Minutes of Council Workshop dated Apr 24, 2013
WORKSHOP MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
The following are the minutes from the:
Agawam City Council Workshop Meeting
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 6:30pm
Dining Room – Agawam
Senior Center
954 Main Street
Agawam, MA. 01001
The meeting was attended by ten of the city councilors. Councilor Letellier was unable to attend. Chris Golba, Director of DPW was
also in attendance.
(1) This meeting is a Workshop of the Council to discuss the Southwest Area Sewer Project along with the proposed septic repair loan program.
There was discussion
regarding whether or not the Council should move forward with the Southwest Area Sewer Project and/or the proposed Septic Repair Loan Program. One of the issues as stated by Council
President is that we need to get a realistic, true “per property” figure analysis from Tighe & Bond and have them provide us alternatives for the proposed betterment assessment and how
changes in that assessment would affect the rate payer. Councilor Rossi stated that when they first looked into it, one of the projections was if the betterment assessment was $3,000
then the sewer rate would increase by $.80 per 100 cubic feet. If the assessment was raised to $10,000 the rate increase only decreased to $.65, so why saddle the homeowner with a $10,000
assessment. He also stated that the $.80 increase resulted in an approximate $34.00 sewer increase for his household (based on 4,300 cubic feet of usage). Council President noted that
this wouldn’t take into account the high rate business users like H.P. Hood, Six Flags etc.. Councilor Rossi said this was how it’s always been done in this town and we owe it to the
people in that area to help them. Council President and Councilor Rheault added that it was previously done that way in the 1980’s when the town was receiving ninety cents on the dollar
back from the federal government.
Councilor Rossi questioned the figures already received from Tighe & Bond. Didn’t these figures represent a true cost? He thought that was what had
been requested of Tighe & Bond and what they paid for. Council President pointed out that of the 100 potential homes that could hook up to the sewers, at a betterment assessment of
$3,000 each would total $300,000. The total cost of the phase is approximately $12 million. Why should the rate payers pay for the bulk of the project cost? The entire sewer cost
of all the phases would be ballpark $40 million. Councilor Cavallo wanted to know what the survey said and it was noted that no survey had been sent out. There was more discussion
regarding mailing out a survey.
Discussion moved on to the topic of mandatory connection. Council President referred to Southwick’s “opt out” clause in their mandatory connection ordinance.
There was some discussion regarding how long the people should have to hook up. Councilor Mineo said it cost more than $17,000 to replace a sewer system at this point. Many residents’
septic systems would not pass Title 5 inspections. It is only good for two years.
Councilor Cavallo asked if sewers were to go in, what the impact would be on the taxpayer. Council President stated it would create over a 45% increase in sewer rates and then you
would have to include the recent 30% increase on top of that. Councilor Perry confirmed that the estimated number of homes affected by the entire sewer project would be nine hundred.
How many have actually failed over the last ten years? Council President noted that it would not be accurate to call it a failure rate when most of the “failed” sewers actually outlived
their useful life. The Health Agent had previously stated that most included in the number had needed repairs.
Is it really the town and the taxpayer’s responsibility to pay for this?
People knowingly bought these homes with septic systems just as others purposely bought homes with sewers not wanting septic systems. Why isn’t the Town of Southwick paying to put
sewers in their town? Council President stated when speaking with Mike Parsons of Tighe & Bond that they had used the 1980’s figures when they computed the estimated amount of $100,000
per house. They were told to keep the betterment assessment reasonable which was why they provided the amounts that they did. He felt it was not a wise decision to go through with
the project. Council President stated he could not look a business owner in the eye and tell him we were going to go ahead with the sewer project and that his sewer rate would increase
by approximately $100,000. That just is not logical. Councilors Rossi and Mineo feel that we owe these people something however Councilor Cavallo noted that when he first came on the
Council over four hundred residents showed up at a sewer meeting. Where is the crowd now? Maybe they are content with what they have.
It was also discussed that the administration
needs to take a stand one way or the other. Councilor Bitzas said why don’t we take the $800,000 left over from Phase 1 and help the people who need help with the septic repair loan
program? Councilor Rossi did not feel that the town has never been and should never be in the loan business; the town would have to set up a Revolving Fund and get someone to handle
the application process and administer these loans. However it was noted by Council President that there have been several CDBG loan programs. Councilor Bitzas mentioned that we have
town employees that can do that. Councilor Rossi stated that the loan program is not a solution and the fact of the matter is that two years from now, they would need another Title
5 inspection to sell their home or do any sort of addition to their home. He said that history has taught us that Title 5’s do not last. Councilor Bitzas wanted to know if the new
systems were for life but Councilor Mineo said they are not guaranteed. A new, state of the art septic system would cost approximately $17,000. As long as people follow the rules and
not have a disposal and not put anything down the drain that is not allowed, they should last thirty or more years.
Either way, we owe these people a definitive answer and a definitive
cost of the project. Council President asked Chris Golba to contact Tighe & Bond regarding Phase 2 and Phase 3 costs and to calculate a realistic, true cost per household. It would
be fair to charge Phase 2 people with the costs of the pumping stations and piping charges. There was approximately $6 million in piping and $2.8 million for pumping stations and remainder
for the design, construction and roadway improvements. Again, Councilor Bitzas asked about sending out a survey. Councilor Rossi stated that we were here to decide to give sewers to
900 people in the Southwest Area of Feeding Hills and the more people on the town’s system, the rate would decrease for everyone. That’s how it’s always worked. However, Council President
stated that under the current proposal, the rate payer is paying well over 90% of the project. How is that fair? It was discussed that there is about 9,800 total rate payers at this
time and adding a mere 100 new homes hooking up to the system would not reduce the rate by a significant amount of money. Councilor Mineo does not want to leave these people up a creek.
Mandatory connection was again discussed noting that Southwick’s people must connect within a certain period of time unless they apply for a waiver.
Council President stated that the Treasurer told him that we could apportion payment of the bond to separate the Pine Street improvements from the sewer expansion portion of the project.
Finally, Council President said the following should be done:
Get an answer from Tighe & Bond as to betterment assessment/rate increase options
Revise the Mandatory Connection Ordinance
to connect within one year with no Title V approval in place and within three years if the homeowner has a valid Title V
Send a letter/survey to the residents of the Southwest Area with
specific information about mandatory connection and realistic costs
Hold another Council workshop prior to putting the items back on to the Agenda
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher
C. Johnson
President
cc: Full Council, Mayor, Solicitor