- Time is now five oh two. I'd like to call today's utility service for order. The city of Wilmington
- utilities mission is to enhance the quality of our life or quality of life in our community by providing
- safe, sustainable and high quality drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services in a cost effective
- manner, promoting public health, economic vitality and environmental stewardship.
- If any board member has any personal or financial conflict with any issues or individuals on the agenda,
- then please be sure to recuse yourself during those portions of the meeting. We will start off with
- petitions and communications. Are there any petitions and communications from the public? Moving on
- to the approval of minutes from the previous meeting. I move we approve the minutes of our last meeting.
- Second. All in favor please say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Minutes are approved. Next we have the
- approval of claims. We will begin with our standard invoices. Standard invoices for a total amount of
- $1,109,368.73. Are there any questions or comments on the standard invoices? Hearing none, do we have
- a motion to approve?
- We approve the standard invoices for December 5th. Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed
- say nay. Standard invoices are approved. Next, we have utility bills for an amount of $10,720.23. Are
- there any questions or comments on the utility bills? I move we approve the utilities claims list for
- pay date November 25th.
- Second. All in favor please say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Utility bills are approved. Next we have
- wire transfers for a total amount of $553,248.53. Any questions or comments on the wire transfers? I
- move we approve wire transfers for December 2025. Second. All in favor please say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay.
- Wire transfers are approved. Finally, we have customer refunds for a total amount of $16,140.46. Are
- there any questions or comments on the customer refunds? I do have a question. That customer refund
- for Hayden Flats was quite significant. What happened there? That's a very complicated situation. OK,
- OK. So Hayden Flats is the partway complex on Rogers across from the
- golf course. And then when they were building, when they were built in, we put a meter in, but there
- was a bypass valve that was on. So the water wasn't going through the meter. And then so we had to go
- back and make some estimates on how much water was actually used at the complex. And then to complicate
- matters, we asked them to put in a 12-inch service line versus an 8-inch service line. So we owed them money.
- for the larger pipe, and so this is the net of the two things to give them a refund. That's the nickel
- story of it. Well, that's quite different than closed account. It is on a closed account. So, okay,
- great. Thank you. Thank you very much for the explanation. What's a lab test account? I've never noticed
- it noted that way.
- external people doubted domain okay for water so they were all charged I move yeah I move we approve
- the accounts payable payday December 5th customer refunds second all in favor please say aye aye all
- opposed say nay
- Customer refunds are approved, thank you all. Item number five on our agenda is approval of consent
- agenda. Catherine Zager. Good evening, Catherine Zager, utilities director. I'm presenting tonight's
- consent agenda, totaling $57,658.75 for non-chemical contracts. First is with Dot Look Crane, Inc.
- for $1,800. To pull and rebuild motors at the South Central Booster Station,
- Next is with Bledsoe Rigger Cooper James for $24,320 for the relocation of existing sanitary sewer in
- relation to Bloomington Convention Center expansion project. Next is with City Glass for $10,000 for
- on-call window and door repair and replacement services. Next is with Todd Septic, NTE $15,000 for the
- amendment for an on-call service agreement.
- Next is with Brehab for $6,538.75. For the air compressor rental and removal at the Monroe Water Treatment
- Plant. Next is with JCI Jones Chemicals Inc. for $1.48 per gallon for the 2026 supply of sodium hypochlorite
- at Dillman Wastewater Treatment Plant. Next is with JCI Jones Chemicals Inc. for $1.48.
- per gallon for the 2026 supply of sodium hypochlorite at Monroe Water Treatment Plant. Is there any
- member who wishes to consider one or more of these items individually? Hearing none, if there is no
- opposition, these items will be approved as recommended by staff. Hearing no opposition, the consent
- agenda is approved.
- Item six, request approval of resolution 2025-23 on the disposition of solar panels. Catherine Zager.
- Yes, Catherine Zager, utilities director. I'm bringing forward a resolution on the disposition of solar
- panels. These solar panels were extra solar panels from the solar panel project. The RDC would like
- to do something with them.
- potentially sell them. And this is saying that we are okay with them taking the authority to do that.
- They will be checking in with regular reporting to CBU on the status of the panels. Happy to take any
- questions.
