March 9, 2026 – Wastewater Management – Video & Transcript
March 9, 2026 - Wastewater Management
I'll call the March 9th, 2026 meeting of the Wastewater Management District Commission to order at 1208.
This meeting is being done via Zoom.
The link was posted on the town website along with the agenda.
We're all participating remotely.
This is Mike Gitten, participating remotely.
Darren Bach, participating remotely.
Okay.
So let us get going.
Do we have anyone on for public comment?
No, there's nobody in the attendees tab. Okay. And I should also probably have said, I believe this meeting is being recorded.
Yes, it is. Okay. First on the agenda is a representative from the Hastings Whalen Commons Group Condo Association. What's the proper name of the group, Jeff? We've been called a lot of things, but I think you covered it in your summary. So it's the Whalen Commons Condominium Association, I think, for the record. But anyhow, thank you for your time. I hope not to. It should be a pretty brief conversation. But I do appreciate the opportunity to elaborate a little bit on our request. And the specific request we've made of the commission is to consider a departure from your past billing practice, which, as we understand it, is to commence billing the usage fee in the first quarter after the privilege fee has been received. So I understand from Sarah that bills have or are about to go out in that regard. And so the reason that we're requesting this deferral, we had anticipated that we would get the connection made earlier or by now in any event. But obviously the harsh winter conditions, the snow combined with the unusually cold winter, has resulted in a delay in the construction, although there's a chance it will get done this week or next with the thaw. That we're experiencing. And so unlike maybe some other users that are either still in the construction phase or have not yet begun their own construction, our users are actually paying for the cost of our existing septic fee. And so to also receive a bill for the usage fee when they're paying for the operating costs of our existing system is a bit of an economic burden, particularly for those that are in the 40B units. And so we have a few of those. And so we would appreciate if the commission would at least consider our request to delay the first usage fee billing until the next quarter so that those residents aren't faced with the prospect of paying both the town for a service that they're entitled to, but they're not yet receiving, as well as paying for the existing septic system, which of course we cannot decommission until the connection has been made. So in a nutshell, that's our request for the commission to consider. I'm happy to answer any questions if I didn't cover something that's pertinent. Okay. Thanks for the info. As you rightfully stated, it has been the approach for as long as anyone on this panel, both the volunteers or the professional staff knows that the timing that you spoke about, that when the fee is paid, that's when the billing starts. And the situation you're in actually is not as atypical as you think. We have a number of people in the system that have been going for quite a while and they're still paying to maintain a system. We have never, to be frank, I don't know whether we ever received a request like this, nor acted on one. So I would, so we, it's really, it's always been with the, the capacity that we have first come first serve. So a lot of entities have, have felt that they, they, they had to sign on prior, maybe when they could actually use the, the capacity. Um, I would, I would say to those that are paying it, I would look at it as, um, and it's, it's an investment. Um, it will help us when, you know, every little bit helps, um, to keep our rates down going forward.
Okay. I don't know if you need to discuss it further amongst yourselves after I drop, um, uh, or if you've already reached a conclusion, which I'm inferring. I don't even think we have, we actually don't even have a process to, to do this. Darren, um, it, as I said, it's never been, um, done before. And this does come up quite regularly. We have a number of users or subscribers that have never connected. They're paying to maintain systems. Um, and, uh, we are concerned about a precedent. It would set it in the end, it would be unfair to all the, the users who count counting on the revenue, because there are other people that would take the capacity. If, if the condo association had not.
Mike, I was just going to ask if there was anything in our bylaws on it, but I, I don't think there is. We don't have this. As you said, I, I've not heard this come from my time here of anybody coming with it. And as you said, there are other users who have no flow, but are connected, you know, connected from a, from a privilege fee. Jeff, I know, I realize you're not connected, connected, but have that reserved design flow. Right.
Right. Well, there actually are a few that aren't even connected. Um, I subscribed, some of these subscribed 20 years ago, maybe when the first, um, uh, users were, were signed up. Okay. Well, we can, we'll file this under, uh, you miss every shot you don't take. So, um, we appreciate at least the opportunity to present the request and it enables the trustees to go back to our residents and let them know that we, we sought relief. Um, but that it's a longstanding practice and the precedent would be unfair to other users who are in similar situations, if I understand correctly. Um, and, and it will help us keep rates down going forward. Yep. Good to know. You will get, they will get some benefit out of this. Yeah. Yeah. No, I appreciate that. Um, one other quick question, uh, somewhat related, um, is there, uh, if anybody on the call knows what the current remaining capacity is. And the reason I ask is that the piece of land where our current septic system is located had originally been permitted for four additional units. And so we're looking for developers if there's an interest in building those units and the town approves and the community approves, but we would need another 880 gallons of capacity in order to do that. Um, so, um, we're still a ways away from having a developer express, you know, interest and we would still need a vote of our association to move forward. Um, but it becomes a bit of a moot point if there's no longer any capacity. I could speak to that if that's okay. Um, we have, have, but it is being requested for, uh, just under 5,000 gallons per day available. Um, and it has been offered up to the next person in line and they seem like they are going to be taking it. It's not official yet, but it is out there. So, and that would be it until we have a study that proves that we can, you know, offer up more. And Sarah, they're taking all 5,000? Yes, I believe so. They have not sent the paperwork back, but they're, they seem pretty happy to have it. Okay. I don't know if it's public record, but is that the town center or is that a different user? Uh, yeah, that would be them. Yeah. It's the town center. And I can say, you know, on your behalf, Jeff, we can affirm with them, uh, that they do indeed, you know, intend to move forward, that we have somebody else that's waiting for it because I, thus far, you would have been the next in line after them. Um, so we can reach back out to them and say, you know, act now or forever hold your peace. And, uh, so we would be able to at least get back to you as to whether that 800 gallons that you were looking for is indeed available. Okay. Yeah. I appreciate that. That just, it gives us, I've tried, we've tried to impart a sense of urgency on the developers who we've asked to, to, to bid on the development rights and, um, let them know that they would need to secure that capacity, uh, in order to move forward. So, um, yeah, on the one hand, I'd be welcome additional restaurants in the town center if that's who needs the capacity, uh, but I'd hate to miss the opportunity to build four additional units, um, if that's what our association votes on. So I will, we'll, we'll move this forward on our end as quickly as possible. And then I guess whoever gets you the check first gets, gets the capacity. So, and then I think an important part too, Jeff, is that, you know, the, as part of our budget for this year, coming year, fiscal year is to reevaluate the plant, right? Because there's been a lot of capital improvements made to the plant. Um, so that study will then determine what we might have available. Hopefully it shows we have availability even after this 5,000, uh, but that that's coming. So, you know, as you look at your timeline, uh, just know that that's in the works. And I appreciate that, Darren. So it may be somewhere down the road, you, you conclude that there's some additional capacity. Um, so we wouldn't be closed out forever. Uh, if we don't get to get in line first, uh, but we might have to wait until that study's done. And, uh, I mean, once the study's done and you guys just vote on it, like increasing the capacity by X percent of whatever is recommended. Is that the, yeah. Okay. Yeah. We did that during one of our meetings two years ago, Mike, somewhere around there, somewhere around there. And also Jeff, that is something where we would react to a demand to accelerate our process, especially if you're talking a relatively minor amount, which what you're talking about is. So, um, there, there we have precedent and that's, that's really one of our main missions besides running the facility is optimizing the, uh, the discharge, our discharge capacity can handle it. It's our treatment capacity. That's a critical point. And we've been going slowly because probably as you've seen as a user, we've had to do some pretty significant, um, um, maintenance. The plan is aging. And as we, um, increase the actual flow, it, it, it's pushing, um, equipment closer to its design limit and it's all, all, uh, it all goes together to, to the, if we know the demands there from, from serious users, we can, there's where we can take some action. So, yeah, well, I walk my dog by there every day. So whenever I see the heavy equipment out there, I know something's being fixed. So, yeah, appreciate everybody's time. Thank you so much. And, uh, good, uh, good luck with the rest of your meeting. Thanks, Jeff. Take care. Okay. Um, so we then move on to operating is who's filling in for Jared. What's been going on? I'm the, uh, I'm the pinch hitter. So bear with me. Yeah. So, uh, just a few things I've mentioned, um, during recent storms, we've lost power to the plant a number of times. Uh, it's not all that atypical. Uh, the generator did activate as it's designed to do and, uh, filled in. For us until we could get back on the grid. Uh, we actually had the wastewater plant. We had one of our water plants had the same situation. Um, but it was nice to see that the generator did its job and was automated like it was supposed to be, um, train one of the membranes. We did a recent cleaning. We tried two processes. Um, one of them called a citric and the other one called a hypo. And forgive me, I don't know the details of those two, but it was the hypo cleaning that was the most effective and we got much better figures and numbers after that cleaning was performed. So we are, uh, scheduling to clean train two with that same hypo approach. Uh, both Jared and Abby were, were pleased with that. Um, on schedule, they, uh, the grit tank was emptied. That takes all the, uh, the solubles that, uh, uh, that, you know, dropped to the bottom. Um, we also had, uh, Wilson controls, which is one of our, uh, vendors that we have kind of on call, um, installed a variable frequency drive, uh, one of our pumps for us, um, and that was successful. Um, we also evaluated a couple of pre-air blowers that are really have reached their, the end of their useful design life, and they are scheduled for replacement. Uh, they are on the, uh, the small equipment, the asset management plan. And so we are awaiting quotes for their replacement, uh, not, not a huge lift, but, you know, something that, uh, just these small pieces that over time we all know need to be replaced and also a little frustrating. The, the redundant, uh, we have two SCADA, the primary, secondary, the secondary system failed on us. So we have it looking at that for us. It is under warranty. It's not all that old. These are relatively new systems. The primary system work fine is working fine. So it's, it kind of shows the value of having redundancy, having two systems, but, um, in a nutshell, that's, uh, operationally, that's what went on over the course of the last month or so.
