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Home My WebLink About2011-06-23-WSAB-min Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 June 23, 2011 APPROVED 9/8/2011 Attendance: Board Members – Loren Wood, Chair; and Maria Constantinides, Member. Jim Osten, Member was not present. Staff: Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance; Bill Hadley, DPW Director; Erik Gitschier, Water/Sewer Superintendent; Elizabeth Tucker and Robin Fullford, Water/Sewer Enterprise Chair Loren Wood called the meeting to order at 4:32 pm. The order of business was conducted as follows: Ms. Fullford provided a status report as follows: 24 To be heard tonight 19 To go the BOS 7/11/11 36 Pending 19 On Hold 98 Total Abatement requests for consideration: DOMESTIC LEAKS 50 Allen Street – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #680943 due to increased usage caused by a leak. The application states that a friend who is a plumber repaired two leaking toilets and did not charge for the service. The three year average is 34; therefore all of the usage is calculated at tier one rates. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of -$61.92. 11 Bellflower Street – APPROVED This house was empty and slated for tear down. This past winter the real estate broker discovered an upstairs pipe had burst and flooded the basement. Because the usage would have been zero, we will charge all of the water at tier one rates and because the leak did not enter the sewer system, we will abate the sewer charge altogether. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of -$11,879.66. 8 Briggs Road – APPROVED The homeowner's daughter applied for an abatement due to excessive usage caused by a leak in the basement. The homeowner is in assisted living and was unaware of the leak. Neighbors called the fire department to pump out the basement. Because the leak was inside the house, it did not enter the sewer system. We established a three year average usage of 2 to which we applied full water and sewer rates. The excess usage of 51 hcf was calculated at tier one water rates only no sewer. The 1 Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 June 23, 2011 homeowner's daughter supplied a repair invoice. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of - $361.35. 38 Eastern Avenue – WITHDRAWN 498 Lowell Street – APPROVED The homeowners applied for an abatement on Bill #684747 due to a toilet leak. They report a running toilet that they tried several times to repair and finally purchased the replacement park at Lowe's (receipt included). A three year average usage of 34 was established and the entire usage was recalculated at tier one rates. However, because this account has been erroneously designated as 18 living units, all usage under 720 hcf is billed at tier one rates. Staff recommends no abatement. The number of living units has been changed to one for future billings. 35 Middle Street – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement after receiving bill #689767. She stated in her application that she had had a toilet leak and had fixed it. We established a three year average usage of 33 and recalculated all usage at tier one rates. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of -$1,566.08. IRRIGATION ON DOMESTIC METERS 8 Bellflower – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #670221 due to excessive irrigation usage. A staff visit revealed no leaks and the homeowner said she did some outside watering. Recalculating with 70% of the excess of 13 hcf (9 hcf) at the irrigation rate results in an abatement recommendation of ($25.47). 12 Lantern Lane - APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #662525 due to excessive irrigation usage after having extensive landscaping done. We went back to bill #631461 to establish an average period usage of 68 hcf. Recalculating with 70% of the excess of 47 hcf (33 hcf) at the irrigation rate results in an abatement recommendation of ($494.01). 39 Somerset Road - APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on bill #668414 due to excessive irrigation usage. She said she was out of Town and unable to apply sooner. Recalculating with 70% of the excess of 36 hcf (25 hcf) at irrigation rates results in an abatement recommendation of ($199.75). IRRIGATION LEAKS 21 Lincoln Street - APPROVED The homeowners applied for an abatement on Bill #689396. They came home from a vacation and found the outside faucet leaking. They were unable to turn the faucet off and hired a plumber to cap 2 Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 June 23, 2011 the pipe to eliminate the leak (receipt on file). The three year average was established at 35. Because the leak did not enter the sewer system, all usage was recalculated at tier one rates and the excess of 139 was calculated at tier one rates, no sewer. Staff recommends an abatement of -$2,149.59. BILLING ISSUES 11 Charles Road – APPROVED The homeowner mailed in a postcard reading that appeared to be 18778 but was in actuality 78778. The correct usage for the billing period is 1787-1757=30 hcf. Recalculation of bill #679645 at 30 units results in a staff recommended abatement in the amount of -$1,483.10. 