- Yes Sure, you know great question. So we were originally Larger solar panel projects. So there are solar
- panels here and at our plants and so we have a stake in what happens to the excess solar panels because
- we help to pay for that project and
- And so that's why they would report to us how many solar panels they sold and then Divvy up whatever
- profits Yes, and through checking in with us So when we declare these surplus Is that we're doing are
- we just selling them
- No, so this is not declaring them surplus. So the RDC is basically going to manage getting appropriate
- compensation for the solar panels. And then they will give us fair reimbursement for solar panels that
- depending on the portion that we paid for. So they're not planning to do a surplus sale on these. Are
- they planning to
- try to do a market price sale, I don't know. You know, that's what I'm confused about is normally when
- municipalities decide they don't need something, we've got to come up with, we've got to use the state
- surplus laws to get rid of it so that it is fairly disposed of and the taxpayers or rate payers in our
- case get a fair
- amount for it. So I don't know, will they already see, if there's a separate corporation, they might
- not have to do that, but if they're a subunit of local government, they might have to follow surplus
- rules. So yeah, and that's what this staff report is saying, is that they may retain some of them as
- replacements, but then they plan on
- selling some of them in accordance with the statutory surplus property laws. So essentially surplus
- sales, yeah. Okay. That seems like a lot of solar panels. It's a lot of solar panels. How big are these,
- Jenna? Anybody know? Where are they? They're standard size solar panels. Yeah. Like sorry, maybe three
- by five, somewhere in there. Okay.
- That's a lot. There's no other we don't have any other need for them. Utilities wise any place. So there
- were a number of them that were slated to go to blue chair but unfortunately they were slated to go
- in a floodplain so they could not be installed. So.
- No, we've not found a good use for the surplus of solar panels to answer your question. And how was
- it just now, like how was it not determined that it was in the floodplain? Don't ask, huh? Okay, sorry.
- We've had a lot of that tonight, I feel like. How do we ensure that we do get fair market value on these
- and that our portion does come to us? I think I'm a little,
- I'm a little uncertain as to that we'll negotiate the appropriate percentage of reimbursement. How much
- did we pay? I feel like that's a little vague in here because in the beginning we all paid a certain
- amount. So in an effort to make sure that to ensure that we do get
- our portion of fair market value and is whatever this RDC commission, are they, I know it's part of
- the city, but are they gonna take a portion of this for managing? I'm not sure how they're going to
- do that. I just know that they're gonna have regular reporting to us as far as the status and what they're
- selling and what our agreed upon portion is.
- just like for background, I think these were the same solar panels that we were storing at Blucher Pool
- for a while. And they became essentially a nuisance there. And now they are at the Bunger and Robertson
- building and have, you know, impeded progress there as well. So I think really the RDC managing
- how to, what to do about this large amount of solar panels while we will see our portion of whatever
- they sell is really a service to us to figure out what to do with these solar panels. It has been an
- ongoing conversation. What are we going to do with these solar panels? Who's going to do what with them?
- And they're old. And they're eight years old.
- I mean, I think it's a really important question. These are pretty expensive. And I'd have trouble voting
- for this without having that information on what they're doing. So I'd like to suggest tabling this
- until we can get more information on how this sale or distribution is going to take place. I think that's
- a good motion if you want to make it. I did. But I'll second the tabling.
- We discuss after tabling, I can't remember. I just have one further question. Who's paying for the storage
- at Bunger Robertson? The city owns the building. Of the supplies? Oh, the city owns it, so we're not.
- Yeah, because they bought it for convention centers. Okay. Well, it's really supposed to be where the
- hotel sits. But, so we're not paying, so nobody's, this is city, okay, that was my final question.
- Thank you. So I would like to see in the revised more information is what is our percentage with these
- partnerships?
- Thank you. Because normally what what what concerns me here is normally when we do surplus it's because
- we've used it till it's beat up and done and and it's okay to get rid of it but this stuff's never been
- hooked up to anything. It's like letting a brand new dump truck sit at Blucher pool for several years
- and then decide no we really didn't need that. We'll just figure out a way to offload it.
- I mean, there might even be some productive ways to use this partnership with another, if we did it
- with another public entity, we wouldn't necessarily, I think there's a way to transfer this stuff to
- another public entity without doing surplus. And maybe get better public benefit out of it. If they're
- using the same product that was from
- Yeah, I don't know. But it's worth a couple of weeks to take a look at, I think. So we have a motion
- and a second to table this, and we'll seek some more information. All in favor, please say aye. Aye.
- All opposed, say nay. Motion is approved. We will table that and look forward to hearing more in a couple of weeks.
- Next, we have. I think we had a new packet that didn't come out today. Oh, I'm sorry, I might have missed
- it. I'm assuming. Request approval of first change order for public works agreement with Crider and
- Crider. Kevin White, PSU. Okay, thank you. Hey, Kevin White, Capital Projects Coordinator. Seek an approval
- of change order number one.
- With Crider and Crider, this will increase the overall cost of the contract by $12,927.73. That part
- is related to the use of flaggers to maintain traffic. We'd originally set up an MOT with boards, road
- closed signs, and the public were just not paying attention to that, and it got pretty dangerous pretty quick.
