Mt. Zion PSD Meeting seemed to once again get off to a rocky start as Board member Robin Hughes requested that the minutes from the October meeting, presented by Anita West, Secretary/Treasurer, be changed because it failed to clarify what Mrs. Hughes considered to be a breach of confidentiality within a conversation between PSD Staff and a customer. The minutes reflected that it was not a conversation but was an open file viewed by a customer. President Ari White determined that it was a clerical error with a misplaced punctuation mark. A correction to the minutes was made and the meeting continued.
Under delegations, Mark Sankoff of Potesta Engineering informed the board that he had coordinated with Operator Jeremy Westfall to a tank inspection which showed that the Poe Gunn tank looked good on the inside. The pressure recorders that he had given to the PSD the month prior to measure the pressure in the first booster station did not collect the data as expected so another device had been given to Jeremy to redo the testing. Mr. Sankoff reported that they’ll continue with the design and will have more report as the move forward on the current project.
Fred Hypes, of Thrasher is reported that he is working with a DEP inspections and can provide pictures from the camera inspection. His project Mt. Zion PSD project is moving along as well he said and the funding options would be further explained by Luke Peters of the MOVRC, who was unable to make the meeting.
President Ari White addressed an evident issue with rumors that had been investigated and determined that there was not evidence to substantiate them. He said from this point forward the Mt. Zion PSD would be documenting things more carefully and that it will do a lot to improve trust and increase transparency. His goal as the newest board member and current President is to [1] Restore confidence in what the PSD is doing, [2] Have Documentation and [3] See that the 2 current projects through to completion.
Mr. White then addressed an issue with the water storage tank going dry on the 21st of October saying that the board could not fault the operator because the issue was with a telemetry system. The new system is one to two years out and the PSD needs to “band-aid” the issue until it’s resolved. “With a new logging system we will know when the psd is taking water, or not, and we’ll be able to tell the town accordingly,” White said.
Anita West gave the Treasurer report providing a list of payables, invoices and checks, and those which paid online such as utilities. She reported that the Mt. Zion PSD “got stuck” with $8,000.00 for pipe that was not used on the bridge project on Phillips run but will be used on later projects. The report was approved.
Mark Sankoff informed the Board that they could apply for a relocation agreement and they’ll have to pay for the PSD’s engineers and cover the cost. Sankoff was then informed that the DOH had currently put rocks on the psd line and concrete which Jeremy Westfall believes will likely blow out in the not too distant future so the project will continue as is.
The Operator’s report was given by Jeremy Westfall stating that he is currently in need of a credit card to pay for truck repairs. He reported that there has been several leaks on the customers side of the line and that several customers may need adjustments. He later reported on the new meters that had been installed, telling the board that the meters tracked every drop of water going through the lines and that customers could see a very large increase in their bills from previous meters, not tracking the water as well. He said that small leaks that were once undetected would now appear by way of water usage and customers would need to check their lines, as it is not the PSD’s responsibility to take care of anything past the meter.
Iona Rhodes, Office Manager reported that there had been several leaks in the system that were repaired and that she had been getting the bills sent out and paid by sending reminder letters which was getting cooperation from the customers. She noted to the board that the Annual Report had been received.
Questions were raised about the accuracy of the meters to which Jeremy Westfall responded that the meters were tested and approved before leaving the company. All meters that are 2” or greater have to be pulled and tested by the Mt. Zion PSD according to Jon Harper of the WV PSC.
An issue discussed at the October meeting regarding a hydrant at Calhoun Homes, after an investigation proved that the hydrant was not broken, but due to incorrect installation of lines leading into the hydrant it did need repairs in that area which will remedy the low pressure that is currently happening.
Anita West proposed that Pleasant Hill PSD be contacted regarding the One Call contract to determine if they’d consider a joint agreement for the future as well to share the costs of that service. She also reported that she had continued to search for a truck and trailer on the recommended website from the Calhoun County Commission but was unable to find suitable equipment. Ari White said that he would search on sites that he had found good equipment on.
In Personnel matters Jeremey Westfall reported that Michael Westfall is close to getting his hours to become certified as a WD operator and needs scheduled for a class to complete the process. Following an executive session Iona Rhodes was given a raise to $14.00 hourly.
President Ari White recommended to the board that there be future work sessions at during evening hours to allow the public to address the board more conveniently. The work session will be the following Wednesday after the board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the PSD office.
Iona has been working as an office manager and has worked without a raise which needs to be considered.
Mayor Robert Petrovsky of the Town of Grantsville attended the PSD board meeting along with several staff and council members. He presented service agreement that had last been entered into in 1979 between the town and Mt. Zion PSD and expired in 2019 that outline the expectations of both organizations with regard to the sale of water. The Mayor was very concerned that due to the lack of a regular pumping schedule by the Mt. Zion PSD Operator, the City’s only operator, Craig Gherke, was being over extended on hours creating serious concern for him personally and the City’s financial burden of meeting payroll for his overtime. In the past two weeks, Gherke had worked 55 hours in overtime alone, above the 40 hour work weeks.
Westfall, who had left the meeting, was said to pump every other day. This then required the Town to have to overcompensate for the loss of water from not pumping every day. It was agreed that the Town’s Chief Operator Craig Gherke would meet with Jeremy Westfall to determine a more consistent plan of running the Mt. Zion PSD pumping stations. The Mayor further commented that should this not work out, the Town would move to be compensated for the overtime required because of Mt. Zion’s failure to have a consistent schedule.
