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Home My WebLink About2011-03-24-WSAB-min Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 March 24, 2011 Approved June 2, 2011 Attendance: Board Members – Member; Jim Osten, Member; Loren Wood, Chair Staff: Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance; Erik Gitschier, Water/Sewer Superintendent; Elizabeth Tucker and Robin Fullford, Water/Sewer Enterprise Dennis Meehan; Consultant Mr. Charles Cassell, 9 Independence Avenue, was also present to observe. He asked for copies of approved minutes of the meetings since January 2011. Chair Loren Wood called the meeting to order at 4:35 pm. The order of business was conducted as follows: Abatement requests for consideration: DOMESTIC LEAKS 8 Columbus Street – APPROVED The homeowner applied for abatement on bill #669274. Staff detected a leaking toilet the homeowner provided a copy of the cancelled check paid to a plumber for repairs. After establishing a 3 year average usage of 54 hcf, we recalculated the excess of 32 hcf at the tier one rate. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($207.00). It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 27 Douglas Road – APPROVED The homeowner's son applied for an abatement on the last four billings due to leaks. He states he fixed leaking toilets, faucets, and dishwasher over the last two years. A staff visit confirmed new parts in toilets. This property has an irrigation meter that is not used. Based on a spring average of 21 and a fall average of 22, it seems reasonable to accept that the leaks affected all four billings because they are uncharacteristically high. By recalculating all usage at tier one rates, staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($512.42). It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 7 Lillian Road – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #660871. Staff detected a leaking toilet and observed older parts ready to be installed by homeowner. After establishing a 3 year average usage of 45 hcf, we recalculated the excess of 27 hcf at the tier one rate. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($139.32). It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 8/3/2011C:\Documents and Settings\cfiore\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK143\Approved Minutes March 24 1 2011.doc Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 March 24, 2011 58 Locust Avenue - APPROVED This is a residential, rental unit. The owner filed for an abatement on bill #662639 which represents an actual reading after four estimates. A staff visit revealed no leaks but staff was told "the toilet runs occasionally." Kirkland and Shaw repaired the toilet on 1/27/11. Redistributing the usage back to the last post card read yielded an abatement of $50.24. This calculation takes the leak into account. The three year average usage for the same period is 59 hcf. By charging the tier one rate to the excess usage of 33 hcf a recommended abatement of ($254.04) results. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. BILLING ISSUES 3 Forbes Road – APPROVED It came to staff's attention that this account was not billed in the fall 2010 billing despite the fact we obtained a reading. Staff visited on 2/11/11 and determined that the meter reading is 9801 and for unknown reasons, Munis added 2 extra digits to the reading. Staff has been in touch with the company's AP department who agrees this proposed positive adjustment is correct. Staff recommends a positive adjustment in the amount of $11,960.64. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 14 Hastings – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #669236 due to a high reading. A staff visit on 1/24/11 revealed a meter read of 500 hcf. The reading used in the billing was 533. We established a 3 year average of 29 hcf and recalculated the bill at the correct usage. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($561.39). It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 15 Lawrence Lane – HELD 6 Russell Road – APPROVED The homeowners applied for abatements on both their irrigation and domestic accounts due to a duplicate billing in April 2010. The accounts were charged for a tear down in April and again as part the spring billing. The domestic account was abated but the irrigation account was not. Staff recommends abating the duplicate bill of $11.50 and all associated interest on the irrigation account. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 8/3/2011C:\Documents and Settings\cfiore\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK143\Approved Minutes March 24 2 2011.doc Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 March 24, 2011 16 Russell Square – APPROVED The homeowner filed for an abatement after receiving a bill for 2 years of usage on 1-15- 2009. She contacted us via email in March 2011 to ask the status of her application. The account was not billed after 9/20/2006 due to a coding error on the account. We used a neighbor's read dates to establish Use Days and derived usage for the missed bill periods. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($823.64). It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 125 Shade Street – APPROVED This irrigation account has never been used. The system read the meter at 9999 which sometimes meters register when they come off the assembly line rather than zero. After approval of an abatement of the entire billing on bill #671955, we will change the previous read to 9999 to avoid this issue in the future. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of -$59,594.04. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 20 Walnut Street - HELD IRRIGATION THROUGH DOMESTIC METERS 18 Hickory Street – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #670729 due to excessive irrigation usage. A staff visit on 2/24/11 revealed no leaks and verified the reading (1083). Recalculating with 70% of the excess of 29 hcf (20 hcf) at the irrigation rate results in an abatement recommendation of ($159.80). It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. REDISTRIBUTION 7 Carmel Circle – HELD 61 Meriam Street – APPROVED After several estimates, a customer reading indicated that we have been under estimating this account. By establishing the average daily usage for the entire period and applying that to the number of use days in each period, we derived and redistributed the actual usage. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($495.39). 8/3/2011C:\Documents and Settings\cfiore\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK143\Approved Minutes March 24 3 2011.doc Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 March 24, 2011 It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. 19 Stratham Road – APPROVED Due to a number of low estimates followed by an actual read, Bill #669231 is a catch up bill of 85 hcf. The usage was redistributed back to the last postcard read. This results in a recommended abatement of ($420.13). Regarding the leak, because all redistributed usages are below the tier one threshold, staff does not recommend an additional leak-based abatement. Note: The meter outread is rather high, but based on the previous "A" read, it is accurate. The homeowner has no basis for a leak based abatement because staff verified there are no leaks. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. IRRIGATION LEAKS 7 Fairfield Drive – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement after receiving an unusually high bill #667670 for summer usage. The homeowner has a pool and a sprinkler system. He will look into having an irrigation meter installed and has not received an abatement in the past. To establish a three year average, we eliminated the 9/7/07 usage of 16 hcf as an anomaly and established 50 as the average. By charging the irrigation rate on 70% of the excessive usage, an abatement of ($655.74) is recommended. It was moved by Mr. Osten, seconded by Mr. Wood and approved unanimously to accept staff’s recommendation as presented. Respectfully submitted, Robin Fullford Fund Manager 8/3/2011C:\Documents and Settings\cfiore\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK143\Approved Minutes March 24 4 2011.doc