Water Pollution Control Authority - Regular Meeting

Okay, all in order. 7.30. In attendance, Mary Daly, Dimitri, Susan Way, Laura Perrin, Dennis Malusa, Brian Cornell, Sean.

What?

What? Sally. And three guests. Huh? Connie.

Angela. Connie.

Angela. Angela. Welcome to the meeting. And online, I think, is Bill Reynolds, Michael Miller, Erica, and another guest, I think.

We're good. 860-539-95.

Okay, great. Okay. Information items. Communication and correspondence. Finance budget update. Excuse me. Let's back up one minute. Approval of minutes. Can I have a motion, please, to accept the minutes from May?

I'll make a motion. Second.

Second, Dennis. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Any discussion? Motion passes. Finance budget update. I have to say we spent a lot of time on the budget, and Laura has done a great job and it has taken quite an effort. So Laura, I'll let you take it from here and present the budget, please.

Okay, I have one for everybody so that they can, do you have them, Mary?

Oh, you gave me, I'm sorry. Here, if you want to just take one and pass it around.

Let's go back one.

And so actually it's pretty simplistic. We started out May with a budget balance remaining of $32,668.56. Our total expenditures for May were 15,952.88, which leaves us for June, which is the last month in the fiscal year $16,715.68. And then I itemized what the expenses were for the clerk, the pump out clerk, comedy mailers, CCM sewer survey, and legal. I broke down the legal below that because there was six or seven invoices for legal going back to June 25, July 25, 1025, 1225, and then there was two, one from 326 and 426, and they totaled 12,469.50. I don't know about Mary, but we really didn't have much input in these invoices.

No, most of the invoices were encumbered from prior WPCAs. So they, you know, the biggest one was $52,000 for bond council. And that was prior to this WPCA being formatted. So I guess my understanding is that's how bond council works. They hold the attorney fees until the end, until the bond is granted. In our case, it's not being granted. So we had to go forward and pay it. But there's been a number of other additional, mostly, most of our budget was used for legal. and consulting, but that was to be expected. It did far surpass what was budgeted for legal for this fiscal year, and there will be a reduction in the legal budget allocation for the coming year, but I think we'll be fine.

Okay, and the second page shows the actual distribution for May, and underneath that is a chart showing our budget, I believe, for the current fiscal year starting in July. It's been increased a little bit. Who knows? One thing that I learned that was different to me was we have our budget items and the money attributed to these different things. But if we overspend on one item, we can take the money from a different item because it's ours to spend. Hopefully, the number for next year will be fun.

We do have an increase in the budget. Last year, it was budgeted. Legal was $45,000. And this year, it's $68,000 based on what was spent during this last fiscal year, which was greater than, much greater than $45,000. So hopefully, we won't have that big of an expense. But if we do, we do have the funds for it. Any questions on the budget?

I have a question on the, who is UK's SWPCA?

That is, it's an invoice and it was put in legal services. And Martha paid for- Okay. Actually, I didn't know who it was. It just had you.

It just came to me.

I do think that we will have, going forward, the clerk come out for Erica and the postage. It will amount to a good penny this coming fiscal year because we are going to pay more attention to Carmody than has been in the past. Okay. Yes. Erica. Okay. Communications and correspondence. Well, most of you know, one of the things that we're keeping an eye on is the private beach association's progress with their sewer project at this point. And there have been some challenges So they are working through their challenges, moving forward a little bit slower than they would have anticipated. But working through each one of the challenges being presented, a lot of it has to do with permits, timing, DOT. We don't know all the specifics. The meetings have been canceled. But as Martha has said earlier, they are promising that they will have a meeting in July. So hopefully we'll get more information in July on the status of the sewer project in their timeline. Again, DEEP, I think, is more in touch and focused on helping the private beach associations at this time. We have reached out to DEEP, we being the town, the Board of Selectmen, for direction and providing suggestions of how we would like to move forward. We have been asked and we did do research on opening up the wells, the test wells, what it will cost, what's involved, so we know what the steps are, where the wells are, what kind of condition we think they're in. So we know all of that and we're prepared with that, but there may be additional testing as well. So we're waiting for direction from DEEP, which has As Martha had explained a little earlier, some administration leadership changes. And so I think they have to get their arms around other projects at this point. We may not be their first concern. But we will continue to reach out to DEEP for direction. And we will work with DEEP and with the Board of Selectmen on how to proceed with the town in regard to sewers and septics. globally how we want our town to be, not just the private beach associations, not just some of you, but looking at the entire town. Any questions on that?

Is there a document that we can have that talks about the wells and the research that evidently has been done and such?

So what we've done, we identified where the wells are. You know, one of them is questionable, the one that sits at the Harford Avenue side of the parking lot. That's a little bit questionable. We identified where they are in Soundview and in Area B. Thank you, Dimitri. And, you know, that's as far as we can go. We have some general quotes and general statements about what we have to do, how we have to prime the pumps in order to get clean, say clean, fresh. clean water, ground water into them, and then what the procedure is in order to draw samples from those wells and send them to the lab and have them analyzed. It'll pretty much follow the same procedure that was followed with HoxNest in 2019. And it should produce, I'm not gonna say the same results, but the same analysis as what was produced for HoxNest in 2019.

