November 3, 2008
Present was Ramesh H. Advani, James C. Lehan, Robert J. Garrity, and Jack Hathaway, Town Administrator.
Ramesh called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. for a work session in the Selectmen’s Office Conference room.
Also present was Remo Vito and Steve Olson, engineer of Environmental Partners.
The Board discussed the ongoing water pipe issue, and what the test results that have come back so far indicated, and what options they should consider.
At 7:30 p.m., the Board then moved the meeting downstairs to the meeting room for our regular meeting.
Ramesh called the meeting to order and Jack Hathaway read the agenda contents.
CLASS II LICENSE – R&D AUTOMOTIVE, 46 Main Street
Ramesh Advani said that we are considering an application for a Class II license for R&D Automotive, 46 Main Street; Richard Gleason, owner.
Richard Gleason, owner of R&D Automotive was present. He told the Board he let his previous Class II license go because he wasn’t selling enough cars to make it worth while. 2006 is the year the bond requirement went through. He said now that the economy is bad, people are looking for inexpensive cars.
He told the Board that he would like his license the same as before, with only three cars. He told the Board his hours would be 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays, and Saturdays by appointment only.
Jim Lehan moved to grant a Class II license to R&D Automotive with the condition that no more than 3 cars are on display at any one time; contingent upon zoning and to check zoning to be sure the grandfathering for this license isn’t lost. Rob Garrity seconded, and it was so voted.
Jack will check with the Zoning Enforcement Officer to be sure the zoning allows for a Class II license at this property.
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR
Jack read the biweekly calendar.
WATER DISCUSSION
Present was Remo Vito, DPW Director and Steve Olson, Engineer at Environmental Partners.
Jack said he will put the final report online.
Butch said they are still looking into the grounding issue with NSTAR. Ramesh wants a report.
Steve gave some findings from the draft report. He said they found pits and scales on the pipe, and found trace levels of silica. The prominent species is chloride. There was some water quality trace found. Electrical stray currents and underground electrical utilities. Steve said the findings are not much different than the conversation he had last time with the BOS.
Steve said there isn’t anything that we didn’t treat right.
Ramesh asked his conclusion. Steve said after looking at the draft report and reviewing samples taken two weeks ago, it does appear that part of the issue is water quality contribution to the pitting, but he doesn’t know to what extent.
Jim wants the distinction of water quality. Should we have known this or dealt with this? These are pinhole leaks, not uniform corrosion.
Copper is a metal that oxidizes and comes to the surface and creates a scale. A scale is a good thing. It creates an insoluble film which is a protective seal. Jim asked if there was anything we could have done in the 80’s or 90’s that would have prevented this? Steve said not to our knowledge. Ramesh said the quality of the water could be one of the significant factors. Steve said you were trying to make things better, and a combination could have been a contributing factor.
Nancy Flynn, Beaverbrook Road, said she doesn’t have underground utilities.
Cindi Andrade, Worcester Road, said they do not have underground utilities.
Ed Barrett, 4 Crossbow Road. He said his service failed in April. He said the Water Department personnel were incredibly responsive and very, very helpful. $3,000 was an expense he didn’t want to incur. Let’s face up and fix the problem. His furnace has been plumbed twice because of sodium phosphate crystals around the furnace.
Ted Butler, Castle Road. He wondered if Butch had gotten numbers as he promised. Butch said he doesn’t have hard numbers. Ours is less than 1%. He said the towns he has talked to has been looking for leaks, too. What we find may help them with what they are looking for. Ted said where were the pipes tested from? Butch said Noon Hill and Stop River area. Butch said the chemical issue we are finding now can’t go back before 2003, because that’s when we started using ortho phosphate.
Mr. Barrett said he is worried about the water service under the street. He said that this needs to be done. Butch said that when they started looking at the street, they weren’t as deteriorated as from the curbstop to the house.
Rob said that Butch is doing a balancing act. Butch said they did do some, but it wasn’t as bad so he didn’t continue. Rob said they do know that there is a systemic issue and we will go from main to house anyway.
Mr. Frontzak, 14 Main Street, said the site has sat unused. Does the water have to flow through it to the pit, or will standing water affect it?
Dale L. Powell, New England Regional Manager for the Copper Development Association, Inc. was present. He said oxygen, corrodant and piping systems that are new have oxygen flowing through it. Standing probably doesn’t have it. The more oxygen you have in the water or system, the more corrosion.
Bill Coleman, 1 Creek Drive asked did the pipe test show from inside out or outside in. He was told it started on the inside. His pipes were tested by Mr. Powell.
