BWD Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Thursday - July 15: The Buckeye Water District Board of Trustees held their July monthly meeting at Wellsville's Village Hall yesterday morning. Present at the meeting was BOT President Mike Ryan, V.P. Bob Wines, Trustees Dave Lloyd, Rick Williams, Jack Call, Cal Carney, Gene McGaffick and Tim O'Hara. Also present was District Manager Al DeAngelis, District Legal Advisor Fred Emmerling and Fiscal Administrator Sara Crouch.


Following the approval of minutes of previous meetings the Board retired into Executive Session for 17 minutes for an up-date on the District's appeal to the State Supreme Court on the 7th District Court of Appeals ruling against them in East Liverpool vs. BWD. That case dates back to 2005 when East Liverpool filed a breach of contract law suit against the District in CC Common Pleas Court. In 2007 the Court ruled in favor of East Liverpool and awarded them $9.7 million. That ruling was appealed with the 7th District Court of Appeals which agreed with Judge Pike's decision but reduced the award to $4.8 million, just late last month. On July 1 the BOT held a Special Board meeting and voted to file an appeal with the State Supreme Court on the 7th District's decision.


Following yesterday's meeting Attorney Emmerling stated that BWD has to file a petition to the Supreme Court by July 21, 2010, asking them to accept the case. Emmerling is estimating that it will take three to four months for the Court to decide whether to hear the case, determine if it should be sent to another Court of Appeals or even refuse to consider it. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case petitions, briefs, etc. will have to be filed. Any decision is more than likely a year out.

A newly formed Records Retention Committee was appointed by BOT President Ryan. Chairman of the new committee will be Rick Williams and the members serving with Williams will be Jack Call & Dave Lloyd. The purpose of the new committee is to determine which archived records can be destroyed and which must be retained according to Ohio Revised Code and the Ohio Historical Society. According to Office Manager Sara Crouch records from when the water district was formed is currently on hand. Old records that are approved for getting rid of will be shredded and recycled.

For the Treasurer's Report, Gene McGaffick reported that the Finance Committee met July 13 at the Water Treatment Plant. For the month of June the District sold 29.5 million gallons of water. Wellsville customers used 6.5 million gallons of that amount. Receipts for June was $299,961 and expenses were $585, 706. Of that amount $401,000 was paid in loan payments in June. Compared to June 2009 collections are down $25,000 for the same period this year. It was reported that shut-offs increased in June. On the good news side the cost of producing 1,000 gallons of water is down 20 cents this year according to McGaffick.

Prior to that Finance Committee meeting a review of the recently completed State Audit was held. Results of that audit will be on the State Auditor's web site in two or three weeks but it was hinted there will be no findings for recovery in the annual audit.

For Committee Reports, Bob Wines advised there was a County Liaison Meeting held July 6 to go over future projects. Newspaper accounts reported there are no funds available for any additional projects at this time. Expanding district water lines into the Guilford Lake area is just an idea currently, because of that lack of funding according to the newspapers.

Wines also reported there was a Litigation Committee meeting held July 8 in Lisbon to update the County Commissioners on the East Liverpool law suit. The contract for BWD to buy water from ELO was brokered by the County Commissioners at the time but the water district agreed to hold the County harmless in the law suit before terminating the contract.

District Manager Al DeAngelis advised the Board that there have been six leaks found in Wellsville in the recently completed leak detection test since the last monthly meeting, in the District Manager's Report. Five of those leaks are considered minor and will be repaired first. The sixth is a fairly good sized one that will be taken care of last.

DeAngelis also reported that the Ohio EPA is requiring a Detail Plan Data Sheet documenting the physical separation of 10 feet minimum of water lines from the old Salineville Water Treatment Plant and the Village water system. Once Salineville goes on-line with the new water source the District is required to remove, out of the ground, at least 10 feet of the old water line that tied the treatment plant into the Village water lines. Razing the old plant is no longer required as previously thought. The Detail Plan will cost a fee of $150 for the EPA to review.

For the Project Report, DeAngelis advised that the townships and ODOT have signed off for the restoration work completed by the Dave Sugar Excavating Co. for Phase A of the new Salineville Water Line. With the sign off ODOT will return a $60,000 bond held for Phase A. It was recommended that the final payment to Sugar be released.

DeAngelis also reported that except for the vault awaiting the delivery of the big pressure relief valve Phase B is completed. All pressure testing and bacteria testing is completed except for the lines associated with the big valve. New service for six customers being installed by BWD personnel along a portion of Phase B required the installation of a smaller pressure relief valve. The big valve has been delivered and will be installed next week with the telemetry. Once the testing is completed Salineville should be hooked up with a new water source by the end of July.

Finally DeAngelis noted a settlement has been reached with Mr. & Mrs. Bernard Jakubowski in their dispute regarding the restoration done on a township right-of-way along their property line. Once the new line was installed they contended the area was not restored as they had it. At last month's meeting the Jakubowskis approached the Board asking they be reimbursed for landscaping they had done on the right away. Stating they maintain the right-of-way for appearance sake they had landscaped it to avoid having to mow on the slanted strip of land. Juniper plants the couple had planted were not replaced. Tucson Inc. officials stated they were very careful and did try to save the Juniper plants but was unable to do so. Not being private property it was not required to do more than seed the right-of-way to the township's satisfaction. Out of $1,000 the Jakubowskis asked for they were awarded $700 of that amount.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:29 A.M. Next Wednesday, July 21, there will be an Engineer Committee Progress Meeting with Tucson, Inc. on Phase B of the Salineville project. That is scheduled for 10 A.M. at the Water Treatment Plant. The next scheduled Board meeting is Thursday, August 19, at 9 A.M. at Wellsville Village Hall.

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