bringing this meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. Uh, Dr. Roach, please do the roll call. Yes. Mr. Anne Baronson, here. Miss Francois, here.
Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt here. You can't hear me? Now I can. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Kovac here. Miss Davenport here. And Chairwoman's board
here. Okay. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic to the republic for which it stands.
One nation one nation under God, indivisible. Indivisible with liberty liberty and justice for all. second here. In accordance with the provisions changed
to chapter 231, New Jersey Public Laws of 1975, the open public meetings act. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by giving of notice to the corer news posting the agenda in the public lobby of this building 48 hours prior to this
meeting. Delivery of this notice to the Franklin Township clerk at least 48 hours prior to this meeting. and mailing notice to those persons properly requesting to be mailed notification of meetings at least 48 hours prior to this meeting. Is there a motion to open the meeting
for public comments? To open the meeting. Second. A second. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose?
Motion's carried. I don't see anyone here from the public. Therefore, is a there a motion to close the meeting for public comments? Move to close the meeting. Okay. Is there a second? Second.
All in favor? I I Any oppose? Motion's carried. Let's move on to the minutes. Are there any questions with regard to the minutes?
Uh I have a quick question on page four. Um under uh resolutions you have the first four resolutions which are done by uh consent and uh it includes the dollar amount and
then where there's additional resolutions um and there's one of them uh we haven't in included the dollar amount. Is there any reason not to include the dollar amount on the additional resolutions? I will
forward that question to Dr. Roach. Uh we can include it if you'd like that on there going forward. It might be on the actual resolution, but I'm not sure. I can check that for you and get back. Thank you. You're welcome.
Are there any other questions? Seeing that there are no other questions, is there a motion to accept the minutes as is motion to accept the minutes as is? Is there a second?
All in favor? Any oppose? Motions carried. Now for the executive summary, professional reports. director. Thank you, Chairwoman. So, uh under um for the finance platform
upgrade to Edmonds, phase one is still moving forward uh successfully. This project is being managed by Dr. Roach. We did have uh com we had we had completed the soft close for the fiscal
year ended May 2025. Phase two, which is the utility building, there's nothing new to report, but we do have a training uh potentially scheduled for this fall depending on um
I mean the utility bill and go live and uh and training for this fall. That'd be the second half of this project. the High Bay garage. Uh we had some good news uh recently. The DRCC uh did send
us an approval, but the to finalize that approval will require um some sort of letter from the township uh that basically approves uh the project, which I'm sure uh we will have no problem getting that letter
from the township because um it's already built and they uh at least verbally approved it for us. Uh, Somerset Street uh, pump station rehabilitation. I reported order of approval from the township.
I'm sorry. Um, Somerset Street pump station rehabilitation. I reported that it was completed. Now we're in the very final uh, stages of this uh, such as the closeout documents, the final pay
application, and the closeout change order. the Brook uh the the cousin uh project to that would be the Brooklyn Avenue area sewer collection system rehabilitation that's also going
excellent. Um we are reporting the uh main to home work went from 12% to 14% completed in the last month. the cured in place um went from 43 to 58% completed
and we went from 41 to 42 LCRs completed within the last month. We did receive a quote uh through our contract vendor for the repair work of the 48 foot length of pipe. We were unable to qualify that
vendor. So, uh, we're going to, um, uh, request quotes from other vendors, uh, until we can identify one qualified to do the work. Otherwise, the project's going, uh, forward fantastically.
under the uh American Rescue Plan grants that I was able to receive through not only the township but also the county, we did submit and received uh 2,158,240.87.
