Reading Area Water Authority Work Shop Meeting Tuesday May 10, 2016

Transcription

1 Chairman Vice-Chairman Secretary Executive Director Ernie Schlegel Gery Fisher Julissa Espinal Maria Rodriguez Ron Hatt Steve Symons Ralph Johnson Dean A. Miller 1801 Kutztown 1801 Kutztown Road Road Reading, Reading, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Phone: Phone: Fax: Fax: TDD: TDD: Reading Area Water Authority Work Shop Meeting Tuesday May 10, 2016 The Stated Work Shop Meeting of the Reading Area Water Authority was held on Tuesday May 10, 2016 at the Reading Area Water Authority located at 1801 Kutztown Road, Reading PA 19604, at 4:30 PM. Present were: s: Chairman Mr. Ernest Schlegel, Mr. Gery Fisher, Ms. Maria Rodriguez, Mr. Ralph Johnson, Ms. Julissa Espinal, Mr. Ron Hatt and Mr. Steve Symons, Mr. Michael Setley, Solicitor, Mr. Thomas Weld, Engineer, BCM Engineers and Mr. Dean Miller Contracted Executive Director. A Motion was made to approve the meeting minutes from April 28, 2016 by Ms. Julissa Espinal and seconded by Ms. Maria Rodriguez. Executive Director: Mr. Dean Miller asked for a motion to approve the Capital Invoices for May 10, 2016, totaling $446, A motion was made by Mr. Ron Hatt and seconded by Mr. Gery Fisher to authorize the payment of the Capital Expense invoices as presented. Mr. Dean Mill asked for a motion to approve the General Invoices for May 10, 2016 totaling $151, A motion was made by Mr. Gery Fisher and seconded by Ms. Julissa Espinal to authorize the payment of the General Expense invoices as presented. A discussion was had concerning the contracted services presently in place with RAWA, and Ms. Maria Rodriguez had a concern about the cleaning service invoice being high. Attorney Setley suggested that the Cleaning Service be put out to bid. 1 P a g e

2 Engineers Report: Mr. Tom Weld reviewed the contracts received on April 19 for Contract 77A and 78A for the Northwest Reservoir. 77A for the structure modifications reservoir and mixing system. 78A Electrical. Contract 77A had 4 bidders. (Mr. Weld provided a report on evaluation of the bid, due to pretty good spread between the low bidder and second bidder). Mr. Weld stated they are qualified to do the work, and that they ve done work for us in the past, and he recommends they are awarded the contract 77A for a total bid price of $1,640, Attorney Setley has reviewed and approved the bid documents and asked for a motion to approve contract 77A to be awarded to Mar-Allen Concrete Products Inc. Motion was made by Mr. Gery Fisher and seconded by Ms. Julissa Espinal. Mr. Weld stated that Contract 78A Electrical had 5 bidders, the low bidder BSI of Montgomeryville (also done work for us in the past) at $75, He recommends contract 78A be awarded to BSI, and asked for a motion for contract 78A- Electrical Contract for the Northwest Reservoir Mixing and Concrete Repairs be awarded to BSI Electrical Contractor, Montgomeryville, PA. Motion was made by Mr. Steve Symons and seconded by Mr. Ron Hatt. Mr. Weld presented the closeout documents for 74A for Cleaning and Inspection for Hegel-Gehl Reservoir, the bid price was $189, The closeout number will be $183,380.00, a reduction on the bid price of $5, Attorney Setley has reviewed all documents and everything is in order. Attorney Setley asked for a motion to accept the Closeout for the Contract 74A, at a final construction price of $183, A motion was made by Mr. Ron Hatt and seconded by Mr. Steve Symons. 2 P a g e

