REPORTS - RULE 53

Transcript (~9 min @ 2:20:50)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 2:20:44 Manisha Bewtra: Thank you, President Lemmerman. Buckle up, I have a slightly lengthy report to read from the Water and Sewer Rate Committee. It was my first time serving in that committee and it was also the first time sort of through the process of rate setting. so I anticipate this update's a little longer and future updates will be brief. So the Water and Sewer Rate Committee met on Thursday, January 31st. Representatives from the Department of Public Works, Office of the Treasurer and Collector, and the Auditor's Office presented an overview of the Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund accounts and water and sewer operations, including updates on infrastructure conditions, meter billing, revenue, and reserves. goal of the committee is to make its recommendations for 2020 water rates by april 30th in time for the board of aldermen to approve it in early may approve the rates in early may the committee is going to meet several times between now and then city engineer elena proakis ellis represents melrose on the executive committee for the massachusetts water resources authority advisory board or the mwra advisory board which helps us maintain strong communications between them and us city staff emphasized the benefits of aggressive preventative maintenance and the importance of maintaining a 10 reserve in our enterprise funds they mentioned issues that other communities have faced with mid-year increases something melrose is actively avoiding by closely monitoring usage projecting anticipated changes in usage based on demographic shifts and working with consultants and the mwra to monitor the system regularly for example dpw with some help from its consultants as well as mwra closely monitors water consumption patterns to identify if there are any leaks in the system in december we had a spike in our water consumption that they were able to detect turned out to be an irrigation feed and hydrant fire protection line near el pond that had formed a puddle large enough for ducks to wait in it several thousand gallons of water were lost directly into el pond as a result of this leak that feed has now been turned off for the winter and will be repaired in the spring prior to irrigation season in another area of melrose city personnel discovered 11 feet of crumbled sewer main while responding to a blocked sewer call the repairs were made immediately by dpw crews dpw also prefer performed a city-wide system leak detection evaluation of the water system all leaks found that evaluation were all leaks found with that evaluation were repaired by the the crew water main replacement projects were also completed last year on warwick and perkins on florence street and on ashmond ashmont street and ashmont park working the garfield and east emerson project started and will be completed this year thanks to efforts to remove infiltration and inflow our sewer flows have decreased and our overall percent share of the mwra's total total sewer flow has also decreased in addition repairs to our water system and due to water conservation mainly in homes have resulted in decreasing water uses citywide which has also decreased our percent share of the mwra's total water consumption dpw remains hopeful that both of these together could result in lower percentage rate increases from the mwra than some of our neighbors in the upcoming fiscal year the city's automatic water automatic meter reading and water meter replacement program is 99 complete with about 251 250 accounts out of 8 400 remaining these remain remaining 250 accounts continue to be charged the manual fee passed by this board these new meters make it easier to the new meters make it easier to detect leaks homeowners can monitor monitor them on their own and the city looks at the readouts when preparing water bills and notifies homeowners of suspected leaks as well one of the resident representatives on the committee mentioned that his neighbor benefited from this new meter metering system because the city had notified the neighbor of an irrigation irrigation system that was left on some larger developments and building accounts are not part of this program as they require larger meters and their current these dpw is currently monitor monitoring those and evaluating them for replacement the city's been working to install cipp or cured and placed pipes which are a type of lining on older sewer pipes in areas throughout the city which seals them without requiring complete replacement this has helped to further reduce infiltration and inflow while creating less disruption than complete replacement as a reminder ini or infiltration and inflow is when rainwater and groundwater flow into our sewers and overload the system making it less efficient and driving up costs other repairs and replacements including open cut replacement of sections of pipe as well as manhole repairs also continue as mentioned previously in this chamber the city now offers monthly billing although there's some additional cost for providing more frequent billing there is benefit to residents of potentially having more affordable monthly payments versus quarterly and it can also help residents and the city identify issues more quickly you can sign up at any time by contacting the dpw water billing office at 781-979-4175 or emailing water bills at cityofmelrose.org to expedite service please include your name account number account location billing address and telephone number and specify your interest in signing up for monthly billing this information is also available in your water bill additionally residents age 65 and older may be eligible for water and sewer discount from the city or a condo owner sewer and water credit we currently maintain a 10 reserve in our water and sewer enterprise accounts. The current balance for free cash in these accounts is $738,945 for water and $718,929 for sewer, which carries over from year to year. So long as we can maintain a reserve, some of this free cash may be diverted towards additional capital improvements and equipment for our water and sewer systems. More to come in early March.

▶ 2:27:48 Speaker 5: Thank you, Alderman Bucha.

▶ 2:27:52 Monica C. Medeiros: Alderman Medeiros thank you as the school committee liaison I'll be brief and say that the school committee has in fact begun some of their budget deliberations at the last meeting of the school committee the superintendent presented her budget message and as you know she is putting together two budgets one if the override passes and one if it does not so you can see there's a very different scenarios and one with the override passing includes the addition of almost 30 new positions and the one where it doesn't the superintendent has indicated that she's nervous about meeting contractual obligations so this will continue to play out over the next couple of months and in particular the next meeting of the school committee on february 12th they will discuss the staffing portion of the budget as well as on March 12th the non staffing portion and the at the additional meetings throughout the next two months you know there will be more budget deliberations but those are two of the main dates and to look forward to you can see all of the information on the school website Melrose schools comm or again an IQ m2 the city meeting agenda portal which is linked to the same place where you see our agendas and

▶ 2:29:22 Speaker 5: you can see the details yourself thank you thank you any further reports under rule 53. thank you