Should we also act to the state of Connecticut Department of Public Health water quality, which is a separate entity than deep? Okay. And the question back in 2019 was groundwater pollution, and therefore the shallow wells came into play. Maybe with the change of leadership in DEEP, we should go and question Department of Public Health. Maybe they might have a different spin on this than DEEP. DEEP is looking for sewage. We're not looking for sewage. We're looking for testing. That's all we're looking for. So that's my take on it.

Sure. So Brian, just to answer your question, that's all I can provide you right now. When we do get to that point, Because we are a municipality, unlike being like, when I do business with a vendor for my private business, things that I do, I just get three quotes and I go with the best and best reputation. I research that company, make sure they're bonded and insured, et cetera. But this is a municipality project, so there's extra steps that you have to do, like you have to do an RFP. So there's a few extra steps that Martha has informed me of. And we'll follow all the steps. We'll make sure we do everything correct.

But the RFP has not been done yet?

We have to wait. I would like to do it tomorrow. I would do it yesterday. But we have to wait. There's some other things going on, discussions with you. We want to make sure that when we open that box of testing that everything will be accepted by date. that the procedures will be okay and accepted by it, and therefore the test results. So they made me other tests that we have to do, not just the wells.

Have we received any more private well tests?

I have five right now. Hopefully we'll get more, but we have five. And considering that most of the properties in Soundview and URB are on Connecticut water, Five is representative, but they all came back good. I haven't seen a single bad test yet. So we have five. We'll send out, hopefully we'll get a few more. I think people should test their water anyway.

You should test it regularly. Well, they also should be pumping out septics regularly.

We'll get to that too. So That's for communication. Hasn't been a lot going on. Anyone want to bring up any other communication at this point?

I haven't heard anything.

It's been quiet. So that will lead us to the next. The agenda is public comment. And we have, I think, one or two people online and a few people in the room. So this is your time.

Well, my question, you just talked about the testing of the well. Did you get that?

No, I did not.

Oh, okay. I'll send you a text about it. Yeah, I had the test last week. Yeah, it came back right away and everything is good. So now we have six. So do you need a copy of that?

That would be great. Thank you so much for doing that. Yep, everything came out fine. Well, it's peace of mind too, right? We're not on the well. You're not on a well, you're on .

If a well is tested and deemed contaminated or whatever, doesn't the town have the right to have them close it up?

No, you don't have to close it up. You can treat your well. It's very easy to treat your well, actually. So, I mean, you can treat a well. clean it with bleach and water and then run the water out until there's no more bleach and then have your water retested. So yes, there's procedures. But you do want to sometimes test you well to know that what you're drinking is good.

Or you can put filters. You can put filters.

Oh, put a filter, yeah.

Treatments and things. And then also identify what if it's a cause of it.

Supplies, yeah.

Well, the reason I ask it, I know when I built my house, there was two wells and both that. And they said that I had to have them both out.

You had to have them both out?

That's quite a few years ago. But yeah, they want them covered up before they allow me to build or do anything else.

Well, as Demetri said, you can treat well water. There's several ways you can do it.

You can have a treatment of water from material from iron, water solvency. Yeah, many, many treatments available.

We need to call Residency to have that done.

Pardon?

Who would a town resident see to have that done? Are there certain companies?

There's several. There's several water companies.

Well, there's no Eastern Analytical right across the river.

They do the testing. They'll do the testing. It's like $100. Yeah, $99.

That's what I'm saying. There's wells there that people aren't using. Why wouldn't they

We just got rid of our old well. It had been there forever, but our neighbor was getting a new septic and the pledge light said that that well had to go and they had to pay for it. We just left it because we didn't have a fire hydrant until a few years ago. So the fire department told us we couldn't get rid of it.

Yeah, there's a well closing process. If a well is closed, you have to follow the process, have someone fill it in correctly.

And what we have to remember is in Sambu is not like Oxnest. There's only 10 wells in existence in Sambu. And we've gotten six tests come back out of those 10.

It's actually up in Area B. There's quite a few people that still have water up there.

So we will work with Connecticut Water as well to identify who the customers are of Connecticut Water and subtract from there who still has active wells. And so we should be able to identify that pretty easily.

There's nothing that the state says if somebody has a bad well and they have to hook up with Connecticut Water. No.

Not to my knowledge.

No?

No, not to my knowledge.

Well, I built 30 years ago, but I remember them saying that if public water system was coming by your property, you had to hook up.

Well, I haven't been here 30 years, and our well, we had our well, but it... was problematic for us because it wasn't deep enough and we were getting a lot of sediment. So we closed our well and went to Connecticut Water, but no one told us we had to do that.

I've been here 40 years and we had, we've had, they just ran water down our street not that long ago. So no one said we, they told me seven times, they'd go, I haven't been to Connecticut.

They may recommend it.