3 Solicitors Report: Attorney Setley asked for a motion for Distribution of the RFP for Banking Services prepared by Ms. Sandie Kieffer and the Finance Committee, to be sent out to all the Banks in Berks County. Motion was made by Mr. Steve Symons and seconded by Mr. Gery Fisher. Ms. Sandie Kieffer reviewed the policy for vendor invoicing, check disbursement and bank reconciliation review. Ms. Becky Clouser advises to have a board member also review reconciliation on a monthly basis. Attorney Setley said this is general policy/specific procedures that are required before invoices are sent out and check is signed. Attorney Setley asked for a motion to pass the Vendor Invoice Approval, Check Disbursement and Bank Reconciliation Review Policy. A motion by Mr. Steve Symons and seconded by Ms. Julissa Espinal Attorney Setley reported that the Meter Reader job description for in house rank file has been reviewed by administration and ready to be approved. Attorney Setley asked for a motion to approve the job description for In House Meter Reader position. A motion was made by Mr. Gery Fisher and Seconded by Ms. Maria Rodriguez. Executive session was called at 4:58 pm Back in Public Session at 5:23 pm Chairman s Report: A motion was made to release the Baker Tilly assessment by Mr. Gery Fisher and seconded by Ms. Julissa Espinal. A discussion was had. Chairman Schlegel stated he is releasing the assessment for public dissemination to the Administration, City council, and the public at the same time, we did prepare answers to each of the points in the assessment that Baker Tilly did. We are releasing this to the public as well, hoping they look at it and get an understanding of it. Chairman Schlegel states this has been going on since last year January, when some incorrect information was put out to the public which came out of the HRG report. It was said incorrectly by a Mayoral Candidate that the Reading Area Water Authority some audited deficits, which was not true. 3 P a g e

4 Chairman Schlegel stated we got a volume of Right to Know requests early last year. Mayoral candidate Scott told him (Ernie) that special assistant now Bill Murray had put them together. Our staff put together a volume of documents which totaled $1,800.91, which are still in the office. Chairman Schlegel believes if they were picked up they would ve gotten a full understanding, and we would not have to go through this. Chairman Schlegel stated We have nothing to hide here in the Authority; we have great procedures and a great staff that does a great job for us every day. We felt firm that there was going to be no findings. We did not perform a Forensic Investigation as a result because Baker Tilly s preliminary forensic assessment makes no conclusions as to whether fraud has occurred or exist at RAWA. The City Administration needs to understand that the Water Authority serves the purpose of providing safe clean drinking water. Mr. Schlegel s hope is that communication gets better between the RAWA board and City Hall Administration. Attorney Setley stated that the head of the forensic audit team at RKL (RAWA s Auditor) will provide a letter stating as per Baker Tilly assessment no additional procedure necessary for RAWA in writing. A motion to distribute the answers to the Baker Tilly assessment was moved by Mr. Gery Fisher and Seconded by Ms. Julissa Espinal. A discussion was had. Mr. Ralph Johnson stated that he was not on the board so he could not confirm or deny the information provided. Attorney Setley stated that most members of this board were not around during the time period of this assessment and that the information from RKL is provided on RAWA internal audits. RFP s were received for the Solicitors position for RAWA at the last meeting, and were reviewed by all. A motion was made by Mr. Gery Fisher and seconded by Mr. Ron Hatt to appoint Attorney Michael Setley as the RAWA Solicitor for the next 3 years. A discussion was had. Ms. Maria Rodriguez and Mr. Ralph Johnson both explained they were not prepared to vote on this motion because they had not had time to review the RFP s. The motion was withdrawn by Mr. Gery Fisher as Mr. Ralph Johnson and Ms. Maria Rodriguez said that they had not reviewed the RFP s received. Motion to adjourn Mr. Gery Fisher and seconded by Mr. Ron Hatt. Motion to move into public comment by Mr. Ralph Johnson and seconded by Ms. Maria Rodriguez. 4 P a g e

5 Public Comment: President of ASCME Mr. Felix Freytiz wanted to thank everyone for working together to create the In House Meter Reading position. Mr. Freytiz asked that he receive a copy of the Boards duties. Chairman Schlegel stated that they are working on the By-Laws of the board. He asked that they be posted on the Website. Motion to Adjourn at 5:40pm was made by Mr. Ron Hatt and Seconded by Mr. Gery Fisher. The next Reading Area Water Authority Workshop Meeting will be held on Thursday May 26, 2016 at 4:30PM. 5 P a g e