Pleasant Hill PSD met for their December Board meeting in the Board Room of the Town of Grantsville, on December 4th, 2023. Board members present were Tammy Yoak, President, Allen Dawson, Treasurer and newly appointed Board Member, Tony Arthur.
Caroline Stewart, who replaced Luke Peters at the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council attended her first meeting informing the board that she had spoken to Stephanie Good regarding the Norman Ridge project and was tracking the petition for the Annamoriah project.
PSD Operator Jacob Bunner reported that the handheld unit for reading meters had been set up and he was waiting for mapping on the laptop side of the meter project. They can currently replace up to 60+ meters and have 3 active meters in the ground from the new meters without experiencing any glitches.
A 24 hour shut off policy with fee changes will be put into place. On December 4th there were 22 shut offs slated to be done in the system. Allen Dawson recommended that they check with the WV Public Service Commission to make sure that their policy change was acceptable regarding a recurring fee to be charged to those who frequently have a shut off notice. Stephanie Good, Secretary said that she had looked into the procedure as done by other public service districts and it fine. A decision was made that a policy would be written and presented at the next board meeting.
The Pleasant Hill PSD hopes to soon have a website which would eventually have links for violations, forms and payments. It could possibly have links to upcoming projects, calendars with business events and more as the website progresses. A website tech will come and present how the website works.
Operator report:
Jacob Bunner reported that the Leading Creek line is pressurized and there is still one spot that has an issue, a valve closed that cannot be found. He also informed the board that the Water quality parameters are finished. Pressure issues on Norman Ridge were reported by a customer in the area of Brookstick and Lavada Road. They currently have the area narrowed down to the last fork on that road. Leaf coverage is presenting an issue of being able to spot leaks along the road. A leak detection had been made by Mike Hersman of the WV Rural Water Association and it was repaired, but it has since built up pressure and broke again. It was a customer line that the PSD and accepted as their own at a later time.
Bunner also reported that that multi size lines are creating an issue and they continue to do bandaid patches to solve issues. In closing he reported that the hydrants had been flushed and water quality testing was on time.
President Tammy Yoak gave each board member a “working copy” of an employee handbook. Using Grantsville’s handbook for a guide, she had applied, removed or added things to make it work for Pleasant Hill and as a board they would determine the final edits.
Identification badges will be given to all employees for wear when working for the system for added security.
Another matter for the board to consider is covering the cost of HepatitisB and Tetanus shots for the PSD staff that come into contact with water in the system. Tammy will speak to Minnie Hamilton regarding the cost and scheduling.
The Board entered into executive session to discuss matters of personnel.
An unofficial discussion outside the board meeting time with Jim Hildreth, engineer for the Norman Ridge Project and PSD staff had insightful information as well as expressed concerns.
Currently there are 22 signatures in the Annamoriah area, including Joker Road. Tony Arthur said that he believed the water system numbers would continue to expand once water was offered in that area. “It’s beautiful land,” he said, “but it’s hard to live without water.”
One staff member shared their concern that they had been told that there would be boots on the ground for the project in the coming year, but now were being told 2025. Jim Hildreth responded by saying that the previous board at Pleasant Hill kept no records and wouldn’t get an audit causing the delays.
