Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
The Town Attorney advised that there is no legal reason that the Board can award the RFP based on the proposals in front of them. He further advised that even if one company provided above and beyond the minimum requested, the Board is within their rights to choose whichever company they wish. It is the sole discretion of the Board.
Mr. Dravet quoted from the RFP, “Alternative process or work elements may be proposed if deemed relevant and not in conflict with the base requirements in this RFP.”
Mr. Manousopoulos stated he feels they should put the RFP back out with specifics anew.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to table awarding the RFP; Mr. Gembala seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously by roll-call vote.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Gembala stated if the other company wants to submit something more comprehensive, they need to do it now as time is of the essence.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District APVs of $13,939.66; Mr. Gembala seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously by roll-call vote.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Respectfully Submitted:
Margaret R. Abernathy, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Furtek nominated Bill Manousopoulos for Vice President. Mr. Gembala passed the gavel and seconded the nomination. Nomination carried unanimously by roll-call vote.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Gembala stated that they have received a detailed letter from the Town Attorney regarding the SCADA proposal award not being according to the monetary value and entertained a motion to award the proposal to Austgen Electric or Gasvoda and Associates.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to award the SCADA System Project to Austgen Electric; Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously by roll-call vote.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Pondinas thanked the Board and noted this would benefit all the residents.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Gembala adjourned the meeting at 6:07 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted:
Margaret R. Abernathy, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the November 17, 2020 regular meeting minutes. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the December 15, 2020 regular meeting minutes. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the January 19, 2020 regular meeting minutes. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the January 28, 2020 special meeting minutes. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the Water Utility APVs in the amount of $505,251.49. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Westland stated that the only action that happens next month is the action on the projects. One thing you’re doing tonight that you’re not doing again in a month is, approval of a recommendation on the rates. He stated that no public hearing is needed for the rate increase but a public hearing is needed for any projects going on.
There were no further questions.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to adopt the resolution as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Water District APVs in the amount of $26,211.40.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
1. Mr. Faccenda from Barns & Thornburg, confirmed all Proofs of Publication were in order. The projects that are to be financed by the waterworks bonds are proper and necessary. They are listed as the SCADA System, the new wells #8 and #9, and various water mains located throughout the Town.
There were no further questions or public comments, oral or written.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the Resolution No. 2021-04-20WW as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Water Utility APVs in the amount of $223,688.12.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll-call vote 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Mr. Gembala would like members to consider moving the Waterworks meeting to another night.
Mr. Manousopoulos Aye
Mr. Furtek Aye
Mr. Gembala Aye
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to declare the emergency and get a minimum of two contractors to quote the replacement of the 12” water main. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous 3-0 vote.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion for the water rates to be put on the next meeting agenda. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous 3-0 vote.
Mr. Pondinas stated Wells #3 and #5 have been lowered 20 feet. Well #3 came in 100 gallons more per minute better. The results for Well #5 are not in yet. The high altitude valve for the Gates Water Tower has shipped. Some old and outdated valves have been replaced at the Gates Water Treatment Plant.
Mr. Dravet reported that the Dell server for the new SCADA system has been delivered to Austgen Electric who is going to install all the software. Some of our Wonderware licensing may have to be upgraded to include an application server. Waiting on a quote from Wonderware. The upgrade will depend on cost.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water Utility APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Water District APVs in the amount of $20,556.68.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the June 29, 2021 special meeting minutes as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
The 12” water main on US 41 has been put in and pressure tested but needs to be chlorinated. Next Monday it should be tied into the rest of it. In about a week and a half, everything should be good to go so the State can put in the 42” line. The State will then finish up with the curb, road and lanes.
The Board would like a hydrant study for flows to be done in the near future. This needs to be done because our insurance rating dropped.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Water District APVs in the amount of $31,563.48.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water Utility APVs as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Salatas wanted to let the board know that there is a water operator training class in Michigan City that starts at the end of the month. The Town is going to be offering it to the public works employees because we only have two employees that are trained water operators, Bob Davis the Public Works Director and Bob Valois our current Water Operator. Mr. Valois will be leaving at the end of the month. A replacement for Bob has already started. We would like to get more of our employees trained. It will cost about $750/employee for the class.
We applied for the Swift Grant from the State which was water infrastructure. They have a hundred million dollars that they were funding. It’s a 50-50, so if we’re fully funded by the state, we should be getting 3.5 million dollars from the State on top of the over 8 million dollars that was taken out in the water bond. We will be getting our first distribution of the ARPA money for 4.2 million which the Town is tentatively planning to use for water infrastructure.
Mr. Gembala reported on the insurance rating project. Fire Chief Kevin LaDuke has been in contact with ISO and has received a packet of the necessary information to update our water system. There is one section for the water district to take care of and that’s the hydrant testing, flows and so forth. Chief LaDuke offered his people to do the PITOT testing which would cut down our costs. This is still in the works.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water Utility Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Water District Docket in the amount of $116,435.40.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Salatas stated we are waiting for Haas and Associates to finish their water study so we can start moving forward with planning projects like a water tower or additional wells, etc. We did not receive the SWIF grant that we applied for from the State. No one in Lake County received any SWIF grant money. We will apply again but odds are, we are going to just have to move forward with the projects outlined in the bond that was taken out when the water rate increases happened.
Mr. Pondinas reported that Well #8 is still in limbo, we have 600 ft. to connect to. We are waiting for the property for both wells to be deeded to us. Well #8 will likely be a package plant because the water composition is different than the well water from other wells going into the Gates WTP. To avoid having to make changes to the Gates WTP, we’re going to make Well #8 a small mini plant so it will deposit directly into the system from there. Haas and Associates is redesigning that facility to be like our existing WTP’s so we can order the same products.