Right. Um, did the, did the primary redundant system come installed at the same time from the same vendor or is one, the old one and one, the new one? Um, I, I, I think that they, they weren't installed at the same time, but I recollect that they were, you know, that they're, both systems are relatively new. I don't know, um, the, the exact install dates, but, uh, I do know that the one that failed is not all that old. So, um, you know, we'll be looking for a warranty, uh, repair on that.
Right. The question I'm always going to ask, I, ever since we, now that we have the luxury of the two discharge points, it takes a little thought to figure out what our actual flow is. Has it creeped up at all with a few more users or is it still in the 30 to 32,000 gallon range? Yeah, it's, it's still right around 32. I made sure I asked Jared that, uh, you know, he wasn't going to be here today. So we are, we're, we're sustaining. Okay. Hopefully it was spring. We pick up. I don't know. Well, we also have, um, there's, you actually see work on two big users coming on the, the, the, the, the fast food. I, I, am I allowed to say that the, the fast, convenient food restaurants that are opening up in the bank and the, uh, and the, the, the, the terrain, whatever function restaurant and then the, um, the wine bistro is also, um, they are, you know, getting permits from us relative to their work as well. So, uh, although that won't be as large a user, it's, it still will amount to, uh, you know, a measurable increase. Yeah. I, I would think by, by the start of the fiscal year, we'll, we'll, we'll hopefully know which, have a sense what's going on with the, the, the, the, the bank restaurants. Right. I, I would think they want to be, they be in by them. I hope. Yep. Okay.
Uh, Darren, anything? No, I'm good. And you said the generator had to fire up one. How long was it the outage you said from the election? Several hours. Yeah. Eversource was pretty responsive. We actually have a through, they, they have a portal and we're allowed two critical, um, kind of repairs per day. So when we have a water or a wastewater, those are our most critical users in town. And, uh, so when we have one of those, uh, our public safety liaison, um, inputs that into the Eversource portal and Eversource makes that a priority. So we have generally been getting some pretty decent response from them. Right. Okay. Yeah. Um, I don't see it anywhere else. Uh, any updates on the, the, the, the fog negotiations? And I know they had a letter late requests to join us on. I actually thought someone might be in the public comments, but they're not. Yeah. So, um, we sent the letter. We did receive a letter from their engineer asking us, uh, to allow them to do some additional, uh, sampling, uh, you know, this has been going on for some time, but, uh, Abby has put together a response to that letter, um, establishing, you know, criteria for a sampling protocol. And, uh, if that hasn't gone out, it will go out over coming days. So we are, you know, we're receptive. We want to work with Oxbow. Um, um, um, and if they feel that, uh, doing some additional sampling to help pinpoint their, uh, kind of solution where we're amenable to that, but obviously we'd like to, to have a resolution and a solution developed and installed as soon as practically possible to, to relieve us from having to schedule, you know, these, uh, these cleanings by, uh, cleaning a factor company. I mean, they might be covering our direct costs, but the intangible costs of the distraction for Sarah and Jared and others that, that's, that becomes old. Um, yeah. And it's the thing that's concerning to me is that, you know, in between these cleanings, which, you know, I'm not sure if it's monthly or every six weeks, um, you know, the equipment, the pumps are encountering, you know, these high levels of fats, oils, and grease, and it's not helping the equipment. It's, you know, uh, it's actually going to cause premature deterioration, you know? So it's, that's something sometimes is difficult to quantify, but, uh, it's assured having a negative impact of that equipment. So it's, it's doing periodic cleaning is not a sustainable response. Yeah. Um, is it, is the sampling, are, are we in agreement that something needs to be done or are they looking to do sampling to demonstrate they don't believe anything needs to be done or like how far apart are we still?
Yeah, I think, I mean, it's hard to, you know, literally almost like read between the lines, but I, I, it doesn't seem that they're agreeable. To constructing something, um, I'm not sure if they want to debate the sampling, you know, the results, the levels, uh, of the, of the fats, oils, and grease, and we have it pretty clearly stated in our regulations, the exceedances, the thresholds, uh, it's known that those are being exceeded. So there really is not, um, too much to discuss there. Perhaps it is what they're proposing as a remedy is, um, something aside from constructing an actual, you know, uh, structural device that'll remove the FOGs before it reaches our system. Um, yeah, I guess time will tell, but, uh, it's, so we, we still may be at a fundamental disagreement. Okay. It could be, it could be. Did, did they, I, Sarah or, or Tom, are they looking to get on the agenda for next month or, or is that, so how, how was that relayed? Did you, did you receive a request from them? Uh, I, I saw something in my email to the wastewater management district commission came in after the agenda had been posted. Okay. If, if, if you don't mind, could you, could you forward that to, uh, to myself and Sarah? Just, yeah. Um, I thought Mike, I thought it was just the letter, but maybe there was something else. Yeah. I just see the letter that Sarah sent on February 25th. I saw it.
