Jon Gregory of Tata & Howard updated the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Protection Supply Advisory Committee and Water District Commission in its respective meetings on the engineering firm’s annual report, then fielded questions and comments.
Even though their memberships overlap nearly 90 percent, the purviews of the committee and the commission vary so Gregory addressed both in their respective sessions. Both bodies voted to accept the draft reports sent with pending matters needing address and report tweaks that came out of the meetings.
Marion Department of Public Works Director Nathaniel Munafo noticed that the report never announced the result of the study and recommendation regarding the planned filter upgrade for the MRV’s water-treatment plant. Gregory thanked Munafo for the alert and said, based on the April 2021 result that he would confirm in the report that the Koch Puron MP filter was chosen by the district commission.
ECA Solar invoices were incomplete, the information needed being the amount of the electrical costs saved in 2021 via the company’s program. ECA had billed only through September – October.
Henri Renauld, the director of the MRV’s water-treatment plant, had been ill and was presumed unable to attend the meeting, but he joined partway through and contributed to the discussion in notifying Gregory that his office keeps a spreadsheet on invoices so that information can be totaled. Gregory suggested waiting until the end of next week and then finalizing the report.
Also pending was confirmation of the average daily processing of 1,870,000 gallons per day in 2021, down slightly from 1,880,000 in 2020.
Both the committee and later the commission voted their approval. Gregory said he would finalize the report and send it out as final in both MS Word and PDF formats.
Gregory also told the committee that there may be a new issue with a level logger in Monitor Well 3D; he will troubleshoot the matter and find out if the equipment can be fixed in the field.
In February or March, Gregory plans to present Tata & Howard’s quarterly update.
In her Treasurer’s Report to the commission, Treasurer Wendy Graves reported $80,990.43 in total paid invoices for December, highlighted by Univar at $9,563, Tata & Howard at $2,550, $4,193 and $2,090, and Woodward and Curran at $4,190 and $883.
Graves also pointed out that the debt schedule requires its next payment of $45,155.48 due on January 15, with $3,386.66 in fees. The commission voted to pay the bill.
MRV Chairman Vinnie Furtado reported new correspondence in a letter from CPA Robert Brown, whose firm is engaged in examining financial statements for Marion and Rochester. Brown requested information on total bonded debt outstanding for the MRV District.
In other news, Hub, MRV’s insurance carrier, sent a $1,065 check for overpayment of premium.
In his Treasurer’s Report, Jeff Furtado reported that the committee paid out $15,338.73 since July while bringing in $73,619.64. The committee’s ending balance on Jan. 1 was $285,830.20. Tata & Howard was paid on invoices of $1,840 and $2,032.90.
The committee voted to authorize Vinnie Furtado to pay the Tata & Howard invoice of $1,389.87, along with $251.72 to David Watling, $50 to Blair Bailey and $238 to Megan McCarthy for graphic design.
Before Renauld joined the commission meeting in progress, the committee, which meets before the commission and was in progress, voted to authorize Vinnie Furtado to sign in Renauld’s absence.
The next meetings of the MRV Water District Commission and Water Protection Supply Committee are scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, at 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm.
MRV Water District Commission/Water Protection Supply Advisory Committee
By Mick Colageo