Actually, in 2024, we got a brand new septic tank and it was because the septic tank was like 55 years old and the concrete was disintegrating. There was no pollution and everything was tested and we got a new septic tank. We had a well and we also were fortunate and we had Connecticut water. And we used to use our lovely well, and it was tested many times to water my husband's grass. He just loves his grass. And when we went to get the new septic tank, and the very nice lady who came in and talked to us, Cheryl House, told us that because the house was built, I don't know, 55 years ago, And when the house was built, the septic tank was here and the well was here in the front yard. Well, when they measured again, they discovered that the septic tank in the well was not 75 feet apart. It was 71 feet apart. And so because we had city water, they required us before they give us a permit to get the new septic tank, they required us to close and abandon the well. which was absolute BS because it was not attached to the house supply. It was only attached to the hose to water grass. But that was the rules. There was nothing wrong with our well, but we were required because it didn't fit the rules now to do that. And as a comparison, We have a very close neighbor whose well happens to be in their basement. Their septic tank is in there under their deck in the backyard. It is much less than 71 feet. They do not have Connecticut water, but they are not required to get Connecticut water. They're not required to abandon their well or anything because the situation is we're fathered in, which to me is ridiculous. Well, if it was to fail. I believe their house is newer. The tank is whatever. Our particular house has always been used as a family home from the day one. So there was always that much more usage. They do have rules about wells. but they only made us get rid of our goodwill or else they would not give us the permit. New septic tank.

If you would keep old one, they would not touch you. Right. Any public comment online? Anyone wish to speak who's dialed in?

Mary, let me chime in for a second. Are you looking for more people to test their wells? Because I'd be happy to test mine.

Yes, we would love to have test results on wells, and really in Southview Area B. I am in Area B, so I'd be happy to test mine.

Is it a special testing place you need?

Well, I think Eastern Analytical is where you want to send it to.

And I just said you can get the bottles right here with the instructions from the health department here. They have a supply of them.

Okay. I'd be happy to do that.

Great.

Thank you, Bill.

Go ahead. Hey, Mary. It's Bill Randazzo. I know. Maybe I shouldn't be talking now. I'm not sure. But, you know, we've been talking about wells here, but no one... I've heard so far have told me what kind of wells they have. And that's concerning to me.

I have an artesian, 110 feet deep.

All right. No, no, no. I'm not trying to be conflictable. Because there's surface wells, there's dug wells, there's artesian wells. There's a bunch of different type of wells that were done you know, 30, 40, 50, 70 years ago. So I think we've got to be very, very careful of how we approach that.

Okay. Thank you, Bill.

Yep.

Any other public comments?

I'd just like to ask about the, you know, the septic clean-out. We're talking about sending. Oh.

Okay, so we'll get to that. That's within the ordinance. Is that what you're saying? We're going to get to that.

That's on the agenda. Okay. I was talking to someone at Old Colony Beach, and they have, well, I just had my two septic tanks cleaned out, and they were perfectly fine. I was talking to someone at Old Colony, and he said he has this pool, and I'm thinking... you know, he doesn't want to do anything because of the sewers, but he continues to have this. It's an old house in the family for so many years and has never upgraded their system.

Okay, so we'll get to that in the sewer ordinance. Right now, there isn't anything in the ordinance that requires people to upgrade from a cesspool to a traditional sewage system. There is a new ordinance that you are required to pump out your system regardless, at least every seven years. It's already in the ordinance. So that is a requirement and people care. We will talk about that, especially as carbonate. I'm gonna get to carbonate because it does say that's coming up now. So let's talk a little bit about carbonate because that's in line with... the septic pump out. So carbonate, there were 1200 and something properties that were well overdue for pump outs. Cards went out and it's been over 30, 60 days. And there's only been an improvement of about a hundred at this point. I mean, and when you look at the dates and report, which I think I shared with all of you, some of those delinquencies go back, like, they're not just 12 months. They're, like, five years. So I think, in my opinion, that's unacceptable. I mean, I can see if you didn't get the card, and there are some mailing errors. There are some addressing errors. There are some properties that have gotten cards, like Bill Mandazos, who shouldn't get cards because it's an empty lot. and the building has been closed for years and yet he got cards. So there's a percentage, maybe I'd say 10, 15% of cards that shouldn't have gone out at all that need to be corrected. There's some cards right here, there's a stack that were returned because they were sent to the wrong address for whatever reason. So we have to look at that. We really do this term, we need to concentrate a lot on comedy and cleaning it up because we do have people who have missing information.

Mine's wrong in there. Doesn't have probably my last four or five pump-ups.

