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1993-04-29 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING APRIL 29, 1993 3:30 p.m. MTG.#32 RES. 265 TOWN BOARD MEMBERS Supervisor Michel Brandt Councilman Betty Monahan Councilman Susan Goetz Councilman Nick Caimano Councilman Pliney Tucker Attorney Paul Dusek Guests: Mr. Quentin Kestner Supervisor Brandt opened the Meeting RESOLUTION APPROVING SPECIAL AUDIT OF BILLS RESOLUTION NO. 265, 93 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Michel Brandt WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Nick Caimano RESOLVED, that the Audit of Bills as appears on the abstract dated 4/29/93 and numbered 93162700 and 93162800 and totaling $9,700.00 be and hereby is approved. Duly adopted this 28th day of April, 1993 by the following vote: A YES: Mrs. Monahan, Mrs. Goetz, Mr. Caimano, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Brandt NOES: None ABSENT: None DISCUSSION QUEENSBURY WATER EXPANSION Supervisor Brandt -Several areas have expressed interest in our water and a committee has been working on rates and it is now time to bring this before the board. One community needs our proposal within two weeks. Presentation made by Quentin Kestner-Recommended facilities & Cost 1. New low lift pump and controls $ 135,000 2. New Clarifiers, Rapid Mix & Flocculators $ 2,437,020 3. Filters (2 each 16' x 70' xI6') with 400,000 gallon Clearwell $1,300,000 4. new high lift pump & controls $224,000 5. sludge beds and lagoons $1,300,000 subtotal $5,396,020 6. additional chem feed equipment $200,000 subtotal $5,592,020 7. Electrical work $450,000 subtotal $6,046,020 8. add pump overhauls $50,000 9. add new scrapers for existing clarifiers $250,000 10. add new chlorine facilities with scrubber $ 300,000 11. add electrical service update $100,000 12. add instrumentation (new and upgraded) $400,000 total plant cost $7,100,000 13. add Gumey Lane Tank (1 MG concrete) $1,100,000 14. add Northway Crossing (16" to Route 9) $550,000 total project cost $8,750,000 Supervisor Brandt -On our Saturday session where we looked at proposals we were at the $6 million dollar figure and there were questions as to whether we should properly call pumps overhauls or clarifiers or scrappers as an operating costs and we said lets clean it up and it is in there as a capital project rather than as expense to operations. The electrical service update was a matter of Kestner Eng. did not know that there had been changes made so that was not seen and so $100,000 had to be added. The new chlorine facility had to be added, it was an added feature that all the board feels we should have as a safety feature. If we ever had a chlorine leak we would have a hazardous condition, which this would totally eliminate. The instrumentation you could debate a little bit of that whether it is a replacement of obsolete but it isn't worth much debate so we put it in as a capital project at $400,000. The six million properly should have been 6.8 million if you capitalize all those and then the $300,000 of chlorination is an added feature. While we were discussing that what about the Gumey Lane Tank, what about the Northway crossing, our department felt they were important and we should consider them. Based on discussion of all these points, Ralph and Tom have put together projects of how this would impact on the taxpayers and looking at that analysis you will see the complexities of what occurred, one is they did an analysis of the 7.1 million total plant costs and added in the concrete tank 1 million gallon, at 1.1 million and the Northway crossing at 550,000 and then look at how to break it up between districts and what is the impact if we go to other communities... Mr. Ralph VanDusen-Deputy Water Superintendent-Spoke to the Town Board regarding evaluation of the costs of the expansion of the Water Plant between districts and out side communities... (Attached is his spread sheet presentation including capital costs and Operation and Maintenance costs Schedule A-E) Noted Kingsbury is included in the Queensbury figures... Councilman Caimano- Why don't we look at taking care of peak capacity and also growth, there is no room for growth here, if we do what we are going to do right now there is no room for any major growth. Quentin Kestner-That is not true in my report I anticipated growth based on rate of growth that exists today to the year 2013 or 15. Councilman Caimano-So this ten million three hundred and fifty thousand gallon peak capacity would last us through 2013? Mr. Kestner-Yes. I justified the ten mgd capacity in my report and it does have room for growth and it also included everybody but the Town of Moreau in terms outside scenario. Queensbury just found a leak in its system 500,000 gallons a day...they just found ten years of growth. Supervisor Brandt-The concept of water conservation over a period of years you could get the peak rate down considerably and that could provide growth also. Councilman Caimano- The other side of the coin is that we live in a community that lives by a stream that pumps out almost a billion gallons a