There is no documented evidence that says that stray electrical currents are the problem. Dale Powell said if grounding is what was causing these failures, it would be outside in. Soil side failure and not a water side failure.
Jim said it is a single source of water flowing through all these homes. Why are we not seeing this in any area of town, and only on Creek Drive? Jim asked why this is unique to this street. Why hasn’t it happened anywhere else in town? Why are some streets newer and some streets older? He wanted to try and find an answer.
Rob said although they know about pitting, figuring out the particular combination of chloride is relatively new. Rob said he was trying to find out if there is something we should have been doing 5 years ago that we weren’t, and Dale said no. Most changes are new. We lowered the pH and then we will do the ortho.
Steve said Norfolk doesn’t have aluminum showing.
Both Steve and Dale pretty much agreed, and had the same answer.
Ramesh told the residents that the Board will listen to them and try to help.
A resident questioned if there is a health issue here. Steve said there is no health issue as far as drinking the water.
Steve Hutchinson, 5 Whites Pond Road told the Board he needs to have his leak taken care of before winter.
John Lavin questioned the wells and do they have treatment plants on them. Wanted the distribution explained. Butch explained the distribution and said the water is treated as it leaves the stations.
Ted Butler asked about 1992 to 2002 and what happened in that 10 year span when it was being ignored? Butch said that it has only been the last 4 or 5 years.
There was discussion about the water and tanks and where it comes from.
Harvey Ford, 30 Stop River. Questioned what are we supposed to do? What kind of relief?
Ramesh would now like to have the discussion about what we are going to do.
Jim feels there is an extensive problem and we really don’t know how extensive. Aggressively find as many leaks as we can. We should try to help people, especially in this bad time. The process by which we will assume the responsibility – establish a process where someone has a failed pipe or well, can repair it on their own, or the Water Dept. will do the repair and bill the homeowner over a period of 5 years and can pay it back through your Water Bill. It needs to be approved by town meeting. Enterprise Fund which is only for these projects. Water Dept. should bid this through a list of 4 or 5 contractors so that we can get a competitive rate and discount. This would include water takers or people on wells. The other thing is to survey all the 2200 water takers to see
if there are water problems down there that we aren’t aware of. It will help us get our arms around this. For people who have already experienced it, Jim is torn between the legal side and the moral side.
Rob agreed with Jim. They discussed whether or not to charge interest. Jim says no.
Butch mentioned an insurance policy. He will look into it.
Jack said we need to have special legislation to do a revolving fund within the Enterprise Fund.
Jack said when we change the phosphates, we will need to flush the mains more frequently. Flushing is more expensive. Manual flushing causes discolored water.
Jim thinks we need a well defined management process. We need to do this as a priority and focus on the steps taken. People need to know everything in advance and why we are doing it. Steve said blended phosphate would have a small amount of ortho. Butch said to listen to what Jack said and do a couple different options and combine what we want.
Ramesh said be clear regardless of the issue, as long as it involves water.
Mr. Coleman said we could waive fees for permits and give a break on the water. The Board said we can’t do that.
OLD BUSINESS UPDATE
Jack discussed Call & Wait. They didn’t live up to the Agreement. Business is now padlocked and police taped. Receiver will sell off all materials on the site and use the funds to pay to clean up the site. Call & Wait has been ordered to pay us the old legal fees he owes us, and he has to pay that now.
Jack gave a brief update on the School Building Project.
NEW BUSINESS UPDATE
Jack gave an update on the Public Safety Building Committee. Everyone agreed that something has to happen in the spring.
Jack said he met with the School Superintendent, and made some progress with ideas as part of the budget for shared cost savings. He is also meeting with Town Administrators from Wrentham and Plainville on Thursday.
Jim said that David Lutes is in favor of 43D and wanted to be sure there is nothing in our bylaws that isn’t updated so that it won’t impede us going forward.
Jim Lehan moved to appoint the following individuals to the Council on Aging: Joseph Mariani, term to expire June 30, 2009; Joann Squitieri, term to expire June 30, 2009; and Jason Talerman, term to expire June 30, 2011. Rob Garrity seconded, and it was so voted.
At 10:25 p.m., Rob Garrity moved to go into executive session for contract negotiations and collective bargaining. Jim Lehan seconded, and it was a roll call vote: Rob Garrity, aye; Ramesh Advani, aye; and Jim Lehan, aye.
At 10:57 p.m., Rob Garrity moved to adjourn the meeting. Jim Lehan seconded, and it was so voted.
This is a true and accurate report of the Selectmen’s Meeting of November 3, 2008.
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James C. Lehan, Clerk
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