I'll, uh, I, I have. I have trouble looking at my email closely remotely. At some point, if you wanted to, uh, forward that to myself and Sarah, even, you know, you can put Abby and Jared on it as well, as long as we have it here in the office. I mean, I, I, to be honest, I was heading out the door, uh, whenever, when did the agenda come out? Thursday, Friday? Um, Thursday, Thursday. Yeah. I was heading out the door to show you what a civil engineering nerd was. I took the day off. I went to some museums. I went to the water, waterworks museum in Chestnut Hill. You ever been Tom? I have. Yes. And, uh, how do you like those flywheels? Yeah. I, I'm going to go back. I just kind of went, when they didn't, I didn't get the full tour. I'm going back when I could do the, uh, the full tour and get in the basement. It's amazing to think that that was, you know, Boston was drawing water through that pump station. And yeah, very impressive. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. So I didn't really, I kind of saw it. I didn't realize, um, actually I have it here. Um, and, and now I realize he did not copy the professional staff and I, I can't, I'm not at a spot where I can forward it. Oh, yeah. So when, when you, if you, when you get a moment, uh, if you could, uh, and, you know, I know Abby's letter, if it hasn't gone out, it'll be going out in a couple of days to the engineer and we can certainly reference. I mean, obviously if they want to attend there, uh, we would welcome the, uh, interaction. I, I, I gotta be. Yup. And this is a public meeting and the, they knew there was a meeting and if they happened to be watching this, they could see, they could always get on and make a public comment. Um, and we can address, you know, see how it fits into our agenda. So with that, we will move on to Darren, anything else on operational that issues, then we'll go to Sarah's financial report. Okay. Should be on the screen. It is now there. Okay. Great. Okay. So this gets us through February 28th, 66% of the year complete. Uh, the important things to point out would be that, um, you know, we have a predicted overage and equipment repairs, but we, we kind of knew that due to some of the work that we've been doing. This is not emergency. This is more, you know, you know, expected, I guess, planning work. Um, the emergency work is really being placed in contingency so that it can be tracked as such. And that's largely Daigle LCS and a little bit of our water use or a good amount of our water use was in there. Um, cause you can see in the water charges is really nothing spent. So it's all in there. Um, the numbers have been, you know, I looked at the forecast super close to try to see how we can arrive at at least obviously a hundred percent spent budget. And that's what we need to be at, which is, you'll see that's now at a hundred percent. Um, there has been a reduction in small equipment spending to 95 to make that target because we obviously have to pay for these overages somewhere. Um, and that's really it for the expense side of things. Um, so if there's any questions on expenses, let me know. And before I move on to revenues, go ahead, Mike, the sludge disposal, a lot of that debt that will get more in line with the revenue that comes from that. Yeah. The fog pumping, of course, because it has to be expense out of that. And it's already over 8,000 of that number, uh, put us up in some of the emergency pumping. I know that we, I just stated we're keeping emergency and contingency. I would say that probably the, some of the pumping I could probably reclass down there and that would lower that number and raise this number. If that's desirable, it does make sense. Um, I can see, and I, I probably should, how much of this should actually go down there, keep it all together. I think that'd be a good thing to do. Yeah. How much is, how much is sludge disposal due to normal operation versus the emergency? And then keep that under contingency. Tom, or Sarah, do you know when they come out for the, um, Oxbow, are they out here already? Do they ever double up or is it usually a unique event to service that pump station? It's a totally different company actually. Cause that type of removal is a little bit more specialty, I believe. So we don't even use the same company that we use for normal sludge disposal. So it's kind of like a tanker truck that they just load up. The other, they have to vac out, suck out. I imagine. Yeah. It was the, the, the sludge pumping, you know, like at the town center and at the high school, um, there's a connection on the side of the building. You know, there's something that's actually permanently plumbed in that they connect to the, uh, pump station at Alta Oxbow is bringing a Vactor truck and doing something, you know, that's not intended to be pumped, you know, so it's a, a different type of, uh, mechanism.
Understood.
Okay. All right. Well, I'll move down to revenues. Um, we have, um, not too much different in user, a little bit, a little bit, but the billing has gone out as of, I think last week, end of last week. So the district six, which is all our wastewater users will go out. It'll be due around April 6th. So after that date, we'll start to see what our final revenue numbers are going to come in as. So hopefully by the next meeting. Um, but I still, you know, knowing what we took in, in that same quarter last year, I still feel that 570 is a pretty good prediction. I'm hoping for that. The wastewater liens actually went up by a few hundred. So we got a little bit more there. Um, that's the service order here is where we talk about the revenue for the, them paying us back for the fog cleaning. So that's the two cleanings so far this fiscal. And miscellaneous revenue operating, you will notice this up more because we have received the check from 21 contituents. So that is in here now. So that is, obviously we know we were putting quite a bit of that into our next year's budget for the study, for the additional contracted services. So that number, that number definitely has grown and pending the sale of the last 5,000 that we have, it could go up from there. And then interest actually, sorry, I'm clicking on the wrong side. Sorry. Interest is at 14,886 and that's a much bigger increase. They did update all the months that needed to be dropped into our accounts. So that is a good number. Um, so I bumped that back up, um, that thinking that we would end up maybe, maybe around 32. It's, we'll see what happens. Um, and. Is, you know, I was going to say, if the interest is 14,886 at 66%, how are you getting to the 32? Because doubling that would be 28, you know, whatever, 29 something. So. Yeah, and actually, I was actually in the wrong spot. So it's 24, I'm sorry. It's 24,886. I was over in the, in the, in the ceiling. That's my fault. That makes sense. Okay. So that's good news. Cause it was like a couple grand last time. So that's, that's good money there. Um, yeah. And ultimately that's where we're at. So we still, you know, expect a revenue, much, you know, higher revenue than predicted. We're going to be real close on expenses. But, but revenue wise, I mean, if you subtract the 334, we're pretty much right on track to our 625. Yes. Okay. And it doesn't have us dipping in to the, the extra.
Um, I don't even see it here. Didn't we budget a little bit of the, um, retained, retained earnings? We did. We did. So I know what you mean. So the 82549, this is the, you know, budgeted amount here and the 101, that was what we budgeted. So I removed that from the forecast now because that feasibly, there's no way we would need to dip into that now. Um, knowing that we're going to take in, you know, we already have the 334, so that's definite. Yep. And, and the way it works in municipal financing, that, that nice big income for this year, we can't really, we can't touch for, for this year. That's helps us with next year's planning. Um, right. So that's, that is included in our requested retained earnings. Uh, and Brian Keveny has been asking some questions relative to that, uh, frequently. And so that is the intention because we, yeah, we're asking for more retained earnings than we generally do, but that's because we had planned use of those privilege fees that, that were, uh, received. And, and that goes back up to the top why it's important to classify things as an emergency because that gives us more flexibility to pay for them. Um, then if they, uh, it was a budgeting change, is that correct? Like going back up to the costs. Can, can we, the, the emergency, um, you know, the contingencies, the emergency funds. Right. Um, so, sorry, if you want to rephrase that, if I don't know if it's for me or for Tom, but say that one more time. Are we allowed to, um, increase that budget because of emergency conditions? So the answer is yes, there, there is a mechanism, you know, we have planned use and unanticipated use of retained earnings. Um, so we do have access working through the finance department. If something should arise that we needed to exceed that planned use of retained earnings, we, we do have the ability to get to it. Okay. Right. And that goes back to the importance of if we can pull out the sludge stuff that falls into the emergency, if, if we need to, if the numbers don't, Sarah has been able to think some numbers will work just by the way, by controlling some other costs. But if they don't, we have that option available to us. Right. Right. But the goal is to let's keep within our operating, right? Even if we put this contingency and granted it's over. And then, but Mike, I also like it in there because then it creates, um, clear discussion when we get with Matt Abrams and we start doing the final budgeting that we can actually have the right buckets, right? As we know what they are. And then we can have a debate on should the contingency fund been 50,000 or whatever it could have, should have been. Right. And is that the more appropriate emergency funding going forward? And we will likely be inviting him to the April meeting because we'll start talking about FY27, you know, financial modeling and rate setting and all of that. We generally start that around April, talk a little bit about more in May and then have our rate hearing in June. Great.
Now, I think, like I said, we're, we're right on track to the 625. So, and then I, I view that 334 as next year, you know, what are we doing? Yep.
