BWD Board of Trustees Meeting

The Buckeye Water District Board of Trustees held their regular monthly meeting on Thursday, April 21 at Wellsville Village Hall. Present at the meeting was Board President Mike Ryan and Board Members Jack Call, Cal Carney, Roy Dray, Dave Lloyd, Gene McGaffick, Tim O'Hara and Bob Wines. Also attending was District Manager Al DeAngelis, Legal Adviser Fred Emmerling and Office Manager Greg Stanley.

The Board retired into a 12 minute Executive Session with Legal Advisor Emmerling and the District Manager for a brief update on pending litigation about the East Liverpool garnishment law suit. East Liverpool filed a garnishment request against the water district for cash & assets after BWD submitted a payment plan for a breach of contract ruling in favor of that city. State funding agencies then testified at a status hearing that East Liverpool couldn't do that. BWD officials are now awaiting word on Judge Ashley Pike's ruling based on those objections. Following the Executive Session Attorney Emmerling told us it would probably be a couple of more weeks until a decision is handed down.

The Treasurer's Report was accepted as submitted and recommended by Bob Wines. For the month of March the district had $217,179 in expenses with $313, 964 in income. BWD sold a total of 23.3 million gallons of water in March. Wellsville customers used 5.6 million gallons out of that amount. Gene McGaffick noted that water usage dropped during the month which was attributed to lack of outdoor activities. Wines noted that District Fiscal Officer Tony DeAngelo is continuing to make the Treasurer's Report more “user friendly” by streamlining many parts of the monthly report.

Gene McGaffick reported that the Engineering Committee has investigated the Madison Township Trustees' claims that roads in that township are in poor condition where new water lines have been installed. The township trustees submitted a bill for over $15,000 for three roadways they claimed they had to repair because they were not properly repaired after the construction. At a committee meeting on April 20 Board of Trustees Member Roy Dray reported he personally inspected the alleged damage to Township Line Road. In his considered opinion the township's problem on that road is due to lack of maintenance for their drainage system. Many of the ditches are filled with debris allowing water to pool on the roadway. Dray said he could find no problem with either Osborn or Fife Coal Road. Dray is a retired engineer with the County's Engineering Dept.

The Engineering Committee recommended that the claim for damages on Township Line Road be denied. They further recommended that Madison Township have their road crews work up a “punch list” of the problem areas on the other two roadways, marking the alleged spots causing concern. It has to be done before the end of June. The bond for that construction phase of the new Salineville water line expires at the end of July. District Manager Al DeAngelis noted the Township Trustees had signed off on the condition of all three roads following the construction phases. It's been over two years ago since construction was completed on Township Line. The Board approved the committee's recommendations.

For Computer Study, Dave Lloyd submitted the recommendation that the computer server be upgraded instead of the less expensive replacement. The server being used is seven plus years old and has been causing problems lately. To upgrade it would cost $3,200 which is $800 more than the cost of a replacement. However, Office Manager Greg Stanley noted that by upgrading the server the new edition of the Software Solutions program coming out will require a second upgrade that would be paid for. If the server is replaced the later upgrade would cost an additional $1,000 plus over $500 in labor. The Board voted to go with the upgrade on the server.

District Manager Al DeAngelis reported that representatives for the GIS are currently mapping out the BWD system. When completed and installed all of the water lines in the system can be displayed on a computer, pin pointing the nearest shut off valves for problem areas in addition to showing exactly what customers will be affected. When operational the new computer system should cut down on water outage time when something breaks.

The meeting adjourned at 9:29 AM. Next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 19 at 9 AM at Wellsville Village Hall.

ole nib