PLUM CREEK MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY
September 2010
A regular meeting of the Board of The Plum Creek Municipal Authority was held on September 21, 2010 at the Plum Creek Municipal Authority Business Office Building, South Manheim Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
Board members present at the meeting were Jim Ridderhoff, Tom Nagle, Jerry Weiss, and Matt Gruber. Also in attendance were Dave Bright (PCMA Engineer), Mike Stewart (American Water Service), Sarah Stewart (Mike’s daughter), PCMA employee Kelly Klamfoth, and PCMA attorney Joe Zerbe.
Jim Ridderhoff called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
The minutes of the prior meeting were reviewed and accepted by motion of Jerry Weiss, seconded by Matt Gruber, carried by all.
The Treasurer's reports for July 2010 and August 2010 were reviewed and accepted by motion of Jerry Weiss, seconded by Matt Gruber, carried by all.
Mike Stewart reviewed his written report relating to managerial matters (submitted to the Board prior to the meeting) which addressed water and sewage operations. In water matters, he reported that:
In legal matters, Joe Zerbe said he tried to follow up on a lot of the unanswered questions regarding issues with the RSS regulation due to go into effect on January 1, 2011, but he was unable to find out anything more except that there doesn’t look like there’s going to be a delay in the Jan 1 effective date. The design for the water connection setup for the RSS was discussed. Matt said some contractors were putting 275-gallon tanks in the attic to supply water to the RSS under the premise that everybody will be out of the house by the time the tank empties if a fire starts. Joe said he read that in areas where there is no municipal water, or where the municipal water pressure isn’t enough to service the RSS, the developers might have to utilize tanks. Jim said that doesn’t address situations where somebody wants to winterize their home and there’s not enough heat to keep the tanks from freezing. Everyone agreed that there were a lot of unanswered issues.
Mike and Jen wrote a policy to address the water line connections for the RSS using dual shut-offs in a pit meter assembly, and Joe said he recommended using the procedure with a few tweaks. It was decided that Tom would draw a sketch of the meter pit assembly to be included with the water connection specifications. The RSS policy is to be made part of the PCMA’s Water Rates, Rules and Regulations policy, and Jen said she would distribute a copy of the Rates, Rules and Regulations, with the RSS policy incorporated, to all Board members, Mike, Joe, and Dave to get their feedback. If any changes were needed, they could be corrected for approval of the documents at the November meeting.
In other legal issues, Joe said there was an issue with the power company we signed up with last year to get reduced electric rates. The company cancelled our contract and they now wanted to reinstate the PCMA, but they wanted an irrational agreement signed before they did the reinstatement. Jen didn’t like the wording in the agreement and brought it to Joe’s attention. Joe totally agreed that the wording was unwarranted. The question of why they terminated our contract was brought up, and Jen thought it probably had something to do with the Authority’s name change, and the power company somehow messed up the transition. Joe said he’d get a letter together to see if he could get the situation straightened out.
The PCMA’s Emergency Response Plan was updated due to the name change of the Authority and changes in personnel phone numbers, making it the 4th revision. Upon motion by Tom Nagle, seconded by Jerry Weiss, and carried by all, Revision 4 of the PCMA’s Emergency Response Plan was approved and adopted.
Replacing the Authority’s pickup truck was briefly discussed, but it was decided that it would not be replaced at the present time. However, repairs would be made when needed.
There being no further business, Jerry Weiss motioned for adjournment, and Matt Gruber seconded the motion, carried by all. The meeting was adjourned by Jim Ridderhoff at 6:40 p.m.
Meeting minutes were taken, prepared, and submitted by Jennifer Hoy.
In sewage matters:
In engineering matters, Dave Bright said he provided Mike with more information regarding the 4-log treatment regulations. He also forwarded information he’d found regarding NFPA regulations which addresses not allowing any antifreeze in residential sprinkler systems (RSS). Joe Zerbe asked how anyone would know if a customer is using antifreeze in the system, and the general consensus was that you wouldn’t know unless the customer said they did.
