Harwich Water & Wastewater Department

Present: Chairman Donald T. Bates, Vice Chairman Danette Gonsalves, Clerk George Cavanaugh, Superintendent Wiegand, Secretary Kelly Byrnes

Meeting called to order at 8:20 am.

Letter was presented to the Board from Superintendent Wiegand addressing employee sick leave abuse. The Board was asked to approve and sign.

Superintendent Wiegand informed the Board about the contract negotiations that were held this week. The Town offered the employees a two (2%) percent increase just the same as other town department employees.

The Board reviewed several memos detailing the incidents of one Harwich Water Department employee over the past several months..

Dave Ryan, the Harwich Town Accountant, appeared before the Board to present the budget as of June 30, 2006.

Discussion regarding demand billing. Suggested that it will begin after this billing period. The Board also discussed adding interest to the delinquent accounts not paid. George Cavanaugh suggested that we include in the demand letter notification that if the bill is not paid within 30 days, the account will be charged interest plus the turn off/on fees. If possible, notices will be included on the upcoming bills to notify customers ahead of time of this change. Superintendent Wiegand will be looking into what the statutes say so that we can proceed and put this into effect as soon as possible.

Motion made by George Cavanaugh to approve the minutes from August 22, 2006. Motion was seconded by Danette Gonsalves.

Superintendent Wiegand discussed with the Board a letter from David White regarding reduced salt zones and our cooperation with the program. The Environmental Service Section requested that we provide samples showing the impact of salt in our wells. Per Superintendent Wiegand, we would be willing to cooperate pending that they provide us with sampling bottles and cover the cost of fees to send samples back. They did not agree to these terms, thus we have to pay for these expenses. If we do not participate they will not include Harwich in the reduced salt zone.

Per letter regarding Steven Harris, the Board discussed several options as to how to approach the current situation.

A discussion took place about field employee promotion. Employee received their license and has been promoted to be in charge of all meter readings. Another field employee was also given a fifty cent ($0.50) raise to compensate for all of the added duties in their job description.

Next meeting to be held on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 8:15.

Motion to adjourn made by George Cavanaugh at 8:54 am. The motion was seconded by Danette Gonsalves.

Donald T. Bates, Jr., Chairman
Danette Gonsalves, Vice Chairman
George Cavanaugh, Clerk
Craig Wiegand, Superintendent
Kelly Byrnes, Secretary