That's the other thing. Some of the contractors are not updating the information. So we need to address those contractors, make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do, and some of them aren't. We need to also address the homeowners who are just ignoring it. And that includes the private beach associations members. Even though they're going to sewers, they may not be able to hook up for two, three, four years. I really don't know their timeline because they can't really say either. And some of them are so far overdue. So, yeah, it's not it's not excusable to say, well, in two or three years, I'm going to hook up to a sewer. when you haven't pumped out your delinquent right now in five years, right? I mean, it's not that expensive of a thing to do. And it is an ordinance already put in place by prior administrations. It is a law here. The only thing we're really talking about and we'll go, we will be presenting to Martha, hopefully this month, even if we have to do a special meeting, is the changes to the ordinance. And I think I've sent those to you. And the major changes to the ordinance is basically instead of seven, we're going to go to five years. That is what is recommended by most scholars, most people in this profession. And it's what's recommended by DEEP. And we're going to follow those recommendations. And the other part of it is a lot of the ordinance speaks to the responsibilities of a sanitarian or director of health, which we have neither in this town anymore. So we think that those types of responsibilities now fall to Leglite. And I know most of you were here when Leglite talked and made it very clear what their boundaries are. They do not enforce, there's certain things they do not do. But they should still, I think fill the shoes that a sanitarian used to fill, which they do, inspections, new systems, when there's problems, things like that. We just need to change the wording in the ordinance with the agreement of Wedgelight that they are going to provide those services. So you have a copy of all the yellow highlighted things where it used to say sanitarian. That has been sent to Wedgelight. Hopefully they'll get back to me this week. and to Martha, and the other part of it is the sanitarium in the ordinance had the authority to level fines. In the ordinance today, it's a $100 fine for every day that you are delinquent on your pump-out. It's already in there. We're not really changing that. We're just trying to find a way that we are going to, gently or not, enforce it. Because as I said, and as you have the report, which I'm not going to share publicly, but because there's names on that report, people have ignored it for so long that it's a joke. It's like there's no penalty. I pay my visa and all my bills on time because there's a penalty. If I don't pay it, I'm going to pay 17% interest plus a late fee. I pay everything on time. So if there was no penalty, I probably wouldn't. And that's what we're seeing here. And yet it's a health issue.

Do you expect the ordinance to be updated by next meeting?

I'm hoping that Ledge Light gets back to me, as they said, within a week. And then the other part of that is, as I said, in the ordinance today, it says that Ledge Light or the Centurion will enforce it and do the finding. But Ledge Light has made it clear that they won't do that. So Martha has talked out to legal. to get their okay that the Board of Selectmen can fill that role. So as soon as we get those two answers, then we should probably have another, just a quick special meeting for this board to vote on those changes to the ordinance. Then it goes back to the Board of Selectmen, goes back to legal, and then it goes to a town meeting. It has to be voted on.

What could happen before the next meeting?

I'm hoping so because I know Martha's goal is to do that while the majority of people, including all the beaches and private beach associations, are here over the summer to hold that town meeting.

What are the parameters for nailing someone who's on this list?

The parameters. So, you know, Carmody is kind of like, I don't know Carmody. I think Erica is the only one who really knows Carmody. But so supposedly Carmody is supposed to be using the most recent addresses according to the assessor's list and the tax list. But we've seen that that's not always true.

It doesn't seem to be true because I was just looking at this list and there's a name and the name is unimportant. And I just had a transaction with them this last week They lived on Fox Nest Road for almost 30 years. And the address listed is their cottage address. And they do not live there. They live out of town. I am certain, because that's the only address listed, that they probably never got a card.

Well, it depends what report you're looking at. If you're looking, Mary, do they have the one that I just sent you this weekend?

Well, this is the one that you don't have to send. This is the one that was for most recent.

OK, so that one we took out the mailing addresses. I only left the site addresses in that one. So you they could have a very different mailing address. If you want to email me the person and the correct address, address that you know, I can make sure it's correct in Carmody really easily.

Even so, I mean, Erica, I think you've noticed too with the amount of returns, I've noticed that when I took the other batch, it's going to addresses that are not in agreement with the assessors. And I don't know why. I don't know why that's happening. I don't know how it's picking up the addresses. I know it shouldn't be picking up the most form from the addresses.

So the assessor sends the addresses, we send it to Carmody, and then they do an upload. What I have seen to work the best is when I just change them myself, but we have to know they're wrong to do that. If the other option that I've been thinking of is I can have Melinda send over an updated report at the end of this month and we can, I can audit it. I don't typically audit it after Carmody uploads it. So we can, I can instill an audit process into it, maybe spot check 10 of them or something like that to make sure that they're all correct. And that might help us to get on the right foot. But either way, once we have these addresses uploaded, if this ordinance passes, we need to, I'm going to have to work with Carmody to change it so that now it will flag after five years. And then we can do another mailing because we're going to have people that aren't flagged right now at six years that are going to need to be flagged once we change the ordinance to five years.

I agree. And so I had asked, did you, I'm sure you didn't get an answer from comedy yet. I did not.

I did not.

So when you look at the report, there's a field, there's a field called red flag. And I'm assuming that's the date that comedy first flagged that property as being, um, You know, yeah, do delinquent. But we're going to get clarification on that from Carmody, because if that's true, some of these properties really. I mean, 10 years. Going back to 2016.

Yeah, and we just have to keep in mind that it doesn't mean they're delinquent. It could just be that it's not updated, but that they have ignored. I mean, either way, they've ignored the postcards. But I will tell you that most people that call It's been done. It just wasn't updated in Carmody by the hauler.

What happened as far as letters to preferred care?

We need to do that.

We still need to do that.

I found two of them.

I know mine didn't put them in. Didn't put in my neighbor's either. Mine never got put in this last time.