Okay. I'm all set. Darren, anything else on the financial report? No. And I think down at the bottom, you have all of our capital expenditures and we're pretty much done, right? Uh, except for the low pressure sewer replacement. I don't think, I think that's finally been contracted. I believe, if I'm correct, I, we just haven't had to pay off of it yet. Okay. Yeah. The preliminary work is under contract and we're, but we're awaiting that is the, you know, the full, um, design funds at the May 4th town meeting. Right.
Right. Okay.
Um, if nothing else, then we'll move on to requests for service. I think Sarah, you. I touched upon that. Um, you, you telegraphed something there. Yeah. Um, well, town center, we have, uh, so Abby and I have sat down and looked at the summary of flows to make sure we have the numbers exactly correct. And also just to update that, that document. So we keep track, but we came to the conclusion that we had about 4,928 gallons per day available, which is exactly what we offered to town center. Who has been asking for some time. Um, so we've given them then that number, they have responded, um, and have interest. So, um, And what would be the associated fee if that was to move forward this fiscal year? Oh, I can do that real quick.
That would be for a privilege fee. That would be, oh, sorry. I have, well, you know, there, that's a tough one to answer right away. Besides, besides the obvious $24 and 75 cents per gallon, that's what we have for our privilege fee rate. Um, there is the design piece that comes into play when you're over a certain threshold and there would be at the highest, uh, threshold. So there's participating in that design and potential improvements in construction work that needs to be done. So I wouldn't want to be held to this number, but it would be $24 and 75 cents times the 49, 28 plus whatever the, our regulations, our privilege fee policy says is due. So at the, you know, with just that alone, you know, just the privilege fee itself, you know, you end up, I don't know why my calculator is not, not working properly, but I must have something clicked off. Um, you end up at 121,000, 122,000 just privilege fee, um, rate itself, but that's not the final number.
And, um, the, and we need to, um, we need to figure out that, that, that supplemental extra fee at the time, by the time they sign, it's not a two part fee. Correct. We have not signed the document. They usually initiate the permit and then we complete the office side of things. Um, and then they sign, then we have our final signatures with the check. And, and at this time there's no one else banging down our doors to, to do connections. No one other than the Hastings way, 880 gallons that they were hoping to have at this time.
Darren, any thoughts on that? Oh, I think we're timing of all this is good for what, when, I mean, this is not until next year, fiscal year, but if we approve the study, when would that study get executed? And when would we know the results by, I mean, I, we, it would, I mean, and now it's middle of March. I mean, I would, I would say once these arrangements were made, um, start the study, if we were to lock in on it over the course of the next month, begin it, you know, in June, probably take several months, have a deliverable by September, October, something along those lines. Then we start making decisions. Yeah. Okay. So it takes several months. Okay. Yeah. I, I, I, I do believe though, for smaller connections, um, we, we would have the latitude to, to, to, to do some of the stuff that Abby's already done, um, whether our, um, our ratio between title five design and actual flow is, is reasonable based on 20 plus years of operational history, et cetera. Um, but, uh, it w it would be nice to, to, to, to know. I don't know if the town center executed something before we're finalizing budget. So it doesn't sound like it'd make a huge, huge difference, but. Yep. I feel like they're going to get back to us soon. I, that's my guess. I guess I don't know until I have it, but if it seems like it's coming, at least the document to get started and signed off, off on. Um, okay. Um, anything else then, uh, so Darren, request service, um, we had the meeting minutes from, uh, the ninth that were circulated. Um, I'm good. I read through. Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm good. Um, it, it did remind me that, uh, it'd be, it would be, if, if, if Ed is really not going to participate, it would be nice if he would formally resign in case there's some eager beaver out there that's just dying to get on our committee. Um, and, and, uh, so the position is, is open. Uh, I'm good too. So I make a motion to approve the February 9th, uh, 2026 meeting minutes. I second that. Mike getting yes. Darren Bach, yes. Okay. And then anything else, uh, any new business that we didn't have chance to discuss that came up that's critical? The staff has none. Darren, anything? No, my, I was just, I, I was asking earlier, Tom, what, when, when was the last time we lost electricity like that and did everything work or was it, was this the first time tested in a long time? Like real life, real time? It was the, uh, what was that? A couple of Sunday, Mondays ago that we had two weeks ago when we had, I don't know, 17 inches of snow, um, those high winds. Yeah. I bet before that. I bet before that. Oh, before that. I mean, it, it happens periodically, you know, maybe like once every couple of months, depending upon, you know, if there's a tree down a transformer goes, you know, gets blown locally. Okay. So it happens more than, okay. I just don't ever remember talking about that. The generator. Yeah, it, it, it, it happens. It, it, it might, you know, it might just not even rise to the level of reporting, uh, okay. You know, because it's a blip. Yeah. Yeah. A recloser did its job. Yeah. Okay. All right. Sorry, Mike. I was just, that was one of the things I wanted to ask earlier. I'm good. Other than that, I think I kind of got what we were doing. Okay. So I see we, we have a meeting scheduled for noon on, uh, April 13th. Correct. Um, we, I, it sounds like we need to do one for May and June because you articulated a need, Tom, to, to get through the rate setting process. Yeah. So we might as well look at our calendars.
We've been, we've been trying to do the second Monday of the month. Is that what we're going for here? That would be the 11th. I'm good on the 11th. I'm, I'm, I'm good. I, I will not be here, but I'm, I'm not sure that, uh, me being here would, uh, cause you to reschedule. Um, you'll have the full rest of the squad and I would imagine you'll have Matt Abraham. So it, you know, it being a financial conversation with Matt and Sarah, I mean, I'm fine if you wanted to reschedule, but I'm just saying, I don't, I don't think that would, if the 11th worked for everybody else, feel free to press on.
Well, I remind me, are we inviting Matt Abrams to April or it may be his first, um, he said April. Yeah, I think April, we generally, it takes a few and we do this on the water side as well. Uh, it generally takes a few, a few meetings. Was he kind of, that makes me more comfortable proceeding without you then just in case he has some macro level questions, you would have heard them. Yep. Yep. And you said town meeting is the fourth and fifth this year. Fourth and fifth. Yes. Yeah. I mean, if you, if you feel as a placeholder that you wanted to schedule a meeting just prior to, you know, sometimes we would have placeholder just in case there's something that comes up that you feel you need to discuss as a commission entirely up to you.
I, I don't, I don't think we've done it. I think we could wait till the next meeting. Cause there's not even, basically it's for formality to get the funding of the study approved, which was already in there as a placeholder. And, and we have the revenue to cover it from the privilege fees, right? Yes. Right. So unless something dies in the next month, I shouldn't have said that. Right, Tom? Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, Mike, Mike, Mike. I'm sorry. Okay. Then we get to, so I, I'm, I'm, I'm neutral to find of keeping the meeting, um, on the 11th. Yeah. If Tom, I'm good. Okay. And then now we're into June.
That would be the ninth. Great. Oh, I'm sorry. The eighth. Yes. My bad. Yep. I'm currently available. Yeah. I'm currently available. Okay.
Locked my calendar. So that June one would be the rate hearing, right? Is that what we would do, Tom? I can't remember. That's, that's what we do. The June meeting, isn't it? Yeah. We, we would incorporate a rate hearing within the monthly meeting. Yep. Right. Okay. So we really, and you need to do ads on that, like a week or two in advance versus two or three days. Yep. 14 days in advance, I believe. Yeah. 14 and then seven. So twice. So we, we need to remember to talk about that. At the, the main meeting to confirm we're all set. Yep. Right.
Okay. You think that's far enough for now? I think so. It's far enough. We usually, we usually recess over the summer. So if we continue to do that, that would be the last one of this fiscal and then resume in September if you want to do that. Yeah. As long as Jared sends me the monthly flows, because while we see a tick up with all these new users coming online. We can make that happen. Yep.