That is fantastic news. Let me let me repeat that. 2,158,24087. I'm very uh very happy about these grants. Uh however, from the township of Franklin, we have not received any money yet, but we have submitted $62,8561
of reimbursement um requisites. Uh we're just waiting for them uh to approve the paperwork that we sent them that they asked for. Uh Wesson Canal pump station uh rebuild
project. Uh we also had good news. We did receive from the NJD, the office of uh the OTPA office transactions uh a draft agreement. We did send uh amendment requests to them for they
rejected it. However, we're going to live with their agreement. Uh now everything will go to uh the state historic preservation office for their final approval. Once they approve it, we're good to go. We'll
start moving uh you know normally on this project. Commerce Street Drive, Pump Station. There's uh really nothing to report because the vendor does not anticipate receiving any of their materials uh for
them to start construction. And as I reported in the past, construction is slated tenatively to begin August 2025. Shirley Avenue pump station rehabilitation project. As I uh reported
in the past, we need to acquire some uh square footage from the owner surrounding the lot. Um we did a lot of prep work for the title search and survey and so forth. Then we had settlement documents drawn
up. I reviewed them. I approved them and we sent them to the owner. Um, and then I just realized we received them from the owner in the last week or two. Um, I reviewed them today and I put them in
the box to be mailed to the attorney to move forward once we close on that easement. Uh, this project will also move forward normally. Uh, the only other thing to note uh would be New Brunswick. I did receive a call from um Mikey
who represents New Brunswick. he give me a call. Uh nothing really remarkable, but we did discuss conceptual ideas regarding the new agreement that they seem to be in an never ending cycle of
drafting that agreement. Um I will note uh under I'll let Steve talk about his project. Um, Steve Holtzinger, uh, with the permission of the chairwoman, I'd like
to just ask Steve Holtzinger just to remark on anything, uh, that he feels worthy in his operational report. Please go ahead. Evening everyone. Uh as far as operations go, we did complete a lot of
routine maintenance, uh normal exercising of valves, clean and wet wells, um exercising generators. Um some bigger things to note on 616, the township did have a major water main
break near 305 Churchill Avenue. Uh when the water mane break occurred, we did take on a lot of water into our system and we received about 2200 foot of gravity man full of mud. Uh we responded, cleaned it up. It did take
until the next day to get it totally cleaned up, but FTSA crew handled everything. Traffic, we worked with the town well and got it all cleaned up. We had some cement work that had to be done on a manhole due to the break that was
cleaned up. um Woodfield pump station this month due to the PSENG the heat uh we had some problems with PSENG. We ran our generator for about 6 hours during the heat wave. Uh PSCG was able to get the power back up.
Um for our odor control, uh VOCA did their monthly testing. We did have to raise the feed rate about 5% at our six mile run pump station. This is normal with warm warmer weather. Um, and it might go up a little bit more for the
summer months. For developer projects, we did work on multiple projects for inspections, including 1860 East Nav, 395 Elizabeth A, and 1865 Ammo Road. All new sewer construction
jobs. As far as cleaning, we did clean 31,440 ft of sewer this month. We inspected 3100 foot of gravity main and 30 ft of laterals this month.
Um, as far as safety, we had uh no issues this month and that's pretty much the gist of it. Thank you, Steve. And uh so in addition to no injuries, um Steve's crew was
faced with unprecedented uh heat wave some of the areas got up to 107° F in Franklin Township. And Steve and I comm you know we discussed how he's conserving and and protecting his crew
uh from heat exhaustion or heat shock. and uh they have a normal procedure of you know limiting how much time they're outside hydrating and um and and teaming up with each other. Thank thank you Steve. No problem.
Uh chairwoman uh without any questions I can go into the executive director's report. Sorry. Yes, please. Okay. Thank you. Okay. As uh under revenue as of June
30th, checks deposited was 587,945.88. Year-to date collected is the same amount since it's the first month of the fiscal cycle. We have an open balance due of 6,664,452.37. Penalties generated for the month of June were $12,211,
which is about average. Expenses for as of May 31st, and that's also the end of our fiscal cycle for 2025. Expenditures was 2,744,12464. year-to-ate
expenditures was 13,341,62651 cents. I'm going to take this moment to note that uh at the 100% calendar uh fiscal year mark, we were able to spend
92% of our allotted budget for the year. That's an 8% savings, which equates to 1,18,5549 savings. Again, that's a savings of $1.1 million for the past fiscal cycle.
