Compliance & Legislative Committee Meeting Minutes March 15, 2017
For your consideration, please review the minutes from the Compliance & Legislative Committee Meeting on March 15, 2017:
Compliance & Legislative Meeting Minutes March 15, 2017 with Attachments
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Brunswick-Glynn County
Joint Water and Sewer Commission
1703 Gloucester Street
Commission Meeting Room
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 1:00 PM
COMPLIANCE & LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES
Present:
Mike Browning, Committee Chairman
Don Elliott, Commission Chairman
Cornell Harvey, Commissioner
Jimmy Junkin, Executive Director
Charles Dorminy, Legal Counsel
Also Present:
Tom Boland, Deputy Director
John Donaghy, Chief Financial Officer
Mark Ryals, Superintendent
Angela Walker, Pre-Treatment Compliance Coordinator
Chairman Browning called the meeting to order 1:00 PM
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
There being no citizens who wished to address the Committee, Chairman Browning closed the Public Comment Period.
ADOPT:
- Minutes from February 15, 2017 Compliance & Legislative Committee Meeting
Commissioner Elliott made a motion seconded by Commissioner Harvey to adopt the minutes of the February 15, 2017 Compliance & Legislative Committee Meeting Minutes. Motion approved 3-0-0.
- Industrial Wastewater Pre-Treatment Permits – A. Walker
Angela Walker presented to the committee that the JWSC does already have some industries that are working under permits. They are expired permits which have been extended for a considerable amount of time. She has prepared new draft permits of which these industries and JWSC are in agreement with on the provisions. Her department would like to place them out for public comment. She further presented that the JWSC is required by the GA EPD to maintain an industrial pretreatment program in Glynn County, GA. The industrial pretreatment program is mandatory for any utility which treats over 5 million gallons of sewage a day. Currently there are 5 industries that discharge industrial wastewater to the Academy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant which require pretreatment permits be issues. All of the industrial pretreatment permits are due for renewal. The draft permits were completed by Brown & Caldwell after a review of the local limits for the Academy Creek Plant. The draft permits are ready to be issued for public review. Based on Staff’s evaluation and review of the current draft permits, a recommendation to move forward with the 30 day public review and full commission approval is proposed. Commissioner Elliott asked if these permit drafts have been provided to the industries. Angela replied, that in years past the permit drafts have been provided to the industries for 30 days to review, and then the permits also go out for public review. These industries have already reviewed the drafts several times due to some of their limits having been changed due to the local limits being changed for the Academy Creek Plant. She also noted that some of the limits had never been tested for in the past since they were not required under the old treatment permits. They have been working together on these permits and revisions during the last year. The only industry that she is still working with on the provisions of their permit is the hospital, due to the fact that it is a unique industry with 11tie-ins to JWSC’s sewer lines, so there is not one common place for industrial sampling of the discharge from that facility. Angela added that there are only 2 locations at the hospital that actually of interest in the industrial program, the laundry and the cafeteria. The balance of the tie-ins from the hospital are the same type of discharge as from a business or a household. The permit for the hospital was revised to include only the 2 locations of interest, and there is also awareness that flow-monitoring will have to be in place, as well as a readable PH and temperature control. She continued to mention that 2 of the industries are also categorical (as noted at the top of their permits), and those are Pinova and Quaker City Plating. The constituents of those 2 industries are monitored by a more severe set of parameters than our local limits, and they have limits that cannot be changed because their limits are sent down by the EPA. These 2 industries are monitored by the EPA as they are more of a detriment to the Wastewater Treatment Plant or to the waterways, and they have to pre-treat more severely than other industries. Commissioner Harvey asked who the samples are sent to. Angela responded that they send the samples to a couple of independent labs which are independent of the businesses and are all certified to do this testing through the state and other certification boards. She noted that once per year, her department does pull a priority pollutant sample and sends them to our lab to be sampled for everything that the sample could possibly contain. 3 of the industries split their samples with JWSC so that JWSC can test as well as the independent labs. Pinova has a line that comes directly in to the Academy Creek Plant which is sampled regularly. The permits are issued for a period of 5 years, which is the industry standard. The hospital is the only one of the 5 industries that has not been permitted in the past. These 5 industries are the only businesses that discharge any type of chemical to JWSC which could be detrimental to the Plant. 4 more industries are expected to be added by the end of the year from the Exit 29 area. Commissioner Browning asked what is involved in the public review of the permits. Angela responded that in the past, JWSC has placed public notices in the newspaper advising the public that the permits are available in our lobby for their review for 30 days, and they will be placed on the website in the case that the public may have any questions concerning them. After the time for public review, the permits will go before the full Commission for approval to be issued to the industries.
Commissioner Elliott made a motion seconded by Commissioner Harvey to release the permits to the public for review and comment. Motion carried 3-0-0.
DISCUSSION:
- Pre-Treatment Compliance Report Update – A. Walker
Angela Walker presented the updated list of Pretreatment Compliance to the committee. Other than the general information for update, she noted that there were no fees of $175.00 issued since February 15, 2017 to businesses for non-compliance. This was due to an extra step being added to the plan, of which after her department has physically visited the businesses in non-compliance, they are sent another letter indicating that they were still out of compliance and advising that a fee for that issue would be added to the water bill for those businesses. Another informational note was that Angela and Olivia Cummings attended the Georgia Association of Code Enforcement conference in Savannah in March, attending classes such as Compliance Ethics and Hazardous Materials. They are planning to work on certification which certifies employees of municipalities to become code enforcement officers in the State of Georgia, which requires additional training for them. Their goal is to be trained to ensure that they are enforcing the codes in the proper way, and learning more about the associated laws and requirements. There are 3 levels of certification, which is offered through the Carl Vinson Institute, with all classes have assessments requiring passing grades to earn credit for coursework.
Executive Director’s Update:
Mr. Junkin added final notes to the committee that staff is working through the budget and rate structure with the goal of providing a more equitable rate structure for the community and residential customers, which could require some revisions to the Operating Agreement.
There being no other business to bring before the Committee, the Chairman adjourned the meeting at 1:21 pm.