Okay. Any, I have nothing else. Darren, we all said motion to a joint adjourn at 1255 here. Aaron Bach seconds at. Okay. Mike getting. Yes. Aaron Bach. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Alrighty. Thank you. Take care. Thanks, Abby, for moderating. Bye, everybody. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
No, there's nobody in the attendees tab. Okay. And I should also probably have said, I believe this meeting is being recorded.
Yes, it is. Okay. First on the agenda is a representative from the Hastings Whalen Commons Group Condo Association. What's the proper name of the group, Jeff? We've been called a lot of things, but I think you covered it in your summary. So it's the Whalen Commons Condominium Association, I think, for the record. But anyhow, thank you for your time. I hope not to. It should be a pretty brief conversation. But I do appreciate the opportunity to elaborate a little bit on our request. And the specific request we've made of the commission is to consider a departure from your past billing practice, which, as we understand it, is to commence billing the usage fee in the first quarter after the privilege fee has been received. So I understand from Sarah that bills have or are about to go out in that regard. And so the reason that we're requesting this deferral, we had anticipated that we would get the connection made earlier or by now in any event. But obviously the harsh winter conditions, the snow combined with the unusually cold winter, has resulted in a delay in the construction, although there's a chance it will get done this week or next with the thaw. That we're experiencing. And so unlike maybe some other users that are either still in the construction phase or have not yet begun their own construction, our users are actually paying for the cost of our existing septic fee. And so to also receive a bill for the usage fee when they're paying for the operating costs of our existing system is a bit of an economic burden, particularly for those that are in the 40B units. And so we have a few of those. And so we would appreciate if the commission would at least consider our request to delay the first usage fee billing until the next quarter so that those residents aren't faced with the prospect of paying both the town for a service that they're entitled to, but they're not yet receiving, as well as paying for the existing septic system, which of course we cannot decommission until the connection has been made. So in a nutshell, that's our request for the commission to consider. I'm happy to answer any questions if I didn't cover something that's pertinent. Okay. Thanks for the info. As you rightfully stated, it has been the approach for as long as anyone on this panel, both the volunteers or the professional staff knows that the timing that you spoke about, that when the fee is paid, that's when the billing starts. And the situation you're in actually is not as atypical as you think. We have a number of people in the system that have been going for quite a while and they're still paying to maintain a system. We have never, to be frank, I don't know whether we ever received a request like this, nor acted on one. So I would, so we, it's really, it's always been with the, the capacity that we have first come first serve. So a lot of entities have, have felt that they, they, they had to sign on prior, maybe when they could actually use the, the capacity. Um, I would, I would say to those that are paying it, I would look at it as, um, and it's, it's an investment. Um, it will help us when, you know, every little bit helps, um, to keep our rates down going forward.
Okay. I don't know if you need to discuss it further amongst yourselves after I drop, um, uh, or if you've already reached a conclusion, which I'm inferring. I don't even think we have, we actually don't even have a process to, to do this. Darren, um, it, as I said, it's never been, um, done before. And this does come up quite regularly. We have a number of users or subscribers that have never connected. They're paying to maintain systems. Um, and, uh, we are concerned about a precedent. It would set it in the end, it would be unfair to all the, the users who count counting on the revenue, because there are other people that would take the capacity. If, if the condo association had not.
Mike, I was just going to ask if there was anything in our bylaws on it, but I, I don't think there is. We don't have this. As you said, I, I've not heard this come from my time here of anybody coming with it. And as you said, there are other users who have no flow, but are connected, you know, connected from a, from a privilege fee. Jeff, I know, I realize you're not connected, connected, but have that reserved design flow. Right.
Right. Well, there actually are a few that aren't even connected. Um, I subscribed, some of these subscribed 20 years ago, maybe when the first, um, uh, users were, were signed up. Okay. Well, we can, we'll file this under, uh, you miss every shot you don't take. So, um, we appreciate at least the opportunity to present the request and it enables the trustees to go back to our residents and let them know that we, we sought relief. Um, but that it's a longstanding practice and the precedent would be unfair to other users who are in similar situations, if I understand correctly. Um, and, and it will help us keep rates down going forward. Yep. Good to know. You will get, they will get some benefit out of this. Yeah. Yeah. No, I appreciate that. Um, one other quick question, uh, somewhat related, um, is there, uh, if anybody on the call knows what the current remaining capacity is. And the reason I ask is that the piece of land where our current septic system is located had originally been permitted for four additional units. And so we're looking for developers if there's an interest in building those units and the town approves and the community approves, but we would need another 880 gallons of capacity in order to do that. Um, so, um, we're still a ways away from having a developer express, you know, interest and we would still need a vote of our association to move forward. Um, but it becomes a bit of a moot point if there's no longer any capacity. I could speak to that if that's okay. Um, we have, have, but it is being requested for, uh, just under 5,000 gallons per day available. Um, and it has been offered up to the next person in line and they seem like they are going to be taking it. It's not official yet, but it is out there. So, and that would be it until we have a study that proves that we can, you know, offer up more. And Sarah, they're taking all 5,000? Yes, I believe so. They have not sent the paperwork back, but they're, they seem pretty happy to have it. Okay. I don't know if it's public record, but is that the town center or is that a different user? Uh, yeah, that would be them. Yeah. It's the town center. And I can say, you know, on your behalf, Jeff, we can affirm with them, uh, that they do indeed, you know, intend to move forward, that we have somebody else that's waiting for it because I, thus far, you would have been the next in line after them. Um, so we can reach back out to them and say, you know, act now or forever hold your peace. And, uh, so we would be able to at least get back to you as to whether that 800 gallons that you were looking for is indeed available. Okay. Yeah. I appreciate that. That just, it gives us, I've tried, we've tried to impart a sense of urgency on the developers who we've asked to, to, to bid on the development rights and, um, let them know that they would need to secure that capacity, uh, in order to move forward. So, um, yeah, on the one hand, I'd be welcome additional restaurants in the town center if that's who needs the capacity, uh, but I'd hate to miss the opportunity to build four additional units, um, if that's what our association votes on. So I will, we'll, we'll move this forward on our end as quickly as possible. And then I guess whoever gets you the check first gets, gets the capacity. So, and then I think an important part too, Jeff, is that, you know, the, as part of our budget for this year, coming year, fiscal year is to reevaluate the plant, right? Because there's been a lot of capital improvements made to the plant. Um, so that study will then determine what we might have available. Hopefully it shows we have availability even after this 5,000, uh, but that that's coming. So, you know, as you look at your timeline, uh, just know that that's in the works. And I appreciate that, Darren. So it may be somewhere down the road, you, you conclude that there's some additional capacity. Um, so we wouldn't be closed out forever. Uh, if we don't get to get in line first, uh, but we might have to wait until that study's done. And, uh, I mean, once the study's done and you guys just vote on it, like increasing the capacity by X percent of whatever is recommended. Is that the, yeah. Okay. Yeah. We did that during one of our meetings two years ago, Mike, somewhere around there, somewhere around there. And also Jeff, that is something where we would react to a demand to accelerate our process, especially if you're talking a relatively minor amount, which what you're talking about is. So, um, there, there we have precedent and that's, that's really one of our main missions besides running the facility is optimizing the, uh, the discharge, our discharge capacity can handle it. It's our treatment capacity. That's a critical point. And we've been going slowly because probably as you've seen as a user, we've had to do some pretty significant, um, um, maintenance. The plan is aging. And as we, um, increase the actual flow, it, it, it's pushing, um, equipment closer to its design limit and it's all, all, uh, it all goes together to, to the, if we know the demands there from, from serious users, we can, there's where we can take some action. So, yeah, well, I walk my dog by there every day. So whenever I see the heavy equipment out there, I know something's being fixed. So, yeah, appreciate everybody's time. Thank you so much. And, uh, good, uh, good luck with the rest of your meeting. Thanks, Jeff. Take care. Okay. Um, so we then move on to operating is who's filling in for Jared. What's been going on? I'm the, uh, I'm the pinch hitter. So bear with me. Yeah. So, uh, just a few things I've mentioned, um, during recent storms, we've lost power to the plant a number of times. Uh, it's not all that atypical. Uh, the generator did activate as it's designed to do and, uh, filled in. For us until we could get back on the grid. Uh, we actually had the wastewater plant. We had one of our water plants had the same situation. Um, but it was nice to see that the generator did its job and was automated like it was supposed to be, um, train one of the membranes. We did a recent cleaning. We tried two processes. Um, one of them called a citric and the other one called a hypo. And forgive me, I don't know the details of those two, but it was the hypo cleaning that was the most effective and we got much better figures and numbers after that cleaning was performed. So we are, uh, scheduling to clean train two with that same hypo approach. Uh, both Jared and Abby were, were pleased with that. Um, on schedule, they, uh, the grit tank was emptied. That takes all the, uh, the solubles that, uh, uh, that, you know, dropped to the bottom. Um, we also had, uh, Wilson controls, which is one of our, uh, vendors that we have kind of on call, um, installed a variable frequency drive, uh, one of our pumps for us, um, and that was successful. Um, we also evaluated a couple of pre-air blowers that are really have reached their, the end of their useful design life, and they are scheduled for replacement. Uh, they are on the, uh, the small equipment, the asset management plan. And so we are awaiting quotes for their replacement, uh, not, not a huge lift, but, you know, something that, uh, just these small pieces that over time we all know need to be replaced and also a little frustrating. The, the redundant, uh, we have two SCADA, the primary, secondary, the secondary system failed on us. So we have it looking at that for us. It is under warranty. It's not all that old. These are relatively new systems. The primary system work fine is working fine. So it's, it kind of shows the value of having redundancy, having two systems, but, um, in a nutshell, that's, uh, operationally, that's what went on over the course of the last month or so.