Our cash position as of April 30th um I'm sorry um May 31st is unrestricted category of 2,867,22.90 under restricted is 13,17,12.92
and under designated it's 4,700 46,62047 giving us a total net cash position of 20,630,65629. Uh the I have a just a few topics to point out again under land acquisition
the PSCG property uh with the DP um getting that uh access license was uh is at a final review with the state historic preservation office and the Shirley Avenue pump station is now those
final documents are on the way to the attorney. Um, I also I'm going to ask uh Will Krosk the uh one thing I I want to go over is the rules, rates and regs. As you know, we made several significant changes to them over the last couple of
years, specifically this past January uh further protecting the taxpayers assets of the sewage authority. and we are about to send out a letter to all the private collection system owners in
the township. Uh Will, can you can you um can you just talk a moment or two to the board explaining what I asked you to put together for us and what the benefit is the authority and the taxpayers?
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you, director. I apologize for springing this on you. No, no problem. So, uh, as you all know, you know, the authorities rates, rules, and regulations were updated earlier this year. Part of this included updating the maintenance and reporting requirements for private collection
systems. Uh previously the authority would receive a very brief um one-page letter uh typically one or two sentences every month um which didn't contain uh very much information on what if any maintenance uh took place in these
private collection systems that month. Um, and so this this uh these updated requirements really expand on that monthly reporting requirement um and and clearly uh outline what the expectation
is and what the requirements are for um monthly maintenance for these private collection systems. And so at the director's request, we collaborated with the authorities attorney to draft letters to the owners of the private communities to alert them of the updates and uh and offer a virtual presentation
to assist with their understanding and the implementation uh of these new requirements. Thank you, Will. So what hap why this was important to me was uh several years ago
um when I was much newer, we went on to a private uh property of a condo complex and one of our crew members opened up I it might have been our operations manager opened up a manhole
and um there were holes in the manhole where water was jetting out uh like a an angry fire hose and that water was going into our sewer system that we have to convey and
ultimately we're going to send that to Middle Sex County Utilities Authority for treatment and we're we're paying for every one of those gallons and it's all because that private owner that that HOA is refusing
to proper proply maintaining their sewer system. So I came up with the concept that we should itemize each asset within their collection system. Might it be a um a lateral, the main pipes, the manholes,
uh itemize all that. uh then require them to not only inspect it and repair it properly, but to report on us each month, quarter, annual, or in a five-year plan, what they're doing and
while we set the minimum standards of not only the maintenance and repair, but the reporting. So we came up with a reporting spreadsheet, a schedule, itemized list and then because of the we know there's
going to be recalcitrant uh property owners or HOAs. So we put into the rules, rates and regs not only penalties but uh recourses that we can take that never existed before.
So if they don't want to do anything uh we can take action on them where we were unable to take action before. Action could be uh could include but not limited to us
making the repairs and charging them us uh increasing their fees. We could put them on monitoring and uh flow monitoring and sampling. uh we could do a lot of things where we can recoup
uh our expenses and at the same time charge them what they are costing us and that is a big part of it. So, the letter we're sending out to them, all of them is putting them on notice and uh
you know, we might have to do that, send out letters a couple of times and then we may even have a conference here at the sewage authority, invite them in and we could sit down with their operators and explain to them everything that we
expect from them going forward because we'd rather it go by smoothly than not. Uh thank you again will thank you. Uh for the for under internal engineering there were again zero
connections for the month. Uh however there were um uh four TRC applications that were reviewed for the township that went forward. under staffing strength. I'll note that there still are two
um important staff members who are out. Uh they're not out from any injuries, but they are out for medical reasons that we can't get into during this meeting. We also have one administrative person that's also out uh for some time.
I mentioned New Brunswick uh is still in the status of uh drafting up a new agreement that will include um a perpetual uh flow metering of our flow that goes into the New Brunswick system.