Which ones are not complying? And then, you know, we will send them a strong letter, but we can't, I don't know that we can force them to do it.

You called?

I called Wind River and Signore.

Signore.

Yeah.

Skip says I've been putting them in.

Yeah. And Wind River, oh yeah, so I'll do that right now. But that was the one that I called on. So I think it has, you know, when you call, you get like a level one desk person, you know.

I think Bill has a question.

I've been poking around Carmony now and I find it very interesting. There's one address that stands out to me that I find baffling or whatever you want to call it is 303, 333 and 336 Ferry Lane. That is the DEP headquarters. Their last pump was 2006. They were serviced in 2013. Now, if they're the ones saying we should have it five years, every five years, what are they doing?

Most likely their hauler did not update it, but we can check.

They're going in the Connecticut River to match what Hartford does.

They're trying to beat Holyoke?

So the one thing I found, Erica, I know a neighbor of mine in Hawks Nest who sold their house well over two years ago, and their name is on the delinquency. So consequently... whatever the assessor hasn't updated theirs, and they should have, because the tax bill came in, and it's gonna be a tax bill at the end of the month, is it gonna go to him?

Well, I went through about 15 of the return cards, and what I found was there's some duplicates which we're gonna eliminate, but there's also some properties who shouldn't have gotten any cards, who are vacant. But there's also properties that the addresses they were sent to do not match what's on the assessor's list. So I don't understand how some of the cards can match what's on the assessor's and some of them don't.

So it's very hard for us as a group to try to enforce anything as far as I'm concerned if the information we're working off of is worth nothing.

No, I agree.

That's why I think we institute an audit. every time that we upload it to Carmody. I think we're just going to have to, I have not been doing that, so I don't think anybody has.

I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you said. What are you going to do in August?

When?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And again, I think the prior administrations were so concerned about civil rights and self-focus and that did take considerable effort and time that Carmody has been on the back burner. but I think it's an important tool. It could be very effective for this town, very helpful if we get it right, if we get our haulers to participate or, I don't know, we can't sanction them, and to get all of our residents aware that, yes, you will be fined if you don't follow the regulation.

Yeah, but it's hard to enforce that or to say we're going to be shaking this thick at you if we don't know if the information we have is right or wrong.

I agree. So we have to clean up.

So that takes our timeline and backs us up a little too, doesn't it?

So the only thing that will happen probably this year will happen is it will go before the town meeting, hopefully this late summer, to change it to five years, to change the wording to Legelight versus Sanitarium, to change it to enforcement by the Board of Selectmen. with the potential for a $100 fine. There's also in there, if you were fined, you have the right to a hearing, which is with the Board of Selectmen. If you have 30 days to file within that time, if you hadn't pumped out, you wouldn't have had time to do it. So.

Do they tell people how, is there a process to report like themselves, if it had been done.

Mary, we never received a card. Okay. I know we're compliant, but we never received a card. Then you wouldn't receive a card. Why did I not get a card? You would not receive a card if you were already compliant. Oh.

Okay.

These are cards that go out. There's 1,200 that went out, 1,200 something, that people who are not compliant or supposedly not compliant.

Oh, okay.

This particular card is really interesting because it says return to sender

no such street in Old One. What is it? Ogden Street. So we fed it to Ogden Street.

This may be home street where they live.

No, it says it's in Old One. And the return to sender says there's no such street in Old One. So what I did was mail the car to me for a while.

What I do with the cards that I have looked up, the 15 or so, is when it does that, then I try to identify the person's name with their location here, and then see what the assessor says. Sometimes it's a different person altogether. I don't know. I don't understand. This one's a PO box that doesn't exist.

But the wording on here just says, shame on you, you haven't pumped out. It doesn't say what the ramifications are of not pumping, and that sort of thing. And that's how I want to see it, because it doesn't give us any... Because they won't be subject to fine, if not...

I know my neighbor says she just takes them and throws them in the trash. She'd been pumped out. I physically saw her.

One of the things, I have a card here that was returned. And what people have to remember is if there is a trust on the house, it goes to usually the bank or the attorney of the trust. So if they're not sending that notice to their trustee, then you'll never get it. I've gone through this for 40 years here. It just doesn't work out. Trusts are fine, but they don't end up going to the person where they live. They're going to some other place. This happens to be in Glastonbury in an office. So you know it's not getting to them.

You know, I would agree with you, but people are getting their tax bills. Not this guy.

This guy, I guarantee you, this guy doesn't get a tax bill.

Okay, but most people get their tax bill and pay their bills.

Even at the trust, it has to be the trustee, and there has to be an address that you do get a tax bill.

If we're getting, if the town is getting them their tax bills, we should be able to get them this. And you're right, this is a very nice little

It's like, oh, look what you did.

So please pump out. Would you mind pumping out? Well, we're going to put together a new card. So we sent you a nice card. And now you need to pump out. I mean, I don't see how else you're going to do it.

But it just delays us trying to take action. And I, for one, as a member of the board, don't want to have it all look like a bunch of grumpy people shaking sticks. Because we told you so after we do a mailing and give them a certain number of days or something there, you know.