Right. Um, did the, did the primary redundant system come installed at the same time from the same vendor or is one, the old one and one, the new one? Um, I, I, I think that they, they weren't installed at the same time, but I recollect that they were, you know, that they're, both systems are relatively new. I don't know, um, the, the exact install dates, but, uh, I do know that the one that failed is not all that old. So, um, you know, we'll be looking for a warranty, uh, repair on that.
Right. The question I'm always going to ask, I, ever since we, now that we have the luxury of the two discharge points, it takes a little thought to figure out what our actual flow is. Has it creeped up at all with a few more users or is it still in the 30 to 32,000 gallon range? Yeah, it's, it's still right around 32. I made sure I asked Jared that, uh, you know, he wasn't going to be here today. So we are, we're, we're sustaining. Okay. Hopefully it was spring. We pick up. I don't know. Well, we also have, um, there's, you actually see work on two big users coming on the, the, the, the, the fast food. I, I, am I allowed to say that the, the fast, convenient food restaurants that are opening up in the bank and the, uh, and the, the, the, the terrain, whatever function restaurant and then the, um, the wine bistro is also, um, they are, you know, getting permits from us relative to their work as well. So, uh, although that won't be as large a user, it's, it still will amount to, uh, you know, a measurable increase. Yeah. I, I would think by, by the start of the fiscal year, we'll, we'll, we'll hopefully know which, have a sense what's going on with the, the, the, the, the bank restaurants. Right. I, I would think they want to be, they be in by them. I hope. Yep. Okay.
Uh, Darren, anything? No, I'm good. And you said the generator had to fire up one. How long was it the outage you said from the election? Several hours. Yeah. Eversource was pretty responsive. We actually have a through, they, they have a portal and we're allowed two critical, um, kind of repairs per day. So when we have a water or a wastewater, those are our most critical users in town. And, uh, so when we have one of those, uh, our public safety liaison, um, inputs that into the Eversource portal and Eversource makes that a priority. So we have generally been getting some pretty decent response from them. Right. Okay. Yeah. Um, I don't see it anywhere else. Uh, any updates on the, the, the, the fog negotiations? And I know they had a letter late requests to join us on. I actually thought someone might be in the public comments, but they're not. Yeah. So, um, we sent the letter. We did receive a letter from their engineer asking us, uh, to allow them to do some additional, uh, sampling, uh, you know, this has been going on for some time, but, uh, Abby has put together a response to that letter, um, establishing, you know, criteria for a sampling protocol. And, uh, if that hasn't gone out, it will go out over coming days. So we are, you know, we're receptive. We want to work with Oxbow. Um, um, um, and if they feel that, uh, doing some additional sampling to help pinpoint their, uh, kind of solution where we're amenable to that, but obviously we'd like to, to have a resolution and a solution developed and installed as soon as practically possible to, to relieve us from having to schedule, you know, these, uh, these cleanings by, uh, cleaning a factor company. I mean, they might be covering our direct costs, but the intangible costs of the distraction for Sarah and Jared and others that, that's, that becomes old. Um, yeah. And it's the thing that's concerning to me is that, you know, in between these cleanings, which, you know, I'm not sure if it's monthly or every six weeks, um, you know, the equipment, the pumps are encountering, you know, these high levels of fats, oils, and grease, and it's not helping the equipment. It's, you know, uh, it's actually going to cause premature deterioration, you know? So it's, that's something sometimes is difficult to quantify, but, uh, it's assured having a negative impact of that equipment. So it's, it's doing periodic cleaning is not a sustainable response. Yeah. Um, is it, is the sampling, are, are we in agreement that something needs to be done or are they looking to do sampling to demonstrate they don't believe anything needs to be done or like how far apart are we still?
Yeah, I think, I mean, it's hard to, you know, literally almost like read between the lines, but I, I, it doesn't seem that they're agreeable. To constructing something, um, I'm not sure if they want to debate the sampling, you know, the results, the levels, uh, of the, of the fats, oils, and grease, and we have it pretty clearly stated in our regulations, the exceedances, the thresholds, uh, it's known that those are being exceeded. So there really is not, um, too much to discuss there. Perhaps it is what they're proposing as a remedy is, um, something aside from constructing an actual, you know, uh, structural device that'll remove the FOGs before it reaches our system. Um, yeah, I guess time will tell, but, uh, it's, so we, we still may be at a fundamental disagreement. Okay. It could be, it could be. Did, did they, I, Sarah or, or Tom, are they looking to get on the agenda for next month or, or is that, so how, how was that relayed? Did you, did you receive a request from them? Uh, I, I saw something in my email to the wastewater management district commission came in after the agenda had been posted. Okay. If, if, if you don't mind, could you, could you forward that to, uh, to myself and Sarah? Just, yeah. Um, I thought Mike, I thought it was just the letter, but maybe there was something else. Yeah. I just see the letter that Sarah sent on February 25th. I saw it.