Uh reported on the grants, we received a check from Somerset County. Still waiting for a check from Franklin Township. I I'm very happy to report all projects are in the green and moving forward as expected. Under standard
resolutions, uh we do not have any resolutions for our general fund or a north track and we have zero additional resolutions tonight. And that concludes my report. Chairwoman, I have a question on the uh township
portion of the ARP funds. How long ago did you make a request and did they tell you when it might be uh coming to us? Councilman, they they kind of moved the goalpost on us a couple of times uh from the very beginning to now. Uh they
wanted more and more documentation or different documentation, but we recently sent them uh Dr. Roach, when did we send them the last of what they asked for? Uh in my last communication um we should be
receiving something from the township. They were having I think they have their meetings the second and the fourth uh week every month. And so I expect them to have mailed something out on Friday. So we should get something from them. So just to highlight when when we first got
approved and awarded the grant from those two agencies, they told us on conference call that all we had to do is show the project and um you know the project laid out and then we'd get a
check. Then they said, "Well, no, you have to show us you're going out to public bid." We went out to still didn't get the check. Then we awarded the contract. We still didn't get the money. Then they said, "Well,
this will be on a a a reimbursement basis." So, we sent them copies of our payments. Still wasn't enough. Now, they want all the documentation, all the project documentation. They want proof the contractor exists. Uh they want a
real ID. I mean, it goes, it went on and on. So, we just keep on sending the documents. It seems that that the township, and Dr. Roach may correct me on this, it just seems the township wanted far more unique documentation than the county
did, even though they're both under the same exact rule system. None of that surprises me, Joe. Um, I've I've heard that issue with vendors, you know, weak of the people, with the grant that we're that we got funded from you
for the youth center. It it goes on and on and on. So this is this situation is not unique to the sewage authority and part of it has to do with the CFO that's in there and you know her ability to do things
um expeditiously. I'll leave it at that. Yeah. Well well luckily we have Dr. Roach. She smooths it out for everybody and even when it's rough she because of her you don't see it. Yeah. It it's sad for the little man
though. you people that do business with the township and you know they they may not have the wherewithal that the sewage authority has for them to go through the same type of scenario you went through the street authority went through it's
it's it's it's um not appropriate I've been trying to fix that but you know you know Rom you know you know the the situation yes all right I Did uh Commissioner Davenport have her hand up?
Yes. I have a question going back to the private collection systems just for my own understanding and hopefully for others too. Uh am am I correct in understanding that only certain HOAs and COAs have this issue
because they don't all have private collective collection systems or do or does every community have its own? That's a good question. Thank you. So, all HOAs um they own their their their
sewer lines um and they have to maintain them. So, when they, you know, cuz we're still charging a flat rate for every unit. Mhm. And that's assuming that they maintain
their sewer system. So, um when you know we never had we never had the real teeth to inspect them and to um enforce it or to recoup expenses. Matter
of fact, we had we have one private collection system down on I'm not going to mention their name down on Route 27 by uh South Mobush Road that they their maintenance was so poor
from their pump station on that they ruined our pipes going down South Mo Road and our manholes. Steve, how many manholes or or will How many manholes 19 public manholes.
19 public manholes. So, we had their attorneys here and their manager and we said, "Hey, you know, you guys messed up. You're you're not uh you're not maintaining your system and you s you sent such corrosic
corrosive, I'm sorry. Um, you said flow that was so uh I don't know what term I so destructive down the pipes that was preventable that it deteriorated our pipes and our
manholes. And we're making them pay for it. And on top of that, they have they're now required to repair their pipes and manholes and their pump station. And now they now know we're going to inspect their pump station.
uh regularly and whenever we want to. You're you're muted. Uh Commissioner Davenport, I didn't want to interrupt while you were speaking. So that will now apply to all of the private communities. Am I correct? that they will all be we will be um uh FTSA will be expect inspecting
um anyone at any time to ensure that they are doing the right thing and that they're keeping them well maintained. Correct. Yeah. Um something as simple as um them not in uh injecting uh the right
amount of bioxide into their uh wet well. uh you know chemical reactions happen, compounds are broken down or formed and the right scenario will start eating away at the interior of the pipes and
the manholes. Thank you. Joe, isn't u homeowners, residential homeowners, aren't they responsible for their individual sewer lines too? Well, um yes and no. So the uh the
homeowner is responsible from the house to the property line and then it becomes ours. Yeah. So so they're responsible there. Uh you know the same kind of thing can happen
in that scenario on a much smaller scale like a homeowner could have a hole in their pipe right up against their house. We may never know it, but you know what we're doing that right now, for example, in the Brookline area is we are
rehabilitating everything we own. We're rellining the main lines, the manholes, and from the main to the house. Um, Will, well, what are we reigning? From the main to the property line
or the house? No. To the to the property line. Many of them don't have cleanouts. To the property line. Yeah. I'm just saying a lot a lot of homeowners don't even know that.
