank; then when you put the money back it would show up as more cash in the bank. Mr. Barnett stated that pages 9 through 12 showed the bond fund money and how much is spent on each project. Mr. Patrick noted that it would not affect net income.

Commissioner Monaghan seconded the motion made earlier by Commissioner Hancock, and the motion was unanimously approved.

 

A motion was made by Commissioner Hancock and seconded by Commissioner Monaghan to go into Executive Session to discuss legal and contractual matters; the motion was unanimously approved.
                 

           

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