I'll, uh, I, I have. I have trouble looking at my email closely remotely. At some point, if you wanted to, uh, forward that to myself and Sarah, even, you know, you can put Abby and Jared on it as well, as long as we have it here in the office. I mean, I, I, to be honest, I was heading out the door, uh, whenever, when did the agenda come out? Thursday, Friday? Um, Thursday, Thursday. Yeah. I was heading out the door to show you what a civil engineering nerd was. I took the day off. I went to some museums. I went to the water, waterworks museum in Chestnut Hill. You ever been Tom? I have. Yes. And, uh, how do you like those flywheels? Yeah. I, I'm going to go back. I just kind of went, when they didn't, I didn't get the full tour. I'm going back when I could do the, uh, the full tour and get in the basement. It's amazing to think that that was, you know, Boston was drawing water through that pump station. And yeah, very impressive. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. So I didn't really, I kind of saw it. I didn't realize, um, actually I have it here. Um, and, and now I realize he did not copy the professional staff and I, I can't, I'm not at a spot where I can forward it. Oh, yeah. So when, when you, if you, when you get a moment, uh, if you could, uh, and, you know, I know Abby's letter, if it hasn't gone out, it'll be going out in a couple of days to the engineer and we can certainly reference. I mean, obviously if they want to attend there, uh, we would welcome the, uh, interaction. I, I, I gotta be. Yup. And this is a public meeting and the, they knew there was a meeting and if they happened to be watching this, they could see, they could always get on and make a public comment. Um, and we can address, you know, see how it fits into our agenda. So with that, we will move on to Darren, anything else on operational that issues, then we'll go to Sarah's financial report. Okay. Should be on the screen. It is now there. Okay. Great. Okay. So this gets us through February 28th, 66% of the year complete. Uh, the important things to point out would be that, um, you know, we have a predicted overage and equipment repairs, but we, we kind of knew that due to some of the work that we've been doing. This is not emergency. This is more, you know, you know, expected, I guess, planning work. Um, the emergency work is really being placed in contingency so that it can be tracked as such. And that's largely Daigle LCS and a little bit of our water use or a good amount of our water use was in there. Um, cause you can see in the water charges is really nothing spent. So it's all in there. Um, the numbers have been, you know, I looked at the forecast super close to try to see how we can arrive at at least obviously a hundred percent spent budget. And that's what we need to be at, which is, you'll see that's now at a hundred percent. Um, there has been a reduction in small equipment spending to 95 to make that target because we obviously have to pay for these overages somewhere. Um, and that's really it for the expense side of things. Um, so if there's any questions on expenses, let me know. And before I move on to revenues, go ahead, Mike, the sludge disposal, a lot of that debt that will get more in line with the revenue that comes from that. Yeah. The fog pumping, of course, because it has to be expense out of that. And it's already over 8,000 of that number, uh, put us up in some of the emergency pumping. I know that we, I just stated we're keeping emergency and contingency. I would say that probably the, some of the pumping I could probably reclass down there and that would lower that number and raise this number. If that's desirable, it does make sense. Um, I can see, and I, I probably should, how much of this should actually go down there, keep it all together. I think that'd be a good thing to do. Yeah. How much is, how much is sludge disposal due to normal operation versus the emergency? And then keep that under contingency. Tom, or Sarah, do you know when they come out for the, um, Oxbow, are they out here already? Do they ever double up or is it usually a unique event to service that pump station? It's a totally different company actually. Cause that type of removal is a little bit more specialty, I believe. So we don't even use the same company that we use for normal sludge disposal. So it's kind of like a tanker truck that they just load up. The other, they have to vac out, suck out. I imagine. Yeah. It was the, the, the sludge pumping, you know, like at the town center and at the high school, um, there's a connection on the side of the building. You know, there's something that's actually permanently plumbed in that they connect to the, uh, pump station at Alta Oxbow is bringing a Vactor truck and doing something, you know, that's not intended to be pumped, you know, so it's a, a different type of, uh, mechanism.
Understood.
Okay. All right. Well, I'll move down to revenues. Um, we have, um, not too much different in user, a little bit, a little bit, but the billing has gone out as of, I think last week, end of last week. So the district six, which is all our wastewater users will go out. It'll be due around April 6th. So after that date, we'll start to see what our final revenue numbers are going to come in as. So hopefully by the next meeting. Um, but I still, you know, knowing what we took in, in that same quarter last year, I still feel that 570 is a pretty good prediction. I'm hoping for that. The wastewater liens actually went up by a few hundred. So we got a little bit more there. Um, that's the service order here is where we talk about the revenue for the, them paying us back for the fog cleaning. So that's the two cleanings so far this fiscal. And miscellaneous revenue operating, you will notice this up more because we have received the check from 21 contituents. So that is in here now. So that is, obviously we know we were putting quite a bit of that into our next year's budget for the study, for the additional contracted services. So that number, that number definitely has grown and pending the sale of the last 5,000 that we have, it could go up from there. And then interest actually, sorry, I'm clicking on the wrong side. Sorry. Interest is at 14,886 and that's a much bigger increase. They did update all the months that needed to be dropped into our accounts. So that is a good number. Um, so I bumped that back up, um, that thinking that we would end up maybe, maybe around 32. It's, we'll see what happens. Um, and. Is, you know, I was going to say, if the interest is 14,886 at 66%, how are you getting to the 32? Because doubling that would be 28, you know, whatever, 29 something. So. Yeah, and actually, I was actually in the wrong spot. So it's 24, I'm sorry. It's 24,886. I was over in the, in the, in the ceiling. That's my fault. That makes sense. Okay. So that's good news. Cause it was like a couple grand last time. So that's, that's good money there. Um, yeah. And ultimately that's where we're at. So we still, you know, expect a revenue, much, you know, higher revenue than predicted. We're going to be real close on expenses. But, but revenue wise, I mean, if you subtract the 334, we're pretty much right on track to our 625. Yes. Okay. And it doesn't have us dipping in to the, the extra.
Um, I don't even see it here. Didn't we budget a little bit of the, um, retained, retained earnings? We did. We did. So I know what you mean. So the 82549, this is the, you know, budgeted amount here and the 101, that was what we budgeted. So I removed that from the forecast now because that feasibly, there's no way we would need to dip into that now. Um, knowing that we're going to take in, you know, we already have the 334, so that's definite. Yep. And, and the way it works in municipal financing, that, that nice big income for this year, we can't really, we can't touch for, for this year. That's helps us with next year's planning. Um, right. So that's, that is included in our requested retained earnings. Uh, and Brian Keveny has been asking some questions relative to that, uh, frequently. And so that is the intention because we, yeah, we're asking for more retained earnings than we generally do, but that's because we had planned use of those privilege fees that, that were, uh, received. And, and that goes back up to the top why it's important to classify things as an emergency because that gives us more flexibility to pay for them. Um, then if they, uh, it was a budgeting change, is that correct? Like going back up to the costs. Can, can we, the, the emergency, um, you know, the contingencies, the emergency funds. Right. Um, so, sorry, if you want to rephrase that, if I don't know if it's for me or for Tom, but say that one more time. Are we allowed to, um, increase that budget because of emergency conditions? So the answer is yes, there, there is a mechanism, you know, we have planned use and unanticipated use of retained earnings. Um, so we do have access working through the finance department. If something should arise that we needed to exceed that planned use of retained earnings, we, we do have the ability to get to it. Okay. Right. And that goes back to the importance of if we can pull out the sludge stuff that falls into the emergency, if, if we need to, if the numbers don't, Sarah has been able to think some numbers will work just by the way, by controlling some other costs. But if they don't, we have that option available to us. Right. Right. But the goal is to let's keep within our operating, right? Even if we put this contingency and granted it's over. And then, but Mike, I also like it in there because then it creates, um, clear discussion when we get with Matt Abrams and we start doing the final budgeting that we can actually have the right buckets, right? As we know what they are. And then we can have a debate on should the contingency fund been 50,000 or whatever it could have, should have been. Right. And is that the more appropriate emergency funding going forward? And we will likely be inviting him to the April meeting because we'll start talking about FY27, you know, financial modeling and rate setting and all of that. We generally start that around April, talk a little bit about more in May and then have our rate hearing in June. Great.
Now, I think, like I said, we're, we're right on track to the 625. So, and then I, I view that 334 as next year, you know, what are we doing? Yep.
Okay. I'm all set. Darren, anything else on the financial report? No. And I think down at the bottom, you have all of our capital expenditures and we're pretty much done, right? Uh, except for the low pressure sewer replacement. I don't think, I think that's finally been contracted. I believe, if I'm correct, I, we just haven't had to pay off of it yet. Okay. Yeah. The preliminary work is under contract and we're, but we're awaiting that is the, you know, the full, um, design funds at the May 4th town meeting. Right.