Correct. Yeah. So, there's a you know there's a I mean, we could go in and reline all all the way up to the house into their basement, but that that that will have an enormous amount of cost. So, but you know, they also risk if the
homeowner has a sewer line problem, they also re risk it getting um you know, the line collapsing and then they you know, their sewage would back up in their house and then that's when they would replace it and fix it.
Is there any kind of program that if there isn't one already, one that might be implemented at the cost of a resident if they wanted the sewage authority to go to their property and check out the sewer line from the street up to their
house to see if there is any problems just to as a preventative action um to take a look at it. And of course, you know, if a homeowner requested it, they would be charged for it a certain fee.
Is there any anything like that? Uh not formally, Commissioner. Um, however, uh, our maintenance crew does an excellent job at responding to every resident that has a a concern or a question or a problem, and they
typically will send the camera in uh, from the main to the house as far as they can uh, to give the homeowner a report. But we don't do it uh, gratuitously and without prompt. Well, I'm not asking for gratuitously.
I'm asking um you know, you've been in the house for 20, 30 years or whatever, no problems, and you're just thinking as a preventative action, I might think maybe I've got roots that are coming close to it or something. I'd like to
get it checked out. So, I I do, you know, have it checked out before something does happen and I would be willing to pay for it if you know if if you guys have a program like that. Is is there anything like that?
So, if I'm getting your So, say uh Joe Danielson's concerned with the portion of his sewer line that I own and I want it inspected. Uh you're wondering if I could call the sewage authority and ha and and hire
them to inspect my line all the way up to the house. Yes. That does not exist. I don't know if it's possible. Steve, can you speak on that? Could we pull that off? Um, I it with staffing it would be hard.
We're our 14man crew is busy every day as it is. When customers typically have a problem like that, we advise them to call a plumber. Um, your average plumber can do that probably cheaper than we could right now. Uh, and that's usually what we tell anybody. Um, if we go go to
a house, we'll do as much as we can, but if we can't get into theirs, we advise them to contact a plumber. You really don't have the staffing resources to do something like that with the current staffing levels. Not right now. Um, what uh what I was
hoping cuz we have one part-timer. I was hoping that one of our retirees would come back part-time, come back part-time. But what I was hoping is that we would have two or three part- timerrs and the part- timerrs would among other things would be out inspecting the
private collection systems uh and possibly do things like this. But we're not staffed for that yet right now. on. I would also, like Steve said, uh it wouldn't be hard, but I could also take a market survey to find out what
plumbers charge and if there's plumbers around that even have those cameras to make those inspections. I'm sure like Rotorooer does a lot of that work because I remember they did it for me back 20 years ago. So, um, you know, and and and we're
really talking about the houses that are 50, 60 and more years old. Those are the houses that would be in our, you know, that would be the target. Okay. Thank you.
Are there any more questions? Okay. So, we're going to move on to committee reports. Negotiations and personnel committee. I know nothing to report. Uh, madam chair. Thank you. Municipal liaison committee.
Nothing to report. Okay. Construction committee. Commissioner M. Meritson. I don't see uh Commissioner Fuki here. Yeah, I have going on right now. Nothing.
Okay. And uh it was reported already that there no safety concerns. Okay. Zero. Okay. So, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. All the items listed. Excuse me. Z
I I was just saying zero uh accidents. Okay. Thank you. Uh all the items on the consent agenda listed below are considered to be of a routine nature thereby requiring one motion and one second for all items. If
any member wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda, please advise me at this time which resolutions need to be handled separately and they will be addressed and voted on separately. Excuse me. Uh, resolution number one,
which is the payroll account, $165,735. Resolution number two, the operating expense account, $236,9.90. Resolution number three, the renewal and replacement account, $24,326. Resolution number four, the escrow
account 377,52369. Is there a motion to approve? To approve. Okay. Second. Thank you. All in favor? I. Any opposed?
Resolutions are approved. Uh, is there a need to go into um open executive session? Uh, no ma'am. Not for me person. Okay. So, with that in mind, is there a motion to close the meeting?
Motion to close. Okay. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Good night everyone. Heat. Heat.