Right. Well, we are. We're not saying tomorrow you have to do it. These cards went out. When did they go out? In April?

Yeah, early April. Or late, I'm sorry, late April.

Right. So we'll do an audit in August. And those who are still delinquent in August, we'll send them out a not so nice little postcard. And say, you know, if you pumped out, you need to come down to town hall and bring your pump out and see. If not, we're going to start finding it and give you a 30-day notice or something like that. Something we can talk about. But, I mean, what else do you suggest, Brian?

Would ledge light? Well, I just think it doesn't have any use to it. No, this doesn't. Like sending toilet tissue out, you know?

This doesn't.

Does ledge light or somebody have a list of acceptable haulers or something? We do.

The town does, but a lot of people will haul from other towns. I know of one person in Soundview who used to haul from Manchester. He's not going to put his name down because then he has to deposit that haul at the time it was in Hatchett's Hill. so it could go to the treatment plant in Cromwell. He takes it back and he probably removes it at the MDC plant in Hartford.

So these cards, I'd say they cost maybe $1.75, $2 each to mail, to create mail, plus Erica's time. I'm going to send next time half the size, saying, you know, this is how many days you have.

make them a color that really stands out, red, like a final warning.

But really, doesn't it seem like a waste of money to send out those kind of cards, which doesn't give a deadline and it doesn't really give them that much information?

This was designed by the prior WPCA administration. Okay, thank you. But they really wanted was to put this and then put something about sewers on the back here, but might have stopped them. So this was their design. It went out. The size of the car itself, it could be reduced. I mean, we could, by cleaning up the addresses and who needs to get them, we could save some money. And also by the size of the car, we could save some money for the town. But yes, it's been... some cases like if you're only getting out of 1200 100 responses or 100 results you're it's not possible yeah i think you you you can just write a letter instead of making cards the cards are cheaper than a letter because it's a letter you have to put in an envelope and you know it's cheaper Card is cheaper than online.

But it could be plain card stock, just the solid color, say urgent on it. Yeah. It should say urgent.

It's 74 cents to send cards. Sending out cards, I think, are cheaper.

Yeah, but you also have to, when you think about sending out cards.

Advertising is thrown away without looking at it.

You send out cards online. it's done differently at the post office than sending those out because now they're being broken down by zip code and that adds to the expense of mailing. That's the reason why when you take a look at the cost of mailing, it's exorbitant. I mean, it's 78 cents right now going up. So it's, you know, to send that, that's like, me getting a card from Kohl's. Like I'm really gonna worry about it.

Okay, so good, good thoughts. And so that's what we'll be working on. Cleaning this up, making it work better.

Simplify it.

Yeah, making it more efficient. Making sure that the cards are going to the right address to the correct people.

Or just go and knock on the door.

Well, that's, I don't think you can do that. People are already growing things that, you know, It looks like Bill might want to say something. Bill, you want to comment?

Any comments? Mary, can I just ask one simple question?

Sure.

Is, isn't Ledge Light District responsible for the septics that are happening here today?

So LedgeFly has been very clear what they're responsible. They are responsible for septics, but not for the pump-outs.

Okay.

So, okay.

You just answered my question. Thank you.

You're welcome. Okay. Let's move on. If we could, old business, the cost-sharing status, there's no upgrade to that. There's no movement on it right now. There's no nothing to report on that. It's sort of still where it was. I think it's still being reviewed by legal again, and there's nothing moving forward right now on that. The test wells, as I said, we've identified them. We know what we need to do. There'll probably be a lot of extra testing when we get there in addition to the test wells, and we want to work deep and important on those processes so that we are going the correct way. the town records we've talked about, carbon we talked about, and the sewer ordinance. So the sewer ordinance, it is important to make those changes and we will make them. Like I already said, I'm waiting for a ledge light to get back to me. Yes. Are you able to lock up? Yes. Okay, thank you. Ledge light should be getting back to me within a week. Martha should be getting back, or legal should be getting back to Martha and then we'll have our answers and then we can just to call a really quick special meeting in regard to the sewer ordinance, because I think the changes are minimal.

I'm going to advocate that at one point in time, and Dimitri can coincide with me, we had a sanitarian who was in building and zoning, and he was portioned off to Lyme, Essex, and another town. And I'm making a suggestion, if in fact, Ledge Light doesn't step up and do what we think they should be doing, because they're gonna probably not wanna do it because then that puts them in a different situation with their other towns. then I think Martha should look at maybe procuring a part-time sanitarian so we have somebody who's licensed to do this. Because the ladies last month definitely was not part of enforcement. The only enforcement they do is when a system fails or when you're creating a new system. That's the only time they come into play.

I agree with you.

Repair. Repair. They wouldn't be doing an enforcement, though, by what you're saying, right? Legulate wouldn't be doing an enforcement.

No, they're saying they won't do that. They're not responsible for the pump-outs or for enforcing them.

What is it that we want them to just agree with?

All we want them to do at this time is, if you read where I highlighted in yellow,

Yeah, I did.

Changing what it says sanitarium or board of director of health to, to legislate. Those are their responsibilities, which is, as you said, new systems, repairs, nothing that they don't already do. And the only other part of it would be that changes is when it comes to enforcement. that instead of a senator in, it would be the board of selectors.