Right. Okay.
Um, if nothing else, then we'll move on to requests for service. I think Sarah, you. I touched upon that. Um, you, you telegraphed something there. Yeah. Um, well, town center, we have, uh, so Abby and I have sat down and looked at the summary of flows to make sure we have the numbers exactly correct. And also just to update that, that document. So we keep track, but we came to the conclusion that we had about 4,928 gallons per day available, which is exactly what we offered to town center. Who has been asking for some time. Um, so we've given them then that number, they have responded, um, and have interest. So, um, And what would be the associated fee if that was to move forward this fiscal year? Oh, I can do that real quick.
That would be for a privilege fee. That would be, oh, sorry. I have, well, you know, there, that's a tough one to answer right away. Besides, besides the obvious $24 and 75 cents per gallon, that's what we have for our privilege fee rate. Um, there is the design piece that comes into play when you're over a certain threshold and there would be at the highest, uh, threshold. So there's participating in that design and potential improvements in construction work that needs to be done. So I wouldn't want to be held to this number, but it would be $24 and 75 cents times the 49, 28 plus whatever the, our regulations, our privilege fee policy says is due. So at the, you know, with just that alone, you know, just the privilege fee itself, you know, you end up, I don't know why my calculator is not, not working properly, but I must have something clicked off. Um, you end up at 121,000, 122,000 just privilege fee, um, rate itself, but that's not the final number.
And, um, the, and we need to, um, we need to figure out that, that, that supplemental extra fee at the time, by the time they sign, it's not a two part fee. Correct. We have not signed the document. They usually initiate the permit and then we complete the office side of things. Um, and then they sign, then we have our final signatures with the check. And, and at this time there's no one else banging down our doors to, to do connections. No one other than the Hastings way, 880 gallons that they were hoping to have at this time.
Darren, any thoughts on that? Oh, I think we're timing of all this is good for what, when, I mean, this is not until next year, fiscal year, but if we approve the study, when would that study get executed? And when would we know the results by, I mean, I, we, it would, I mean, and now it's middle of March. I mean, I would, I would say once these arrangements were made, um, start the study, if we were to lock in on it over the course of the next month, begin it, you know, in June, probably take several months, have a deliverable by September, October, something along those lines. Then we start making decisions. Yeah. Okay. So it takes several months. Okay. Yeah. I, I, I, I do believe though, for smaller connections, um, we, we would have the latitude to, to, to, to do some of the stuff that Abby's already done, um, whether our, um, our ratio between title five design and actual flow is, is reasonable based on 20 plus years of operational history, et cetera. Um, but, uh, it w it would be nice to, to, to, to know. I don't know if the town center executed something before we're finalizing budget. So it doesn't sound like it'd make a huge, huge difference, but. Yep. I feel like they're going to get back to us soon. I, that's my guess. I guess I don't know until I have it, but if it seems like it's coming, at least the document to get started and signed off, off on. Um, okay. Um, anything else then, uh, so Darren, request service, um, we had the meeting minutes from, uh, the ninth that were circulated. Um, I'm good. I read through. Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm good. Um, it, it did remind me that, uh, it'd be, it would be, if, if, if Ed is really not going to participate, it would be nice if he would formally resign in case there's some eager beaver out there that's just dying to get on our committee. Um, and, and, uh, so the position is, is open. Uh, I'm good too. So I make a motion to approve the February 9th, uh, 2026 meeting minutes. I second that. Mike getting yes. Darren Bach, yes. Okay. And then anything else, uh, any new business that we didn't have chance to discuss that came up that's critical? The staff has none. Darren, anything? No, my, I was just, I, I was asking earlier, Tom, what, when, when was the last time we lost electricity like that and did everything work or was it, was this the first time tested in a long time? Like real life, real time? It was the, uh, what was that? A couple of Sunday, Mondays ago that we had two weeks ago when we had, I don't know, 17 inches of snow, um, those high winds. Yeah. I bet before that. I bet before that. Oh, before that. I mean, it, it happens periodically, you know, maybe like once every couple of months, depending upon, you know, if there's a tree down a transformer goes, you know, gets blown locally. Okay. So it happens more than, okay. I just don't ever remember talking about that. The generator. Yeah, it, it, it, it happens. It, it, it might, you know, it might just not even rise to the level of reporting, uh, okay. You know, because it's a blip. Yeah. Yeah. A recloser did its job. Yeah. Okay. All right. Sorry, Mike. I was just, that was one of the things I wanted to ask earlier. I'm good. Other than that, I think I kind of got what we were doing. Okay. So I see we, we have a meeting scheduled for noon on, uh, April 13th. Correct. Um, we, I, it sounds like we need to do one for May and June because you articulated a need, Tom, to, to get through the rate setting process. Yeah. So we might as well look at our calendars.
We've been, we've been trying to do the second Monday of the month. Is that what we're going for here? That would be the 11th. I'm good on the 11th. I'm, I'm, I'm good. I, I will not be here, but I'm, I'm not sure that, uh, me being here would, uh, cause you to reschedule. Um, you'll have the full rest of the squad and I would imagine you'll have Matt Abraham. So it, you know, it being a financial conversation with Matt and Sarah, I mean, I'm fine if you wanted to reschedule, but I'm just saying, I don't, I don't think that would, if the 11th worked for everybody else, feel free to press on.
Well, I remind me, are we inviting Matt Abrams to April or it may be his first, um, he said April. Yeah, I think April, we generally, it takes a few and we do this on the water side as well. Uh, it generally takes a few, a few meetings. Was he kind of, that makes me more comfortable proceeding without you then just in case he has some macro level questions, you would have heard them. Yep. Yep. And you said town meeting is the fourth and fifth this year. Fourth and fifth. Yes. Yeah. I mean, if you, if you feel as a placeholder that you wanted to schedule a meeting just prior to, you know, sometimes we would have placeholder just in case there's something that comes up that you feel you need to discuss as a commission entirely up to you.
I, I don't, I don't think we've done it. I think we could wait till the next meeting. Cause there's not even, basically it's for formality to get the funding of the study approved, which was already in there as a placeholder. And, and we have the revenue to cover it from the privilege fees, right? Yes. Right. So unless something dies in the next month, I shouldn't have said that. Right, Tom? Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, Mike, Mike, Mike. I'm sorry. Okay. Then we get to, so I, I'm, I'm, I'm neutral to find of keeping the meeting, um, on the 11th. Yeah. If Tom, I'm good. Okay. And then now we're into June.
That would be the ninth. Great. Oh, I'm sorry. The eighth. Yes. My bad. Yep. I'm currently available. Yeah. I'm currently available. Okay.
Locked my calendar. So that June one would be the rate hearing, right? Is that what we would do, Tom? I can't remember. That's, that's what we do. The June meeting, isn't it? Yeah. We, we would incorporate a rate hearing within the monthly meeting. Yep. Right. Okay. So we really, and you need to do ads on that, like a week or two in advance versus two or three days. Yep. 14 days in advance, I believe. Yeah. 14 and then seven. So twice. So we, we need to remember to talk about that. At the, the main meeting to confirm we're all set. Yep. Right.
Okay. You think that's far enough for now? I think so. It's far enough. We usually, we usually recess over the summer. So if we continue to do that, that would be the last one of this fiscal and then resume in September if you want to do that. Yeah. As long as Jared sends me the monthly flows, because while we see a tick up with all these new users coming online. We can make that happen. Yep.
Okay. Any, I have nothing else. Darren, we all said motion to a joint adjourn at 1255 here. Aaron Bach seconds at. Okay. Mike getting. Yes. Aaron Bach. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Alrighty. Thank you. Take care. Thanks, Abby, for moderating. Bye, everybody. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.