day and if the people choose to pay to purify the water to drink it or sprinkle the lawns they are going to do it, we cannot go by the ideal we have to go by the practicality of what's here. We do not have any limitations water wise other than our pockets, to ask people to sacrifice in an area where you are getting a billion gallons a day going by in the Hudson River is an ideal. I want to make sure that we build the right size plant. Supervisor Brandt-The problem is when we go the next step to fifteen million gallons you get into distribution costs increase that was close to seven million dollars which were not factored in. I have no problem in saying lets not offer it to Moreau, save that and see what conservation amounts to, that could give us a lot of years. Councilman Tucker-Questioned if the other municipalities factored in growth? Mr. Flaherty-The Boards that I talked to at this time did... Mr. Kestner-My suggestion would be that there be a committee formed and that this question of water conservation really needs an airing. we see other communities doing this very successfully and it does allow them to utilize facilities for a much longer period of time without getting into a capital program. This is the type of thing that does need to be discussed, this project does not hinge on water conservation but obviously unlimited use of water is a meaningful topic for discussion. Supervisor Brandt-Noted he had mentioned Moreau to be eliminated it could be Village of Fort Edward which ever one makes sense... Mr. Kestner-Noted that the State has grant programs but you have to have water conservation...the plant can be easily added onto, I think there is full justification to bring the plant up to 10 mgd capacity and that is what we have always recommended, if in 10 or 15 years circumstances whatever they might be dictate another addition you build it at that time and you pay for it at that time ... Councilman Caimano-Ifwe go into a 20 year bonding and 10 years down the road we found we have made a mistake and there is a growth spurt, now what are we going to do? We ought to open this up to the public and find out what the public is really thinking.... Supervisor Brandt-I think the next thing is to go to the public and present what we have learned as an informational meeting...suggested that we may want to keep the Village ofH.F. capacity for our growth approximately 800,000 gallons and present the figures to the other municipalities and tell them to get back to uS...in limiting the number we sell to we may, have the best of both worlds... Councilman Caimano-Questioned if the City of Glens Falls was going to be contacted again regarding the purchase of water? Supervisor Brandt-Their conclusion was that the cost of the transmission main to get to them is more than the cost of building their plant? Councilman Caimano-I checked on that noted the cost would be approximate 5 million dollars they have three thousand five hundred acres of our land in our town, there is some horse trading here..! hate to close out our options without having broached the subject with them... Supervisor Brandt-I have brought this up to the Mayor ... Mr. Kestner-If you are serious about selling water to the City of Glens Falls you are going to have to build a new intake structure, a new transmission main...major new plant capacity on the site... Supervisor Brandt-We will certainly have a quick conversation with them and see if there is any interest... Councilman Tucker-Question what communities need the figures quickly? Supervisor Brandt-Hudson Falls, Fort Edward Town, the Town of Moreau, but not Fort Edward Village... Mr. Kestner-We would like to take these numbers and go to those communities.. The consensus of the Board was to approach, Hudson Falls, Town of Fort Edward, Town of Moreau.. Discussion held regarding large capacity users in the Industrial Park...questioned if one large user would make the plant too tight... Supervisor Brandt -noted if an industry did come in, there would be a lot of ways to address that... Mr. Flaherty-For informational purposes, we have one high lift pump that is down, we have found a company who thinks that they can repair the parts... Councilman Monahan-What are you looking at for a tum around? Mr. VanDusen-Three days. Councilman Monahan-What is the affect of having that pump down? Mr. Flaherty-If we lose the second pump we are out of water... Mr. VanDusen-As long as nothing else breaks down we can pump five million gallons a day... Attorney Dusek-To make sure this is clear in terms of a legal perspective, that you are not going to advance with the map, plan and report and go to an informal type of hearing, next an informational type of hearing, plus communications with the other municipalities...the engineer is still on the preliminary plan and report with no further duties or agreements with him. .. Mr. Kestner-The next step is to talk to the other communities and have the informational meeting... Supervisor Brandt-We will start setting it up. Any further business... On motion the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk-Queensbury