Right, but it wouldn't be legislative. It wouldn't be legislative. They're already doing what you're saying. So it shouldn't be an issue.

Okay, fine. So they don't want to do it. Fine. Well, they already are.

You're saying they already are.

Yeah, they're not. So, yeah, I don't see the changes being that significant, really.

Well, that's because you're not in legislative shoes. They don't choose just do. line. They do line, they do Salem, they do all over the place. So if another town gets wind that now they're under the gun for enforcement. They're not. In essence, that's what they're looking at. They don't enforce anything other than a repair or a new install. Now you're asking them to do Well, to be part of the ordinance. To be part of the ordinance. And they're not part of the ordinance now. They're part of public health. They're not part of the ordinance.

Well, the ordinance clearly states that you have to be licensed to provide those services, and we are not. Only the folks that legislate are. So if they don't want to agree to that in the ordinance, then I think Martha has to make some decisions.

Well, if that's what I mean, I mean it. To me, it would make a lot more sense and a lot less aggravation to contact a registered sanitarian in Saybrook or Clinton or Westbrook and say, hey, how would you like to be the enforcement for us? And I guarantee you, as we did it in the past with Ms. Marino and any who went to, who was Westbrook, Saybrook, in Clinton and O-line. I mean, it can be done. It's been done in the past.

Or could it be worded to, I don't want to say the authority having jurisdiction, but whomever the town's appointed representative is.

I thought our last sanitarian was Dr. Seakey.

Who's the director of health. Ron Rose was our last sanitarian. And then after Ron Rose was Marino, she was a sanitary. And then she moved to Westbrook.

Yeah, I mean, it didn't have to specifically say ledge light, but something that refers to a license.

Yeah, we're just looking for the license. And I know ledge light's going to push back because then that means that they have to make themselves available to be able to specify a license, et cetera.

Does anybody know how long a legislate's contract is? How do you know?

It's something that had to go to a town meeting when I remember that town meeting, and it was very contentious, you know, because the first selectman at that time was look at just the cut costs and the heads.

It said the currently contracted, licensed authority or whatever the group is, something like that.

Okay, any other discussion? Can we move on? New business. I don't have any business for you. I think we've covered pretty much our scope for the next couple of months, really. Which again, is ordinance encouraging and working with DEEP on the testing. General discussion. Any general discussion, anything that hasn't come up that you'd like to talk about at this time?

So is any construction going on now that you're aware of?

Not that I'm aware of. I think there's some unexpected surprise issues that we just have to resolve first. But again, I'm not part of that project.

I know the staging area was an issue.

Yes, they have to get a permit to do that, but they'll probably get it. It just takes time.

Yeah, but it throws their calendar on you.

it's kind of good with the other bridge work still being finished up, that they're not tearing up 156 to get enough just to try to get out.

There's enough on Four Mile River Road. Now that the bypass is being done, finished, they're starting the Four Mile River Bridge. So it's...

I'll take three things going on at once in that short area. We've run out of short things.

Have all of the meetings signed on to the project yet? As far as I know.

Oh, you mean Sewer Project? Yes.

Right.

Oh, they were committed 10 years ago.

Yeah, but a couple of months ago, the president of Miami declined signing the whatever. I just wondered if they had signed that. It's going to be a meeting on this one.

Yeah, it was.

If you'd like that, I can print another.

Again, there hasn't been an update from the construction committee. This month they canceled. I think last month they canceled. So hopefully in July there'll be an update and they can. What I will do is I will ask Frank to please put everybody on this WPCA on their notice notification list because they sent it to me like yesterday. Monday for Monday's meeting yesterday I got a notice around 5 p.m. in the chairman's WPCA mailbox which I don't check from my phone and I couldn't have checked it anyway because I was preoccupied somewhere else and I couldn't let anybody here know that that seven o'clock meeting was canceled and I know a lot of you tried to dial in and were very frustrated so I will ask to include all of you if you'd like me to to include your email addresses in their notifications. Unless you have a problem with me sharing your emails. But double a line.

That way you'll get- I would appreciate that, Mary.

Okay. That way you'll get the notice two hours before I do.

I think their priority yesterday was to get to the zoning meeting to do everything they could to get the staging areas through. And at the end of the zoning meeting, it more or less, they have to get some more Like you said, more things together, and they're going to have a public hearing in July. But in the meantime, they might have a spot up on Hatchett's Hill for staging, so they might be able to start bringing machines and start the process before July.

I am aware there are a few other issues, too, that they have to resolve, but it's not for me to say, so I'd like for Doug Whalen to speak. We should probably wait for them for the July meeting or whenever they decide they have those rectified and can speak on them.

Has anyone heard about Jerry Stone's property and the apartments?

I have not.

Because that land was deemed uninhabitable for septics. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. So what's going to happen? There's no sewer. The sewer stops at Washington Avenue.

From what I understand, the reasoning was the Connecticut Walk, but they did not want it there.

No, Connecticut Waters wells are well past that circle that they look at. that said that was a misnomer by a past WPCA president who didn't want to put it there. Is it a staging area?