Mr. Pondinas stated the 42” storm sewer line on US 41 had a couple of setbacks. Everything has been rectified and is almost complete. Hopefully the job will be done soon.
Mr. Gembala is still working with the Fire Chief for the fire department to do the hydrant testing. We will have to have a couple of meetings on the rest of it. We hope to get our insurance rating back up to 5.
Mr. Furtek made a motion to pay the Water Utility Docket as presented. Mr. Gembala seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 2-0.
Water District Docket in the amount of $15,306.96.
Mr. Furtek made a motion to pay the Water District Docket as presented. Mr. Gembala seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 2-0.
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Salatas stated that the Town will be applying for the Excess Growth Levy which will be accounted for in the budget. The Excess Growth Levy is because the Town is growing much faster than the State average. Because our property taxes are capped at 1%, the State recognizes this and limits how fast a community can grow its budget. This will be about $10,000 to the Waterworks District from the Excess Growth Levy funds.
The Board will take time to review this information for the next meeting.
Mr. Salatas informed the Board that the State notified the Town that we were in conflict with their US 41 project by the Chop House at 108th Avenue. Our water line was in the way of their box culvert. We had to lower our line about 18” and had to be done within one week. We solicited three quotes from local construction companies and took the lowest one from Grimmer Construction which was just under $19,000. This will probably be on the next meeting’s docket. Everything is complete and the Town is out of conflict.
There is a report from Haas & Associates regarding water main replacements throughout town. These projects were outlined in the water bond. The Board will review it for the next meeting.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water Utility Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Water District Docket in the amount of $21,167.16
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
The pumps will be running so they won’t start and stop or won’t ramp up to full speed. They will operate as needed. This is one of the pluses about the variable drive system. It’s easier on the system and the startup power charge, too. Austgen said the Town’s pumps are very capable of handling the variable frequency drives. The drives would be installed on all the pumps. Most of the towns around us already have it.
Mr. Pondinas added that there will be set points for water tower depth. This is supposed to be a lot better on the system.
Mr. Dravet stated the reason the price is so high is because we have to go with the ultralow harmonic VFDs. That means there is going to be very little feedback going back to the generators. Our generators at these facilities are so old that any type of disruption or feedback will basically cause them to blow up. So we have to minimize that risk by using the ultralow harmonics. If we had better generators, we would be able to go with a less expensive model. With the prices of generators, it is less expensive to do the ultralow harmonics.
Mr. Salatas said it will be a really great system once it’s done. It will help get the Town away from the idea of using level in the water towers as our basis of when and where we turn on the water pumps. The way the program is going to work is it’s going to learn the demands of the Town. It will start operating on gallons in the system. It will be programmed in a way that it’s going to know our peak demands. It will be accounting for that demand before it hits so we are not chasing gallons in a water tower. We will be predicting when the gallons need to be in the system, when it can start ramping down so we can do flushes, and when it can start recharging the well field itself. This is going to make our water department’s job a lot easier and should help eliminate stress on the system through its predictive use. It will help us cut what we purchase from Schererville. It will be easily expandable when we add new wells and water towers to the system. Wells 6 and 7 currently have VFDs. VFDs are now the standard.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to approve the quote dated October 18, 2021, in the amount of $127,280 from Austgen Electric for the installation of the drives for the wells. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous 3-0 vote.
Mr. Salatas reported that the State has completed the installation of a concrete box culvert on US 41 by The Chop House. The State discovered that our 8” water main was in conflict with that project. The Town had to lower the water main about a foot or two. We had to do an emergency bid. We received three quotes and went with the lowest one from Grimmer for about $20,000. There were also two service lines in the area that the Town will have to cap off.
Mr. Furtek made a motion to pay the Water Utility Docket as presented. Mr. Manousopoulos seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Water District APVs in the amount of $19,004.30.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
Mr. Furtek Yes
Mr. Manousopoulos Yes
Mr. Gembala Yes
The land in question was part of the settlement agreement and the developer is currently going through the platting process for the subdivision at the Plan Commission. Once it’s platted, he would then be able to turn the land over to the Town. We should have a better idea at the end of January which shouldn’t hold us up too much. The developer does own the land and he has given us permission to do what we need to make sure that the site is being adequately prepared for the well.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to table Phase One until the next meeting when we will be a little more certain of the land possession. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll call vote of 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Yes
Mr. Manousopoulos Yes
Mr. Gembala Yes
Mr. Pondinas reported the SCADA System is in the same state as it was when we saw it except Austgen has been monitoring and tweeking it. The VFD switches for Wells 3, 4 and 5 have been ordered. Austgen will hook those into the SCADA System when they come in. By March the SCADA System on the water side should be installed.
Mr. Gembala questioned a bill from Grimmer Construction on the lowering of the water main on U.S. 41 by the Chop House. Mr. Salatas stated our engineers confronted Grimmer and sent back what they felt was appropriate. The bill was reduced by $6,000 which is what the Town agreed on.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water Utility Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll call vote of 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Yes
Mr. Manousopoulos Yes
Mr. Gembala Yes
Water District APVs in the amount of $21,978.45.
Mr. Manousopoulos made a motion to pay the Water District Docket as presented. Mr. Furtek seconded the motion. The motion carried by a unanimous roll call vote of 3-0.
Mr. Furtek Yes
Mr. Manousopoulos Yes
Mr. Gembala Yes
Mr. Furtek Yes
Mr. Manousopoulos Yes
Mr. Gembala Yes
Respectfully Submitted:
Gerri Kudzia, Recording Secretary
St. John Waterworks Board
