Operating a little time late on this discussion, but here are my thoughts: I like the idea that Ed and the Mayor had regarding an amendment to the purchasing ordinance. It's apparent to me that we all need to be smarter on the regional water agreement and that we need to get a copy for all to read. Roxanne can no doubt help us to locate one so we can see the actual language on funding. If Stan's memory is correct, there never was a need for the Council to set up a separate fund. For the repair invoice, can GU bill us and then pay the contractor that did the fire pump repairs after we pay them? I definitely oppose the idea of having to hire an administrative assistant. This issue is more financial than administrative and if we were getting our money's worth for the half labor year we're paying for, then we'd get more real time attention and not have to fix things after the fact. Terry Commissioners, et. al  Fred and I had a conversation on this and I want to make a proposal that might fix the issue of GU repairs, town ordinances, etc.    It appears to be a duplication of effort if our operational contractor goes through their bid/vetting process for subcontractors to do utilities repair and then have the town go through the same process.  We contract GU to do the operation of the water system and rely on then to provide quick repairs on the equipment that the town of Ledyard owns that provides shutdown free service to our customers.  If we carefully set the criteria, then repairs to pumps, maintenance services, mandatory leak tests, etc. should be covered under GU practices in that we get the best bids and services that subcontractors can provide.   I would propose that an update to our finance ordinance 200-001 rev 1 to add exemptions to bids that relate to emergency repairs and DPH required activity, etc. that go through our operational contractor - such as GU.  We might want to reference the GU bid and vetting process so that certain controls are in place.  If this is not acceptable, then the next contract we put out for bids for our operational contractor include such language that covers these maintenance items. Of course, this does not solve our problem now so we will need to request a bid waiver from the council on the fire pump repair and the preventive maintenance of the pump systems - although I believe the entire quote maintenance quote falls below the $7,500 limit and just needs to go through the proper PO process. We will discuss this at our next meeting. Ed Lynch, WPCA Mobile 646-732-9224 Ed, There are a few different issues being conflated here. The "wheeling fee" was intended to compensate the WPCA for the general increase in wear-and-tear on our system as a result of moving additional water through our system. We can do whatever we want with that. As discussed at our meetings, it would be a good idea to put it in a capital reserve fund, although not necessarily limited to only the Holmberg tank. Given the relatively small amount of money, it might be easiest to just put it in a general capital reserve rather than have the Town Council set up another fund which will need to be tracked and managed. In addition to the wheeling fee, because the tank serves users other than Ledyard (primarily Montville and the Mohegans), there is a separate escrow account for major maintenance expenses on the tank. If I recall correctly, the escrow fund is administered by a law firm hired by the Mohegan tribe. The details for getting reimbursed from the escrow fund are in the regional Agreement which governed the installation of the water line under the Thames River and the construction of the Holmberg tank. The Town should have a copy of Agreement on file. Thanks, Stan On Tue, Sep 9, 2025 at 11:29 AM water pollution control authority wrote: Guys - I have no clue on how to address this. It appears we need those who were involved originally on the wheeling fee contract to tell us what we have. It is also clear to us that NO preventative maintenance is being done on the Holmberg pump station and that no pass through billing from GU is acceptable. And Mathew is incorrect on the council representation as Bill always kept us straight on this. And administrator - wow what will that cost us!!? Thoughts welcomed here!! Ed Lynch, WPCA Mobile 646-732-9224 From: Matthew Bonin Sent: Tuesday, September 9, 2025 11:14 AM To: water pollution control authority Cc: Ian Stammel ; Duarte, Mauricio ; Christina Hostetler Subject: RE: Holmberg Pump station Bill Ed, Your response did not address my concerns which are solely from a finance point of view. The town has a long-standing purchasing ordinance (attached) that is not being followed by the WPCA. Having a Town Council liaison in attendance is not going to change the WPCA’s need to follow that policy. Additionally, as I noted in my initial email, we can not pay the invoice from Northeast Pumps as it is made out to Groton Utilities, not the Town of Ledyard. Below is a follow-up from Ian regarding the false belief that there is a Holmberg Tank capital fund. It has never been formally set-up and would require Council action. “It has been said out loud to me that the intention of the transmission fee from Montville that is paid to the Ledyard WPCA is to cover expenses related to the Holmberg tank. Currently that revenue is booked in the operating budget. WPCA members have said that they would like these funds to be put aside for future use for Holmberg tank capital expenses. I have said that motions need to be made and recorded to request that the town council move the collected funds from the transmission fees revenue in the operating fund to the water capital fund and an appropriation in that same amount be made to a specific line in the water capital fund for Holmberg tank maintenance. I can make specific accounts to be reference in the motion to go to council.” It is my belief that the WPCA is in need of a paid administrator to oversee matters such as this, including oversight of the GU contract. I am available to discuss and/or answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Matt rom: water pollution control authority Sent: Wednesday, September 3, 2025 12:01 PM To: Matthew Bonin ; ftjones@prodigy.net; swadecki@comcast.net; Stan Juber ; Monir Tewfik ; Duarte, Mauricio Cc: Ian Stammel ; Stephen Banks Subject: Re: Holmberg Pump station Bill Mathew - Sorry for the late response as it has been a very hectic holiday. The agreement we have with the maintenance of the Holberg tank was made beyond my time so I need to include members that might understand the agreement we signed that generates a fund for tank maintenance that services Mohegan casino and Montville area. The pump system contains three pumps - two to boost water pressure to Aljen Heights and a fire pump that kicks in when a fire happens providing additional water and pressure as needed to fight the fire. Unfortunately, a fire did happen in Aljen Heights, and the fire pump eventually failed. The WPCA is financially responsible for the operation of Holmberg tank and pump system, and the GU service contract does not include pump replacement. The fire pump failed because of a terrible fire in Aljen Heights. We knew from previous meetings that we would have an expensive repair bill. What we did not know is that these pumps were not going through proper preventative maintenance procedures. I will have to defer to our commissioners Stan Juber and Sharon Wadecki as to how the regional Holmberg tank funding was setup as this arrangement was made before my time. At any rate the fire pump has been repaired, and GU has proposed a preventative maintenance program that should avoid an expensive repair in the future that the commissioners enthusiastically support. I believe Mo from GU has more to add and I think his number is 860-446-4033. At any rate I do think we need to address the way these expenses should be communicated to finance BUT in the past and as I have said before when Bill Saums was our town council rep, we never had these problems as he would communicate these concerns to finance and the town council. Lately Naiomi had been attending our meetings until she left the state. Hopefully with the new chair we will be assigned a new rep. Ed Lynch, WPCA Chair rom: Matthew Bonin Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2025 3:57 PM To: water pollution control authority Cc: Ian Stammel Subject: FW: Holmberg Pump station Bill Ed, Christina forwarded this info to me after I read the WPCA action letter and had some questions. I have mentioned this before – we have a purchasing policy in place and the way these items were handled is a direct violation of that policy. The policy applies town wide. The invoice from Northeast Pumps is made out to Groton Utilities – we can’t pay that. Additionally, there is no Holmberg tank capital fund. Ian has addressed that numerous times before. Please provide me phone contact for Mauricio at GU. Matt