- And so we implemented flaggers on that job site. So that's what that change is. And then in addition
- to the monetary change, Crider is asking for 45 calendar days to be added to the contract. That's related
- to the fiber box installation conflict. There was a fiber box that had been installed in the wrong spot,
- which happened to be right in the area that we needed to work to begin this project. And so it took
- a little bit of back and forth between Chris Wheeler
- And and the M Street fiber, but we got that resolved and project is now about halfway complete Happy
- to answer any questions Yeah, thanks I'm assuming that when a contract is as big as a million and a
- half dollars that there are always like This was this was over this was under this
- For $12,000 to a million and a half just seems like that's just part of the changes of doing business.
- So I'm wondering why such a small amount got added to such a big contract. Very good question. This
- is funded through the REDI grant process. So the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative was the
- was overall funding this so we had very limited contingency built into this project so for any of our
- own CBU projects we would hopefully not be here in this instance but given that it was grant funded
- that's why we're here today. Thank you for that. Remind me again it's not in the tech the text it's
- in the packet but we're
- Where are the extra flaggers needed? Location? It was on South Rogers, basically in front of the, is
- that the community kitchen? I believe right there, so south of the, of the doctors, yeah, in front of
- the warehouse. Which are we doing, water or sewer there? Sewer. Okay. We're increasing the diameter
- of the sewer pipe.
- started in South Rogers and we're kind of going over, we'll be splitting, heading north, splitting the
- social security building on our west and the dermatology center on our east, going up to just south
- of Grimes and cutting over west to Fairview Street, which is the other entrance to Catalan right there.
- So that work should not include getting into Grimes. So I'm really hoping that there's no additional
- MOT adjustments.
- Okay, thank you. Any other questions for Kevin? All right, I move we approve the change order number
- one to the Crider and Crider contract. Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay.
- The request is approved. Thank you.
- Item eight, request approval of First Amendment to agreement for on-call SCADA services with Control
- Freaks Consulting LLC. Catherine Zager. Yes, we're requesting an amendment to the contract to increase
- the NTE by an additional $15,000 for a new annual NTE of $40,000. This is for on-call service agreements
- for all of our SCADA services. Happy to take questions.
- All right, I move approval of the on-call agreement with Control Freaks for skated services. Second.
- All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay. Request is approved, thank you.
- Moving on, old business. Any old business from the board? Old business from staff? I just got one. They
- were asking about how much proceeds we've gotten from our surplus auctions. We've gotten about $140,000
- this year. Thank you. To pay for a vehicle being fixed. Did I say that out loud? New business. Any new
- business from the board?
- I never know whether to say it now or petitions and communications, but I just wanted to say thank you
- to our folks who've been working out in the cold overnight, over time, outside. I know that there's
- been a lot of breaks or projects where we're trying to least inconvenience our drivers out in the community.
- And so just thank you to our crews that are out there, especially in this cold week. I'm sure unfortunately
- there's gonna be extra breaks. And so thank you for your dedication to our community.
- Any other new business from the board? Is this an appropriate time to bring up the? What's it called?
- Administrative? Yeah, sorry. We were talking about needing to have an administrative meeting based on
- the roles of
- board next year, so. I don't recall, but I think I chair that one. Let's see. Or you're the chair. OK,
- good. OK, good. You're the alternate. I'm the alternate? Yes. Good. OK, good. Stuart Parmenter and Debro.
- Don't we have it already on the calendar?
- I think we, for which meeting? 15th. 15th, okay. What do we have? At 445. 445. Yeah. Okay, so I don't
- have to be there. That's a reminder for everybody. Fair enough. New business from staff. Subcommittee
- reports, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, we had a,
- finance subcommittee meeting prior to this meeting. There was one item in the agenda that involved fleet
- maintenance rates. The board had had questions for a while now about whether CBU was getting fair return
- for the amount that we were paying
- for fleet maintenance. Data were presented. There were some estimates made, just research-only estimates
- for what seemed like obvious and necessary repairs to vehicles, and that amount was about $137,000,
- whereas the
- The cost to CBU for the year was $846,000. And while that sounds like a big difference, it's not comparing
- apples to apples. And so we had a presentation by Adam Wason, who's the head of public works for the
- city. And he tried to explain all of the costs that go into the
- $846,000 and it's very complicated and difficult to digest and the bottom line is that we will continue
- to pursue what we're paying and what we're getting and we will have more meetings and presentations
- in the future but this was a good first step.
- I'd also like to add that a thank you to Matt and Kat for doing all the legwork on getting those numbers.
- And thank you to Adam and Gretchen for being available and transparent and looking forward to further
- conversations on this. So thank you all. Staff reports. None today.
- Any petitions and communications from the public? Do we have a motion to adjourn? I move we adjourn.