I was going to say the wells are by me. Exactly. They've been doing something in there too, but I don't know what. I hear construction.

Probably getting ready to put more water into the system.

Have all of you seen the surveys?

The request for input into the town survey, zoning survey. Have you seen it? Sally posted it on the website for Soundview. It's important. It takes five minutes. But you should log on. It's anonymous. And it just asks your opinion about do you think we have enough commercial? What kind of commercial would you like to see? Do you think our zoning laws are too tough? Do you think they should be stronger or not strong?

I did see that.

So I think it's very important, everybody, this is your opportunity to speak to the zoning board, get your two cents on.

It doesn't matter anymore.

Why?

Because the state just made the law that no matter what size town.

But the land, if they build multifamily, has to support. That's it. And no environmental interference.

The way the law was written was if it's apartments, multi, and commercial, it has to be serviced by sewer. And sewers.

I don't know what's happening.

That was done for a reason because of deep and dykes and Lamont.

But doesn't that take cherry stones out of contention? Because there's not going to even be a proposed silver there. Unless I'm crazy.

We don't know what's going to happen.

That's part of area A that was removed.

I didn't know that. I mean, us in Hark's Nest, you know, we're still on the tip of the needle.

Sally? was saying that the water table structure in that area is not conducive to septic systems. And we were told, yeah, so.

This is super.

Whatever happened with the previous WPCA and the previous WPCA before that, don't just take it out of your mind your thought process because it was done with a one single thing in mind and that is let's make everything that that everybody does either too expensive white sands or uninhabitable cherry stones because i was looking at a community septic system at cherry stones for some view we already took hawk's nest out of the the equation by the testing. So that was my take. And that's the reason why it's shot down.

So just moving on here. Today's Tuesday. I know I keep bringing up that we're going to go to Mondays, right? And we all want to go to Mondays, especially over the summer. So I have a suggestion for you. I will cancel next Tuesday's scheduled meeting and put in, it has to be called a special meeting, meaning that the agenda has to be specific, but we can do it. So there's two dates that I see that are open, Monday, July 6th at 7 p.m. or Monday, July 20th at 7 p.m. So you guys tell me which would you prefer, July 6th, because we're all going to be here after the holiday, or July 20th?

I could do either. I'm doing signing.

Okay. Just let me know. You can send it to me. I don't have to do it today.

If you want to just email me or... Do you want to discuss what's going to be on the... Right, because we can't have a CSA, can't have the construction on it. That's to be specific.

Well, those are specific topics.

Or redoing the cards.

The CSA, as far as I'm concerned, we're not being impacted by that at all. So that one could go off the agenda. The ordinance, definitely. The mailing, you know, maybe the second mailing, you know, and do something like that. And that's fine with me. The 6th or the 20th doesn't bother me. 6th is fine.

You know what works for me.

It's just an opinion, but I think the 6th is too close to the holiday weekend. I would prefer the 6th.

Okay, that's fine. Well, we have to get it passed. You know, you have to make that change.

I can make it. I can talk to Katie tomorrow.

You mentioned possibly calling a special meeting about the other

About the ordinance. About the ordinance.

We might have that meeting and then this meeting could be on the 20th.

We do a special meeting. We'll probably just do it remotely. It'll be quick. And because you all have the information beforehand.

And that has to be before the town meeting.

I don't know when the town meeting is, do you?

Usually the 28th or something like that.

Oh, August or July.

July.

So, yeah.

construction you'd have two special meetings well any of the monday meetings going forward but also if this other comes up for the ordinance that might be a different special meeting is that what you're saying yeah it would just be like a very quick special meeting you know we got our answers from uh legislate we got our answers from legal

let's just vote on the ordinance so we can pass it forward to the Board of Selectmen who can pass it back to Lee Vaughan.

And then the other one, what if it went to the 20th? So what?

And if we don't have anything to talk about, we can cancel the meeting altogether. But I think we will. More information on Carmody at that point, hopefully. Probably won't hear back from Dee Of course not.

No, that's the reason why I'm saying. I mean, you know, deep is already on a target for Route 156. That's what their target is. They're not looking at some, they're not looking at box nests, not looking at white sands. That's their target. So why not go through water quality as far as testing instead of deep? Deep is going to say, just like what they said to Martha, why are you testing? What are you testing for? You know, this was just a simple, you know.

Modern quality, that's what we're supposed to be doing.

What's that all? Was the other, the meeting that didn't happen last night, was that going out to the 13th or did you say the 20th? The 20th. Okay, so the 13th, right. So that would be after the 6th. then if we had our meeting the 20th, it would be after.

So their meeting is the 13th. The town meeting is July 28th.

I'd have to go look again, but I'm pretty sure it was then. Because I think what they're going to try and do is the town meeting has to deal with our ordinance and also zoning. And that's, you know, they're not going to call two town meetings for two separate things.

Okay. Well, we'll look at the calendar. We'll get the dates straight. I'll send it out to you. Everybody just send me back which day, which Monday you prefer. And we'll go with that. Okay. I have a motion to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion. Granted. Meeting adjourned at 842.