18 Larchmont Road – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement on Bill #683244. Staff visited and found the postcard reading was incorrect; the reading on May 16, 2011 was 0252. Staff installed a new wire and pad. We established an average daily usage of 0.18 which resulted in a derived usage of 32 for the billing period. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of ($558.57) 10 Muzzey Street - WITHDRAWN 62 Spring Street – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abetment on bill #690705 because it was too high. Upon investigation, we learned that the water charge code had been charged properly for 31 hcf, but the sewer charge codes had been billed for 254 hcf. Munis Support said it was a clerical error on a manual reading entry. By recalculating using the correct usage, staff recommends an abatement in the amount of -$2,868.84. METER ISSUES 3 Appletree Lane – WITHDRAWN 74 Fifer Lane – APPROVED The homeowner applied for an abatement after receiving a high bill #688857 which was a result of a prior low estimate. Staff established an average daily usage for the two billing periods of 0.28 and derived usage. Staff recommends an abatement in the amount of -$170.88. 66 Fottler Road – APPROVED This account had been estimated for two years. We received a postcard reading of 1035 that caused a large "catch-up" on bill # 678348. Staff confirmed the reading. We redistributed the usage back to 3 Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 June 23, 2011 the last postcard reading on 9/15/2008 resulting in a staff recommended abatement of -$715.98. 594 Marrett Road – WITHDRAWN 165 Spring Street – APPROVED This account was issued a negative bill of -$6811.70 in the spring of 2010 due to a misread. The meter, a Trident, only had three readable digits and each time it rolled over, staff entered a digit to the left. The meter outread was interpreted as 1177 but in actuality was 117, just as the postcard reading of 5/18/2005 was 889 but staff entered a digit to the left. Taking the postcard reading as 899 and the outread at 117 results in a total usage for the period of 218 plus 2 hcf on the new meter (218 + 2 = 230). We redistributed the 220 units which resulted in a positive adjustment of $6524.69. When applied to the credit balance, a credit balance of -$157.15 results. Staff recommends an increase adjustment to the account of $6524.69. 20 Walnut Street - WITHHELD 43 Woburn Street – APPROVED It was discovered the inside read was higher than the outside visual read causing the account to have been under billed. Following the WSAB policy as applied to 42 Maple Street, we took the redistribution back three years, resulting in a recommended abatement of -$901.61. INTEREST ONLY 1039 Massachusetts Avenue - APPROVED The treasurer of this condo association withdrew their abatement application on June 21, 2011 after staff obtained a reading from the irrigation, pit meter that proved the fall reading to be correct. Staff recommends a waiver of all interest on the contested bill. Maria Constantinides offered a recap of a meeting Loren Wood had asked her to attend in his stead. The meeting was for committee and board chairs and dealt with compliance with the Massachusetts open meeting laws. Ms. Constantinides reported Attorney Kevin Bart spoke about the need for caution when communicating by email. Serial emails can be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and board members can be required to make all of their emails public if challenged. Ms. Constantinides stated that in her observation, this board follows the law and Mr. Wood conducts meetings that are in compliance. She reported the Attorney General’s office is seriously looking at violations and all correspondence goes through her office. She also learned that draft, unapproved minutes must be made available within 10 days upon request and boards and commissions are not required to strictly adhere to agendas. It was moved by Ms. Constantinides, seconded by Mr. Wood and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 6:02 PM. 4 Minutes Lexington Water and Sewer Abatement Board 201 Bedford Street Lexington, MA 02420 June 23, 2011 Respectfully submitted, Robin Fullford Fund Manager 5